From time to time, I come across the claim that wine in the Bible was really grape juice. If that's true, then please explain:
1. How Noah got intoxicated by drinking grape juice? (Genesis 9:20-21)
2. Why does Proverbs 31:6-7 advise that people about to die should be given "wine" in order to make them forget their troubles? Compare Proverbs 31:4-5.
3. Is Habbakuk 2:15-16 also talking about grape juice? It's a strange warning if that's the case.
4. What about the warning in Prov 23:20-21, 29-35? If it's grape juice, why the need to warn against drunkenness?
This is not to mention that Paul told Timothy not to appoint an older man who is a lover of wine.
See Ezekiel 44:21.
See https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Wine-Strong-Drink
Compare https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2016/12/oinos-anyone-john-26-10.html
Sporadic theological and historical musings by Edgar Foster (Ph.D. in Theology and Religious Studies and one of Jehovah's Witnesses).
Biblical wine is just grape juice, fermented grape juice ;)
ReplyDeleteThey did not seem to be into beer like the Egyptians. In old England beer was part of a standard weekly wage for many & it was the only way to avoid stomach bugs. Wine was far too expensive.
Interesting point about beer as a wage. It seems to me that if the "wine" was fermented grape juice, then it was not "just" grape juice :)
ReplyDeleteIn an y case, the net effect is the same. See Genesis 19:33. Lot had some potent fermented grape juice as did Noe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MxNLg3rCdw
ReplyDeleteNot "just" Marula Fruit :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSm7BcQHWXk
ReplyDeleteThe monkeys know where it's at! 😂
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting things I ever tried was rice vodka from Vietnam. Boy did it burn.