Give beer to the perishing?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember this misery no more." Proverbs 31:6,7

This is a strange passage if taken out of context. It sounds as if the unknown King Lemuel's mother is advocating that we don't help the poor but give them drink so they can forget their hunger, and promise them heaven in the next life if they'll contentedly live in hell this life. But read the context, what came before and after this passage, and you see that what she is saying is that if we do not do our duty and help the poor, they have no hope, and might as well drink their sorrows away.

In verse three King Lemuel's mother warns, "It is not for kings, O Lemuel--not for kings to drink wine, nor for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights."

This reminds me of the passage yesterday, Proverbs 30:8, in which Agur asked to be given only his daily bread, for too little and he might steal, too much and he might forget his God. IF we do indeed have more than our portion of our daily bread, where does it come from? In "Our Daily Homily" (1890s), F.B. Meyer wrote of Prov. 30:8:

God knows what you need for the maintenance of physical life and strength. The body ismore than meat, and to have given you this is a pledge that He will give you that. The body is the vehicle and organ of the soul, and since God has given such a wonderful instrument into your custody, He is bound as need arises to furnish needful supplies. He could not expect that you should do what He has arranged should be done in your life, without providing for the repaid and maintenance of the wonderful machine through which alone your life-plan can be realize.d Trust in his faithfulness. He cannot deny Himself."

But Meyer ends his comments with "Notice the alternative rendering of the R.V., 'The bread of my portion.' In God's granaries there is our share of corn already calculated for and provided. Let us ask for and claim it. We have no wish to have more than our share, or to despoil others."

I'm not sure who Meyer was talking about when he said that 'we have no wish to have more than our share.' He was not speaking of the America or Britain of his day, and he is certainly not speaking of our society today, when all of life is about "me" and "more". And there is nothing wrong abundance. Christ promised abundance. Jabez prayed for abundance (and his prayer has become a magic mantra for Christians who pray it as if it were the key to the state lottery--forgetting that God answered Jabez prayer only because he was also more righteous than his brothers; there was a condition to his blessings).

The problem with abundance is if we obtain it at the wrongful expense of others--if we take their portion to enlarge our own. This is not to say that all are equal; even Christ taught that those who are capable are given more, but those who are incapable lose even the little they have. But how do we increase our portion?

This brings me back to the sayings of King Lemuel's mother in Prov. 31. She warned that kings who drink too much wine (meaning a life of excess and irresponsibility) "deprive all the oppressed of their rights." For how else could they afford such a lifestyle? But she doesn't leave it there. After saying to let the poor drink away their sorrows, she adds in Proverbs 31: 8,9:

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for therights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly, defend the rights of the poor and needy."

So in reality King Lemuel's mother is not at all advocating that kings should not drink wine or that the poor should be drunkards, but rather that kings should live responsibly, not abuse their position, and defend the oppressed--as Christ also taught. And if Kings live such lives, the poor will not need to forget their misery in drink.

This verse applies to you and I as much as it does to kings because we, by our position and wealth, are also kings, relatively speaking. We have power and influence over the lives of the poor by the decisions we make daily, individually and collectively. Many Christians love to sing about being kings in heaven, wearing crowns, ruling the nations, etc. But I wonder why on earth our Father would give us a crown or authority for eternity if we cannot accept responsibility in these brief threescore and ten years allotted to us here and now.

Read "The Opium Wars" (a brief but sobering account)
http://www.amoymagic.com/OpiumWar.htm

Give us this day not others' daily bread but our own.
Bill Brown
Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com