3. The evils of drunkenness cannot be too seriously pondered in order to warn against any connection with the drink by which it is caused. Excellent Matthew Henry says on this passage, "Drunkenness is not only a great sin itself, but the inlet of many sins; it may prove the inlet of the worst and most unnatural sins, which may be a perpetual wound and dishonor. A man may do that without reluctance, when drunken, which, when sober, he could not think of without horror. . From the silence of Scripture concerning Lot, henceforward we may learn that drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes them forgotten, and many a name, which otherwise might have been remembered with respect, is buried by it in contempt and oblivion." 15 14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. It is clear that Abraham was attached to Hagar, and did not consent to dismiss her except under a conviction that her safety and the boy's would be secured. He provided for their principal and more urgent wants by furnishing them with "bread and a bottle of water"-in the Hebrew, lekhem věkhāmath maim. Bread was to be their solid, water their liquid, sustenance. In most Western countries water is so abundant that the value placed upon it in the East seems exaggerated; but a visit to Eastern lands would show that no estimate of this value can be too great, and that in water is to be found the true elixir vitæ after which there has been so much ingenious and useless search. The Oriental mind is scarcely capable of the shameless ingratitude too common among us, and from which many professing Christians are not free-of despising the only fluid which is ESSENTIAL to animal existence and comfort. CHAPTER XXI. VERSE 25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. To a sheik or pastoral chief like Abraham, the possession of a 'well' was exceedingly precious; and both the value of this property, and his natural resentment at the injustice committed, would dispose Abraham to remonstrate with a prince even so powerful as Abimelech, against the violent usurpation of which his servants were guilty. 22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. 28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, with corn and wine have I sustained him. 37 V. 25. HE BROUGHT HIM WINE, AND HE DRANK] The Hebrew is yayin, the Targumists give khamrah, the Lxx. oinon, and the V. vinum. Whether the yayin was fermented or not is not said; nor, however prepared, would the incident form a rule of conduct to us. The Targum of Jonathan introduces into this part of the narrative a legend which shows that the Chaldee khamar was applicable to 'grape-juice' in the unfermented state. The passage runs thus :-" Neither had he (Jacob) wine with him, but an angel had prepared and brought to him some of the wine which had been in its grapes from the beginning of the world; and he gave it into Jacob's hand, and Jacob carried it to his father, who drank it." Of such wine (yayin or khamar) none need scruple to partake, even if some other than an angel were the purveyor. V. 28. CORN AND WINE] The 'dew of heaven' included all kinds of moisture necessary to the 'fatness of the earth'; and this ‘fatness' is partially defined by the concluding clause, “and (or even) plenty of corn and wine." The Hebrew is dahgan vě-tirosh-not corn made up into bread nor vine-fruit made into wine-but the actual growth of the field. [On TIROSH, See Prel. Dis.] It is sufficient to remark that the association here, and in many other passages, of tirosh with corn, as a product of the soil, proves it to have been a solid substance, and not a liquid. Nor is this conclusion invalidated in the least by the fact that the Targumists translate it by khamar; that the Lxx. version is pleethos sitou kai oinou, fullness of corn and wine'; that the V. has abundantiam frumenti et vini, ‘abundance of corn and wine'; and that other versions treat it as the liquid produce of the vine. After passages will show, however, that the Lxx., Vulgate, and other versions give renderings of tirosh that favor our argument, while the case of the Targumists simply proves that, for some reason unknown, they ignored a distinction very clearly drawn in the only authority, the Hebrew original. It is to be remarked, indeed, that in almost every case where tirosh occurs in the Hebrew and Hebrew-Samaritan texts, and where the Targumists render it by khamar, the learned compilers of Bishop Walton's Polyglot give mustum (new, unfermented wine) as the equivalent; as likewise do all the Continental versions of the Bible-German, Italian, Spanish, French, etc. V. 37. WITH CORN AND WINE HAVE I SUSTAINED HIM] The Hebrew is— dahgan vě-tirosh semāktiv-"Corn and Tirosh have I sustained him with." The Lxx. has-"with corn and wine I have supported him"-sitō kai oinō esteerisa auton. The V. gives, "with corn and wine I have established him "—frumento et vino stabilivi eum. Obs. It is God who bestows the 'fatness of the earth,' that man's heart may be filled with food and gladness'; but enlightened piety will ever draw a distinction between the