Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DRINK, DRINKING

Drink and drinking occur in various contexts: (1) consumption of fluids for bodily sustenance; (2) communal celebration and bonding; (3) cultic or sacramental usage; (4) metaphorically, denoting divine and human activity; and (5) symbolically, for the sustenance of the earth by rain.

The natural common drinks were water, milk, wine, grape juice, and vinegar. Beer was also consumed widely in the ancient Near East as early as the Early Bronze Age. Because water was such a premium commodity, abundant sources were highly treasured. Iconography is replete in the ancient Near East portraying the various liquids as gifts from the deities for the sustenance of human life. Drinking and eating were to be done to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31); excess and abuse were condemned (Prov. 23:21; Isa. 22:13).

People who drank and ate together formed a special communal bond, sharing joyous times (Job 1:18). Wine was a symbol of God’s blessing on the land, and consumption of the best quality marked special occasions. Jesus’ first recorded miracle in the Gospel of John was the turning of water into wine at a marriage feast (John 2:1-11). Offering drink to visitors was a common act of hospitality (Judg. 4:19). Giving a drink to someone in need is an act of Christian compassion (Matt. 25:35).

According to the law of the tithe, the people were to eat and drink their gifts in the presence of the Lord with rejoicing, celebrating God’s beneficence (Deut. 14:22-27). A drink offering (Heb. neseḵ) was poured out to the Lord at the sanctuary during many of the festival offerings (e.g., Num. 28:7-8, 10).

Red wine, drunk in the Passover commemoration, was symbolic of the blood of the Passover lamb and Israel’s covenant with God. In the Last Supper, the wine is reinterpreted as a symbol of a new covenant in Jesus’ blood (Luke 22:7-20). The communion cup is to be drunk in remembrance, celebration, and proclamation of the death of Christ for the sins of humanity (1 Cor. 11:25-26).

Drinking is used metaphorically in contexts of human reception of divine judgment and human abuse. Since Judah had rejected the covenant and forsaken her God, the “fountain of living waters” (Jer. 2:13; 17:13), she would drink poisoned water (8:14) and drink destruction (Isa. 51:17-22; Ezek. 23:32-34; Ps. 75:8[MT 9]). In the end all nations would drink the cup of God’s fury (Jer. 25:19-29; Rev. 14:9-10). Human injustice was portrayed in terms of drinking (Isa. 5:22-23) and its abuse (Jer. 35:1-9), whereas in restoration Israel drinks the wine of God’s blessing (Isa. 27:2-5; 43:19-21).

Sustenance for the earth is depicted in the manner of its drinking the waters from the heavens and the earth (Gen. 2:6; Deut. 11:11; Ezek. 31:14; Heb. 6:7).

R. Dennis Cole

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DRINK, DRINKING

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)