by Luke A Welch
Wiki: J Amman – “The Brewer” – 16th C. engraving.
Many Christians believe that the Bible opposes the consumption of alcohol. Contrary to the thinking of these Christian abstainers, the Scriptures actually promote the wide cultural and individual use of alcohol. This is most evident in the command to drink wine in the Lord’s Supper, but today I want to take a fun little trip back to tithing laws in the Old Testament.
And what a fun topic! Partly because it is fun to get to release people from false laws and ungodly guilt. And partly because beer is designed to be fun, in and of itself; wine, indeed, maketh the heart merry (Ps 104.15). I may try to write several posts about this, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, let’s start with something you missed in the Sunday School of a Teetotalling church.
A BIBLE PASSAGE THAT THEY DIDN’T TEACH YOU
22 “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
28 “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
(Dt 14.22-29)
Yep. You have to tithe your wine and beer a.
According to the Bible, God didn’t just take up a monetary tithe, but a tithe of your earnings, which would include your produce, your cattle, and even your booze. If you get to enjoy it, then so should God! But do you see the amazing thing about the method God has given for you to give God your tithe of wine and strong drink? GIVE IT TO PEOPLE IN A CELEBRATION OF GOD’S GOODNESS!
PARTIES FOR THE NEEDY
Sometimes God blesses us with so much income of animals, grain, and liquor that it would be hard to carry to the designated place. So he instructed that if you couldn’t carry all your stuff, you could turn it to money, and then back into fun stuff when you got to the appointed Levitical city. Why? Because God is interested in pleasure. You are tithing to a meal shared with others. Levites and orphans and widows and your whole family get to partake together in these celebratory meals, and God cares about their pleasure too. And they can’t eat money. But they can eat lamb and drink beer.
This reminds me, ironically, of the response of a baptist. Charles Spurgeon, when asked why he was soliciting funds for his orphanage instead of preaching for souls, gave a humorous reply. Wasn’t Spurgeon about souls? Was he really after cash? Spurgeon’s jocund response:
“Normally I do preach for souls and not for money. But my orphans can’t eat souls and if they did, my brother, it would take at least four the size of yours to give one of them a square meal” b
Spurgeon was going to take cash and turn it into food, “square meals,” and share it with the needy. Spurgeon, although a baptist, was not a teetotaler. Spurgeon enjoyed his wine and cigars. And his light heart is worth imitating. God wants his people to share in joy and merry-making with their pastors, their neighbors, their relatives, and their poor. Which means sharing what good things you have. Which requires us to have merry making food and drink, whenever we are so blessed. This doesn’t automatically mean a boon in funds will turn into alcohol. But we certainly may not forbid it of others, and it would be nice to have to offer to all those poor people who can’t ever get funds to buy it themselves.
SHARING MEANS YOU ARE INVITED TO THE PARTY
Also look at another benefit for yourself here: if you have been commanded to host this party, you are also one of the guests. You are to be present, and to partake. What a great verse to memorize: “And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household” (Dt 14.26)
Maybe we should consider tee-totalling to be about tee-total-tithing. That is, not a rule about tithing in the New Testament, but the awareness that the whole tithe of the Old Testament which was to be brought into the storehouse included merrymaking beverages. God’s tithing rules aren’t made to steal from you. They are made in order to insure your pleasure, and that you connect the pleasure of the food to the God who grows grain and brews fine drinks for the widow and the Levite. He has also made you connect tithing and joyful feasting in order to bless the continuance of covenantal joy throughout your generations. Tithing your beer and sharing it with the poor is one of the God invented means of teaching your children holiness and the fear of the Lord. Teaching love, and humility, and joy.
And so it insures ministry.
Look around your church, there may be a widow wasting her last mite on God. He might be directing your family to waste the last good bottle of wine on her.
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Luke Welch has a master’s degree from Covenant Seminary and preaches regularly in a conservative Anglican church in Maryland. He blogs about Bible structure at SUBTEXT. Follow Luke on Twitter: @lukeawelch<>
- The Hebrew for “strong drink” includes alcohols from grains, as opposed to wines. This mostly means beer, but is not restricted to only beer. (back)
- I found this quote here, but I heard it many years ago in another source. (back)
Fantastic article. As a homebrewer, I’ll need to think of a way to tithe my beer.
Luke, are you related to the famous teetotaler, Thomas Welch? That would be an interesting connection.
I am not related, as far as I know. But I would love to see the name Welch redeemed from the sad distinction of having convinced the church to abandon the command of the Lord.
If you are going to point out verses 22-29 and abide by those verses, you need also to be aware of verses 1-22. If you are going to follow one to the “T”, then you should probably follow the rest as well. The Bible isn’t meant to be a “buffet” where you pick and choose what you want. Which by the way, that would mean no more bacon, no more pork, no more lobster or crab or mussels or scallops, or calamari or shrimp… Or you could (with your master’s degree) come to the realization that Deuteronomy is a book of law, and after what Christ did on the cross we are no longer under the law, and for that I give you Romans to read over.
Heather, I think you are missing the point. Luke’s point about tithing beer is not about keeping every aspect of the Mosaic law but looking at the law of God and seeing what He cares about. If God thought beer was evil (like many Christians unfortunately do) He wouldn’t include it as part of the feast with Him.
Furthermore, yes, Deuteronomy is a book of law, and it doesn’t take a Master’s Degree (or envy over a Master’s Degree) to see that. That’s not a bad thing. Because of what Christ did on the cross we are no longer under the law, and He has written the law on our hearts. Because of His work on the cross, law is now grace, and for that I give you Psalm 119.
Hi Heather, thanks for your comment. I believe you think I am saying something very different than what I was saying. I am not promoting a modern day following of all details of the the Mosaic Law. I am definitely not making stricter rules. I am asking people to recognize that the Bible explicitly tells us that God likes his people to drink alcohol together. It blesses God’s creator’s heart. Of course, we don’t seek drunkenness, but that’s because the Bible’s law tells us not to be drunk.
I do agree with you that we cannot pick and choose. We can only have any change of law because a new priest is in office, and that brings detail changes, and we do know that from several places in the New Testament, like Peter’s dream about food laws (Acts 10). Also, Hebrews tells us this: “For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well,” (Heb 7.12). And we know that the detail aspects changed. But principally the Law is the same.
So what I was saying is that in principal some people restrict use of alcohol without warrant.
Blessings,
Luke