GALL. We shall hereafter speak of the Wine mixt with Gall which was presented to our Saviour while he hung upon the cross, Matth. xxvii. 34. See the article WINE, wherein we endeavour to reconcile St. Matthew with St. Mark, the former of whom speaks of Wine mingled with Gall, the other of Wine mingled with Myrrh. The Prophet Habakkuk likewise mentions Gall mixt with Wine, as made use of to intoxicate. Hab. ii. 13.Væ qui potum dat amico suo mittens fel suum, & inebrians, ut aspiciat nuditatem ejus. We believe the Prophet’s intention was, to hint at the conduct of Pharaoh Hophrah, King of Egypt, towards King Zedekiah: he promised Zedekiah his assistance, and engaged him to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar; but in his necessity he failed him. He gave him Gall to drink, and made him drunk, that he might have the pleasure of seeing his nakedness. The Rabbins relate, that it was Nebuchadnezzar, who one day at an entertainment with his friends, sent for Zedekiah, and gave him an intoxicating liquor to drink, purposely to expose him to ridicule.
But why is Gall mingled with it? Gall is a powerful Digestive; the Ethiopians use it instead of mustard. When Moses commands the Paschal Lamb to be eaten with bitterness, he may be very well understood to mean Gall. Gall mingled with Wine makes it pass the quicker, and consequently get Deut. xxxii. 32, 33.sooner into the head. Moses threatens the Israelites from God to make their grapes, Grapes of Gall; and their Wine the Poison of Dragons: that is to say, to change the sweetness of their grapes into bitterness, and their wine into poison; which, instead of nourishing, and making them chearful, would intoxicate and destroy them. We see by Tobit, that the Gall of a fish was of use in Tob. vi. 5 xi. 8, 13. Plin. l. 28 c. 9.curing his eyes. Pliny takes notice of the use which was made of Gall for fore eyes: Ad oculorum medicamenta uti De Bello, l. 4. c. 1. Jer. viii. 14 ix. 15. Lam. v. 19. Psal. lxix. 21. Joseph. de Bello, l. 4. c. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. in Græco, seu c. 1, 2, 3. in Lat.lius habetur. In Jeremiah, To give water of Gall to drink, denotes some very bitter affliction. And the Psalmist says, that his enemies, or rather the enemies of the Messiah, offered him Gall to eat, and Vinegar to drink. The Gall of bitterness, in the Acts viii. 23. signifies hatred, sharpness, malice, envy, &c.