The temperance Bible-commentary: giving at one view, version, criticism, and exposition, in regard to all passages of Holy Writ bearing on 'wine' and 'strong drink,'

Front matter

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Bill

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Preface to the Notes xiv

Explanations of marks and abbreviations, etc. .... xvi

II. — Preliminary Dissertation xvii

III. — Notes on the Books of the Old Testament (493 Passages),

COMPRISING —

The Book of Genesis 17 No of Passages 3

The Book of Exodus .... 16 " 26

The Book of Leviticus 20 " 34

The Book of Numbers .... 21 " 41

The Book of Deuteronomy .... 35 " 51

The Book of Joshua 5 " 66

The Book of Judges 14 " 68

The Book of Ruth 2 " 77

The First Book of Samuel 11 " 79

The Second Book of Samuel ... 5 " 85

The First Book of Kings .... 8 " 88

The Second Book of Kings ... n " 91

The First Book of Chronicles ... 6 " 96

The Second Book of Chronicles - 11 " 98

The Book of Ezra .--.-- 6 " 101

The Book of Nehemiah .... 15 " 103

The Book of Esther 11 " 108

The Book of Job ..... 10 " 113

The Book of Psalms 26 " 117

The Book of Proverbs .... 26 " 129

The Book of Ecclesiastes .... 7 " 147

The Book of Canticles (or Song of Solomon) 18 " 150

The Book of the Prophet Isaiah ... 65 " 156

The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah - 32 " 184

The Book of the Lamentations of Jeremiah - 5 " 202

The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel - - 13 " 205

The Book of the Prophet Daniel ... 6 " 211

The Book of the Prophet Hosea - - 17 " 217

The Book of the Prophet Joel - - 14 " 225

The Book of the Prophet Amos - - - 10 " 229

The Book of the Prophet Obadiah I " 233

The Book of the Prophet Jonah - 1 " 234

VI TABLE OF CONTENTS.

The Book of the Prophet Micah - - - 5 No of Passages 235

The Book of the Prophet Nahum - 2 " 238

The Book of the Prophet Habakkuk - 4 " 239

The Book of the Prophet Zephaniah - 2 " 242

The Book of the Prophet Haggai ... 5 " 243

The Book of the Prophet Zechariah - 7 " 245

The Book of the Prophet Malachi I " 248

Additional Notes on the Old Testament:

The Book of Genesis, 1 Supplemental Note .... 249 The Book of Exodus, I Supplemental Note, I New

Note ..- 1 Passage 249

The Book of Numbers, I New Note - - 1 " 250

The Book of Deuteronomy, I Supplemental Note, ... 250

The Book of Esther, 1 Supplemental Note .... 250

The Book of Proverbs, I Supplemental Note' - - - 25 1

The Book of Canticles, I Supplemental Note - - - - 251

IV. — Connection of the Old and New Testaments .... 252

V — Notes on the Books of the New Testament (144 Passages), Comprising — The Gospel according to St Matthew 21 No of Passages 261

The Gospel according to St Mark - - 6 " 289

The Gospel according to St Luke - - - 16 " 292

The Gospel according to St John - 8 " 301

The Acts of the Apostles .... 9 " 312

The Epistle of St Paul to the Romans - 12 " 320

The First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians 19 " 328

The Second Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians 2 " 346

The Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians 6 " 348

The Epistle of St Paul to the Ephesians - I " 352

The Epistle of St Paul to the Philippians - 2 " 355

The Epistle of St Paul to the Colossians - 3 " 357

The First Epistle of St Paul to the Thessalonians 3 " 360

The First Epistle of St Paul to Timothy 7 " 367

The Epistle of St Paul to Titus ... 4 « 377

The Epistle of St Paul to Philemon - I " 379

The General Epistle to the Hebrews - I " 380

The General Epistle of St James - 3 " 381

The First General Epistle of St Peter - 6 " 383

The Second General Epistle of St Peter I " 388

The Book of the Revelation of St John - 13 " 389

VI. — Appendix A: A Selection of Scripture Texts, Exhibiting the Authorized English Version with Suggested Emendations.

1. The Old Testament 397

2. The New Testament 408

TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll

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VII. — Appendix B, containing Classified and Translated Lists of Hebrew and Greek Words in the Old and New Testaments.

