God in the Winepress:What Wine Imageryin the Hebrew BibleTells Us about God

by Kessia Reyne Bennett

GOD IN THE WINEPRESS:

WHAT WINE IMAGERY IN THE HEBREW BIBLE

TELLS US ABOUT GOD

An Unpublished Paper

By

Kessia Reyne Bennett

November 2011

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Functions of Wine in the Hebrew Bible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Wine as Regular Drink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Wine in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Social Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Psychological Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Wine Brings Gladness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Wine Brings Intoxication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

The Significance of Wine as a Vehicle for Metaphor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

The God Who Gives and Takes Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 God the Dedicated Yet Disappointed One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

God the Intoxicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

God the Treader of the Winepress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

God in the Winepress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Making Broader Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

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Introduction

There is an unfortunate tendency to call any investigation into religious matter

“theology,” without regard for the meaning of the term. In writing this paper I hope to avoid

any such error and instead to live up to the task of true theology as a study of God, however

modest may be my contribution. Therefore, the present research is not a study of viticulture

in ancient Israelite culture, nor does it ask or answer that long-contended Christian question

regarding the morality of alcohol use. This study takes as its subject God, and seeks to be a

theological inquiry. It asks theological questions of the Hebrew Bible, using as its data those

Scripture texts which refer to wine and related terms. The guiding question is: How does the

wine imagery of the Hebrew Bible inform an understanding of God and His character?

To answer this question, a combination of approaches have been used. First, I did a

lexical survey, reviewing every text that uses a word of interest.1 A reading of these passages

revealed thematic lines running throughout the Hebrew Bible. Next, a review of scholarly

literature provided additional insights into food and drink in the Hebrew Bible, as well as

background information on Israelite viticulture. This was helpful for understanding the

background connotations behind many metaphorical uses of wine terminology. Building on

this work, two passages (Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 63:1-6) were examined more closely for the

theology behind their wine imagery. The reader will notice that a similar progression

structures this paper.

Wine imagery in the Hebrew Bible is a multifaceted gem, and it reveals a

multifaceted God—a Person who blesses with joy and confuses with destruction, who is

1

1 A list of these words can be found in the appendix.

glad and who is wrathful, who gives and takes away, who rules and who suffers. And

perhaps at the end of this study, we will better understand just how that could possibly be so.

Functions of Wine in the Hebrew Bible

As a background to the theological inquiry, let us begin with a survey of wine in the

text of the Hebrew Bible: when it appears, its significance, its variety of uses. Wine shows

up often in biblical narratives, involving such characters as Noah and Lot (who are led by it

into drunkenness and sexual misconduct), Melchizedek (who shares it with Abraham),

Isaac and Jacob, and the lovers of the Song of Solomon. It also appears in the legislative

literature of the Pentateuch, in the wisdom literature, and also vividly in the writings of the

prophets. Reference to wine or related terms (such as drunkenness or winepresses) is made

in almost every book in the Hebrew Bible.2

Wine as Regular Drink

It appears that wine was one of the staples of an Israelite diet, a part of the so-called

Mediterranean triad (along with bread and oil).3 While for Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon

beer was the principle alcoholic beverage and wine was a luxury, Israel's soil and climate

were perfect for viticulture.4 Although the alcoholic strength of wine in ancient Israel is

uncertain, the biblical and archaeological data strongly suggest that wine was part of the

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2 Exceptions are 1 Kings, Jonah, Malachi, Ruth, and Ezra.

3 Nathan MacDonald, Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 60.

4 Magen Broshi, Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls (London: Sheffield Academic, 2001): 145-146.

everyday fare for the typical person.5 For instance, Deut 29:6 suggests that, in contrast with

the miraculous provision of their desert diet, bread and wine were normal fare. “You have

not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am

the Lord.”6 Lamentations 2:12 describes the suffering of the residents of Jerusalem in being

deprived of the basic necessities. “They cry to their mothers, ‘Where is bread and wine?’ as

they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their

mothers’ bosom.” Likewise, in Neh 5:15 “bread and wine” (Nˆy‹ÅyÎw MRj§Rl) parallels the concept

of food allowance found in 5:18. So also Prov 4:17 metaphorically employs the image of

bread and wine to indicate the regular fare of wicked and violent people. Beyond everyday

eating, wine is used for a variety of purposes in the Old Testament: liturgical, social, and

psychological.

Wine in Worship

Even in the pre-Israelite era, wine is linked with worship. Wine appears in the

meeting between Melchizedek and Abraham in what seems to be a worship context (Gen

14:18-20).7 And according to the ceremonial law, wine is used in the worship of Yahweh as

a drink offering on several occasions, including the consecration of the priests (Exod 29:40)

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5 “The frequent references to wine the Old Testament suggest that it was not only the principal alcoholic beverage, but the principal drink, period.” Nathan MacDonald, What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat?: Diet in Biblical Times (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 22-23; contra Oded Borowski, Daily Life in Biblical Times (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 70: “The most common drinks for quenching thirst were water and milk.”

