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1 Samuel 1:15 – Puns
“Please tell me you meant that” I will say after hearing a pun. I hear the pun, but that does not mean they mean it. Often they are not wise to their own wisecrack.
Puns, witticisms, and such are not the inventions of Americans with a warped sense of humor. These puns and plays on words are also found in the Bible. Sometimes I wonder if they are intended, while sometimes it is very clear they are. Let me give three examples where similar puns are made, that I believe are intended.
Ephesians 5:18-20 (HCSB) (5:18) And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit: (5:19) speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, (5:20) giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Instead of being filled with spirits of alcohol, be filled with the Spirit of God.
1 Samuel 1:13-15 (HCSB) (1:13) Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk (1:14) and scolded her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine! ” (1:15) “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the LORD.
Instead of pouring out wine and beer into her body, Hannah was pouring out her heart to God.
Proverbs 5:19-21 (ESV) (5:19) a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. (5:20) Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? (5:21) For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.
Instead of getting drunk with sexual lust, get drunk with your spouse’s sexual love.
In all three of these we learn the power of being overcome by good – by the Spirit of God, prayer to God, and the spouse given to us by God. Getting drunk is sinful because it is being overcome and losing control to sin. So don’t be drunk and caught driving under the influence of sin. Be driven by God by being under the influence of the Spirit, prayer, and sexual purity. Lose control; just lose it to God and His blessings. Then your life will have meaning and won’t be just a bad joke.
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