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NASB | John 2:10 and *said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 2:10 and said to him, "Everyone else serves his best wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then he serves that which is not so good; but you have kept back the good wine until now." |
Bible Question: Was the wine alcoholic or not |
Bible Answer: Drinking Part 3 WINE: MIXED OR FULL STRENGTH? Historical data concerning the making and use of wine by the Jews and other nations in the Biblical world indicate that it was a. often unfermented b. normally mixed with water. The previous articles discussed one of the processes used in keeping freshly squeezed grape juice in a sweet and unfermented state. This article discusses two other processes of dealing with grapes, preparatory to mixing them with water. (1) One method was to dehydrate the grapes to a proper point, sprinkle them with olive oil to keep them moist, and store them in earthenware jars (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, V.882; see also Columella, "On Agriculture", 12.33.1-8). A very sweet grape beverage could be made from these stored grapes at any time by later adding water and steeping of boiling them. Polybius indicated that the Roman women were allowed to drink this kind of grape beverage, but were forbidden to drink fermented wine (see Polybius, "Fragments, 6.4; cf. Pliny, 14.11.81). (2) Another method was to boil freshly squeezed grape juice until it became a thick paste or syrup (grape honey); this process made it storable, removed any intoxicating quality because of the high concentration of sugar and preserved its sweetness (see Columella, "On Agriculture", 12.19.1-6 and 20.1-8; Pliny, "Natural History", 14.11.80). This was then stored in large jars or skins. The paste could be used as a jam for their bread or dissolved in water to make grape juice once again (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, V.882-884). "It is probable that the grape wwas largely cultivated as a source of sugar: the juice expressed in the 'wine press' was reduced by boiling to a liquid ...known as 'grape honey'" (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia of the Bible, V.3050). References to honey in the Bible frequently refer to grape honey (called "debash" by the Jews) rather than to the honey of the bee. (3) Water, then, could be mixed with dehydrated grapes and with grape syrup, as well as with fermented wine. Greek and Roman authors gave various ratios that were used. Homer (Odyssey. IX.208f) mentions a ratio of twenty parts water to one part wine. Plutarch (Sumposiacs, III.ix) states, "We call a mixture “wine,â€although the larger of the component parts is water." Pliny (Natural History,14.6.54) mentions a ratio of eight parts water to one part wine. (4) Among Jewish people in Bible times, social and religious customs mandated never serving unmixed wine, especially if it was fermented. The Talmud (a Jewish work that describes the traditions of Judaism from about 200 BC to AD 200) discusses in several tractates the mixture of water and wine (e.g. Shabbath 77a; Pesahim 1086). Some Jewish rabbis insisted that unless fermented wine was mixed with three parts of water, it could not be blessed and would defile the drinker. Others demanded that ten parts of water must be mixed with one part of fermented wine before it could be acceptable. (5) An interesting passage emerges in the book of Revelation: when speaking of "the wine of the wrath of God," an angel declares that it will be "without mixture," i.e., full strength (Rev. 14:10); see Jer. 25:15). It was stated in this way because the readers normally would expect all grape beverages to be mixed with water (John 2:3) In summary, then, the normal uses of wine by Jews in Biblical days were not the same as today, It was: a. grape juice freshly squeezed b. grape juice preserved c. juice from dried grapes d. grape wine made from grape syrup and water e. unfermented or fermented stored wine diluted with water at a ratio as high as 20 to 1. If the wine was fermented and served unmixed, it was considered barbaric, defiling, and incapable of being blessed by the rabbis. In the light of these facts, it is impossible to defend the modern-day practice of drinking alcoholic beverages on the basis of the Jews' use of wine in Biblical times. They are clearly not the same. Furthermore, Christians of Biblical days exercised a more careful attitude towards various kinds of wines than did the Jews (Rom 14:21; 1 Thes.5:6; 1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 2:2—historical/documental notes can/will be provided as requested) Cont part4 |