6 Unless otherwise noted, Scripture texts are quoted from the English Standard Version (2001).

7 Priesthood, blessing, and tithe indicate a worship experience; therefore, the fact that bread and wine are mentioned in this very compact narrative suggests that perhaps they too had a worship function.

and the offering of the first-fruits (Lev 23:13). Numbers 15:1-16 specifies that wine ought to

accompany an h∞DlOo (burnt offering) or a jAbY‰z (sacrifice). Hannah brought a bull, flour, and

wine for an offering when she presented Samuel before the LORD at Shiloh (1 Sam 1:24). It

is also permissible in the tithe celebration described in Deut 14:26, as an element of

rejoicing before the LORD.

Drink offerings (libations) of unspecified liquid are mentioned throughout the cultic

literature of Exodus (25:29, 29:40-41, 30:9, 37:16), Leviticus (23:13, 23:18, 23:27), and

Numbers (4:7, 6:15-17, 15:5ff, 28:7ff, 29:6ff). In the restoration of true worship prophesied

by Ezekiel (45:17), unspecified drink offerings are present. Similarly, we are not told what

drink Jacob used in his offering at Bethel (Gen 35:14). Although these offerings are not

explicitly libations of wine, it likely is wine since wine is the only liquid ever specified for an

offering to Yahweh.8

Wine in worship was not limited only to true worship, however. Deuteronomy 32:38

prophesies of a time when Israel would pursue false gods and offer them wine as drink

offerings. Isaiah 65:11 condemns those "who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy

mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine J(K`DsVmIm) for Destiny."

Drink offerings, probably of wine, were also set before idols by the Israelites according to

Isaiah (57:6), and Jeremiah (7:18, 19:13, 32:39, 44:17ff), and Ezekiel (20:28). Drink

offerings were presented at King Ahaz's syncretistic worship (2 Ki 16:10-16). Through the

prophet Amos, Yahweh condemns the unjust activities of His people, including that "in the

house of their god they drink wine taken as fines" (2:8, NIV). In Psalm 16:4, David

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8 There is one possible exception. David poured out to the LORD the precious water retrieved from Bethlehem by his mighty men (1 Chr 11:18), but although it has theological significance, this episode is clearly an informal and non-liturgical example.

scornfully refers to the "libations of blood" (Mó∂;dIm M∞RhyE;kVsˆn) used in idol worship, but it is not

clear if this is literally referring to blood offerings or if it is a word play off of the blood-like

appearance of wine.

Social Functions

Wine also served social functions. It was used as a gift to secure favor. When Jesse

sends David to Saul at the king's request, he also includes bread, a young goat and wine to

present before the king (1 Sam 16:20). In her generous gift to assuage David's wrath against

her estate and win his favor, Abigail includes two skins of wine (1 Sam 25:18). Ziba the

servant of Mephibosheth successfully employed the same tactic when meeting David many

years later (2 Sam 16:1).

A popular party guest, wine is linked with group celebrations. In 1 Chr 12:40 "there

was joy in Israel," and part of the festivities included fig cakes, raisins, and wine. The

banquets of Xerxes favored wine, as evidenced by its frequent appearance in the book of

Esther (e.g., 1:7, 5:6). Wine is specifically mentioned for its mirthful role in the impious

parties condemned in Isa 5:11-12 and in the careless feasts condemned in Isa 22:12-13.

In fact, the harvest and treading of the grapes was itself an occasion of celebration.

This is demonstrated by the fact that in His punishments of Israel and the nations, the Lord

takes away the singing and festivities associated with the pressing: "And joy and gladness are

taken away from the fruitful field and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are

raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting." (Isa

16:10) "Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab; I have made

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the wine cease from the winepresses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; the shouting is

not the shout of joy." (Jer 48:33)

Psychological Effects

The psychological impact of wine use is also referenced in the Old Testament

literature. As described in Scripture, the two principle effects of wine are cheer and

intoxication. This double-sided nature of literal wine is used to its full advantage in

metaphorical usage by the prophets, an aspect which will be discussed later in the paper. To

first grasp the cultural understanding of wine will enable a greater appreciation for the

prophetic and theological uses.

Wine Brings Gladness

In both literal and figurative uses, Old Testament writers link wine with cheer,

gladness, joy, and pleasure. According to Qoheleth, "Bread is made for laughter, and wine

gladdens life, and money answers everything" (Eccl 10:19). In other places he also speaks of

seeking "how to cheer my body with wine" (2:3) and drinking "wine with a merry

heart" (9:7).

