ABSTRACT

The polemical words glutton and drunkard, which the Christians certainly did not invent, speak in favour of its historicity. In a reproach to Jehoiakim, Josiah's son and second successor, the prophet Jeremiah reminds him of his royal father. When on Elisa's advice the king of Israel prepares a great meal for imprisoned Arameans in Samaria and, after they have eaten and drunk, lets them go back to their master, this is not a neutral act of providing for them; it is calculating, and puts them under an obligation. But even if the author leaves that on one side, the New Testament has a good deal to say about eating and drinking, frequently using the double expression. Faced with a quite specific situation in Corinth, Paul formulates precisely, and yet in so comprehensive a way as to be positively uncanny, the rule which for its part sums up the worldliness of both the Old and the New Testament.