Old Testament:

1. Hebrew Words translated Wine and Strong Drink - 412

2. Hebrew Words translated Vineyard, Vine, etc. - - 419

3. Hebrew Words translated Leaven, Vinegar, Unfermented

Bread, etc. 421

4. Hebrew Words translated Drunken, Drunkenness and

Drunkard 422

5. Hebrew Words descriptive of the Nature and Effects of

Intoxicating Drink 422

6. Other Hebrew Words explained in the Notes - - 423

New Testament :

1. Greek Words translated Wine, Strong Drink and Vinegar 425

2. Greek Words translated Vine, Vineyard, Fruit of the

Vine, Grapes, Clusters - 426

3. Greek Words translated Leaven, Unleavened Bread,

Drunkenness, Drunkard, Drunk, Temperance, Sober - 427

4. Other New Testament Greek Words explained in the

Notes 428

VIII. — Appendix C: The Application of 'Yayin' and 'Oinos' to

the Unfermented Juice of the Grape - 431

IX. — Appendix D : Wines, Ancient and Modern.

1. Original Authorities on Ancient Wines ... 434

2. Produce of Vineyards in the East 441

3. Notice of Fallacies in the Bibliotheca Sacra - - 446

GENERAL PREFACES.

i.

Christians everywhere unite in accepting the saying of St Paul that all God-inspired Scripture is " profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works'* (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). But the profit derived from Divine Truth will necessarily vary according to the degree of teachableness and soundness of judgment brought to its perusal. The Bible is not accountable for the multifarious errors and abuses it has been employed to support ; yet it is occasion for lamentation that on not a few great questions, both of Science and Morals, the Living Oracles have been strangely misapprehended and misapplied. Not the illiterate and vicious alone, but successive generations of scholars and divines, have enunciated mischievous fallacies professedly extracted from the Scriptures. In Physical Science, the fixity and recent creation of the earth ; in Political Philosophy, the right of arbitrary government and Negro slavery ; in Social Economy, the excellence of Polygamy ; in Ecclesiastical ethics, the duty of persecuting heretics, and the obligation of unlimited submission to the clergy : these and other baneful dogmas have been zealously propounded, not as speculative theories, but as the practical teachings of the Divine Word. That such conclusions are now commonly discarded is not due to any change in the Record,, but to a marked improvement in the manner of reading it ; and to a perception that there can be no real contradiction between one portion of Holy Scripture and another, or between the Revelation of God in Nature and in Wis Written Will.

Not less obviously true is it, that social customs and personal habits of diet and indulgence, continued from childhood upwards, may induce a state of mind inconsistent with the unbiased interpretation of Holy Writ. For example, let a man be accustomed to regard intoxicating liquor as a necessity, or even a valuable auxiliary, of life, and as an innocent vehicle of enjoyment and social entertainment ; let him remain ignorant of all that can be said and has been proved to the contrary ; let him consider the intemperance arising from strong drink to be one of the inevitable forms of natural depravity, and therefore to be classed in its origin as well as its results with other sins of the flesh ; let him persuade himself that the ordinary means of Christian evangelization are sufficient to eradicate this prolific vice with its dismal progeny of social curses: let all this be done, and it will no longer appear surprising that many of the allusions contained in both the Old and New Testaments are construed in favor of the use of such drink, and that other passages, clearly opposite in their tendency, should be ignored or explained away. This may be done in perfect good faith, and without any consciousness of the process by which the one-sided exegesis is wrought out.

Accordingly, when the Temperance Reformation began, some of the

earliest arguments brought against it were borrowed (as was supposed)

from the armory of Scripture texts; and down to the present time many

who hold aloof from that cause, defend their estrangement by a similar

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AUTHORS' preface.

appeal to Scripture precedent and approval. Some even go the length of charging abstainers with a conduct at variance not only with the privileges, but with the duties of the Christian dispensation, and accuse them of seeking to impose a code of asceticism contrary to the genial and liberal spirit of the Gospel. In controverting what have been represented as the views of Temperance writers upon the wines named in Scripture, some critics have ignorantly attributed to them the most absurd positions — such as that all those wines were unfermented and uninebriating — while they themselves have neglected to distinguish between the various terms translated 'wine,' and have confounded the use of intoxicating liquor by men of old, and the permission of such use, with the express sanction and blessing of God.

To some friends of the Temperance movement a work of this character may appear superfluous. Certain of them may be disposed to deny that the question is one for Bible arbitration or reference at all ; while others may be prepared to concede that Scripture permits and approves the use of strong drink, though also permitting and approving of abstinence from it. It is in vain, however, to expect that the Bible will cease to be quoted as an authority on the subject of Temperance ; nor is it desirable that its store of facts should be overlooked, or its testimony left unexamined and disregarded. Those who contend that ' liberty to abstain ' is all that is needed as an argumentative basis for abstinence, will find themselves undeceived when they attempt to urge the practice upon others as a duty ; for how can that be a duty, it will be asked, the opposite of which is sanctioned by both the letter and the spirit of the Divine Word ? Besides, even the argument from Christian expediency, to which such friends attach a high (if not exclusive) importance, cannot be understood without an appeal to passages of Scripture whose true meaning and legitimate bearing have been warmly contested.