As noted above, the Lord's instructions for the celebratory eating of the tithe in His

presence includes the instruction that those traveling to the place of his Name should "buy

whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then

you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and

rejoice" (Deut 14:26). The wine was to be an element of rejoicing and celebration. So also

the psalmist, when extolling the good provisions of the Lord, celebrates the fact that along

with oil and bread, God provides "wine to gladden the heart of man" (104:15). Yet David

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poeticized, "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine

abound" (Ps 4:7). These texts speak not only of wine as the bringer of cheer, but even more

importantly of God as the giver of joy, a joy which surpasses that which belongs to wine.

It comes as no surprise, then, that wine was employed as a figure of joy. So God in

Zech 10:7 speaks of His future care for Judah, saying "Then Ephraim shall become like a

mighty warrior, and their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall see it and be

glad; their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord." In the Song of Solomon, wine is used as the

vehicle of comparison when speaking of pleasure. "Let him kiss me," Solomon's beloved

intones, "for your love is better than wine" (1:2). The companions of the couple agree,

saying, "We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine" (1:4, NIV).

Solomon returns the compliment in 4:10, "How much better is your love than wine." Later,

the erotic comparison is made again: "Your mouth is like the best wine. It goes down

smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth" (7:9; see also 8:2). So again, though

wine is extolled for its benefits, God provides benefits which far outweigh those of the

celebrated drink: He gives strength and gladness, He provides love and pleasure. In this way,

wine has become the instrument for pointing upward to a greater, more powerful reality.

Wine Brings Intoxication

However, the Bible is also quite clear that there is a darker side to wine consumption.

The cheer can easily slip into intoxication, something the Hebrew Bible clearly condemns.9

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9 There is perhaps one exception to this otherwise universal condemnation. While in the sayings of King Lemuel wine is forbidden for royalty, "lest they drink and forget what the law decrees," it is permissible "to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more" (Prov 31:5-7, NIV).

In the Scriptures, drunkenness is painted in such dark colors as impiety, stupefaction,

sickness, debauchery, obsession, violence, and physical impairment.

On more than one occasion, God rebukes the impiety of drunkenness through His

prophets. The Israelites party all day, they have forgotten God, and He pronounces upon

them a woe. "Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong

drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! They have lyre and harp,

tambourine and flue and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,

or see the work of his hands" (Isa 5:11-12). A nihilistic impiety is condemned again as God,

who called His people to fasting and repentance, instead overhears them feasting and saying,

"'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'" (Isa 22:13) Even the spiritual leadership of the

chosen people had fallen into ungodly drunkenness. "'Come,' each one cries, 'let me get

wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better'" (Isa

56:12, NIV).

There is an element of obsession to drunkenness as well. There are those who would

pride themselves at being "heroes at drinking wine" (Isa 5:22), but this "strength" is actually

a dependency. Instead of seeking the Lord in humility, drunkards will "gash themselves" for

wine (Hos 7:14). It is one of the reasons that Proverbs so consistently characterizes wine as

a dangerous drug. The wise words of Proverbs paint a troubling picture of the cycle of

confusion and dependency.

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine . . . In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. “They hit me,” you will say, “but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” (23:29-35)

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Another of the effects of drunkenness is stupefaction. The physical and mental

senses are dulled and confused. Through the prophet Hosea, God assesses the condition of

His people, saying that "they have forsaken the Lord to cherish whoredom, wine, and new

wine, which take away the understanding" (Hos 4:11). There is staggering, sickness, and

mental confusion. "And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and

prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger

when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions. All the tables are covered with

vomit and there is not one spot without filth." (Isa 28:7-8, NIV). It causes forgetfulness.

Wine "is not not for kings, . . . it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong

drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed" (Prov 31:4-5).

Along with impiety, stupefaction, and obsessive behaviors, drunkenness is strongly

linked with debauchery. In the well-known story, Noah's drunkenness led to sexual

immorality in his family (Gen 9:21) and a curse on one of his sons. A few chapters later, the

sexual dysfunction in Lot's family leads to his daughters getting him drunk in order to sleep

with him and by him to bear children (Gen 19:32-34). In the time of Hosea, drunkenness

and debauchery had become a way of life for many people. "When their drink is gone, they

give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame" (Hos 4:18). Among the nations,

God condemned the sexual and social immorality associated with drinking. They "have cast

lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and

have drunk it" (Joel 3:3 [4:3 MT]).