Divine gifts and the misuses to which they are put. To conclude that the two are identical, or that the first sanctifies the second, is an absurdity too gross to deceive any, when plainly stated; yet the most ordinary form of objection to the Temperance Reform is based on this very absurdity;-as, for example, the inference generally advanced, that alcoholic wine and beer are God's good gifts, because the fruit and grain employed (and extensively destroyed) in making strong drink are Divine gifts! To honor and rightly use the fatness of the earth' is to consume it with as little alteration for the worse as possible. On the other hand, to convert TIROSH into an intoxicating liquid is not to appropriate the fatness of the vine as conferred by God, but is to abuse it in a manner that cannot be too soon repented of and abandoned. CHAPTER XXXV. VERSE 14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink-offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. AND HE POURED A DRINK-OFFERING THEREON] Hebrew, vay-yassāk aleihah nesek, 'And he poured upon it a pouring' that which was poured. What liquid it was that was thus poured out is not stated. See Note on Exod. xxix. 40. CHAPTER XL. VERSES 9-13, 21. , And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; 10 And in the vine were three branches; and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: 1 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days. within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place; and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. And he [Pharaoh] restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. he 12 21 13 Yet V. 9. THE CHIEF BUTLER] The Hebrew is sar ham-mashqim, 'chief of the cup-bearers.' Mashqim is the plural of mashqeh, from shah-qah 'to drink,' the Hiphil conjugation of which takes the sense of giving-to-drink, as in the case of Lot's daughters; so that the mashqeh was one who gave drink to another. A VINE WAS BEFORE ME] This is the first place in which the term 'vine' occurs. The Hebrew is gephen, and denotes that which is bent-a twig'; hence 'a plant that has twigs,' and hence 'a vine,' which is its usual signification in the Old Testament. The Lxx. has ampelos, the Vulgate vitem. V. 10. AND IT WAS AS THOUGH IT BUDDED] Bishop Horsley proposes to read, "And it was upon the point of putting forth its blossoms." AND THE CLUSTERS THEREOF BROUGHT FORTH RIPE GRAPES] 'Clusters' is the translation of eshkeloth, which originally signified the 'stalks' of the vine. 'Ripe grapes' is the A.V. rendering of anahvim, the plural of anahv, ‘a cluster,' and usually 'a cluster of grapes.' The connection between eshkol (a stalk) and anahv (a cluster) was thus very close, and not always distinguished; for the eshkol would easily come to signify the stalk with the grape-clusters attached. 'Ripe' is an addition of our translators, but is partially supported by Kalisch, who takes eskeloth to signify 'unripe clusters'; and viewing bah-shal, not as 'to bring forth,' but 'to cook' or 'ripen,' he reads the clause thus:-"Its unripe cluster matured into ripe grapes." The description is concise and vivid. As the chief cup-bearer slept he saw first the bare form of a vine, then the vine with its buds just sprouting, next the vine in full flower, and finally the stalks with their berries ripened into purpled clusters. V. II. PHARAOH'S CUP] The Hebrew of 'cup' is kos, supposed to be a contraction of kones, 'a receptacle,' from kah-nas, 'to collect.' This narrative suggests several interesting questions: 1. Was the vine cultivated in Egypt? The text undoubtedly implies that it was, and this is explicitly affirmed of the period of the Exodus. On the other hand, a passage in Herodotus (book ii., ch. 77) states that the Egyptians "use wine prepared from barley, because there are no vines in their country”—oinō d'ek kritheōn pepoieemenō diachreeōntai, ou gar sphi eisi en tee chōree ampeloi. Sir G. Wilkinson conjectures that Herodotus may refer only to the corn-growing districts, which were not well adapted to the growth of the vine. Whatever may be the explanation, and however credible the testimony of Herodotus as to the state of things in his own age, his words cannot apply to Egyptian agriculture ten centuries preceding his visit. The evidence of Scripture as to the cultivation of the vine in Egypt has been corroborated by the paintings on the tombs of Thebes, some of which, copied by Sir G. Wilkinson ('Ancient Egyptians,' vol. ii., pp. 141 -151), strikingly show that the vine was extensively and scientifically cultivated by the ancient Egyptians. Hellanicus even mentions a report that the first cultivators of the vine were the settlers round about Plinthina, an Egyptian city on the Mediterranean. The time of vintage in Egypt was toward the end of June or commencement of July. In one painting boys are represented guarding the ripened clusters from the depredations of birds, and men are depicted plucking the grapes and carrying them away in wicker baskets. For wine-making the Egyptians sometimes used bags filled with grapes, which were