- abuse and violence of the heart
- Genesis and the story of Joseph
- Genesis and the fall of man
- and some other things that I can't place my finger on now
How about Joseph.
Genesis 43:34 is a very interesting verse.
In the NAS it reads:
He took portions to them from his own table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.It seems obvious, doesn't it? But in fact, the end is translated incorrectly in this version, and in every version available on blueletterbible.org (a frequent reference site for me).
In Hebrew, this verse reads something like, "And he lifted portions (liftings up) from [before] his face to them, and much was the portion of Benjamin from the portions of all of them: five hands. And they drank and they got drunk with him."
That's really what it says! These words aren't ambiguous either. Rather plain. To drink. To get drunk.
Does it make you wonder? It makes me wonder. It makes me wonder if the gentile translators of the Bible had an agenda (Jewish translations translate this correctly; Judaism itself doesn't have any of the stigmas Christianity has concerning drinking). It makes me wonder how this plays in metaphorically, since many people view Joseph and the details of his life as a foreshadowing of the Messiah. It also makes me wonder what happened in that room that evening. :) The possibilities there are endless.
As a point of note: the word for "drunk" used there is in fact translated as "drunk" in every other usage in the Bible--Noah, Hannah, Uriah the Hittite, and many prophetic passages--with the exception of one other. Song of Solomon 5:1:
I am come into my garden, my sister, [my] spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. [KJV]"Drink abundantly" is this same word. There are only two versions (out of the 12 English versions available on BLB) who translate this other than "drink abundantly." NAS translates it "imbibe deeply" and ESV translates it, "be drunk."
So what do you think? When was the last time you got drunk?
In Luke 21:34 (Amplified) it says, "But take heed to yourselves and be on guard lest your heart be overburdened, overcharged or depressed (weighed down)with the giddiness, headache and nausea of self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to the business of this life, lest that day come upon you like a trap or a noose"...Placing all of those things together that would crowd your soul and possibly keep you from hearing clearly from God. This is not to say that having a drink would be drunkenness, but because Luke wrote this, and from a physician's standpoint he would have knowledge of what those things mentioned do to the mind, will and the emotions and how, of course, they affect the body also in a negative way.
ReplyDeleteDid I understand you correctly in the blog that you were saying there is a place for it, being drunk I mean? It is a known fact that worry has bad physical effects and they are rather lumped together--the overindulgence can be in quite a few areas, too...can't imagine what the purpose would be to be out of your right mind drunk and that it is actually kind of a dangerous place to be...just makes me think of a few of these things...not sure if I am being clear at this point, hope so, as drinking per se has never been a taboo, from my perspective.
Thank you for allowing comments.
*Anon - Thank you for a respectful comment. I do not think that worry is the only reason to drink. Certainly some do for this reason, but in the Scriptures we have many examples of drinking for festivities, celebrations, marriages, and so forth. These sorts of occasions are what I am talking about when I say there may even be a place for it. Joyous occasions are certainly a good time to drink; whether they may also be a good occasion to get drunk may be up for debate, and I am willing to leave this to personal conscience.
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