The dangerous power of wine in the psychospiritual and social dimensions is good

reason for spiritual and political leadership to avoid it. In fact, the Scriptures do speak to

this. As was noted above, Proverbs says that wine is not fit for kings or rulers (31:4-5; see

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also Hos 7:5). God makes it clear elsewhere that it is not fit for serving priests (Lev 10:9;

Ezek 44:21) or for those consecrated to God, such as Nazirites (Num 6:3ff; Judg 13:4ff) and

prophets (Isa 28:7).

The Significance of Wine as a Vehicle for Metaphor

The preceding survey of the uses and effects of wine in the Hebrew Bible has provided

necessary background information for reflection on the metaphorical uses of wine imagery. In

this section the significance of wine as a vehicle for metaphor and theological messages will be

considered. First, the common ideas of or relating to wine in the Hebrew Bible will be identified,

that is, those concepts which the biblical data indicate made a sufficiently common psychic

impression so as to be useful to Old Testament writers in using figurative speech. Next, the

corresponding theological messages behind these ideas will be explored.

The God Who Gives and Takes Away

When the Hebrew spies snuck into Canaan, they were instructed to bring back with them

some of the produce. They returned carrying an enormous cluster of grapes. As they showed off

the impressive produce, they reported, “‘We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with

milk and honey, and this is its fruit!’” (Num 13:27) The Promised Land was a land of abundance;

Canaan was full of supply, just as God had promised (Exod 3:17; Deut 8:7-9).10 And when the

Israelites eventually did settle down and enjoy that supply, God required that they tithe this

supply to Him and provide offerings from their increase (e.g., Lev 27:30; Deut 12:17; Deut

14:22-23). If they did, God promised to give them a superabundance (Mal 3:10-11 and Prov

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10 For texts specifically referencing God blessing the Hebrews with wine, see Deut 7:13, 11:14, and 33:28.

3:10). Wine was itself a blessing11 but it also represented a larger collection of blessings: security

from pests, safety from enemies, protection against hunger and want, provision for gladness and

joy.12

God is the great Giver. He gives wine that He might give gladness to the hearts of people

(Ps 104:15), and He originates the pleasure which the two lovers of Song of Solomon compare to

wine (1:2, 1:4, 2:4, 4:10, 5:1, 7:2, 7:9, 8:2). The God who gives is also the God who invites

people to partake in His gifts. In Proverbs 9, lady Wisdom sets her table with wine and calls out

an invitation to dine (vv. 1-6). In Isaiah 55:1, God invites those without resources to enjoy the

supply of His grace: “‘Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no

money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.’”13

However, God warned the Israelites that in their apostasy the supply which He provided

would be removed. The vines would shrivel, the wine would dry up—and along with them

would disappear their joy and security. Isaiah foresaw it: “And joy and gladness are taken away

from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader

treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting” (Isa 16:10; see also Jer 48:33

and Joel 1:10). All of their agricultural effort would be cursed with futility. “You shall sow, but

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11 It was even included as early as Isaac’s blessing of Jacob. “May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine” (Gen 27:28).

12 A cup (clearly related to beverage and so also to wine) also images God’s provision in Ps 16:5, 23:5, 116:13.

13 God’s invitation to eat (and so to enjoy supply and gladness) is over and against the insecurity which would have preoccupied Isaiah’s audience. As Gene Rice says, the prophetic author “emphasizes the contrast between the food he offers and the junk food of the people, which symbolize the fears and anxieties they feed on.” “Dining with Deutero-Isaiah,” Journal of Religious Thought 37, no. 1 (Spr-Sum 1980), 23.

not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not

drink wine” (Mic 6:15; see also Hos 9:2, Amos 5:11, Zeph 1:13). Not only would the literal wine

be taken away, but all that the wine represented: supply, security, gladness, and joy. The literal

juice of the grape represented the good life, the life of enough—and the same God who gave it to

them as a blessing would take it away in punishment.14

And yet—with Yahweh punishment is accompanied by promise. He foretold of a time

beyond the chastisement when the wine (and so supply and gladness, too) would be restored.

“They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the

goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and

the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more” (Jer 31:12).15

Not only that, but to the people under His wrath God promised an eschatological blessing of

superabundance: so much supply that it could not be contained: “The vats shall overflow with

wine and oil” (Joel 2:24) as a sign of God’s presence (Joel 2:27) and causing great delight among

the people.16 This same image of superabundance appears in the final chapter of Amos. After 8

chapters of woes and destruction, God employs the image of wine to communicate the splendid

blessings awaiting the people. “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the

plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the

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14 In Hosea’s living parable, God remarks that since His bride attributed His gifts (of grain, new wine, oil, silver and gold) to others, “Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready” (Hos 2:8-9).

