Leviticus 10:9-11 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die… It is one of the attractions of a glass of wine to those who like it, that it gives a different colour to everything the drinker looks at, just as soon as it has any effect at all. If there were no effect from wine-drinking, there would be no temptation to drink wine. But so soon as the wine takes hold of the brain, the brain takes hold with a new grip of everything it thinks of. Memory is keener, anticipation is brighter, and the present is a great deal livelier. Everybody in sight or in thought looks brighter, too. This isn't so bad a world as it seemed an hour ago! "When the wine is in, the wit is out." What does a man under the influence of champagne know of sharp distinctions in morals, or in social life, or in logic? The inspired teacher was never more clearly inspired than when that teacher wrote, "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted." And it was God Himself who insisted that priests should let wine and strong drink alone, lest they should fail to know the difference between holy and unholy, clean and unclean, and lest they should be unable to teach the truth aright. If you want to know what is right, and to do what is right, and to be able to teach others to know and do right, do you let wine and strong drink alone — before you go to church, and after you come back from church. What is good enough for a king, and safe enough for a priest, can wisely be your choice wherever you are. (H. C. Trumbull.) Parallel Verses KJV: Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: |
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