Ecclesiastes Chapter Two, The Question Of Alcohol

Ecclesiastes 2:3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

The Tanakh renders the opening of this verse, “I ventured to tempt my flesh with wine, and to grasp folly, while letting my mind direct with wisdom.” The NIV translates the verse’s opening as, “I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom.” The preacher is looking to use an intoxicant to, as he states it, “gratify my flesh.” 

Solomon, of course, famously wrote about the idiocy of drunkenness and what it reduces men to in Proverbs 23:29-35. Devoting six verses to describing intoxicating drink and the utter foolishness men enter into when indulging it, he clearly held the pastime in very low esteem. He likened the action to laying hold on folly. In Ecclesiastes he mentions folly as well, linking this outcome to knowing first wisdom, and then by extension madness, and its outcome, folly. Though the preacher does not pause here to elaborate about his time spent in the bottle, the former passage in Proverbs summarizes it clearly.

“Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly…your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things,” Proverbs 23:31, 33.

The preacher’s assessment of the debilitating effects of alcohol are defined in his three word descriptor for their sole function, “gratify my flesh.” There is no spiritual betterment or academic enlightenment to be found in the bottle. It is sheer escapism, a delay tactic to numb the mind to reality and slip away from its daily demands for a spell. It benefits the drinker nothing, except cost, reputation, and one’s health.

There are some well meaning Christians that would assert that no saint should drink at all. Mr. Henry Morris, a wonderful expositor of God’s word that he was, was an advocate of this view: that is, total abstinence from alcohol. However, our Lord turned water into wine (John 2:1-12), and was Himself accused of being an alcoholic (Matthew 11:19), presumably because He actually had drunken wine, which Scripture clearly indicates He did, including at the Last Supper, Matthew 25:27-29. Paul even went so far as to advise Timothy to, “drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities,” 1 Timothy 5:23, KJV. The Christian is free to do all things in good conscience, but not to be brought under the power of anything that makes him its slave, 1 Corinthians 6:12. Or, everything in moderation. The Christian may have a drink, but they are not to be drunk. “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,” Ephesians 5:18. And for the saint that cannot simply have a drink in good conscience, then abstinence is the way. “For whatever is not from faith is sin,” Romans 14:23.

The Hebrew term “towb” is used in 2:3 as well for “good,” and carries the idea of good simply being pleasing or pleasant rather than right. But in this case there may be the idea of pragmatism at work. There is the sobriety of wisdom, and the folly of drunkenness. The fool verses the wise, or how the wise may degenerate into the fool, or vise versa. It may well be that the preacher is not concerned with the moral high ground here, but what is a better way for man to spend his limited and hopeless life. Which option, the fool or the wiseman, will give mankind greater satisfaction, having pursued it? Note that the preacher seems preoccupied with the reality of man’s finite time spent under heaven. He words it as, “all the days of their lives.” Naturally, the majority may suspect that wisdom would be chosen over folly, and sobriety over drunkenness. One wishes to walk with eyes forward and mind sharp, to redeem the limited time they have. But as the letter goes on, the preacher continues to paint a starkly morbid picture of the unseen similarity between fools and wise, and how both are equally foolish in their own way. If one’s wisdom is retained to works, “under the sun,” then it avails its possessor nothing in the end.

This experiment has a noted termination point in this verse. The preacher would continue his pursuit of wisdom and understanding the manifold paths of mankind, “till I might see what was good.” Good for mankind in the sense of what path is most pleasant for him to chase down. His experiment would end when he was confident the he saw what he wanted to, namely, what was the better path for humanity under heaven. How the preacher arrives at this result is what the rest of the book details.