Does it denote an intoxicating, or a cating beverage ? The latter has been asserted ; but, as would seem, without reason. The trary appears to be the truth. Hosea says (iv. 1), Whoredom and wine (yayin), and new wine &ark), take away the heart.' Here the use of the phrase take away the heart ' implies the tendency of tirosh to blunt the moral feelings and derange the intellect.' The testimony of the Rabbins is to the same effect. They say, Tirosh, e.in4n, is new wine ; the liquor of the grapes first pressed out, which easily takes possession of the mind of man' (Sanhedr. lxxvi. r). If thou abuse it thou shalt be poor ; if thou rightly use it tbou shalt be head' (Joma lxxvi. 2). Again, in the Gemara, Wherefore is it called Tirosh ? Because all who are drawn to it shall be poor ' (Tattam's Refly, 5). Such is the testimony of the Rabbins, I who ought to know something of their own lan guage.' In accordance with this, tbe Targumists Onkelos and Jonathan render tirosh, in every in stance of its occurrence (except in three cases where there is no word, or the word for vineyard), by the word inn, chamar (Tattam, 5, 6).
That //rash denotes not vine-fruit, the pro- ' duce of the vine in the solid form of grapes, raisins,' etc., but wine properly, is sufficiently plain. Thus '(Prov. ro), Thy presses shall burst To, th with new wine,' tirosh. (Is. lxii. 8), ' The sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine,' tirosh. (Joel ii. 24), ' The fats shall ovo:flow with wine (tirosh) and oil.' This, according to the author of Lo Yayin, is an ' image of abundance ;' the ' vats piled up with fruits so full, that what wa.s put on would roll of to the ground, because they could hold no more !' (IN 54)• It is, however, argued from Micah vi. 15 that tirosh means grapes : ' Thou shalt tread tirosh, but shalt not drink the wine.' Tirosh is here re presented as being trodden, and must therefore, it is concluded, be grapes. But in Is. xvi. to yayin is represented as being trodden : ' The treaders / shall tread no In (yayin) in their presses.' Is yayin also grapes ? Surely one must be very prosaic not to be capable of understanding such modes of ex pression. It is also argued, from the occurrence of the word along with corn (Gen. xxvii. 28), that 1 &ash is a solid substance. The very opposite . conclusion is, however, the natural one. Corn and wine are the two principal and representative kinds of food ; the former of solids, the latter of liquids. ' Bread and water' occur together very often (ex. gr. Ezek. iv. 17 ; I Sam. xxv. t 1, etc.) Is water, then, a solid ? 3. inn, Chemer, from in1:1, cestuavit, ferbuit ; Chaldee form, inn ; LXX. dvos, KnXiis ; ' Vinum a fervendo et fermentanda dictum' (Ges. Thes. 493). The word occurs eight times, twice in its Hebrew, and six times in its Chaldee form. In Deut. xxxii. 14, it is (in the A. V., after the Vulg.) treated as an adjective, and rendered `pure'—' the pure blood of the grape,' instead of ' the blood of the grape— wine,' chemer. The Rabbins call it 'pure or neat wine' (i.e. no water being mixed with the juice of the grape), ' because it disturbs the head and the brain ' (Tattam). They regarded chemer and
tirosh ' as equivalent terms.' This pure, powerful wine was permitted to the Israelites (Dent. xxxii. 14) ; and is spoken of with approbation by Isaiah : ' In that day sing ye unto him, A vineyard of red wine (-mn, chemer); I, the Lord, do keep it' , , (xxvii. 2, 3). And Cyrus and Artaxerxes com manded that chemer should be given to the people of Israel ' for the service of the God of heaven' IL (Ezra vi. 9).
ik 4. nm...,, Shechar, from -17j, inebriavit se; LXX.
, -. - , crlfrcepa, obos, duleuoisa, AiOn ; Vulg. Vinpun, ' te metum, an inebriating drink, whether wine pre pared or distilled front barley, or from honey, or from dates' (Ges. Thes. 1440). So Fiirst, who adds, ' or any other kind of intoxicating drink com prehended under the name acirv oucepow.' Jerome says : ' Sicera (-)7V1 Iffebrxo sermone omnis potio, quit inebriare potest, sive illa quze Influent° con ficitur, sive pomorum succo, aut quum favi deco quuntur in dulcem et barbaram potionem, mut pal marum fructus exprimuntur in liquorem, coctisque frugibus aqua pinguior coloratur (Ep. aa' Nepali annm). In the A. V. the word is rendered strong wine, Num. xxviii. 7 Land, occurrincr along, with yayin, strong drink, Prov. xx. 2 ; I's. v. II, 22.
, Onkelos, on Num. xxviii. 7, calls it ' old wine ;' I Rabbi Solomon, Rabbi Eleasar, Aben Ezra, and others, call it ' intoxicating wine.' ' The word means strong drinlc, from whatever substance made (Tattam). It was used as a drink-offering in the service of God (Num. xxviii. 7) ; and was, not withstanding its highly intoxicating property, per mitted to the Israelites (Deut. xiv. 26).
A vain attempt has been made, by connecting the word etymologically with sugar, to prove, in the face of the clearest evidence to the contrary, that it was a sweet, non-intoxicating syrup (see Dr. F. Lees' Works). The word is employed in the following passages in such a manner as to show decisively that it denotes an intoxicating drink :— Lev. x. 9, where the priests are forbidden to drink wine or shechar when they go into the tabernacle ; I Sam. i. 15, where Hannah, charged with drunken ness by Eli, replies it is not so : I have drunk neither wine nor shechar ;' Ps. lxix. 13, where the Psalmist complains : I was the song of the drinkers of shechar,' A. V. drunkards ;' Prov. xx. : Wine is a mocker, shechar is raging ; and whoso ever is deceived thereby is not wise ;' Prov. xxxi. 4, 5 : ' It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes shechar, lest they drink and forget the law ;' Is. v. 22 : Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle shichar ;' Is. xxviii. 7 : They also have erred through wine, and through shechar are out of the way : the priest and the prophet have erred through sheehar, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through shichar ;' Is. xxix. 9 : They are drunken, but not with wine ; they stagger, but not with shechar.' S'hichar may have been a sweet beverage, as sugary as Dr. Lees or any one else chooses ; but it was most certainly intoxicating.