Jim West draws attention to a brilliant article on the BAR website: Did the Ancient Israelites Drink Beer?
The answer, of course is yes. Next question: is beer mentioned in the good book. Yes, many times. Even the Eternal - a.k.a. Yahweh - is portrayed as enjoying the equivalent of a pint or more.
Next question: how come the nice English translations we use don't convey this?
That's one of the questions tackled by Michael Homan, associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans in this highly approachable article.
The case Homan makes is pretty convincing. Does this enable a new metaphor for prayer I wonder; sitting down with the Ground of All Being over a frosty glass for a relaxed chat?
I hope this information makes its way to Lutheran congregations here in Wisconsin. A favorite polka in this state has a line in the chorus that pretty much precludes sitting down for a chat with God over a mug of beer:
ReplyDelete"In heaven there is no beer.
That's why we drink it here."
As if the rampant alcoholism in WCG wasn't bad enough Gavin.
ReplyDelete