Sermon Tone Analysis

The question would be so much easier if it were: is it a sin to get drunk on alcohol?

To that question, the answer is a resounding yes (Proverbs 23:29-35; Ephesians 5:18).

The question would also be much easier if it were: is it a sin to be addicted to alcohol?

It is a sin to be addicted to anything (1 Corinthians 6:12; 2 Peter 2:19).

We are not to allow ourselves to be enslaved to anything.

God is to be our only master.

Alcoholism is a cruel taskmaster.

It destroys marriages, families, friendships, businesses, and ultimately, the life of the alcoholic.

Obviously, avoiding alcohol entirely is the easiest way to avoid alcoholism.

However, the abuse of alcohol, in the forms of drunkenness and addiction, do not necessarily make alcohol itself sinful.

The abuse of alcohol is the cause of much of the legalism many Christians employ when approaching the question of alcohol.

People see alcohol lead to drunkenness and addiction, which are definitely sin.

There is also the issue of "not causing anyone to stumble" (1 Corinthians 8:13; 10:32).

You may have the conviction that it is allowable to drink alcohol in moderation.

But, if other people see you drinking or purchasing alcohol, and by that are led to go against their convictions and/or drink alcohol in excess, you have violated the biblical principle of not causing anyone to stumble.

We should not do anything that could encourage someone else to sin.

It is best to not drink alcohol at all, to avoid the temptation to sin and the appearance of sin.

Wine Translation In The Bible

Old Testament words (Hebrew, Aramaic)

Yayin: יַיִן n., juice from grapes, with or without later fermentation.

Num.

6:3 distinguishes yayin and fermented yayin.

Examples of yayin without fermentation: Isa.

16:10; Jer.

40:10,12; 48:33.

Nobody is denying yayin was intoxicating (sometimes anyway).

Nobody is denying that “wine is a mocker…” (Prov.

20:1) Indeed, Levitical priests who drank at all in God’s house were even threatened with capital punishment.

With clear minds, they could distinguish between the holy and the unholy (Lev.

10:9).

Jews have long distinguished between yayin and intoxicating yayin.

“The difference between that kind of wine, and … the kind of wine G–d will offer the righteous to drink in the world to come, is that the former is liable to intoxicate (those that drink it), whereas the latter causes pure joy (to those who imbibe it).”

Shekhar: שֵׁכָר n., sweet drink, cider with or without later fermentation.

Num.

28:7; Deut.

14:26.

Num.

6:3 distinguishes between shekhar and fermented shekhar.

Word forms: Strong’s H7941, shekar, sekar, shechar.

Luke 1:15 borrowed the Hebrew שֵׁכָר shekhar in Greek as σίκερα sikera, and the Septuagint (usually) has σίκερα too.

In Latin, Jerome borrowed the Hebrew shekhar as siceram – e.g.

Deut.

14:26; 29:6; Judg.

13:4,7,14 – rather than using terms like ‘ebrietas’ (inebriation) as for some other passages – e.g.

Prov.

20:1.

Arabic has the related word sakar سَكَر.

Pri Hagafen: פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן n., fruit of the vine, grapes (similar to “fruitful vine” Isa.

32:12; Zech.

8:12).

When grape juice is consumed, pri hagafen is said within a Hebrew prayer of thanksgiving to the Creator.

In the New Testament, the “fruit of the vine” was at the Last Supper (in Greek: gennematos tes ampelou).

I cannot see anywhere in the Old Testament itself any mention of the fruit of the vine (or wine or anything like this) said to be required at the Passover or Feast of Unleavened Things!

Hananiah (419 B.C.) said the Law’s exclusion of leavened foods at this weeklong feast would likewise exclude leavened drinks (Hananiah, Elephantine Passover letter).

Num.

6:3 distinguishes wine from fermented (leavened) wine.

Enab: עֵנָב n., grapes – either fresh or dried (Num.

6:3).

Word forms: Strong’s H6025, enav, enabh.

Tirosh: תִּירוֹשׁ n., grapes – fresh (similar to enab) “You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes (tirosh), but not drink wine (yayin)” (Mic.

6:15 ESV).

Apparently it was unnecessary for Num.

6:3-4 to mention tirosh because it already mentions enab anyway.

Certainly tirosh in Isa.

62:8-9 cannot be alcohol – else the penalty would apply for drinking any in the holy places (Lev.

10:9-11).

Even those who interpret tirosh as something intoxicating just once in Hos.

4:11 would be unlikely to claim it was always so in all other verses.

Word forms: Strong’s H8492, tiros.

See also: Judges 9:13 grapes “tirosh” cheer God and men.

Shemar: שֶׁמֶר n., preserved thing.

“preserved things” (Isa.

25:6 YLT).

This verse in Hebrew does not say yayin (wine).

Shemar is a rare word.

Word forms: Strong’s H8105, shemer, shemarim.

Khamar: חֲמַר (Ezr.

6:9; 7:22), חַמְרָא (Dan.

5:1, 2, 4, 23) n., – juice from grapes, with or without later fermentation.

(Khamar ܚܡܪܐ is found in Aramaic vocabulary, and yayin in Hebrew vocabulary.

Commentaries also refer to Aramaic as Chaldee or Syriac.)

Examples of khamar in Targum Jonathan showing that it is not exclusively alcoholic: וַחֲמַר (Isa.

16:10; Lam.

2:12), חַמְרָא (Jer.

40:10,12).

Arabic has the related word khamr خَمْر.

Word forms: Strong’s H2562, chamar, hamar, hhamra, hhamer.

See also: חֶמֶר Strong’s H2561, chemer, hemer, hhemar (Deut.

32:14).

Ahsis: עָסִיס n., fresh juice (for example fresh juice of pomegranates or other fruits).

Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13, Song 8:2.

Word forms: Strong’s H6071, asis.

Sobeh: סֹבֶא n., “drink” (Isa.

1:22 YLT).

Sobeh is a rare word.

Word forms: Strong’s H5435, sobe, sobhe.

Mishra: מִשְׁרָה n., an infusion, for example, a drink made from leftover macerated grape pulp – soaked in water.

Similarly, the water in which flax seeds are soaked is called the mishra of flax.

Mishra is a rare word, found in Num.

6:3 “liquor” of grapes in KJV; it does not simply mean ordinary grape juice.

“As, in a case where one soaked grapes in water and the water has the taste of wine, a nazirite is liable for drinking this mixture, as it assumes the status of wine.”

(Pesachim 44b) Word forms: Strong’s H4952, misra, mishrah.

But we should expect Numbers 6:3-4 Nazarite passage to mention ordinary grape juice once somewhere – specificaly by some name, not mishra.

(It even mentions Nazarites eating neither fresh grapes nor raisins.)

Indeed the text does name grape juice once because the same verse Num.

6:3 also twice mentions yayin יַיִן – a more common word, wine both unfermented and fermented.

Matstsah: מַצָּה n., something non-fermented, unleavened; a drink or food not affected by any yeast.

Example: only unleavened things were allowed for the Passover and Unleavened Feast, and for all of the most holy offerings of the Jews.

English translators sometimes say “Feast of Unleavened Bread” but the word לֶחֶם lechem (bread) is not actually in the Hebrew text.