CHAPTER XVI.

WORDS TRANSLATED WINE IN THE BIBLE.

THE OLD TESTAMENT.

-YAYIN.

YAYIN occurs 141 times. In some texts, yayin meant an intoxicating drink; as in Jer. xxiii. 9, "I am like a drunken man, and a man whom yayin hath overcome." In other texts, yayin signified an unintoxicating drink; as in Jer. xlviii. 33, "I have caused yayin to fail from the wine press, none shall tread with shouting;" and in Isa. xvi. 10, "The treaders shall tread out no yayin in their presses." Here it represents the unfermented juice of the grape before fermentation could have begun.

Yayin is sometimes condemned. It is said to be a "mocker" (Prov. xx. 1). In Deut. xxxii. 33, it is called "the poison of dragons and the cruel

venom of asps." I have never read a clearer description of the phenomena of vinous fermentation than is given in Prov. xxiii. With the exception of one kind of grape grown now in Europe and America, the juice of grapes is colourless. Unsophisticated red alcoholic wine is made in wine-growing countries by fermenting the dark skins with the juice, the alcohol extracting the colouring matter and giving the red colour to the wine. The phrase "it moveth itself aright" is an accurate and graphic description of the rising of the bubbles of carbonic dioxide during the process of fermentation.

Though in the texts where yayin evidently denoted an intoxicating drink we never find God's approval of it, yayin is sometimes spoken of in terms of approbation, as in Isa. lv. 1, “Come buy yayin and milk without money and without price."

Yayin is thus clearly a generic word for "wine" fermented and unfermented, intoxicating and unintoxicating, poisonous and harmless.

-TIROSH.

Tirosh occurs thirty-eight times, and is rendered in twenty-six instances by "wine," in eleven by "new wine," and once by "sweet wine." In thirtyseven of these references tirosh is described as a

blessing, and it is never associated with danger or sin. The only apparent exception to this is the passage in Hos. iv. 11, "Whoredom and tirosh take away the heart." But this is a taking away or alienation of the affections from God by absorption of all the faculties, irrespective of the nature of the object engrossing the heart.

Tirosh is generally linked with 17 dahgan (“corn”), and, yitzhar (translated "oil," though more probably it ought to be "olive fruit"). As tirosh is spoken of as being gathered (Deut. xi. 14), as being trodden (Mic. vi. 15), and as being found in the cluster (Isa. lxv. 8), it seems only reasonable to infer that it denotes a solid fruit, not a liquid wine. This rendering is the more appropriate, as the three leading natural productions of Palestine are the produce of the field, the vineyard, and, the olive grove. Many travellers describe the country, in Mr. Buckingham's words, as cultivated with olives, corn, and vines. Some still hold that tirosh was a liquid, but there is a very general consensus of intelligent opinion that, whatever its form, it was

I Even if tirosh is held to denote a liquid in Deut. xiv. 23, that would not necessarily be fermented. The following refers to tithes of an unfermented liquid: "In Herzegovina the tithe-farmer exacts his eighth of the grapes when carried off as must" (A. J. Evans, “Through Bos. and Herzegov.,” p. 329. Lond. 1876).

unfermented and unintoxicating. It has been objected to the solidity of tirosh that it "shall make the maids cheerful" (Zech. ix. 17). This objection, however, would equally apply to corn, which we are told shall have a similar effect on the young men (ibid.), in which case we should be driven to transform dahgan "corn" into dahgan "whiskey!"

Unfortunately for this objection, the art of distilling ardent spirit was not known till the eleventh century.

The cheering influence dahgan and tirosh are said in the text to exert is literally true, in the best sense of the expression. Speaking of the Bedouin Arabs, De Saulcy says, "Truly miraculous is the effect of a supplemental ration of flour and oil on the heart of a Bedouin! The fellows are as gay and joyous as if each had drank a bottle of champagne!" ("Narrat. of a Journ. round the Dead Sea," i. 200, new edit. Lond. 1854).

-SHEKAR.

Shekar occurs twenty-three times, and is usually translated "strong drink." In twenty-one instances, in remarkable contrast to tirosh, it implies an intoxicant, and is spoken of in language of con

demnation. There can be little doubt that "strong drink," as we understand the term, is an inaccurate translation. Our own word "sugar" is evidently the same word as shekar, and "sweet drink" would be a much more appropriate rendering. Saccar or shakar stands for "sugar" in Persian ("Dict. and Gram." by Angelo Palmer, 1684; Johnson, 1852; Forbes, 1861; E. H. Palmer, 1876), and shakar in Hindustanee (Shakspear, 1849; Forbes, 1857). In Turkish, "sugar" is shèker or sukker (Redhouse, 1856). Mr. Knight tells us that shechar is the word for "sugar" at Tchavnak Kalessay ("A Diary in the Dardan.,” p. 31. Lond. 1849). According to Effendi, born 1611, sheker was Turkish for "sugar," and he speaks of Sheker-Para, a favourable lady of Sultan Ibraham, or Sugar-Bit, ("Narr. of Trav. Eur., As., and Af.," v. i. p. 13. Lond. 1846). "At Damascus [at a shop], I asked for sookhar. It was sold in small loaves" (C. J. Addison, "Dam. and Palmyr.," ii. 190. Lond. 1838).

"Strong drink" is particularly unfortunate, as we are apt to associate shekar with our strong spirits, gin, whiskey, brandy, and rum, containing, some a little more, some a little less than 50 per cent. of alcohol. There is no warrant for the supposition that shekar ever approached this alcoholic strength. Fermentation, as Thudicum and Dupré and other