In reply to the inquiry, which may not be discourteously proposed, whether the authors of this Commentary can claim to be exempt from a bias in favor of abstinence which may have inspired and controlled their exposition? — they can but say that they have been fully sensible of their liability to such an influence, and have therefore endeavored to counteract its operation by carefully weighing all adverse arguments, and by placing before the reader the materials by which he may form for himself an independent judgment as to the correctness of the inferences drawn. They have honestly sought, with trust in Divine aid, to discover the truth contained in the passages successively discussed ; and, in consigning the fruit of their labors to the press, they pray that the blessing of Heaven may attend it so far as it is adapted to promote the faithful, intelligent study of Scripture, and a more perfect sympathy with the spirit of the Psalmist, "Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes ; and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. ' '

The Authors.

AMERICAN SUPPLEMENTARY PREFACE. XI

II

I have given to the book entitled The Temperance Bible Commen* tary as close an examination as my poor health will allow. The result has been a high opinion of its value. The preliminary dissertation is able, clear, comprehensive ; above all, exhibiting that sound common sense which, in the interpretation of the Scriptures, would avoid the perversions of pedantry on the one hand, and all forced attempts to make out a rigid conformity to modern science on the other. This is very happily illustrated by the remark that " the Bible is not a book of science, dictated in technical and scholastic language, but a book of life, written in the language of daily life, of national history, of popular apologue." There has been committed on this topic (as is well shown in the ' Introduction ') the same error of interpretation that so long perverted and confused the Slavery question. It was the error of applying ancient words, and ancient ideas expressed by them, to modern things, modern relations, and modern practices, which, though covered by the same general language, had undergone a change so great, as to amount to almost a radical difference. What a wide distance, for example, between the Abrahamic relation of chieftain and follower, or the domestic service of the simple Jewish agricultural life, to which the commercial ideas of sale and traffic were almost wholly unknown, and the vile, mercenary, man-degrading slavery of a Brazilian cotton and sugar plantation! The anti-temperance writers err in the same way when they apply the artless language of Scripture (as used of the comparatively harmless substances they often represent) to the vile and noxious compounds which, in modern times, pass under similar names. The ordinary wine of Palestine, even if it did contain a little alcohol, unknown to any science of the day — a question which is hardly worth discussing — what a vast difference between this and the fiery potations now manufactured for our hotels, our drinking saloons, and alas! too often, it must be said, for our holy, Christian communion tables. And yet these modern compounds are also called 'wine,' and those who use them would shelter themselves under the old appellations which, in the days of Noah and David, were given to such widely different things. Anti-temperance critics are fond of charging the zealous temperance advocate with perversions of Scripture and strained interpretations. This is doubtless true in some cases, but the fault is far more apt to be on the other side. The whole scope and spirit of a precept is often overlooked by the

Xll AMERICAN PREFACE.

wine advocate, and some mere contrast or illustration (belonging, not to the inspired heart of the passage, but to the necessarily imperfect human language in which it is conveyed, and to the imperfect human knowledge which is an inseparable accompaniment of such language) is elevated into all the dignity and authority of & precept , commanding us directly to drink wine, as though it were good per se — a duty, in fact, the neglect of which would be a slighting of the Divine beneficence. The much-talked-of sin per se of the other side, however strained and harsh it may sometimes appear, is far more sound and rational. Thus, for example, Proverbs xxxi: 6-7, is taken by some as not only a perfect justification of wine-drinking as a common practice, but even as a command to do so in certain cases. When we look, however, at the whole passage, and study its spirit, we find it to be one of the strongest abstinence texts in the whole Bible. " Not for kings, not for kings" — it is twice repeated — "not for princes," not for rulers, not for men who have charge of high interests, not for men in health (as is the fair implication) who have responsible duties to perform — it is not for these, not at all for these, to drink wine. They are not to touch it. This is the only meaning of language so repeated, so intense, so emphatic.

