CHAPTER X. VERSE 7.

And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.

AND THEIR HEART SHALL REJOICE AS THROUGH WINE] Hebrew, vě-sahmakh libahm kě-mo yahyin, and their heart shall be glad like (those who drink) wine.' The word 'through' is not justified by the Hebrew, kemo expressing not causation but comparison. The rejoicing may, of course, refer either to the gladness and cheerfulness arising from an abundance of innocent wine, or to the effect of the inebriating cup. In any case, there is no more a sanction of the agent wine, or the act of drinking it, than a sanction of war is involved when the Spirit of Truth is likened to a two-edged sword. Lxx., 'and they shall be as the warriors of Ephraim, and their hearts shall rejoice as with wine'; V., 'and Ephraim shall be as a mighty (one), and their heart shall be delighted as with wine.'

CHAPTER XIÍ. VERSE 2.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

A CUP OF TREMBLING] Hebrew, saph räal, a bowl of reeling' that makes to reel or stagger: the A. V. gives in the margin, 'or, slumber, or, poison.' Lxx., prothura saleuomena, trembling door-posts'; V., superliminare crapula, ‘an upper lintel (of a door) of intoxication'; T., 'a bowl filled with strong drink' (marvai), or 'drunkenness.'

CHAPTER XIV. VERSE IO.

All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses.

UNTO THE KING'S WINEPRESSES] Hebrew, ad yiqvai ham-mělěk, 'to the wine-presses of the king.'

THE BOOK OF

THE PROPHET MALACHI.

[Malachi Flourished about THE YEAR 400 B.C.]

CHAPTER III. VERSE II.

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

NEITHER SHALL YOUR VINE, ETC.] Hebrew, vě-lo tishakkāl lahkem hag-gěphěn bas-sahdeh, and the vine in the field shall not be abortive (= sterile) to you'; Lxx., 'and the vine which is in the field shall surely not be weakly (or sick)’— ou mee astheneesee; V., 'nor shall the vine (or vineyard = vinea) in the field be sterile (sterilis).'

The gephen sahdeh, 'vine of the field,' was a species of vine suffered to run untrained in the open country (see Note on 2 Kings iv. 29); hence the promise that even the wild vine should cease to be barren, and should bear fruit worthy of the name, was a striking assurance of the Divine blessing upon the land of Judea.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

GENESIS XL. VERSES 9-13, 21.

Philo, in his Treatise on Joseph, gives an account of the imprisonment of the young Hebrew and the dreams of the chief butler and baker. Of the former he states :-" Then first the chief-wine-pourer (archioinochoös) declares, It seemed to me that a great vine of three roots brought forth one very vigorous and fruitful stock, bearing clusters as if in the height of summer; and as the grapes had a high, ripe colour, I gathered the clusters and gently squeezed them into the royal cup, and when it contained sufficient of the pure wine (akratou), I presented it to the king." Joseph predicts his restoration to his office at court, and adds, “In order to the confirmation of thy dignity, thou shalt pour out wine (oinochoeeseis), and present the cup to thy sovereign."

EXODUS XII. VERSES 17-20.

In his treatise concerning the Sacred Festivals, Philo observes that sure interpreters of Holy Scripture accounted for the prohibition of leaven at the passover from the fact that 'unfermented food is a gift of nature, while that which is fermented is a work of art' (hoti hee azuma trophee doreema phuseōs, de zumōmenon technees ergon); and, further, that as the primitive inhabitants of the world must have used the productions of the earth in their natural state, so it was suitable for the Creator to kindle afresh every year the primitive spirit by a course of plain and simple dietary.

EXODUS XXXII. VERSE 6.

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

To this circumstance St Paul refers, 1 Cor. x. 7. Whether the words 'sat down to eat and to drink' imply gluttony and drunkenness cannot be absolutely determined. Though the people were not furnished by God with strong drink, occasional supplies might have been procured, with the certain effect of stimulating every tendency to impurity and idolatrous rites.

NUMBERS XXV. VERSES I, 2.

