Proverbs 31:6-7: Give Them Beer?

Some have been startled by these two verses and have had trouble fitting them in with the rest of scriptural teaching. The problem here is to determine who are those who are "perishing" and "in anguish." And why do they need a drink to lessen the pain of their misery and to help them forget their poverty? The reference is cryptic, to say the least.

If we are to construct a response, Proverbs 31:6-7 must be set in its larger context. At the very minimum, the section comprises Proverbs 31:4-7. A contrast is set up between kings, who are advised against drinking lest they be incapable of responding justly when the oppressed come to them for legal relief, and those who are perishing and who carry no responsibilities such as the king carries.

Thus this proverb begins by warning us that wine and beer could cause the king to compromise his integrity. If the king were to become addicted to alcohol to escape the rigors of his office and the burdens of his responsibilities, he would be expressing cowardice, a loss of nerve for the tasks set before him (Prov 31:4-5). A drinking sovereign would have his vitality sapped; his mind would not be clear, but unpredictable, irresponsible and inconsistent.

On the other hand, the king is urged to give wine and beer to those who need respite from the intolerable weight of their burdens. Whether these individuals were only criminals who had been condemned to die or whether a much larger group is meant cannot be determined from this text.

It is true that condemned convicts were given a potion just prior to their execution. Perhaps it was on the grounds of this proverb that the noblewomen of Jerusalem prepared a sop for Jesus as he hung on the cross, but Jesus rejected it, apparently because he wished to be sensitive to the pain for which he was giving his life (Mk 15:23; also note the Talmud: Sanhedrin 43a).

All who have read the Bible carefully are quite aware that it makes a case for moderation, not total abstinence. It is only because of the failure of many to control their drinking that many believers have advocated total abstinence; they are objecting to the large numbers of people who are abused, injured or killed each year as a result of drunkenness. Alcohol abuse has become a major moral problem in our day, and more than Mothers Against Drunk Driving should be protesting the carnage that takes place on our highways.

Yet there is the other side of the coin for those who are able to be moderate in their alcoholic intake: wine can make the heart happy (Ps 104:15) and lift one's spirits above sorrow and poverty. But lest Proverbs 31:6-7 be viewed as emphatically endorsing the use of alcohol by those who are poor and miserable, it must be remembered that the proverb aims at making a comparative judgment, not an absolute one. Ordinary men and women may drink sometimes to forget their poverty and their perplexities; the king, on the other hand, would be in danger of forgetting the law and cheating those who needed help if he adopted a similar lifestyle. The proverb is more concerned about drunken kings than it is about giving instructions for the general populace.

Furthermore, it must be kept in mind that those who are contrasted with the king may well be prisoners on death row who need something to assuage their terror in the final moments before the state takes their lives in punishment for their crimes.