Wisdom’s Take on Late Night Drinking
Prv 23:28-33
“Pour out wine till I become a wanderer from myself; for in selfhood and existence I have felt only fatigue…Wine that is forbidden for the sober, Is allowed for the drunk dervish.
O, cupbearer, don’t tell it’s enough for me — I will drink till wine ends!”
The 13th Century Sufi poet Rumi often refers to wine as a metaphor for spiritual states of consciousness more elevated than the ordinary. In the context of Islam’s ban on drinking wine most readers of such Sufi poetry over the ages consider his words, and those of many other important Sufi poets as mere metaphor and not to be taken literally. The tension between spiritual ecstasy and religious rigidity is found in all religions, and when it comes to substances such as spirits there is a wide range of responses.
Wine shows up in the biblical landscape as the first human response to crisis - almost the first thing that Noah does when he emerges from the ark post flood is plant a vineyard so that he can create wine. But it’s no surprise that by the time we get to Proverbs there are some strands of moral standing that are vehemently opposed to drinking and what might be the aftermath.
Judaism never embraced a wine ban such as Islam and has not produced a Temperance Movement as has Christianity, so the verses in today’s chapter stand out as Wisdom’s warning against excessive drinking includes explicit examples of how bad it can get:
לְמִ֨י א֥וֹי לְמִ֢י אֲב֡וֹי לְמִ֤י מדונים לְמִ֥י שִׂ֗יחַ לְ֭מִי פְּצָעִ֣ים חִנָּ֑ם לְ֝מִ֗י חַכְלִל֥וּת עֵינָֽיִם׃ לַֽמְאַחֲרִ֥ים עַל־הַיָּ֑יִן לַ֝בָּאִ֗ים לַחְקֹ֥ר מִמְסָֽךְ׃ אַל־תֵּ֥רֶא יַּיִן֮ כִּ֤י יִתְאַ֫דָּ֥ם כִּֽי־יִתֵּ֣ן בַּכּ֣וֹס עֵינ֑וֹ יִ֝תְהַלֵּ֗ךְ בְּמֵֽישָׁרִֽים אַ֭חֲרִיתוֹ כְּנָחָ֣שׁ יִשָּׁ֑ךְ וּֽכְצִפְעֹנִ֥י יַפְרִֽשׁ׃ עֵ֭ינֶיךָ יִרְא֣וּ זָר֑וֹת וְ֝לִבְּךָ֗ יְדַבֵּ֥ר תַּהְפֻּכֽוֹת׃
Who cries, “Woe!” who, “Alas!”;
Who has quarrels, who complaints;
Who has wounds without cause;
Who has bleary eyes?
Those whom wine keeps till the small hours,
Those who gather to drain the cups.
Do not ogle that red wine
As it lends its color to the cup,
As it flows on smoothly;
In the end, it bites like a snake;
It spits like a basilisk.
Your eyes will see strange sights;
Your heart will speak distorted things.
Prv 23:28-33
Between the strict ban on spirits and the abundance of alcoholism is the middle way - the path of moderation and wise consumption, which is perhaps what Wisdom suggests here. The Sufi and other mystical poets may be advocating for excess, whether real wine in cups or the allegory of the spirit, but like all seekers of the sacred they too know when too much can be a terrible thing with a headache the next day. And while there is no prohibition in Jewish law against drinking - Wisdom wants us to be thoughtful about our consumption, weary of the late night reveling and sending us home to bed. Somehow there’s the middle path, and we will find the way.
L’chayim. To life and health, body and soul, in wise moderation, for all.
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