2

And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.

This shameful tergiversation is made a subject of apostolic warning, 1 Cor. x. 8. Prevented from cursing the people of Israel, Balaam basely gave such advice to Balak, the king of Moab, as led to the temptation before which the children of Israel fell. So far did the corruption extend, that the Israelites ate of the Moabitish sacrifices, and did reverence to the idols. As these sacrificial feasts were always occasions of revelry and intemperance, it may be presumed that the one described in the text was no exception to the rule.

DEUTERONOMY XXXIII. VERSE 28.

The expression shahmahiv, 'THY heavens,' seems to indicate that the ain Yaakov, 'the eye (or fountain) of Jacob,' is nothing less than a poetical and intensive form of speech personifying Jehovah, who describes Himself in ver. 26 as 'the God of Jeshurun.' The promise that God's eye, the sign of complacency and blessing, should be upon the land, would exactly agree with the words of Deut. xi. 12, "A land which the Lord thy God careth for the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it." In Psa. xxiv. 6 the appellative 'Jacob' is distinctly ascribed to Jehovah in a similar outburst of ecstatic devotion, God being identified with Jacob the patriarch, as the Father of the chosen race.

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ESTHER I. VERSE 8.

Concerning the change of manners and morals among the ancient Persians as to the use of strong drink, Professor Rawlinson, in his Ancient Monarchies,' vol. iv., offers the following remarks:-"In respect of eating and drinking, the Persians, even of the better sort, were in the earlier times noted for their temperance and sobriety. Their ordinary food was wheaten bread, barley cakes, and meat simply roasted or boiled, which they seasoned with salt and with bruised cressseed, a substitute for mustard. The sole drink in which they indulged was water. Moreover, it was their habit to take one meal only each day. The poorer kind of people were contented with even a simpler diet, supporting themselves, to a great extent, on the natural products of the soil, as dates, figs, wild pears, acorns, and the fruit of the terebinth tree. But these abstemious habits were soon laid aside, and replaced by luxury and self-indulgence, when the success of their arms had put it in their power to have the full and free gratification of all their desires and propensities. Then, although the custom of having but one meal in the day was kept up, the character of the custom was entirely altered by beginning the meal early and making it last till night. Not many sorts of meat were placed on the board, unless the occasion was a grand one; but course after course of the lighter kinds of food flowed on in an almost endless succession, intervals of some length being allowed between the courses to enable the guests to recover their appetites.

Instead of water, wine became the usual beverage; each man prided himself on the quantity he could drink; and the natural result followed, that most banquets terminated in general intoxication. Drunkenness even came to be a sort of institution. Once a year, at the feast of Mithras, the king of Persia, according to Duris, was bound to be drunk. A general practice arose of deliberating on all important affairs under the influence of wine, so that in every household, when a family crisis impended, intoxication was a duty."

PROVERBS XXXI. VERSES 4, 5.

Plato, in his 'Laws,' b. ii. 674, puts into the mouth of the Athenian guest certain concluding remarks which the others pronounce to be very good. In preference (he says) to the custom of the Cretans and Lacedæmonians I would favour the Carthaginian law; viz., that no one when in camp is to taste of that drink (wine), but is to exist upon water during all that period; and that in the city, neither a male nor female slave should ever taste it; and that not magistrates during their year of office, nor pilots (of the State? kuberneetas), nor judges engaged in business, should taste it at all; nor any one who goes to any council to deliberate upon any matter of moment; neither any one in daytime at all, unless on account of bodily exercise or disease (somaskias ee nosōn); nor at night, when either man or woman is intent upon begetting offspring. Many other cases a person might mention in which wine ought not to be drunk by those who possess understanding and a correct rule of action (nomon orthon)."

CANTICLES VIII. VERSE 2.

The Targum on this passage is periphrastic and allegorical, but contains the following expressive sentence :-" We shall drink old wine (khamar attiq) which has been stored up in its own grapes since the commencement of the creation, and from pomegranates which have been made ready for the righteous in the Eden of delight."