squeezed by the turning of two poles in opposite directions. They also built raised platforms where men trod the clusters, whose juice flowed into a lower receptacle, and thence into vessels ready to receive it. Athenæus, who died A.D. 198, describes, in his 'Deipnosophistai,' various kinds of Egyptian wine, one of which-the Mareotic-he says, 'does not affect the head'-kephalees ouk kathiknoumenos. Of the Taniotic, he states that "it has such a degree of richness [liparon; literally, 'fatness'], that when mixed with water it seems gradually to be diluted, much in the same way as Attic honey well mixed." Of another species he remarks, that it is so thin and digestible that "it can be given without harm to those suffering from fever"-ōs tois puretmousi didomenos mee bleptein. The sober would select such wines as these, while the dissolute would seek after strongly fermented or drugged wines, and failing them, would drink to satiety of the less intoxicating sorts. The wall pictures prove that both men and women drank at feasts to intoxication, and some of the artists seem to have taken a sarcastic pleasure in holding up the intemperance of their contemporaries to ridicule. At a later period, and possibly in the earlier ages also, palm wine and beer were extensively drunk, the native name of the beer appearing in the Greek writers as zythus, but known also as 'barley wine'—oinos krithinos. Caution, however, is called for in pronouncing upon the nature of ancient liquors and the manners of the people. The pictured excesses may have been occasional, with long intervals of abstinence; and concerning the articles used, the words of Sir G. Wilkinson are entitled to much weight:-"Considering how persistent the custom was among the ancients of altering the qualities of wines by drugs and diverse processes, we may readily conceive the possibility of the effects ascribed to them, and thus it happened that opposite properties were frequently attributed to the same kinds."-('Anc. Egypt.' ii. pp. 162-3.) 2. How far is the chief butler's dream to be understood as illustrative of actual usage? Josephus's version of the butler's speech is as follows:-"He said . that by the king's permission he pressed the grapes into a goblet, and having strained the sweet-wine, he gave it to the king to drink, and that he received it graciously"-elege toutous autos apothlibein eis phialeen hupechontos ton basileōs, diatheesas te to GLEUKOS dounai tō basilei piein, kakainon dexasthai kecharismends. Josephus here uses gleukos to designate the expressed juice of grapes before fermentation could possibly commence. Whether the dream of the chief cup-bearer represented his practice at court is doubted. The writer of the article 'Joseph,' in Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible' (Ven. Arch. Lord Harvey, M.A.), denies that any inference can be drawn from the dream as to the kind of wine supplied to the kings of Egypt at this period, and he points out that all the events (the growth of the vine, etc.) are described as transpiring with unnatural rapidity; but it may be rejoined, that as the events were in themselves natural, the proper conclusion is, that it was the custom of the chief cup-bearer to prepare the king's wine by pressing the juice of grapes into a receiver, and offering it—not perhaps instantly, but after straining it, while it was yet fresh and free from fermentationto the royal hands. That the style of the narration is calculated to convey this impression can hardly be denied by any candid mind. Matthew Henry, the prince of practical commentators, observes, "Probably it had been usual with them to press the full ripe grapes immediately into Pharaoh's cup, the simplicity of that age not being acquainted with the modern art of making the wine fine." Bishop Lowth (on Isa. v. 2) observes, "See Gen. xl. II, by which it should seem that they (the Egyptians) drank only the fresh juice pressed from the grape, which was called oinos ampelinos,-Herodotus, ii. 37." But in the opinion of some critics the phrase oinos ampelinos, 'wine of the vineyard,' is used simply to distinguish, not one kind of grape-juice from another, but grape wine from palm wine, barley wine (beer), etc. Sir G. Wilkinson, however, has obviously an eye to vineyard wine freshly made, when he speaks of it as one of the offerings to the gods of Egypt, and as "one of the most delicious beverages of a hot climate, and one which is commonly used in Spain and other countries at the present day."-('Anc. Egypt,' v. p. 366.) As to palm wine, he remarks, "The modern name of it in Egypt is lowbgeh. In flavor it resembles a very new light wine, and may be drunk in great quantity when taken from the tree,* but as soon as fermentation has commenced its intoxicating qualities have a powerful and speedy effect."-(Ibid., iii. p. 375-) Dr Adam Clarke, in his note, is very decided: "From this we find that wine anciently was the mere expressed juice of the grape, without fermentation. The This recalls the lines in Thomson's 'Seasons' (Summer),— "Or stretched amid these orchards of the sun, |