Three other words may here be noticed :—r311, Mame z ; LXX. 6Eos, but in Prov. x. 26 64;41 aim immatum, sour grapes; so Syr. lisla=; Vulg. acetum ; A. V. vuegar, rightly..
m,mv, 'ancibini, Hos. iii. 1; A. V. wine, but properly grapes. See above, under Vspt.{.
ZP4, yekeb ; A. V. wine (Dent. xvi. 13);but in „, correctly, as the word denotes a winepress.
In the N. T. several words are employed denot ing wine :— (t.) avos, comprehending every sort of wine.
(2.) 7XeCtizos, sweet, or new wine,' which, as well as the former, seems, from the use made of it (Acts ii. 13), to signify wine of att intoxicating quality : These men are full of new wine ;' to which charge Peter replies : These men are not drunken as ye suppose' (v. t5)—although Dr. Lees' interpretation is fairly admissible : that the language is that of mockery, as if we should say of a drunken man : He has taken too much water. The gleukos was the fruit of the grape, so kept as to preserve its sweetness, perhaps made of a re markably sweet small grape, which is understood by the Jewish expositors to be meant by pit), or (Gen. xlix. ; Is. v. 2), and still found in Syria and Arabia' (Alford on Acts ii. 13). Sui das : diroaraXd-y,ua rijs rptv ravrigij.
(3.) rbwnp.a, or 141nyza 7C75' cltorAou, fruit of the vine= wine (Luke xxii. t8).
(4.) Orms dvaros, pure wine (Rev. xiv. 10)— dopy dKparov cry= NI-yopkv, hclgticrat. 76 Ocep, 7ravrdracrw AlAiKrat (Galen in Wetstein, cited by Alford). Here the phrase is used figura tively.
(5.) 'Otos, sour vvine, or vinegar (Matt. xxvii. 48 ; Mark xv. 36, etc.) (6.) Eixepa, A. V. strong drink ;' Heb. -cc!, any stron,g drink made of grapes' (Robins'on, Alford, etc.) II. Some HISTORICAL NOTICES of the use qf wine in the Bible. —The first notice we have of wine in the O. T. is in the case of Noah, who planted a vineyard, and did drink of the wine (yayin), and was drunken' (Gen. ix. 20, 21). The culture of the vine, no doubt, existed before, but the patri arch now resumes the occupation which had been interrupted by the flood. Nowhere does the vine grow spontaneously in such abundance and excel lence as in the region of Ararat in Armenia, and the eastern Pontus , but, no doubt, the culture of the vine was of remote antiquity, invented by one nation and spread to other cOuntries ; for thus only can the remarkable circumstance be accounted for, that wine bears the same name in almost all eastern and western nations' (Kalitch, Gen. ix. 20, 21). It may be added, that the Egyptians attributed the manufacture of wine to Osiris, the Phcenicians and Greeks to Bacchus, the Romans to Saturn' (ibid.) The next notice of wine is in the history of Lot, whose daughters made their father drink wine' (yeryin), so that he became stupidly intoxicated (Gen. xix. 32, etc.) It next occurs in Isaac's bless
ing pronounced on Jacob : The Lord give thee . . . plenty of corn and wine' Cyayin) (Gen. xxvii. 2S). The next notice of the juice of the grape is in con nection with Eg,ypt (Gen. xl. r), when the chief butler says : I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup.' Are we to take these words according to their strict literality ? And did the kings of Egypt, at the time, drink the unfermented juice of the grape only ? However that may be, and although an affirmative answer seems de manded, yet we know that the vine was cultivated in Egypt from very ancient times, representations of the process of the manufacture of wines being found on tombs belonging to the 4th dynasty ; that wine wa.s used almost universally by the rich ; that it was freely drunk at the banquets of both men and women, and even excessively, as the monu ments abundantly testify ; that it was thank even by the priests and offered in the temples to their gods. All this is now well ascertained, notwith standing the contradictory statements of Herodotus on some points (see Rawlinson's Herod. ii. 103, 126 ; Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 144, etc.) In the laws of Moses, wine is frequently men tioned. It was commanded to be offered to God as a drink-offering (Num. xv. 5, 7, ro). This fur nishes the key to the peculiar language of Jotham's parable : 'Wine that cheereth God and man ' ( Judg. ix. 1,3) ; an exposition much preferable to that which renders the words : The gods and men ;' for wine was offered to God as the drink of the Great King, the symbol of our best spiritual things which we offer in his worship. Wine was for bidden to the priests during the performance of their sacred duties in the tabernacle (Lev. x. 9), which prohibition seems to have originated in the offence of Nadab and Abihu, who, most probably, trans gressed through wine.' At other times the priests were at liberty to drink wine. To the Nazarites, while under their vow, not only wine but vinegar, and the fruit of the vine generally, in every form, was prohibited (Num. vi. 3, 4). The Israelites were at liberty to drink wine even at their national sacred festivals when rejoicing before the Lord (Deut. xiv. 22-26). The Rechabites are mentioned as very peculiar in their abstinence from wine, as well as their refmining to live in houses, and are com mended, not for their abstinence, but for their obedience to the command of their ancestor (Jer. xxxv.) Wine was used by the Jews in the celebration of the passover ; for the account of which see l'Ass OVER, and Tattam's Reply to Ritchie.