Doesn’t Proverbs teach that it is okay to drink alcoholic beverages?
Read Time: 2 min
One of the saddest of pastoral visitations is when I’m called to visit and pray for a church member who is dying. Often these precious souls are suffering from a fatal illness that is extremely painful. As they near the end of their lives, it is an act of compassion to provide them with a strong narcotic to deaden their pain and help them endure their misery. Of course, we earnestly pray for them to be miraculously healed, but that doesn’t always happen.
In Bible times, they didn’t have doctors or nurses who could give an injection of morphine to reduce the agony of people with a fatal condition. In Proverbs 31:6, we find an example of how “strong drink” was used back then to dull the throbbing hurt. When Jesus was crucified, He was offered a mixture of vinegar and gall for this same reason (see Matthew 27:34). Obviously, it was excruciatingly painful to be nailed to a cross, so soldiers dipped a sponge in this ancient “narcotic” to help the suffering victims cope with pain. Of course, Jesus refused even this help since He wanted His mind clear during this difficult trial.
Other passages in Proverbs make it clear that strong drink is not something to be freely taken. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. … At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper” (Proverbs 23:29, 30, 32).
And so, the Bible speaks of a particular situation when people are suffering under extreme circumstances and are facing death. It is out of compassion that we provide a painkiller to help our suffering loved ones. This is not a license for the recreational abusing of our bodies.
Key Bible Texts
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. (Proverbs 31:6 KJV)