Helpful tools for this post:
1) Look up Strong’s numbers here.
2) Look up Bible references here.

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03196
yayin {yah’-yin}
wine
from an unused root meaning “to effervesce”
appears 140 times in 134 verses

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08492
tiyrowsh {tee-roshe’} or tiyrosh {tee-roshe’}
wine, fresh or new wine, must, freshly pressed wine
from 03423 in the sense of “expulsion”
appears 38 times in 38 verses

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07941
shekar {shay-kawr’}
strong drink, intoxicating drink, fermented or intoxicating liquor
from 07937
appears 23 times in 20 verses

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Gen 9:20-24
– Noah got drunk, son Ham saw him, Canaan was cursed through this event. First episode of drunkenness in the Bible.

Gen 19:30-38
– Lot gets drunk and his daughters lie with him and get pregnant, producing Moab and Ammon whose descendants struggle with Israel. In his drunkenness, Lot commits the same sin (incest) that he accused the Sodomites of.

Lev 10:9
– Aaron is told by God that he and his sons are not to drink wine or “strong drink” (intoxicating drink, liquor) before going into the tabernacle, “lest ye die” and it is a “statute forever.”

Numbers 6:1-4
The Nazirites could have nothing to do with the fruit of the vine. This meant no wine, no grapes, no raisins even. A picture of having nothing to do with sin, or even that which is associated with sin, borders on sin, etc. (1 Thes 5:22 – Avoid every form of evil.)

Proverbs:

Proverbs 20:1
Alcohol makes people foolish.

Proverbs 21:17: He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.

Literally, the person whose human appetite is for pleasure alone will live in poverty (need, want, lack), and the person whose appetite is for wine (alcohol, intoxicants) and oil (literally, fat) will not enrich himself.

Proverbs 23:29-35: Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things and your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. “They struck me, but I did not become ill; they beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”

This is a perfect picture of why NOT to drink or to use other intoxicants of any kind. And to literally end at the beginning: “Do not look…” Don’t even look. Don’t even go that far.

Question:

Who has:

  • passionate cry of grief or despair
  • exclamation of pain — indicates desire or uneasiness
  • strife, contention (fighting, brawling, conflict)
  • musing, anxiety, trouble
  • bruise, wounds (for no purpose, in vain, undeservedly)
  • redness of eyes (physical) or dullness of senses and spirit (mental, emotional and spiritual)

Answer:

Those that linger over (stay behind, tarry, wait) and go to (search for, seek out) the alcohol (intoxicants).

In the end, it wounds and destroys. It causes them to seek after the flesh, and to speak, promise, threaten perversity. It causes physical illness and addiction.

Proverbs 31:3-7:
“Do not give your strength to women, Or your ways to that which destroys kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Or for rulers to desire strong drink, For they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter. Let him drink and forget his poverty And remember his trouble no more.”

This passage tells the way that kings and their offspring are to live, and thus, is an instruction for every Christian, because we are children of the King of the Kings. There is a warning against immorality, and then a warning against drunkenness, which makes one forget what we have been called to do as children of the King. There is a comparison of royal (Christian) behavior vs. worldly behavior, in poverty and trouble and using drunkenness to avoid or escape their state.

Isaiah 5:11: “Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!”

Where others rise in the morning to go to work, these wake up and immediately search for strong drink (intoxicants), and that has become their life work. This pursuit “inflames” them for the things of the world. And they don’t confine their sinful, shameful behavior to darkness, they drink during the day, they “count it pleasure to riot in the daytime” (2 Peter 2:13)

Isaiah 28
Ephraim (“fruitfulness”) and Samaria (“on the head of fat valleys”) were plentiful and fertile, but what God gave them to serve Him they perverted and abused, using their plenty instead to serve their own flesh. They were prideful and drunken. They were “overcome with wine, and broken with it” (MHC). They were slaves, in bondage to their love (lust) of wine. They were people of God, but they gloried in their shame. God will take the plenty, because they abused it. Worst of all was that their priests and spiritual leaders were drunkards who were erring in vision and stumbling in judgment because of their intoxication. God warns them that they must obey or face destruction. He is placing a foundation stone (Jesus) and whomever believes “need never run away again.”

Hosea 4:11: “Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding.”

Joel 3:3
“They have also cast lots for My people, Traded a boy for a harlot And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.”

The disobedient will exchange anything in order to satisfy their flesh. They have no respect for anything or anyone but just want to satisfy their needs.

Habakkuk 2:5
“transgretteth by wine” – notes say that is a “besetting sin” in OT; “besetting” – constantly troubling

Mar 15:23
“They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.”

How often do people use intoxicants to escape pain, and yet when Christ Himself was made this same offer, He refused it and chose to suffer the pain.

Rom 14:20-21

“Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or {to do anything} by which your brother stumbles.”

Eph 5:18

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit…”

Not be drunk on Jesus instead of wine, but be filled with the Spirit as opposed to being drunk. Drunkenness is out of control (“excess,” an abandoned dissolute life), and those filled (supplied, completed) with the Spirit are still in order.

1 Tim 3:3

Bishops (elders, pastors) are not to be drunks.

1 Tim 3:8

Deacons must have venerable character and not be addicted to much wine.

1 Tim 5:23

Using wine for the stomach is a contrast from using it to satisfy the lusts of the flesh. Also shows that Paul (under the influence of the Holy Spirit) approved the use of natural or medicinal remedies for physical healing (as opposed to only supernatural healing), and that a substance that had the potential to be destructive to a person could also be good for their body when used properly.

Titus 1:7

Bishops should not be addicted to wine.

Titus 2:3

Mature women should not be addicted to wine.

1 Peter 4:1-3

Conversion brings us to serve God, not our flesh, and our old lives (including an improper or immoderate use of alcohol) are past.

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