The Bible writers may err in their manner of conceiving, and in their mode of stating physical facts (as, for example, in the statement that "the moon" may "smite by night"). Their true inspiration belongs to a higher plane. In the knowledge, however, of spiritual conditions, whether good or evil, our modern science gives us no advantage over them. There is one evil state of soul condemned throughout the Bible. It is that state to which we give the name intoxication, or inebriation, but which, having no term corresponding to it in the Hebrew, is described and most vividly set before us (see Prov. xxiii : 29, 35) in its phenomena and effects. It was, on the part of the Bible writers, simply the observation of a spiritual fact, requiring no chemical analysis, or any scientific knowledge in respect to the working or degree of alcohol. As a spiritual fact, it was as well known to Jeremiah, Hosea, and the author of the book of Proverbs, as it is to Faraday, Liebig, and Draper. It is the act of a person in health, voluntarily, and without any other motive or reason than the pleasurable stimulus, using any substance whatever, be it solid or liquid, to produce an unnatural change in his healthy mental and bodily state, either by way of exciting or quieting the nerves and brain, or quickening the pulse. This was wrong — a spiritual wrong — a sin per se —

AMERICAN PREFACE. Xlil

not a matter of excess merely, but wrong and evil in any, even the smallest, measure or degree. Although there might be much ignorance in respect to its real internal causation, the outward substances known to produce this effect — above all, which were used for the very purpose of producing it (for here was the spiritual crime) — are denounced as something which men are not to touch — not even " to look at." The description may be scientifically correct or erroneous ; it may also be difficult to determine, precisely, what is meant by certain Hebrew phrases in this remarkable passage; but the general sense, as well as the precise point intended, is unmistakably clear. It is intoxicating drink that is meant — intoxicating in any degree — drink sought for that very purpose of producing such unnatural change in the healthy hu?nan system. There was to be no moderate drinking (or desire) here. However gentle, exhilarating, convivial, or pleasantly soothing might be its first effects, at the last "it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder."

Such is the doctrine taught in the artless Scripture language, and sometimes in passages quoted as in their favor. Nothing could be better calculated to impress this great spiritual lesson than the array of scriptural texts in the book before us. There may be dissent, just dissent perhaps, from some of the writers' exegetical reasoning. This, however, affects but little the great and real merit of the work. It is unique in its kind, as a collection, and fair presentation, of everything in Scripture that can possibly bear on either aspect of the temperance question. We have it all here. // sets before us the whole matter. There is given every passage from our common version. Added to this, there is a faithful presentation of the Hebrew in Roman letters. We have also copious and satisfactory citations from the ancient versions — Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Chaldaic — together with a great deal of most valuable ancient and modern commentary. It may be safely said that, aside from its bearing on the temperance question, the book is a very important contribution to Biblical knowledge in general. Had it been the work of some German author, intended simply as a Biblical aid to the understanding of an important department of Hebrew words and Hebrew usages, it would have been well received as a valuable addition to our sacred literature.

Tayler Lewis, LL. D.

Union College, Schenectady, 1869.

Preface To The Notes

In order to accurate Biblical exposition two conditions are indispensable — a correct state of the Text, and a correct analysis of its terms. There will then remain to be secured a proper apprehension of each passage in its entireness, in its relation to the context, and in its application to the whole body of revealed Truth and Duty.

I. The State of the Original Text is chiefly to be gathered, —

1. As to the Old Testament, from a comparison of the Received Hebrew Text

with, — (i) The Hebrew Samaritan Text and the Samaritan Version, which are limited to the Pentateuch.

(2) The Greek Versions, especially the Septuagint Version (executed in parts

between 270 and 170 B.C.),* as it exists in the Alexandrine and Vatican Codices (marked A and B), with the Aldine and Complutensian editions and the variations preserved in Origen's Hexapla; also the Versions of Aquila (about 120 a.d.), Theodotion (executed about 130 A.D.), and Symmachus (about 200 A.D. ), all of which have come down to us in a fragmentary form.

(3) The Latin Vulgate, which consists of St Jerome's translation (390 A.D.)

except the Book of Psalms, which is in the old Italic Version. The Vulgate is the Authorized Version of the Roman Catholic Church.

(4) The Targums (z. e. Interpretations) of Onkelos, Jonathan, Pseudo-

Jonathan, Jerusalem, etc. These Targums were executed subsequently to the Christian era, except perhaps that of Onkelos, who is supposed to have lived B.C. 50. They are written in the Aramaean or Western dialect of the Chaldee.

(5) The Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arabic Versions.

2. As to the New Testament, the Original Text is to be gathered from a

comparison of the Received Greek Text, as fixed by Stephens (1550), with, —

(1) The Alexandrine Codex, executed in the fourth or fifth century, which

wants Matthew i. — xxv. 5 ; John vi. 50 — viii. 52 ; 2 Corinthians iv. 3 — xii. 7.

(2) The Vatican Codex No. 1209, of about the same date, which wants

Hebrews from ix. 14, the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, and the Apocalypse.

* This title, signifying ' the Version of the Seventy,' arose from an ancient but untenable tradition, that seventy learned men were simultaneously engaged at Alexandria in the production of this particular translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.