The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-01-22
STRONG DRINK.
The Drink Sin In the Old Testament.

It is noteworthy circumstance that
the sin of drunkenness is much more
prominent in the Old Testament than
in the New. In the New we hear not
a few warnings against it, especially
in the Epistles. but we have no speci-
fic instance Of the sin, for the charge
against the apostles on the Day Of
Pentecost that they were "full of new
wine" was as baseless as it was silly.
John the Baptist did not specify it
among the outstanding sins Of the
day, nor is there any allusion to it in
the Sermon on the Mount. In mod
ern times the Jews have not been an
Incorporate people, not even in those
terrible ages when their miseries
might have tempted them to seek to
drown their anguish in temporary un-
consciousness. There was therefore
nothing in the condition of things in
the days of our Lord to make it peril
GUS for him to begin his miracles with
the conversion Of water into wine at a
feast, or to contrast his manner of life
with that of the Baptist, who, unlike
himself, came "neither eating nor
drinking"
In the Old Testament we have
many instances of drunkenness.
But not, as it is with US, a
great national vice, affecting all
classesof the community, perpetuated
from generation to generation, giving
birth to domestic tragedies without
number, and year by year bringing
forth an awful crop of assaults, sui.
cidcs, divorces, disease, poverty and
madness. Individual drunkards, like
Nabal, were marked men, despised by
their own families as fools, blind to
their own interests, and as weak as
blind. In ordinary times, drinking to
excess took place only at feasts or on
other occasions of excitement or re-
joicing. It was at the sheep-shearing
feast, when Amnon's heart was ex-
pected to become 'merry with wine"
that Absalom gave the command to
slay him. In common life, and until
the nation became corrupted with
wealth and luxury, the ordinary fare,
even of the richer class, both in meat
and drink, was extremely simple.
The supplies that Abigail brought to
David in the wilderness consisted of
bread and fruit, with FIVE sheep, but
only two bottles Of wine. When the
rich Barzillai and other friends sup
piled his wants at Mahanaim, on his
fight from Absalom, they drought
beds and basins, and earthen vessels,
and wheat and barley and -four and
parched corn, and beans and lentiles
and parched pulse, and honey and
butter and sheep, and cheese Of kline"
but no wine or strong drink. No
doubt it was from being accustomed
to very simple fare, without any strong
drink, that the Hittite soldier, Uriah,
unconsciously fell victim so far to
the vile plot of King David when he
piled him with meat and drink and
''made him drunk" in the hope that
losing self-control, he would go to his
house and shield him from his crime.
It is delightful to think of COM
munity in which there was little or no
habitual drunkenness, and of the COM
fort, peace and happiness that must
have reigned in its families as they
sat each under his vine and under his
fig tree.
But when wealth flowed into the
Hebrew State, and idolatry reused the
recklessness and self-indulgenoe of
the people, grievous change set in,
both in the eating and the drinking
habits of the wealthy class. In the
kingdom of Israel there was evidently
great influx of wealth under Jero-
boam II. We have an indirect proof
of this in what is recorded as having
taken place q few years later in the
reign of Menahem, when the Assyrian
invasion took place under Pul, and
Menahem had to buy him off with a
bribe of thousand talents of silver.
To raise this amount, somewhere about
two million dollars, Menahem exacted
a contribution Of ifay shekels (about
twenty-five dollars) from "all the
mighty men Of wealth" (which would
imply that in his little kingdom there
were some $4,000 persons who might
be called mighty men of wealth"
And how did they spend their
money? Our newspapers sometimes
tell us of the fabulous sums spent by
rich men on their entertainments, and
in those days the cost Of feasting
must have been on a corresponding
scale. The prophet Amos gives US a
vivid picture of it: sWoe to them \
II that lie on beds of ivory, and
stretch themselves upon their couches,
and eat the lambs of the flock, and the
calves out of the midst of the stall,
that chant to the sound Of the viol,
and invent to themselves instruments
of music, like David that drink wine
in bowls, and anoint themselves with
the chief ointment, but they are not
grieved for the afliction Of Joseph" /"
How changed from the days of Abra-
ham, when animal food was hardly
known, and it was only on rare emer-
gencies that "calf tender and good"
was killed, "the fatted calf" Of the
parable of the prodigal son, in order
to provide an unusual entertainment
for strangers | In the days Of Amos,
feasting had become kind Of fine art,
and all that could crafty ''the lust of
the flesh, and the lust Of the eye and
the pride of life' was heaped together
in profusion day by day. Men poured
out streams of wealth for the decora
tion of their houses, and on musicians
and musical instruments the choicest
of the focks and herds were sacrificed
for their tables; costly vessels were
purchased for their wines, and costly
wines for their vessels and, as is
still so common, the demon of selfish
ness reigned over all; public calami-
ties excited no feeling of distress
they were not "grieved for the afflic
tion of Joseph" F" Their god was their
belly; and their motto "Let us eat
and drink, for tomorrow We die. /"
Unsanctified wealth was followed by
the ruin of their country F; wine de-
stroyed the heart; the old patriotic
cry, "Pro aris ct tocis, for our altars