15 See also Isa 62:8, Zech 9:17.

16 “Once more the theme of joy forms a central aspect of this envisioned restoration. In Joel 2:21-23, the earth and all of her inhabitants are called to be happy and rejoice because of the food that God once more has supplied.” L. Juliana M. Claassens, The God Who Provides: Biblical Images of Divine Nourishment (Nashville: Abingdon, 2004), 66.

mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of

my people Israel . . . they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens

and eat their fruit.’” (Amos 9:13-14)17 The great Giver employs the image of wine to

communicate the awesomeness of His coming gifts.

God the Dedicated Yet Disappointed One

According to Isaiah 5, he had an ideal location—“a very fertile hill”—and he worked it

by the sweat of his own brow. “He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice

vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it.” This dedicated

vintner did all that could have been done to produce the best grapes for the best wine. “What

more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” And yet the crop was

disappointing. “He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes” (vv. 1-2, 4). Any such

farmer would have been grieved, but this was no ordinary farmer. “For the vineyard of the Lord

of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for

justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!” (v. 7)

In describing the building up of a vineyard, the Scriptures reveal a God dedicated to His

people, not a haphazard or negligent caretaker, but a deity who personally planned, planted, and

provided for a people of righteousness. And yet He is disappointed! God describes what He will

do in light of this unthinkable result: He will turn the vineyard into a wasteland (vv. 5-6).18 Yet

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17 A nearly identical idea is also Joel 3:18 (4:18 MT). “And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine.”

18 Victor H. Matthews sees in this destruction an echo of the flood narrative. “The only solution is the complete destruction of the vine and a return to the ‘chaos’ that existed prior to the establishment of the vineyard (compare the flood epic of Genesis 6-9).” “Treading the Winepress: Actual and Metaphorical Viticulture in the Ancient Near East,” Semeia 86 (1999), 28.

because His provision was perfect, the justice of God is vindicated even in the destruction He is

bringing. This image of God as the dedicated yet disappointed vintner reveals the perfection of

His character19 and explains the shocking thing He is about to do in bringing destruction upon

His chosen people.

God the Intoxicator

The Hebrew Bible paints a fairly complete picture of the intoxicating effects of wine, as

described above. Drunkenness leads to impiety, obsession, stupefaction and staggering, and

debauchery. These concepts are used powerfully in the prophetic corpus to characterize the

administration of God’s wrath upon the nations. He would make the wicked drink from His cup

of the wine of His wrath. Instead of the pleasant superabundance of blessing, God would give an

unpleasant overabundance of wine, “a cup of horror and desolation” (Ezek 23:33). As the

psalmist so vividly described, “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well

mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the

dregs” (Ps 75:8). It was a dangerous drink to be sure!20

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19 Robert P. Carroll would disagree, preferring a reading of Isaiah as a case of sour grapes in which he sees “a wrecking notion which would deconstruct any sense of YHWH’s justice in the prophetic discourses and which would raise fundamental problems about the prophetic construction of the idea of the idea of divine justice as a basis for the destruction of the community.” “YHWH’s Sour Grapes: Images of Food and Drink the Prophetic Discourses of the Hebrew Bible,” Semeia 86 (1999), 31. However, this subversion of the expressed meaning of the text does not hold up in light of the consistent message of the prophets: God’s work here is one to restore justice. Further, if the hypothesis set forward in the present paper is true, then God’s astonishing self-sacrifice immunizes Him from such accusations.

20 As Jon L. Berquist aptly points out, “God’s wine is dangerous for a simple reason: God’s justice is dangerous to all those who live in violation of God’s choices for life in this world” because “the cup of wrath is a cup that restores justice to the world.” Ancient Wine, New Wineskins: The Lord’s Supper in Old Testament Perspective (St. Louis, MO: Chalice, 1991), 59, 57.

This wine and cup imagery is prevalent in the writings of the prophets. This cup of God’s

wrath was administered to Jerusalem (Isa 51:17-22; Ps 60:3), to Judah (Ezek 23:31-34; Hab

2:15-17; Zech 12:2), to Edom (Jer 49:12; Obad 16; Lam 4:21), to Moab (Jer 48:26), to Babylon

(Jer 51:39, 57), and to the nations (Isa 49:36; Jer 25:15-29; Jer 51:7). God repeatedly expressed

His disdain for inebriation, and now the intoxicating effect of His wine plays ironically on the

characteristics of human drunken immorality. As was demonstrated earlier, drunkenness is

strongly linked to impiety. The impiety of this human-induced drunkenness was to be turned

upon its head as Yahweh makes men metaphorically drunk with the acts of His righteous

wrath. The forgetfulness caused by wine would be overcome by God’s startling reminder of

His reality and righteousness.

The obsessive compulsions of the drunkard will also be played ironically by God.

Though they seek obsessively for wine, they will resist the wine of God’s wrath.

Nevertheless, He makes them drink it all, “to the dregs” (Isa 51:17).

