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Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

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WINE (οἶνος; once, Acts 2:13, γλεῦκος).—The climate and soil of Palestine are excellently adapted to the production of grapes, and from very early times wine has been a common beverage in the country. In the OT it is praised as a source of good cheer to the heavy of heart, as a stimulant for the faint, and as a token of a full, happy, and prosperous life (Proverbs 31:6, Psalms 104:15). The dangers of excessive indulgence are indeed clearly indicated. The priest while on duty, and the Nazirite during the currency of his vow, might not touch it (Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3). The sin of drunkenness is presented in revolting colours (Proverbs 23:29 ff., Isaiah 28:7 f). The Rechabite abstinence from wine, however, arose probably from the nomadic view of the vine as the symbol of the settled life, not from any objection to the use of wine in itself (W. R. Smith, Prophets, 84, 389). In the Gospels wine appears with bread as representing ordinary fare (Luke 7:33); it is drunk on festive occasions (John 2:3), and at religious feasts (Matthew 26:29 etc.). Mingled with oil, it is applied to wounds as a healing agent (Luke 10:34); mingled with myrrh, it is used as a narcotic (Mark 15:23).

The ancient methods of wine-making persist to the present day. Commonly the grapes are placed in a large shallow trough, cut in the surface of the rock. The juice is there trodden out, and conducted by a channel to a deeper trough at a lower level. The time of the vintage and wine-treading is one of great joyfulness among the people, their labours being enlivened by the singing of songs, and rhythmic clapping of the hands. Fermentation sets in quickly. The first, or what the Jews called the ‘tumultuous’ stage, might be passed in four days, during which the wine remained in the trough, or vat, if possible. It was then put into earthenware jars which had been lined with pitch, or, if it were to be sent to a distance, into ‘bottles,’ where the process was completed. In about three months the wine was fit for use.

Where the soil was deep, a press was ‘digged’ in the earth (Matthew 21:33 etc.). This, built round with masonry, and carefully cemented, received the juice expressed in a wooden structure set on the surface.

The ‘bottles’ are partially tanned goat-skins. The apertures where legs and tail have been severed are sewn up, leaving only that at the neck, which is firmly tied when the skin is filled. The wine in the first stage of fermentation, if tied in the skins, would, by reason of the gas generated, burst them. When the ‘tumultuous stage is passed, the new ‘bottle’ yields sufficiently to permit completion of the process. ‘Bottles’ once stretched in this way had no further powers of distention, and if used again for the same purpose would, of course, burst (Matthew 9:17 etc.).

Different qualities of wine were distinguished (John 2:10), probably indicated, as they are still, by the localities where they are produced. The ‘new wine’ of Acts 2:13 (lit. ‘sweet wine’) was probably ‘the wine made from the drip of the grapes before the clusters are trodden in the wine-press—stronger than the thin sour wines used as daily beverages’ (Lindsay, Acts, in loc). The modern ‘sweet wine’ is made from the white or green grapes, the juice being slightly boiled.

There is nothing known in the East of anything called ‘wine’ which is unfermented. Pharaoh’s butler pressed grapes into his master’s cup (Genesis 40:11). ‘In a text found at Edfu, it is said that grapes squeezed into water formed a refreshing beverage which was drunk by the king’ (Driver, Genesis, in loc.). This possibly corresponds to the Spanish drink made by squeezing grapes not quite ripe into water. But it is never called ‘wine.’ The γλεῦκος of Acts 2:13 was certainly fermented. Apart from the fact that the vintage was eight months passed, which put the keeping of unfermented grape juice, out of the question, it was alleged as the cause of drunkenness by those who must have known its character. The wine used by the Jews in Palestine—people most conservative in their religious customs—at the Passover, is of the ordinary kind. And there is no trace of any tradition among them of a change having been introduced. Their attitude towards the drinker of unfermented grape jnice may be gathered from the saying in Pirke Aboth (iv. 28), ‘He who learns from the young, to what is he like? to one that eats unripe grapes, and drinks wine from his vat.’

While in the NT wine is plainly regarded as good, and its medicinal value is recognized (1 Timothy 5:23), there is no blindness to the danger attached to its abuse (see, e.g., Ephesians 5:18, 1 Timothy 3:8, Titus 2:3). The question of total abstinence, like that of slavery, had not yet been raised. No argument for total abstinence can be built on the significance of terms used for ‘wine’ in Scripture. But ‘the Apostle Paul has stated the case for total abstinence in Romans 14 in a way that does not need the treacherous aid of doubtful exegesis for its support’ (DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] , s.v. ‘Food’). See, further, Hastings DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] ii. 31 ff.; Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs, 43 ff.; Benzinger, Heb. Arch. (Index); Fowler, The Wine of the Bible.

W. Ewing.