entertainment was to be given to the officers of
state and nobles of the court. There would be
feasting and drunkenness. Herod would thus be
thrown off his guard, and might then be
influenced according to [Herodias] will. The
King was dazed with wine. Passion held sway,
and reason was dethroned. “Whereupon he
promised with an oath to give her whatsoever
she would ask. And she, being instructed of
her mother, said “Give me here John Baptist’s
head in a charger.” [Mat 14:7,8]
“The oath had been made in honor of his guests,
and if one of them had offered a word against
the fulfillment of his promise, he would gladly
have spared the prophet. Shocked at the girl‟s
demand, they were too besotted to interpose a
remonstrance. They had given themselves up to
feasting and drunkenness until the senses were
benumbed.” [Desire of Ages]
Solomon‟s much needed counsel, God‟s
prophets began to speak boldly concerning
alcohol use among His beloved children.
Drinking mixed spirits are prophetically
symbolized as being a curse combined with the
pending overthrow of their nation. One must
look long and hard to find any prophetic passage
where drinking alcohol is symbolically blessed.
AMOS
“They drink the wine of the condemned in the
house of their God.” [Amos 2:8] Israel
continues to feel the wrath of God for her
disobedience. “Woe unto them that are at
ease in Zion ... that drink wine in bowls ...
they are not grieved for the affliction of
Joseph.” [Amos 6:1,6] Wine is used as an
illustration of forgetting the most important
matters.
THE PRO