Questions Answered by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 2, 1882

Questions Answered.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

1. WHAT is the nature of the “strong drink” referred to in Deut. 14:26. It apparently recommends that which other Scriptures prohibit.

2. Are we to understand from Num. 11:31 that the quails fell to the depth of three feet and over so great an area of country as here indicated?

1. It is not in Paul's writings alone that there are “things hard to be understood.” And it is not alone the “unlearned” that have stumbled over the subject of “strong drink” as found in the Bible. In this case, as in all, it is safe to start out with the assurance that the Bible does not contradict itself. The Hebrew word shekar, which is translated “strong drink,” means that which satiates, as well as that which intoxicates. Kitto says: “It had in all probability a much wider signification than is now conveyed by the phrase ‘strong drink.’” He classes the various senses of the word under three heads. 1. Luscious, saccharine drink, or sweet syrup, especially sugar or honey of dates. From it are derived words meaning “dainty,” “dessert,” “sweetmeat.” 2. Date or palm wine in its fresh or unfermented state. 3. Fermented, or intoxicating palm wine. It is doubtless the first of these that is referred to in Deut. 14:26. The “strong drink” of the first class, was not injurious in itself, but was forbidden whenever the circumstances required abstemiousness, as in Judges 13:4. It is a well-known fact that much sugar or sweetmeats produce a state of fulness, lassitude, and dullness. It was on this account, doubtless, that these things were forbidden to those who “separated themselves unto the Lord.” Num. 6:2-4. The use of the last class, that which intoxicates, is not countenanced in the Bible.

2. It is not a necessary conclusion, even from our English version, that the quails lay on the ground to a depth of two cubits, and the original does not warrant it. The sense is conveyed by the Vulgate, a literal translation of which is: “They flew in the air two cubits high above the earth.”