“Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.”
—Proverbs 31:6–7
Someone recently asked me about this passage—specifically whether it condones the consumption of alcohol as a remedy for depression. I spent a few hours last Sunday afternoon compiling some information. The document (Word | PDF) doesn’t contain my conclusions yet. I had to set it aside for the time being. (My dissertation continues to call!) But it does have a lot of helpful discussion from a number of commentaries. (All the links are to Libronix resources.) I thought I’d pass it along for anyone who might find it helpful.
I think this means that if someone is dying, give them something to take away physicial or emotional pain. Today, that could mean strong pain medicine, or even perhaps assisted death. To “remember their misery no more”…………sounds permanent to me.