THE VINE. 279 



stand not merely useless, unprofitable grapes, such as wild grapes ; 

 but grapes offensive to the smell, noxious, poisonous. By the force 

 and intent of the allegory, to good grapes ought to be opposed fruit 

 of a dangerous and pernicious quality ; as in the explication of it, to 

 judgment is opposed tyranny, and to righteousness oppression. 

 Gephen, the vine, is a common name or genus, including several 

 species under it ; and Moses, to distinguish the true vine, or that 

 from which wine is made, from the rest, c&\\8\\.ge,phenhayayin; the 

 wine-vine, Numbers vi. 4. Some of the other sorts were of a poi- 

 sonous quality as appears from the story related among the mirac- 

 ulous acts of Elisha: ' And he found a field-vine, and he gathered 

 from it wild fruit, his lap full ; and he went and shred them into 

 the pot of pottage, for they knew them not. And they poured it 

 out for the men to eat ; and it came to pass as they were eating of 

 the pottage, that they cried out and said, There is death in the pot, 

 O man of God ! and they could not eat of it. And he said, Bring 

 meal ; and he threw it into the pot. And he said, Pour out for the 

 people, that they may eat. And there was nothing hurtful in the 

 pot,' 2 Kings iv. 39-41. 



From some such poisonous sorts of the grape kind, Moses has 

 taken those strong and highly poetical images with which he has 

 set forth the future corruption and extreme degeneracy of the Israel- 

 ites, in an allegory which has a near relation, both in its subject 

 and imagery, to this of Isaiah, Deut. xxxii. 32, 33 



' Their vine is from the vine of Sodom, 

 And from the fields of Gomorrah ; 

 Their grapes are grapes of gall ; 

 Their clusters are bitter : 

 Their wine is the poison of dragons, 

 And the cruel venom of aspics.' 



The Jews planted their vineyards most commonly on the south 

 side of a hill or mountain, the stones being gathered out, and the 

 space hedged round with thorns, or walled, Isa. v. 1 6. Psal. Ixxx. 

 and Matt. xxi. 33. A good vineyard consisted of a thousand vines, 

 and produced a rent of a thousand sttverlings, or shekels of silver, 

 Isa. vii. 23. It required two hundred more to pay the dressers, Cant, 

 viii. 11, 12. In these, the keepers and vine-dressers labored, dig- 

 ging, planting, pruning, and propping the yines, gathering the grapes 

 and making wine. This was a laborious task, and was often reck- 

 oned a base one, 2 Kings xxv. 12. Cant. i. 6. Isa. xli. 5. The vines 

 with the tender grapes gave a good smell early in the spring. 



The vintage followed the wheat harvest and the thrashing, (Lev. 

 xxxvi. 5 ; Amos ix. 13) about June or July, when the clusters of the 

 grapes were gathered with a sickle, and put into baskets (Jer. vi. 

 9), carried and thrown into the wine-vat, or wine-press, where they 

 were probably first trodden by men, a ad then pressed, Rev. xiv. 18 

 20. It is mentioned as a mark of the great work and power of 

 the Messiah, that he had trodden the figurative wine-press alone , 

 and of the people there was none with him, Isa. Ixiii. 3. Rev. xix. 



