Eucharistic Meditation, February 6

Now Elah was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk.

We noted in the sermon this morning that the kings of Israel get worse and worse as time goes by. Jeroboam is the worst king, until Omri. Omri is the worst king ever, until Ahab his son. Jeroboam?s son Nadab is an idolater, but at least he fights with his troops at Gibbethon; at least he looks a bit like a king. Elah, son of Baasha, sends his troops off to fight and stays behind, like David, lazing around the palace, drinking himself drunk.

?It is not for kings,?EKing Lemuel says, ?it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire strong drink, lest they drink and forget what is decreed, and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.?EA drunk king, especially a king who is drunk when his army is out fighting, is no king.

But there are other dimensions to this as well. Elah is the last member of the house of Baasha, and that house is about to fall. The house totters, stumbles and falls while the king, who represents and embodies the house, is drinking himself drunk. The prophets commonly speak of the Lord?s wrath-wine that the Lord pours out on the nations. Nations who are under the judgment of God act like drunks, flailing around clumsily, stumbling over nothing, ultimately falling to their death.

But the Lord reigns with a cup of wine in his hand, and distributing his wine is a symbol of distributing His judgments. Ahasuerus in the book of Esther sits enthroned with wine in his hand. Rulers who have subdued the enemies, who have poured out the wine of their wrath against the wicked, are right to sit down enthroned with wine to rest in their victory.

All that is part of the meaning of this Supper. Jesus has drunk the wine-wrath of God to its depths, so that we can receive the wine of joy. He has subdued His enemies and ours, and is enthroned in rest at the Father?s right hand. By His grace, we enter into that victory and into that rest. Which is to say, we are given a cup to drink, the cup with marks us as priests and kings to our God and Father.