What Does Leviticus 10:9 Mean?

(9) **Do not drink wine.**—As the command that the priests are to abstain from any intoxicating liquors when performing their sacred functions follows so closely upon the death of Nadab and Abihu, the opinion obtained as early at least as the time of Christ that there is a connection between the specific sin and the general law, that the two sons of Aaron drank wine to excess when they offered strange fire, and that the present prohibition is based upon that circumstance. Accordingly, the Apostle enjoins that a bishop “must not be given to wine,” that “deacons must not be given to much wine” (1Timothy 3:2-3). A similar law existed among the ancient Greeks and Persians, enjoining the priests to abstain from wine. **Nor strong drink.**—The word (*shēchār*) here rendered strong drink, is the general name of intoxicating drinks, whether made of wheat, barley, millet, apples, dates, honey, or other fruits. One of the four intoxicating drinks which are prohibited among the Mahommedans in India is called “Sachar.” **When ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation.**—Better, *when ye go into the tent of meeting. *The Palestinian Chaldee adds here, “as thy sons did who died by the burning fire.” The same precept is repeated in Ezekiel 44:21, “Neither shall any priest drink wine when they enter into the inner court.” The injunction that on these particular occasions the priests are to abstain from taking it clearly implies that, ordinarily, when not going into the tent of meeting—that is, when not performing their sacred functions in the sanctuary—they were not forbidden to use it if required.