I. But they drank during biblical times!
A. All people drink, but it makes a difference as to what they drank.
1. The greatest difficulty is getting a definition that is not biased by a person’s desire to justify drinking.
2. Instead of relying on the works of men, we can turn to the Bible and note the pattern
B.
Yayin - a generic term used to identify all juice of the grape, fresh, fermented, or anything in between. Used 144 times in Old Testament
1.
Nehemiah 5:18 - All kinds of wine
2.
Yayin is used of the juice still in the grape
a.
Isaiah 16:10 - no wine in their presses
b.
Deut 28:39 - can’t drink the juice because worms will eat the grapes.
3.
Yayin is used of fresh grape juice
a.
Jer 48:33 - The juice ceases to flow from the press
4.
Yayin is used of a grape syrup to be mixed with water
5.
Yayin is used of fermented juice -
Prov 20:1
6.
Yayin is used of wine mixed with drugs
7. Translation depends on context. It is usually translated “wine”, but that doesn’t indicate intoxicating in and of itself.
C.
Tirosh - New wine or fresh grape juice; not fermented
1.
Isa 65:8 - Juice still in the cluster
2.
Prov 3:10 - Vats overrunning with new wine.
D.
Chemer - The blood of the grape, fresh and foaming from the vat
E.
Asis - Fresh juice of any fruit, including grapes
F.
Sobe - thickened grape juice
G.
Shekar - strong drink. Any fermented drink made from barley, dates, fruits or grains.
1. Natural beers would be called
shekar in Hebrew
2.
Shekar is almost always condemned -
Prov. 20:1a. The priests were not allowed to drink while on duty -
Lev. 10:9
b. Kings were not allowed to drink -
Isa 5:11
c. Strong drink was condemned
3. Only two places were it is approved
a.
Num 28:7 - used as a sacrifice to God in a drink offering
b.
Deut. 14:26 -
c. Because of the otherwise consistent condemnation, many people believe it was used as enhancement for burning.
4. It should be noted that natural fermentation will not produce any drink greater than 14% alcohol.
H. In Greek, we have basically one word that covers all grape products - oinis. It is equivalent to yayin. You can only tell the meaning by the context.
Source:
Lavista Church.