Again, the idea of wine and drunkenness are employed to describe the effects of God’s

wrath upon those who experience it or observe it: stupefaction, utter confusion, staggering,

sickness. For instance, in His word against Egypt, God “has mingled within her a spirit of

confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in

his vomit” (Isa 19:14).21 In fact, the very sight of God’s work will stupefy onlookers.

The wine of God’s wrath also plays on the debauchery theme as well. His wine

causes the nations to expose themselves to the world. Whereas wine was causing people to

treat each other immorally—getting them drunk “in order to gaze at their nakedness”—-

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21 For other texts which describe the stupefying and sickening effects of God’s wrath, see also Isa 29:9, Jer 48:26, Jer 51:7, Jer 51:39; Ps 60:3 (60:5 MT).

God’s wine would turn the tables. “Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup

in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your

glory” (Hab 2:15-16). The Lord punishes the evildoers for their crimes against humanity,

and couches it in wine language which paints a picture more comprehensive than could be

accomplished using words unmediated by metaphor.

God the Treader of the Winepress

The wine imagery of God’s punishment extends beyond the picture of God making

the nations to drink from His cup. It also pictures God’s judgment of the wicked as God

treading people in a winepress. Lamentations grieves the Lord’s work of destruction in this

image: “The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly

against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin

daughter of Judah” (1:15). God, the righteous Sovereign, treads the wicked in His wrath.

“Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats

overflow, for their evil is great” (Joel 3:13).

Summary

The Hebrew Bible uses every part of the life cycle of wine to craft theological

messages, and God is pictured as participating in each stage of that cycle. He plans and

plants a vineyard, He gives vineyards and wine as a blessing (and takes them away as well),

He treads grapes in the winepress to make the wine, and He makes people drink His wine.

The word pictures produced by the Scriptures image for the listener-reader a multifaceted

God. He blesses with joy and confuses with destruction, He is glad and He is wrathful, He

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gives and takes away, He blesses and He punishes, He is a devoted caretaker and a ruling

sovereign.

Initially these pairings seem incongruous. I believe, however, that a closer

examination of the punishment by the Lord as imaged in Isa 53 and Isa 63:1-6 may lend a

coherence to this theology. The focus of this research is not detailed exegesis, but theological

reflection on a theme; accordingly, the following analysis is rudimentary and only

formulates a hypothesis. To this task we now turn.

God in the Winepress

The image of God in the winepress is a vivid one, startling and bloody. Listen to this

description from Isa 63:1-6 of the Lord’s day of vengeance.

Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all of my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

A majestic figure comes marching in with garments stained from treading the

winepress. When asked about it, he says that he has indeed been treading the winepress,

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trampling people in his anger and their blood has stained his clothes.22 The blood-like color

of grape juice intensifies the metaphor.23

It was, he explains, an act of righteousness, salvation, vengeance, and redemption.

Already this violates the typical theological dichotomy created between punishment and

salvation. It was redemption and execution at the same time.24 The only agent capable of

either redemption or executive punishment is Yahweh Himself.25 It is the Lord Himself who

treads the winepress in His wrath and accomplishes redemption. Further, based upon the

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22 Although I am certainly in sympathy with this theology, some commentators overextend what they know of Christ’s self-sacrifice to completely cover over His executionary judgments. For example, “Yet the stain is not the stain of grapes but the stain of His own blood. He trod the winepress alone; forgiveness could come only through the shedding of His blood.” John W. Klotz, “The Vine, the Fig Tree, and the Olive: A Study in Biblical Symbolism,” Concordia Journal 6, no. 6 (1980): 257. But the text is very clear that the blood of the nations stains His garments.

23 This comparison between blood and grape juice has been established in earlier Bible passages. In Jacob’s blessing on Judah, he parallels wine with “the blood of grapes” (Gen 49:11). The same blood-wine connection is made in Deut 32:14 when Moses sings about the “foaming wine made from the blood of the grape” and in Isa 49:26 when God says that Israel’s oppressors will “be drunk with their own blood as with wine.” It is true that “the Bible does not always mention the color of wine, but when it does, it is red.” Carey Ellen Walsh, The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2000), 108.

24 In fact, evidence suggests that the wine motif is part of yet a larger “table” theme that runs throughout the Hebrew Bible, and that “in the Old Testament the table is the locus for judgment and vindication.” MacDonald, Not Bread Alone, 194.

