The intoxicating quality oi ydyin is confirmed bj' Rab- binical testimony. The Mishna, in the treatise on the Passover, informs us that four cups of wine were poured out and blessed, and drunk by each of the companj' at the eating of the Paschal lamb, and that water was also mixed with the wine, because it was considered too strong to be drunk alone (Pesachim, vii, 13; x, 1). In Hieros. Shabh. (xi, 1) we read, "It is commanded that this rite be performed with red wine ;" Babylon. Shabb. (Ixxvii, 1), "'Sharon wine is of famous report, with which they mix two parts of water;" Babylon. Bei'ci- choth (fol. 1), "Their wine ('j'^'^) was verj^ strong, and not fit for drinking wilkouf being mixed with wate?:'" The Gemara adds, "The cup of blessing is not to be blessed until it is mixed with water ;" the Jerusalem Tal- mud says, " It became a man nobly to entertain his wife and children (at the Passover), that at this feast Ihey might be merry with wine" ("p^). To meet the objec- tion How can intoxication be hindered? the rabbins replied, " Because wine between eating does not intoxi- cate a man" (Hieros. Talm.\ See D?\ Tattam^s Reply to a Pamphlet by Rev. IF. Ritchie on the Sa'ipture Testi- mony against Intoxicating Wine, p. 8, 9.
But, although usually intoxicating, yet it was not only permitted to be drunk, but was also used for sacred purposes, and is spoken of as a blessing. Thus, in Ja- cob's blessing on Judah, " His eyes shall be red with ya- yin, and his teeth white with milk" (Gen. xlix, 12). So in God's promise to restore his people to their own land, " I will bring again the captivity of my people . . . and they shall plant vineyards and drink the ydyin thereof" (Amos iv, 19). " Drink thy ydyin^'' says the preacher, " with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works" (Eccles. ix, 7). The Nazarite, at the expiration of his vow, was permitted to drink ydyin (Numb, vi, 13-20); the Israelites were permitted to drink ydyin at their feasts (Deut. xiv, 24-26) ; ydyin was used in the sacred service of Jehovah, being poured out as a drink-offering to him (Exod. xis, 40; Lev. xxiii, 13; Numb, xv, 5). Hence, it not only "maketh glad the heart of man" (Psa. civ, 15), but also " cheereth both God and man" (.Tudg. ix, 13) ; its cheering eifects being symbolically transferred to the Divine Being.
Some, indeed, have argued from these passages that ydyin could not always have been alcoholic. But this is begging the question, and that in defiance of the facts. Although invariably fermented, it was not always prop- erlv inebriating, and in most instances, doubtless, was but slightly alcoholic, like the vin ordinaire of France, or our own cider.
2. Tirosh, llji-iin (Gen. xxvii, 28-38 ; Numb, xviii, 12; Deut. vii, 13; xi, 14; xii, 17; xiv, 23; xviii, 4; xxviii, 5; xxxiii, 28; Judg. ix, 13; 2 Kings xviii, 32; 2 Chron. xxxi, 5; xxxii, 28; Neh. v, 11 ; x, 37 , Psa. iv, 7 ; Isa. xxvi, 17 ; Ixii, 8 ; Jer. xxxi, 12 ; Hos. ii, 8, 9, 22; vii, 14; Joel ii, 19, 24; rendered •" new wine" in Neh. X, 39; xiii, 5, 12; Prov. iii, 10; Isa. xxiv, 7; Ixv, 8; Hos. iv, 11; ix, 2; Joel i, 10; Hag. i, 11; Zech.
ix, 17 ; " sweet wine," in Mic. vi, 15), proper!}- sig- nifies must, the freshly pressed juice of the grape (the yXivKOQ, or sweet wine of the Greeks, rendered "new wine" in Acts ii, 13). The word (rendered in the Sept. by three distinct terms, oTvoq, pt'o'^, fii^vajia) occurs sometimes in connection with ydyin, sometimes with oil, and sometimes with words denoting the edible produc- tions of the earth.
(1.) Etymologically, tirosh is usually referred to the root yardsh, 'O'^'^, " to get possession of," applied to wine on account of its inebriating qualities, whereby it gets possession o/the brain. So Gesenius, " Mustum, novum vinum ita dictum quia inebriat, cerebrum occu- pat'' {Thesaur. p. 633) ; and Fiirst, "Mustum uvis ex- pressum, A. V. 122^'^, occupare, acquirere, comparare" {Concord, p. 525, 2). But according to Bythner, as quoted by Lees {Tirosh, p. 52), it refers to the vine as being a. possession {Kar t^ox)'l>') in the eyes of the He- brews. Neither of these explanations is wholly satis- factory, but the second is less so than the first, inas- much as it would be difficult to prove that the Hebrews attached such pre-eminent value to the vine as to place it on a par with landed property, which is designated by the cognate terms yerushshuh and morashdh. Nor do we see that any valuable conclusion could be drawn from this latter derivation ; for, assuming its correct- ness, the question would still arise whether it was on account of the natural or the manufactured product that such store was set on the vine.
(2.) As to the exclusively liquid character of the substance denoted, both ydyin and tirosh wee occasion- alh' connected with expressions that would apply prop- erlj' to a fruit; the former, for instance, with verbs sig- nificant oi gathering (Jer. xl, 10, 12) and growing (Psa, civ, 14, 15) ; the latter with gathering (Isa. Ixii, 9, A. V. "brought it together"), treading (Mic. vi, 15), and withering (Isa. xxiv, 7; Joel i, 10). So, again, the for- mer is used in Numb. vi,4, to define the particular kind of tree whose products were forbidden to the Nazarite, viz. the "pendulous shoot of the vine;" and the latter in Judg. ix, 13, to denote the product of the vine. It should be observed, however, that in most, if not all, the passages where these and similar expressions occur there is something to denote that the fruit is regarded not simply as fruit, but as the raw material out of which wine is manufactured. Thus, for instance, in Psa. civ, 15, and Judg. ix, 13, the cheering eifects of the product are noticed, and that these are more suitable to the idea of wine than of fruit seems self-evident : in one passage, indeed, the A. V. connects the expression "make cheer- ful" with bread (Zech. ix, 17); but this is a mere mis- translation, the true sense of the expression there used being to nourish or make to grow. So, again, the tread- ing of the grape in Mic. vi, 15 is in itself conclusive as to the pregnant sense in which the term tirosh is used, even if it were not subsequently implied that the effect of the treading was, in the ordinary course of things, to produce the ydyin which was to be drunk. In Isa. Ixii, 9, the object of the gathering is clearly conveyed by the notice of drinking. In Isa. xxiv, 7, the tirosh, which withers, is paralleled with ydyin in the two fol- lowing verses. Lastly, in Ixv, 8, the nature of the tirosh, which is said to be found in the cluster of the grapes, is not obscurely indicated bj' the subsequent eulogium, " a blessing is in it." That the terms " vine" and "wine" should be thus interchanged in poetical language calls for no explanation. We can no more infer from such instances that the Hebrew terms mean grapes as fruit than we could infer the same of the Latin vinum because in some two or three passages (Plautus, Trin. ii, 4, 125; Varro, Z'e Ling. Lat. iv, 17; Cato, Z)e Re Rnstica, c. 147) the term is transferred to the grape out of which wine is made.