8 And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying,

9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:

10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;

11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

The prohibition of alcohol when the priests went to the tabernacle is intriguing. We have heard many of God’s commandments to Israel already, but nothing against the general use of alcohol, yet God is forbidding it in this specific case. And note, it isn’t just a ceremonial act, like wearing the priestly clothes, it seems to have moral implications as God explicitly says that this has to do with the difference between “holy and unholy, unclean and clean.” If that is the case, then why not prohibit alcohol as a general rule?

I see two explanations.

1. Some things are not generally wrong, but only in certain contexts. Drinking alcohol, a woman being on her period, a man having a night-time emission, these were not damning sins that would ruin a soul’s standing before God, but they were all things that God said should not overlap with attendance at the tabernacle. Some things, while not strictly evil, are just particularly worldly, particularly mortal, and therefore should remain in that domain. Being sweaty and smelly after attending the gym does not make one a sinner, but we all know it is best for us to shower and change our clothes before coming to church.
2. As Paul taught, the law “was a schoolmaster,” fit for where the Israelites were at the time, but meant to prepare them for greater laws to come. Just as how Christ enhanced the prohibitions against adultery and murder to include lust and anger, perhaps abstinence from alcohol was a higher form of the Lord’s dietary laws.

I see both explanations as credible, though my personal beliefs are aligned with the second point. In either case, it becomes clear that just because God set firm restrictions or requirements in one time and place, does not mean there cannot be further nuance and variation at other times and places.