Question:
Is not Proverbs 31:6, 7 literal language? May not strong drink be used to revive the heavy-hearted and discouraged now as then?
Answer:
The passage reads: “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.” The R.V. has “wine unto the bitter in soul.” Spurrell reads, “Give the intoxicating draft to the dying, and wine to the afflicted soul.”
It can readily be seen that the strong drink is in contrast to the wine. The one intoxicates while the other cheers. The former is given, as anesthetics are offered now, to relieve the suffering of the dying.
The common word for “wine” in the Old Testament is yayin. It is a generic term, including all sorts of wine, literally and figuratively— wine that intoxicates, wine that cheers, or wine in the wine press. The corresponding generic word in the New Testament is oinos. As of old, “the bitter of soul,” the greatly afflicted, are inclined to fast. It is a physiological fact that eating or drinking that which is pleasant changes the life currents and raises the spirits of the despondent. New wine, the fresh blood of the grape, is well fitted to do this. (See Zechariah 9:17; Isaiah 65:8).
Yet drinking wine, so easily fermenting, was attended with danger. Hence it was forbidden to priests and princes. It is spoken of as a blessing, a comfort, that which is good; it is also shown to be a curse. The difference is guarded by that line indicated in Proverbs 23:31: “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.” On the one side, the wine is cheering, nourishing, and unintoxicating. On the other side, it is “a mocker” (Proverbs 20:1), and at the last, “biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder” (Proverbs 23:32). The glutton, the heavy drinker, was quite likely to cross the line. The tendency was in that direction; hence in some cases, as with priests, it’s absolutely prohibited. Leviticus 10:8-11; Ezekiel 44:21; Luke 1:15; Proverbs 31:4. God commended the abstinent Rechabites. Jeremiah 35. Timothy would not drink it because of the danger of its leading to the love of fermented wine, and the apostle, therefore, urged its need. 1 Timothy 5:23. Even then, though his stomach was troubled and his infirmities “often,” the wine was to be “little” in quantity. Christians are priests and kings, and John the Baptist is a type of the last generation. (1 Peter 2:9). Surely they ought to be abstemious, to drink no strong drink or fermented wine. All use ought to be on the hither side of the line drawn by Proverbs 23:31. The general testimony of God’s Word is against the use of intoxicating drinks. Read Proverbs 20:1; 23:20, 29-35; Habakkuk 2:5, 15; Isaiah 5:11, 22; Ephesians 5:18.
