Liberal giving to the Lord was to be rewarded with an abundance of wine.
“Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” (Prov. iii, 9, 10).
One of the most direful calamities was a wine famine.
“Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.... The drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn.... Gird yourselves and lament, ye priests howl, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God; for ... the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God” (Joel i, 5, 9, 13).
God’s especial favorites had a weakness for wine. When he drowned the world’s inhabitants he saved Noah, knowing that as soon as the waters subsided he would plant a vineyard, make wine, and become intoxicated. When Sodom was destroyed the only righteous man he found was that foul drunkard, Lot. When David made his celebrated feast in honor of the Lord he gave to every man and woman a flagon of wine. He kept some for himself and so merry did his heart become that he “danced before the Lord with all his might.”
Thus joyously sings Solomon: “I have drunk my wine with my milk [milk punch]; eat, O friends! drink, yea, drink abundantly.” In the morning he sings another song: “Open to me ... my love ... for my head is filled with dew.” How many a wayward fellow like Solomon has risen from the gutter, sorrowfully wended his way home, and serenaded his sleeping spouse with that same melody!
When Solomon erected his temple to God he gave to his laborers “twenty thousand baths [nearly 175,000 gallons] of wine” (2 Chron. ii, 10).
The Nazarite, it is claimed, was commanded to abstain from wine. Yes, but only during the period of his separation. “After that the Nazarite may drink wine” (Num. vi, 20).
God commanded Jeremiah to tempt with wine those who abstained from its use:
“Go unto the house of the Rechabites and speak with them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink” (Jer. xxxv, 2).