Fermented Wine in the Drink-Offering
By MRS. S. N. HASKELL
Why Was Fermented Wine Used in That Service?
MANY advocates of fermented wine point to the numerous texts where wine is mentioned in connection with the Levitical service, and suppose that the priests and worshipers drank freely of the wine; but this was not the case. The wine of the drink-offering was always poured out upon the burnt offerings. Num. 28:7. One fourth part of a hin — over a quart — of strong wine was offered with each lamb. When we consider the great number of burnt offerings sacrificed, as indicated in the twenty-ninth chapter of Numbers and other passages, and remember that there were "drink-offerings for every burnt offering" (2 Chron. 29:35), we can understand why wine was mentioned so often in connection with the sanctuary service. WHY THE UNFERMENTED IN COMMUNION SERVICE
The question arises, Why was unfermented wine taken to represent the blood of Christ in the communion service, and strong or fermented wine used in the ancient drink-offering? The drink-offering is not mentioned in the first chapters of Leviticus, where all the other sacrifices of the Levitical services, except the offering of the red heifer (Num. 19:1-10), are described. The drink-offering was superadded to show that the worshiper was in perfect accord with all he saw done at the altar. As expressed by Bonar: "He saw the lamb slain — a type of atoning blood for his guilty soul; he saw the meat-offering presented — a type of entire dedication to the Lord; and therefore, when he lifted up the cup of wine, and poured it forth before the Lord at the altar, over the ashes, or (according to some) over the flesh of the sacrifice and the memorial of the meat-offering, his so doing was equivalent to saying, 'In all this I do heartily acquiesce. I welcome atoning blood to my guilty soul, and I give up my redeemed soul to Him that has atoned for me. Amen, amen!'" SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DRINK-OFFERING
While the drink-offering in a sense represented the offering of Christ, yet it represented the life of the worshiper poured out in service for God. Paul seems to have understood this when he wrote to the Philippian brethren, "Yea, and if I be poured forth upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all." Phil. 2:17, margin. Thus we can readily see that strong, fermented wine, containing evil, was a fit emblem of the life of humanity, "born in sin, and prone to evil as the sparks to fly upward"; while the pure, unfermented wine represented the blood of the Sinless One. With the drink-offering in view, we can understand why Hannah had "a bottle of wine" with the three bullocks and the ephah of flour that she offered at the temple when she gave the child Samuel to the Lord. 1 Sam. 1:24. The three men that Saul met "going up to God to Bethel," carried three kids, and three loaves of bread, and a bottle of wine for the drink-offering. 1 Sam. 10:3. A TOKEN OF FULL SURRENDER
In the light of the drink-offering, we can comprehend how God can be cheered by the fermented wine poured out before Him by His people as a token of their lives' being fully surrendered to Him. And although they, like the fermented wine, have sin in their natures, yet He accepts, O, so gladly, the service they render; and the sinner who surrenders his life to God is blessed. Thus the wine, because of its type of the sin removed, "cheereth God and man." Judges 9:13. A tithe of the wine of ancient Israel was given to the tribe of Levi. The Levites were expected to offer the usual offerings before the Lord, as the other tribes; but they had no vineyards from which to secure wine for their drink-offerings, as they had no inheritance in Israel. Num. 18:20. They were dependent upon the tithe given them for things necessary for their sacrifices. Num. 18:26-29. God has ever required purity of life in those who served before Him, and His commandment was: "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations." Lev. 10:9. ONLY when we have learned how to hide away beyond the possibility of discovery have we learned the secret of the richest Christian life. This "hiding" of the Christian is declared by Paul when he says, "For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." The purpose of hiding a thing is to put it beyond reach. One blessed result of the literal hiding of our life in God is to put our life beyond the reach of Satan. When we are so hid with Christ in God that God Himself is within us and wholly round about us, the practical result is that Satan can not get at us. Though he is permitted to tempt even the God-hidden Christian, nevertheless if that hiding is maintained by faith, Satan can only tempt, and never successfully break through into the hiding-place to molest. Better still, when we are thus concealed in God, others looking at us may all the time see only God's life, the Christ life. The hidden human life gives Christ His opportunity to reveal Himself.—Sunday School Times.