The Word "Wine" in the Bible
By Mrs. S. N. Haskell
Distinction Between the Unfermented and the Alcoholic Juice of the Vine
UNFERMENTED wine, or grape juice, or fruit nectar, as it is termed, is not a modern drink by any means. It was a well-known, favorite drink with the ancients. Dr. Adam Clarke gives the following comment on Gen. 40:11: "'And I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup.' From this we find that wine anciently was the mere expressed juice of the grape, without fermentation. The saky, or cupbearer, took the bunch, pressed the juice into the cup, and instantly delivered it into the hands of his master. This was anciently the yayin of the Hebrews." INCONSISTENT IN USE OF WORDS
Those who claim that the Bible recognizes only fermented wine, translate yayin as fermented wine in the 142 places it occurs in the Bible. This is not correct. As well might we claim that "meat" in Gen. 1:29 means "flesh," because it is so understood in 1 Cor. 8:13. The meaning of words in all languages changes as years pass. "Prevent" in the days of King James meant to "go before," but it has an entirely different meaning now. Those who insist upon always translating the Hebrew word yayin, "fermented wine," are much the same as those who, in the twentieth century, would use the word "prevent" with the meaning of the seventeenth century. William Smith, in his large three volume dictionary of the Bible, says that it was an ancient custom to preserve the wine sometimes in an unfermented state, and that the terms translated "wine" sometimes refer to an unfermented liquor. Fermented wine is mentioned more times in the Bible than the unfermented, because of the oft-repeated warnings against it. The term "sweet" or "new wine," as used in Joel 3:17, 18 and Amos 9:13, where it is promised by God as a special blessing to His people, is translated from the Hebrew word 'Asis. Henderson, as quoted in M'Clintock and Strong's "Biblical and Theological Cyclopedia," says: "By 'Asis is meant the fresh wine, or the juice of the grape or other fruit which has just been pressed out*, and is remarkable for its sweet flavor and its freedom from intoxicating qualities." God designs that His people should enjoy the juice of the luscious fruits He has given them in such abundance, but He forbids their even looking upon it when the bite of the serpent, or alcohol, is in it. Prov. 23:31, 32. Truly fermented wine "biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." It is usually understood that the Hebrew debash, a beverage called "honey" in Gen. 43:11 and Eze. 27:17, was similar to the dibs in common use in Syria at the present day. Dibs is the unfermented grape juice preserved by boiling it down to one half or one third of its original bulk, which is diluted with water before drinking. In many homes, sweet cider is preserved in the same manner. Unfermented wine has always been a favorite beverage of those who wished to keep their bodies in the best physical condition. Many of the pure unfermented fruit juices are destructive to germ life. Typhoid fever germs are slowly killed by lemon juice. Unfermented fruit juices are cooling to the blood, and in direct contrast to the feverish effect of the fermented wine.