Wine

WINE. Several of the Ancients were of opinion, that Wine was not in use before the Deluge, and that Noah was the first that brought this Liquor into vogue. If Wine, say they, had been known before the Flood, Abel would not have failed to make an Offering of it to the Lord, and Noah would have been upon his guard, so as not to have drank of it to excess. But on the other hand it is maintained by others, that it is much more probable that the first Men should have had the use of Wine, which is a Liquor so generally useful and agreeable, that it could not be unknown even to Adam himself. Jesus Christ tells us, that the first Men were surprized by the Deluge as they were eating and drinking, Edentes & libentes, which is commonly understood of such as drink Wine. Lastly, we may say, without taxing Noah with the Crime of Drunkenness, that though he knew the intoxicating Quality of Wine, yet he might think, that the Quantity he drank of it was not capable of causing the Drunkenness in him that he afterwards found.

Hardly any Sacrifices were made to the Lord, that were any thing considerable, but there were Libations of Wine also along with them. See Exod. xxix. 40. Deut. xv. 5, 7.

We have already observed, under the Articles VINES and GRAPES, that there were many excellent Vineyards in Palestine; and to shew how great a number there should be of these in the single Inheritance of the Tribe of Judah, the Patriarch Jacob says to his Son Judah, He washed Genesis xlix. 11.his garments in wine, and his cloaths in the blood of grapes. The use of Wine was forbidden to the Priests during all the time they were in the Tabernacle, and employed in the Service of the Altar. This Levit. x. 9. Numb. vi. 3.Liquor was also forbidden to the Nazarites; and whenever Wine was forbidden, all other intoxicating Liquors were understood to be forbidden also, which are expressed in the Vulgate by the Name of Sicera. The Rechabites observed a strict Abstinence from Wine for their whole Lives, in pursuance of the Commands they had received from their Father Rechab.

In the Style of the Sacred Penmen, the Wine or the Cup often represents the Anger of God: Thou hast made us drink the wine of astonishment.a In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same. But the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. The Lord says to Jeremiah, Take the Jerem. xxv. 15.wine-cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee, to drink it.

They were used to administer Wine, by way of Physick, to such as were in Trouble Prov. xxxi. 4, 5, 6, &c.and Sorrow. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink. Lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. The Rabbins tell us, Tract. Sanhedr.that they used to give Wine and strong Liquors to those that were condemned to die, at their Execution, to stupify them, and take off some part of the Fear and Sense of their Pain. There were certain charitable Women at Jerusalem, as they tell us, who used to mix certain Drugs with Wine, to make it stronger, and more capable of extinguishing the Sense of Pain. The Hebrew says, Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, instead of unto him that is afflicted. ‘Tis thought it was such a kind of Mixture that was offered to Jesus Christ to drink, before he was fastened to Mark xv. 23.the Cross. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not.

We read in the Evangelists of three sorts of Drinks that they offered our Saviour at his Passion: St. Matthew says, xxvii. 33. that when they came to Calvary they gave him to drink Wine mixt with Gall; but when he had tasted it, he would not drink any of it. St. Mark, relating the same thing, says, xv. 22. that they offered him Wine mixt with Myrrh, Myrrhatum vinum; but he would not drink of it. The same St. Matthew says, xxvii. 48. that Jesus Christ being upon the Cross, and crying out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? A Soldier ran to him, and filling a Spunge with Vinegar, he put it upon the end of a Reed, and reached it up to his Mouth. We have spoke of this last Drink under the Title VINEGAR. ‘Tis agreed, that it is entirely different from the two former. The Business here is, to reconcile St. Matthew and St. Mark together, and to know whether the Wine mingled with Gall, mentioned by St. Matthew, be the same as St. Mark’s Wine mixt with Myrrh.

The Text of St. Matthew,¹ in several Greek Copies, intimates, that they offer’d our Saviour Vinegar mingled with Gall. But many excellent Manuscripts, as well as the Vulgate, read Wine, as well as St. Mark; and many of the Ancients, both Greeks and Latins. Besides, it is known, that the Substance of Vinegar is Wine; and that many place Wine and Vinegar under the same Category.²

To reconcile these two Evangelists, some have advanced,³ that St. Matthew having written it was Wine mixt with Gall that was offered to our Saviour; St. Mark intended to express the Bitterness of the Gall by the Word Myrrh, which is a very bitter Ingredient. Others have thought, that St. Matthew writing in Hebrew, made use of the Word Rosch, which signifies Poison, Bitterness; and that St. Mark being willing to specify what sort of Bitterness this was, render’d it by Myrrh. But the Greek Interpreter of St. Matthew translated it by Gall, thinking this was the Bitterness intended by St. Matthew.

Some have conceived that these two Potions were offered our Saviour at different times; that the devout Women who attended on him offered him Wine of Myrrh, to diminish his Sense of Pain, but that the Soldiers mingled Gall with it.⁴ But all this is only said by Conjecture. What appears to us the most probable is, that the Gall of St. Matthew, and the Myrrh of St. Mark, signify but one and the same thing; that is, something that was very bitter. See Tho. Bartholini, De Vino Myrrhato, . 5.⁵

As to the Vinum Myrrhatum of St. Mark, the Ancients knew a sort of Wine, which they called Murinum vinum, which was a very delicious Wine. Murina genus potionis, quæ græcè dicitur nectar. Hoc mulieres vocabant muriolum, quidam murratum vinum, says Festus. But it was not this that was offered to Jesus Christ, since St. Matthew, or his old Interpreter, explains it by Wine that was bitter and mingled with Gall. Wine of Myrrh then was Wine in which Myrrh was dissolved. The Ancients put in this Drug either to give it a Body, and make it keep longer,⁶ or to hasten the Death of those that suffered, to whom they used to give it to drink, if we may believe Maimonides, Kimchi, and Fagius.

Others think,⁷ that Myrrh had almost the same Effect in Wine as Incense; that it stupified the Patient, caused a kind of Intoxication; and took away the Sense of Pain. It is plain, that they gave to their Elephants Wine in which Incense had been mixt, to inebriate them, and take away their Horror at shedding Blood. We see a Proof of this in the Third Book of Maccabees. Apuleius says, that a certain Person Apulæi Metam. l. 8.had fortified himself against the Violence of Blows by taking a Potion of Myrrh: Sese multimodis conculcat ictibus myrrhæ contra præsumptione munitur. And elsewhere, Metam. l. 10. Sed obstirmatur myrrhæ præsumptione, nullis verberibus ac ne ipsi quidem succubuit igni. ‘Twas probably with such a view that they gave our Saviour Myrrhatum Vinum, and that this is the true Sense of St. Matthew and St. Mark. See also what is said before, under the Article GALL.

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