Overeating in the Bible

• Dining with a ruler? Put a knife to your throatProv 23:1–3
  The verses

  Prov 23:1–3When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you, and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
• If you find honey, eat just what you needProv 25:16
  The verses

  Prov 25:16If you find honey, eat just what you need, lest you have too much and vomit it up.
• A companion of gluttons disgraces his fatherProv 28:7
  The verses

  Prov 28:7A discerning son keeps the law, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.
• Do not join those who gorge themselves on meatProv 23:20–21
  The verses

  Prov 23:20–21Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
• Blessed the land whose princes feast at the proper timeEccl 10:17
  The verses

  Eccl 10:17Blessed are you, O land whose king is a son of nobles, and whose princes feast at the proper time— for strength and not for drunkenness.
• “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”Isa 22:13, 1 Cor 15:32
  The verses

  Isa 22:13But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

  1 Cor 15:32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
• Lounging on ivory beds, dining on lambs and calvesAmos 6:4
  The verses

  Amos 6:4You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
• The rich fool: “Eat, drink, and be merry!”Luke 12:19–20
  The verses

  Luke 12:19–20Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
• “Their god is their belly”Phil 3:19
  The verses

  Phil 3:19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
• One of their own: “Cretans are … lazy gluttons”Titus 1:12
  The verses

  Titus 1:12As one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

Examples

• Famished Esau sells his birthright for red stewGen 25:29–34
  The verses

  Gen 25:29–34One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished. He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom.) “First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied. “Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” “Swear to me first,” Jacob said. So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright. Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
• Israel weeps for the fish, cucumbers and melons of EgyptNum 11:4–6, Ps 78:18
  The verses

  Num 11:4–6Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to see but this manna!”

  Ps 78:18They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
• The people gather quail for two days; a plague followsNum 11:31–33
  The verses

  Num 11:31–33Now a wind sent by the LORD came up, drove in quail from the sea, and brought them near the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the ground, for a day’s journey in every direction around the camp. All that day and night, and all the next day, the people stayed up gathering the quail. No one gathered less than ten homers, and they spread them out all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and the LORD struck them with a severe plague.
• Eli’s sons’ servant grabs meat with a three-pronged fork1 Sam 2:12–17
  The verses

  1 Sam 2:12–17Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!” Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.
• A rebellious son accused as “a glutton and a drunkard”Deut 21:20
  The verses

  Deut 21:20and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
• Jesus is called “a glutton and a drunkard”Matt 11:19
  The verses

  Matt 11:19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her actions.”