Moreover, tirosh generally follows "corn " in the trip- let "corn, wine, and oil," and hence the term applied to the consumption of corn is carried on, in accordance
WINE
1012
WINE
with the grammatical figure zeugma, to the other mem- bers of tlie clause, as in Deut. xii, 17. In the only pas- sage where the act of consuming tiivs/i alone is noticed (Isa. Ixii, 8, 9) the verb is shathuh (nr'iT), which con- stantly indicates the act of diinkiiig (e. g. (len. ix, "21 ; xxiv, 2'2\ Exod. vii, 21; Kuth ii, 9), and is the general term combined with akdl (5?N!) i» the joint act of "eating and drinking" (e.g. 1 Sam. xxx, 16; Job i, 4; Ecclcs. ii, 24). We can lind no conlirmation for the sense of sucking assigned to the term by Dr. Lees {Ti- ri'txh, p. (51) : the ])assage quotetl in snjiport of that sense (Psa. Ixxv, 8) implies, at all events, a kind of sucking allied to drinking rather than to eating, if indeed the sense of drinking be not the more correct rendering of the term. An argument has been drawn against the usual sense assigned to tirosh, from the circumstance tliat it is generally connected with "corn," and there- fore implies an edible rather than a drinkable substance. The very opposite conclusion may, however, be drawn fnim this circumstance; for it may be reasonably urged that in any enumeration of the materials needed for man's suii])ort, " meat and drink" would be specified rather than several kinds of the former and none of the lalter. "Bread and water" occur together very often (c. g. Ezek. iv, 17; 1 Sam. xxv, 11, etc.). Is tvater, then, a solid?
There are, finally, passages which seem to imply the actual manufacture of tiiosh by the same process by which wine w'as ordinarily made. For, not to insist on the probability that the "bringing together," noticed in Isa. Ixii, 9 would not appropriately apply to the col- lecting of the fruit in the wine-vat, we have notice of the " treading" in connection with finish in Mic. vi, 15, and again of the "overflowing" and the "bursting out" of the tirosh in the vessels or lower vat {'Zp'', yekeb, Sept. i)Tro\i)vior), which received the must from the proper press (Prov. iii, 10; Joel ii, 24). This, accord- ing to the author of Tirosh Lo Ydi/in, is an " image of abundance;" the " vats piled up with fruits so full that wliat was put on woidd roll off' to the ground, because they could hold no more!" (p. .54).
(o.) As to the intoxicating character of this drink, the allusions to it^ eifects are confined to a single pas- sage, but this a most decisive one, viz. Hos. iv, 11, " Whoredom and wine (ydyin), and new wine (tirosh) take away the heart." where tirosh appears as the cli- max of engrossing influences, in immediate connection with ydyin.
The inevitable impression produced on the mind by a general review of the above notices is that both ydyin and tirosh, in their ordinary and popular acceptation, referred to fermented, intoxicating wine. In the con- demnatory passages no exception is made in favor of any other kind of liquid passing under the same name, but not invested with the same dangerous qualities. Nor, again, in these passages is there any decisive con- demnation of the substance itself, which would enforce the conclusion that elsewhere an unfermented liquid must be understood. The condemnation must be un- derstood of excessive use in any case : for even where this is not expressed, it is implied; and therefore the instances of wine being drunk without any reproof of the act may, with as great a probability, imply the moderate use of an intoxicating beverage, as the use of an unintoxicating one.
The notices of fermentation are not very decisive. A certain amount of fermentation is implied in the dis- tension of the leather bottles when new wine was placed in them, and wliich was liable to burst old bottles. It has been suggested that the object of placing the wine in bottles was to prevent fermentation, but that in " the case of old bottles fermentation might ensue from their being impregnated with the fermenting substance" {Ti- 7-6sh, p. Go). This is not inconsistent with the state- ment in Matt, ix, 17, but it detracts from the spirit of the comparison which implies the presence of a strong.
expansive, penetrating principle. It is, however, in- consistent with Job xxxii, 19, where the distension is described as occurring even in riew bottles. It is very likely that new wine was preserved in the state of must by placing it in jars or bottles, and then burying it in the earth. But we should be inclined to understand the passages above quoted as referring to wine drawn off before the fermentation was complete, either for immediate use, or for the purpose of forming it into sweet wine after the manner described by the Geoponic writers (vii, 19). The presence of the gas-bubble, or, as the Hebrews termed it, ^ the eye" that sparkled in the cup (Prov. xxiii, 31), was one of the tokens of fer- mentation having taken place, and the same effect was very possibly implied in the name chemer ("iTifl).
The testimony of the rabbins is to the same effect. They say, " Tirosh, ^Tl^T, is new wine; the liquor of the grapes first pressed out, which easily takes posses- sion of the mind of man" {Sanhedr. Ixxvi, 1). "If thou abuse it, thou shalt be poor; if thou rightlv use it, thou shalt be head" (^Yoma, Ixxvi, 2). Again, in the Gemara. "Wherefore is it called tirosh? Because all who are drawn to it shall be poor." Such is the tes- timony of the rabbins, " who ought to know something of their own language." In accordance with this, the Targumists Onkelos and Jonathan render tirosh, in every instance of its occurrence (except in three cases where there is no word, or the word for vineyard), by the word "l^H, chamur (see Tattam, Reply, p. 5, 6).