Genesis 9:21: “And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.”

 

So this man of God, this one righteous person, the one who walks with God, and found favor in the sight of God, leaves the ark and the first thing he does is build a still and declares happy hour.

 

Scripture is very good when it comes to showing ones failures.  Odd, that Noah is never condemned for getting drunk although Scripture does make it clear that drunkenness is clearly sinful.  Also, we have a man who has found favor in God’s eyes, a righteous man, one who walked with  not before God.   How could such a man fall into such debauchery?  Perhaps he didn’t.

 

The word wine is a very misunderstood word and very much debated.  I offer no proof positive answer but perhaps I will give you something to think about.

 

First the word wine in the Hebrew is yayin. The Septuagint will often use the Greek word oinos which is related to the Latin word vinum which is related to the English word wine, sort of goes like this: wine, vin, oin, yin (sounds like someone who had too much wine).  Linguistically, however, they all have a similar stem.   So what is the importance of all this?  It is the sound of the same word which has been transliterated rather than the equivalent meaning which has been passed down with a different word.  In other words you will need to really trace this word back to its Semitic root to get a full understanding.  There seems to be a universally accepted definition that wine is fermented grape juice.  Thus, in our good old Western cultural thinking Bible wine must be fermented grape juice.  This is known among linguist as the one wine theory. This has led many to believe that God approves of the use of fermented wine.

 

When we look to Jewish literature we find the matter of  fermented and unfermented wine is hotly discussed.  Yayin  is used with a dual meaning for fermented and unfermented. It can also refer to many other fruits, not just grapes.  I was reading in the Talmud recently (which prompted this study) and found quite a discussion about the fermentation of wine. In the Talmud we can discover the specifics of the stages of fermentation. The first stage is from being freshly pressed to  three days.  In Baba Bathra 91a Rabbi Hiyya discusses whether freshly pressed wine could be used for Kiddush, the ceremony which welcomes the Sabbath. The Talmud concludes that freshly pressed wine (yayin) up to three days was the proper wine to use for religious ceremonies.  In the Halakot Gedalot, the earliest compendium of the Talmud we find that one is to press out a cluster of grapes just before pronouncing Kiddush.  The Talmud seems to establishes that unfermented wine was to be  used for ceremonies that would prepare one for worship.

 

When I was a pastor I tried to explain this to our board of deacons where were planning a joint meeting with the trustees and wanted to have communion and since they were all consenting adults to use real wine. Not only was I voted down, I was the poor slob who had to purchase the wine.  I went to a liquor store in the next town to avoid the gossip. It was my first time in a liquor store and I did not understand a blasted thing about wine. But I walked around trying to look sophisticated as the proprietor eyed me suspiciously.  Finally he spoke up: “Uhmmm, may I help you?”  Speaking with all the confidence I could muster I said: “I’m looking for a good wine.”  “Good wine is all I got buddy,”  the proprietor answered.  Since I already laid out my cards I decided to turn them up.  “I’m sorry, “ I said, “You see I am the pastor of the First Baptist Church and…”   “A preacher no sh.. really.” He caught himself in time.  I immediately tried to defend myself by saying: “No, you don’t understand, I need it for communion.”  The proprietor gave me a sly smile, winked and said: “Sure, I get it, that’s what all the preachers who come in here say.”  Anyways I opted out of the communion service as I had only tasted wine once in my life and that when I discovered the Jews uses the real thing for Passover. It was like drinking cough syrup. So for me good wine is unfermented wine.

 

Anyways this then brings me back to Noah.  His first order of business was to plant a vineyard. Why? To get drunk and celebrate a safe landing?  Could it be that he wanted wine to enter into worship?  Perhaps he was trying to make a good wine (my definition of unfermented) but miscalculated and accidently got himself soused. Here’s a little known fact. Your very orthodox Jews believe you just don’t just jump into prayer and pray, you  prepare yourself for prayer.  Why do we miss this in Christianity?  The Jews believe you must spend time reciting Scripture, meditating on God and his majesty to clear your mind of foreign thoughts.  In Christianity we call that putting the flesh under control.  It is very possible that Noah was drinking the wine as a ceremonial process to enter into the presence of God. He miscalculated the fermentation and ended up getting drunk.

 

I tend to follow another idea.  The word used here for drunk is shacar.  Shacar does mean intoxication, but if you trace this to its very Semitic root you find it has the idea of a gift.  It is very possible and much more logical, particularly in light of Jewish tradition (although most Jewish works I have read feel old Noah got himself bombed)  that the wine Noah drank was not fermented and did not produce intoxication in Noah but manifested a gift.  In Acts we read something about a gift of the Spirit which caused men to act like they were drunk.  Sure Noah was butt naked, but there is evidence that in some cultures ancient man, in private worship, not only removed his sandals, but everything else as a sign of removing all earthly manmade garments to appear in only what only God created.  In such cultures, there are some heavy restrictions on protecting the privacy of the worshipper and some very strong consequences if anyone ignored such restrictions and took a peek. Punishment ranged  from banishment up to death.   Then again, perhaps his son was punished for mocking him for being drunk in the Spirit. I mean, who, has not seen someone act goofy when they are just filled with the joy of Lord.  In Acts 2 we see Christians who are behaving in a way that appears to be drunken, when really they are just filled with the Spirit.

 

Subscribe to our free Daily Hebrew Word Study for in-depth commentary using Biblical Hebrew!

* indicates required