25 See, for example, Isa 45:22-25.

close parallel with the messianic prophecy of Gen 49:11,26 it is reasonable to assume that

the figure in Isa 63 is Christ.27

Another feature of note in this passage is the presence of reflexive action. Notice

verse 5: yˆnVt`DkDmVs ay¶Ih y™ItDmSjÅw y$IoOr◊z ‹yIl o`Avwôø;tÅw K¡Emwøs Ny∞Ea◊w M™Emwø;tVvRa◊w rY´zOo Ny ∞Ea◊w ‹fyI;bAa ◊w. “I

looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold. My

own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.” The presence of the hitpolel

(M™Emwø;tVvRa ◊w) already suggests reflexive action, and the remainder of the verse demonstrates

such action, as the actor brought himself salvation and had to uphold himself. This reflexive

element is surprising to find in a passage about the Lord executing judgment on others,

because it suggests that, at least in some sense, God is both the agent and the object of

executionary judgment.

This is quite interesting, especially in comparison with Isa 53, the messianic passage

par excellence. More greatly detailed exegesis and lexical study would be beneficial, but

reading this chapter through the lens of the wine motif so prevalent in Isaiah reveals an

intriguing possibility, namely that Isa 53 pictures the suffering servant Christ as being

trodden in the winepress of God’s wrath.

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26 Just like the man in Isa 63:1-6, the blessing of Jacob upon Judah (patriarch of the Messianic line) says that his clothes would be saturated with wine. “He has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.”

27 Such a reading is strongly supported by New Testament texts such as Rev 14:14-20 and Rev 19:11-21.

Here is some cursory evidence to that end. Tracing some of the metaphorical images

through the chapter, we see Christ compared to a a young plant (q˝´nwø¥y)28 and he is like a root

out of dry ground (hYÎ¥yIx X®r∞RaEm ‹v®r‚OÚvAk◊w)29 (v. 2). The text says that He was smitten (hDkÎn) (v.

4), “pierced” (lAlDj) (v. 5), and “crushed” (aDkD;d) (vv. 5, 10). He was “cut off ” (rÅzÎ…g) (v. 8). He

was made “a guilt offering” (MDvDa)30 (v. 10) and “poured out” (h ∂rDo) (v. 12). Is Isaiah tracing

the cycle of the grape as it is made into wine? Christ is a grape plant growing up out of dry

ground; He is cut off from the vine, crushed, and poured out as an offering. If so, then

paired together Isa 53 and 63 present yet another paradoxical coupling, and with it a

powerful theological insight.

God, in the Person of Christ, is the punisher and yet also the punished. In the

eschatological, final judgment, Christ administers the necessary justice against the

persistently wicked, but on the cross He first experienced this punishment Himself. He who

will one day tread the winepress of the nations, has been trodden in that press Himself for

our sake.

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28 This same word is used elsewhere in Scripture to represent cedars (Ezek 17:22, Ps 80:12) and, in support of the present hypothesis, it is also used to mean a vine (Hos 14:7).

29 vrv “root,” is used elsewhere in the HB to mean a fruit-bearing plant (e.g., Isa 27:6) and is sometimes translated specifically as “vine” (e.g., Ezek 17:7-10).

30 Although food offerings, burnt offerings, and freewill offerings included wine (along with flour and oil), the guilt offering did not stipulate any such drink component. This fact challenges my proposed hypothesis. On the other hand, when they were offered in worship, wine and grain came already processed, so the grapes came as an offering having already been crushed. In this vein, often the wine is referred to metonymically as the fulness or produce of the winepress (see Num 18:27-30; Deut 15:14).

Making Broader Connections

The theological dimensions of the wine imagery in the Old Testament have been

explored; the task now is to connect this wine imagery theology with the broader categories

of Christian doctrine. Such a project is strengthened by the theological wine metaphors in

the New Testament as well, which uses wine as a metaphor for Christ's reconciling blood

(e.g., Matthew 26:28), eschatological reunion of believers with Christ (Matthew 26:29), the

corrupting influence of the apocalyptic harlot (e.g., Revelation 14:8), God's wrath against

the wicked (e.g., Revelation 14:10, 17-20).

The theology of wine metaphors in the Old Testament demonstrate the justice of

God's judgments. God, the dedicated yet disappointed vintner of Isaiah 5, has provided

every goodness and every advantage to His covenant people, yet still they produce

wickedness instead of righteousness. The picture of God as vintner is an apologetic for His

negative judgments in that it demonstrates that the persistent wickedness of the unrighteous

cannot be attributed to any deficiency in God or His provision. His judgment against them

is just.

The wine motif in the Old Testament defends God against another false charge, that

He is an empathic but ineffective deity. Images of God blessing, giving, sharing, and

promising are present, but they are accompanied by images of God punishing, taking, and

forcing. This God does not merely hope for the triumph of justice and righteousness; He

enacts it. Descriptions of all God's works as "divine empathy" fall short of the biblical

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description especially as they neutralize His destruction of evil,31 but the God in the

winepress punishes the wicked and establishes a future of security and celebration. Isaiah 53

and 63 tell us poignantly that God is familiar with our suffering, but while He is empathic

He is also decisive. Tracing the contours of the wine imagery in the Old Testament outlines

a full picture of God's justice: it is actively self-giving, yet effective unto righteousness.

