Wine

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(drink). The Hebrews manufactured and used wine from earliest times (Gen. 9:20-21; 19:32; 27:25; 49:12; Job 1:18; Prov. 23:30-31; Isa. 5:11). A usual drink-offering at the daily sacrifices (Ex. 29:40); at the presentation of first fruits (Lev. 23:13); and at other offerings (Num. 15:5). It was tithable (Deut. 18:4). Nazarites could not drink it during their vow (Num. 6:3), nor priests before service (Lev. 10:9).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

There are several Hebrew words translated wine, and though various expressions are attached to it as “sweet,” “new,” “strong,” “good,” “mixed,” “spiced,” “on the lees,” all are wine; and the wine was intoxicating, as seen already in the days of Noah (Gen. 9:21). Intemperance is the abuse of it, and against such abuse there are abundant protests and warnings in the scripture. Wine is mentioned with corn and oil, among the good gifts wherewith God would bless His earthly people (Deut. 7:13; Psa. 104:15). It was daily offered in the temple as a drink offering (Num. 28:7).

Wine was created by the Lord in His first recorded miracle (John 2:3-10). He was blasphemously spoken of as a wine-bibber; and He said at the last Passover, “I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25). He also instituted the Lord’s Supper with the cup of wine. Paul recommended Timothy to take a little wine for his frequent sickness; and a bishop must not be given to much wine. There is therefore adequate evidence that wine is regarded as a beneficent gift of God, of which man may make a moderate use. If, however, a man has no power over his appetite, doubtless he had better abstain from wine altogether. Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10).

“73. Use of Wine” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Genesis 40:11. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.

It has been supposed by some that the ancient Egyptians drank no wine, though they did not object to drinking the unfermented juice of the grape, and this text is referred to as an illustration. It was evidently a part of the duty of Pharaoh’s butler to press the grapes into the cup that the king might drink; but it by no means follows that because of this no fermented wine was used. A passage in Herodotus is usually cited as an evidence that only fresh mush was allowed. On the other hand, there is other ancient testimony that establishes the fact that the Egyptians used fermented wine. This testimony is corroborated by the old monuments, which have representations of different articles employed in making wine, wine-presses in operation, and drunken men and women.

“460. Mixed Wine” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Proverbs 9:2. She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine, she hath also furnished her table.

Harmer supposes that by “mixed wine” is meant old wine that is drawn from jars where it becomes turbid and strong by being mingled with the lees. “Mixed wine” would then mean old or strong wine, and the announcement in the text that Wisdom “hath mingled her wine,” means that she has opened the wine for use, the feast being ready. Bishop Lowth also supposes mixed wine to be strong wine, but made so, not in the way suggested by Harmer, but by the admixture of foreign substances; affirming that, “whereas the Greeks and Latins by mixed wine always understood wine diluted and lowered with water, the Hebrews, on the contrary, generally mean by it wine made stronger and more inebriating by the addition of higher and more powerful ingredients, such as honey, spices, defrutnm, (or wine inspissated by boiling it down to two thirds or one half of the quantity,) myrrh, mandragora, opiates, and other strong drugs” (Commentary on Isaiah 1:22).

Kitto, on the other hand, gives it as his opinion that in most, if not all, cases where mixed wine is spoken of, wine mingled with water is meant; and he quotes Isaiah 1:22, as an illustration: “Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water.” But he forgets that the prophet is there speaking, not of wine as ordinarily drank at feasts, but of wine that is deteriorated in quality. Gesenius expresses it, “adulterated, spoiled by mixing water with it.” God’s people had become debased, they were like wine mixed with water. The other passages which speak of mixed wine most certainly seem to refer to a liquor that is strengthened, rather than weakened, by that with which it is mixed. See Psalm 75:8; Proverbs 23:30; Song of Solomon 8:2; Isaiah 5:22.

“506. Filtered Wine” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Isaiah 25:6. A feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

This refers to wines that are kept long with the dregs mixed with them, and therefore old and strong. They are refined or filtered by being strained through a cloth sieve, thus separating the liquor from the lees. The wine in the East is said to be usually turbid, and requires straining before it is fit for use.

“701. Wine Straining” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Matthew 23:24. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

This would be more correctly rendered by “strain out a gnat.” The at is supposed to have been originally a typographical error, which has since been universally copied. Alford, however, doubts this, and supposes that it “was a deliberate alteration, meaning, strain [out the wine] at [the occurrence of] a gnat.” In either case the meaning is the same. The reference here is to an old proverb, which, in turn, refers to an old custom. The Jews, in common with other Oriental people, strained their wine before drinking it, not only to keep the lees from the cup, but also to get rid of the insects, which, in a hot climate, collected around the fluid.

Wincklemann describes an instrument, evidently intended for a wine-strainer, and which was found in the ruins of Herculaneum. It is made of white metal, of elegant workmanship, and consists of two round and deep plates, about four inches in diameter, with flat handles. Plates and handles fit into each other so exactly that when put together they seem to make but one vessel. The upper plate is perforated, and the wine, passing through the holes, fell into the deeper vessel below, whence it was drawn into drinking-cups. The dregs and insects remained on the upper plate.

“770. Use of Oil and Wine” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Luke 10:34. Went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.

This was a favorite application for wounds in ancient surgery. It was considered a sovereign remedy, especially for wounds produced by violence; wool, lint, or pounded olive being first laid upon the wound. The wine was supposed to cleanse, and the oil to soothe and heal. The two were sometimes made into a compound.