Jeremiah 25:27, Let’s Get Drunk!

Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2011 in Bible Commentary | 0 comments

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit

//Thought maybe you could use a good Saturday night verse. Here you go; have a good time tonight, with God’s blessing.

Or have I aroused a bit of suspicion? Let’s read the verse again, in the context of the next few:

Then tell them, “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.’ But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: You must drink it! See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? … The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth.”

Still sound like fun? This is the doom saying of the prophet Jeremiah, about God’s own city. Jerusalem is about to be leveled, its people falling under the heavy yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. This image provides the inspiration for the whore of Babylon in the book of Revelation, and those destined to “drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.”

The grapes of wrath. Still thirsty? Still planning to stop by the corner bar? Now in Revelation the wine turns into blood: “Then the angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 180 miles.”

Stay home tonight, guys. Please?