Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals, l ^ ^ 



gen, I, 279, 39) is referred to as one who knows "well to pre- 

 pare strong wine." 



In passing on to Palestine, we may finally remark that 

 the Babylonian literature has not yet produced anything like 

 moral prescription in which a warning is contained in regard 

 to the excessive use of alcoholic beverages. That such "pro- 

 verbs", however, were existent is seen from such passages as: 

 pukli ndpi mestii ul uhhursn, i. e., "(as for) the strength of the 

 worm, the drunkard is not inferior to it" *. 



The Hebrews, like their neighbors, appreciated wine, and 

 no festivity was held without it, for the very name "festivity" 

 mishteh, points to this 2. Numerous passages in the Old 

 Testament praise the vinestalk and its fruit. "Wine cheers 

 man's heart" -^ yea even the gods*. It is indispensable at the 

 meals of the Hebrews ^, and was not allowed to be missed on 

 the altar of Yahweh as a drink-offering. Drunkenness was by 

 no means unknown to them*". Only the Rekhabites and the 

 Nasiraeans abstained from its use. The majority of the people, 

 probably, always regarded wine with favor. The numerous 

 wine-presses still testify to that. The religious leaders, of 

 course, took quite another view-point, regarding the use of 

 wine'. During the early days of the history of Israel, no 

 opposition from that side was as yet encountered. But it 

 soon set in. Viticulture represents a higher form of culture, 

 which, like every other form of an advanced stage of human 

 progress, was looked upon with disfavor. The simple beduin 



i) H R 16, lines 23 24 d; see also BA, II, p. 296. Cf. Sir. 34, 30 "(wine) 

 diminishes the strength]', ns "i[D]n73. 



2) This designation occurs first in Gen. 21,8. It becomes more com- 

 mon, however, at a later time. It is strange that in the story of Abraham's 

 reception of the strangers (Gen. 18,6 9), and even at the mention of the 

 deliveries for the royal court of Solomon, only bread and meat are mentioned 

 (I Kings 5, 2, 3) but not wine, while the possesssion of a privately owned 

 vineyard is .ascribed to every citizen (I Kings 5, 5). 



3) Psalm 104, 15. Sir. 40, 20a: "wine and beer gladden the heart", 



4) Jutlg. 9. '3- 5) I- Sam. i, 9. 13. 



6) I. Sam. 25, 36; t, 13; II. Sam. n, 13; Jer. 5, 22; 23, 9; Hos. 7, 3 etc. 



7) On a discussion of the "Wine in the Pentnt,-ii<lial Codes'\ see Jastrow, 

 in JAOS, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 180192. 