Christ as both priest and sacrifice is a well-known biblical image of atonement. It is

an intriguing image because it fuses two related yet separate concepts into one person, into a

paradoxical oneness. This priest-sacrifice image speaks powerfully to the sufficiency of

Christ in securing mercy for fallen humanity. Likewise another paradoxical fusion illustrates

the nature and character of God as related to the punishment of persistently rebellious

sinners: Christ as both the one treading the winepress and the fruit being trodden. This

provides a striking picture of substitutionary atonement. In using the same imagery to

depict both Christ's eschatological destruction of the wicked and also His own self-sacrifice

at Calvary, the concept of substitutionary atonement is painted in vivid colors. The

Christian reader of Isaiah sees that Christ first bore the punishment that He will mete out at

the end of time. Wine imagery in the Hebrew Bible tells of a God who executes punishment

from His inarguable sovereignty---but not without first experiencing that very punishment

Himself.

Thus the old Marcionite heresy receives another blow. We must not view the God

who takes away as different from or separate from the God who gives, nor the God of

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31 For an example of such theology, see Edward Farley, Divine Empathy: A Theology of God (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1996). Farley says directly that there is “a single metaphor for God’s activity, the metaphor of divine empathy.” Indeed this leads to a weak eschatology wherein divine judgment is basically non-existent and is composed of natural, negative consequences (Farley, 309).

gladness as different from the God of wrath. Nor ought we to misread the character of the

God who punishes: He is the same God who took on our punishment and experienced it

Himself first so that all who would might be spared. And when the New Testament Christ

picks up the cup and says “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many

for the forgiveness of sins,” He is hearkening back to the blood-soaked image of the

winepress in Isaiah. There is a unity in God's character and a compassion in His sovereign

purposes.

Conclusion

The guiding aim of this research was to explore how the wine imagery of the

Hebrew Bible informs an understanding of God and His character. The Scriptures do indeed

reveal a rich picture of God, His thoughts, feelings, and actions, from flashing in anger, to

tenderly planting vines; from removing joy to supplying it in superabundance; from Christ

treading the wicked to Christ being tread in the winepress. Utilizing sophisticated metaphors

of wine to communicate theology, the Hebrew Bible points us to a Person who blesses with

joy and confuses with destruction, who is glad and who is wrathful, who gives and takes

away—and thus masterfully builds a theology of a perfectly just and radically merciful God.

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Bibliography

Berquist, Jon L. Ancient Wine, New Wineskins: The Lord’s Supper in Old Testament Perspective. St. Louis, MO: Chalice, 1991.

Borowski, Oded. Daily Life in Biblical Times. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003.

Broshi, Magen. Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls. New York: Sheffield Academic, 2001.

Carroll, Robert P. “YHWH’s Sour Grapes: Images of Food and Drink the Prophetic Discourses of the Hebrew Bible.” Semeia 86 (1999): 113-131.

Claassens, L. Juliana M. The God Who Provides: Biblical Images of Divine Nourishment. Nashville: Abingdon, 2004.

Farley, Edward. Divine Empathy: A Theology of God. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1996.

Klotz, John W. “The Vine, the Fig Tree, and the Olive: A Study in Biblical Symbolism.” Concordia Journal 6, no. 6 (1980): 256-260.

MacDonald, Nathan. Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament. New York: Oxford University, 2008.

_________. What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat?: Diet in Biblical Times. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008.

Matthews, Victor H. “Treading the Winepress: Actual and Metaphorical Viticulture in the Ancient Near East.” Semeia 86 (1999): 19-32.

Rice, Gene. “Dining with Deutero-Isaiah.” Journal of Religious Thought 37, no. 1 (Spr-Sum 1980): 23-30.

Walsh, Carey Ellen. The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2000.

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Appendix

Below are listed the words which I used in my initial lexical study of wine in the Hebrew Bible, followed by a very brief definition drawn from the Brown, Drivers, Briggs Lexicon of the Old Testament.

Word Definition

tÅ…g winepress

NˆyÅy wine

b®q‰y wine vat, winepress.

g‰zRm mixture, i.e., mixed wine

JKDsVmIm mixed drink

g‰zRm mixture (i.e., wine mixed with spices)

JKyIsÎn libation

JKRs‰n drink offering

JKAsÎn pour out

aDbDs imbibe, drink largely

syIsDo sweet wine

jåq®r spice; wine (that is) spice (i.e., spiced wine)

rDkEv strong drink

rAkDv be or become drunk

vwøryI;t must, fresh, or new wine

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