Wine-press

Wine-Press among the Israelites, was like a threshing floor and therefore we read that Gideon was thresh­ing in one of them, Jdg 6:11. The LXX. have it, Ῥαβδίζων σῖτον ἐν ληνῷ.

The fashion of it seems to have been thus; suppose a hedge or bank of earth raised about in a convenient cir­cumference; or else, a floor sunk below the surface of the ground about it, that the grapes and juice may be kept in; then on one side a pit was sunk much lower than the floor, to place the vats to receive the new pressed juice falling into them. This floor was the wine-press. Hence we may easily understand why our Saviour expresses the making of a wine-press by digging; as also Isaiah in Isa 5

The meaning of the symbol is very easy. The Indian Oneirocritic, in ch. 196. explains it of great conquest, and by consequence, much slaughter. It is so used in Isa 3, " I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me; for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." And in Lam 1:15, the destruction of Judah is represented under this type; " The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me; he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a wine-press."

And the symbol is extremely proper; the pressure of the grapes till their blood comes out, as their juice is called in Deu 32:14, aptly representing great pressure or affliction, and effusion of blood.

The vintage in Syria commences about the middle of September, and continues till the middle of November. But grapes in Palestine, we are informed, were ripe sometimes even in June or July, which arose perhaps from a triple pruning, in which case there was also a third vintage. The first vintage was in August, the second in September, and the third in October. The grapes when not gathered were sometimes found on the vines until November and December. The Hebrews were required to leave gleanings for the poor, Lev 19:10. The season of vintage was a most joyful one, Jdg 9:27; Isa 16:10:

Jer 25:30; Jer 48:33. With shoutings on all sides, the grapes were plucked off and carried to the wine press, פורה , פארה , ληνος, which was in the vineyard, Isa 53:3; Zec 14:10; Hag 2:16; Mat 21:33; Rev 14:19-20. The presses consisted of two receptacles, which were either built of stones and covered with plaster, or hewn out of a large rock. The upper receptacle, called נת , as it is constructed at the present time in Persia, is nearly eight feet square and four feet high. Into this the grapes are thrown and trodden out by five men. The juice flows out into the lower receptacle, through a grated aperture, which is made in the side near the bottom of the upper one. The treading of the wine press was laborious, and not very favourable to cleanliness; the garments of the persons thus employed were stained with the red juice, and yet the employment was a joyful one. It was performed with singing, accompanied with musical instruments; and the treaders, as they jumped, exclaimed, הידר , Isa 16:9-10; Jer 25:30; Jer 48:32-33. Figuratively, vintage, gleaning, and treading the wine press, signified battles and great slaughters, Isa 17:6; Isa 63:1-3; Jer 49:9; Lam 1:15. The must, as is customary in the east at the present day, was preserved in large firkins, which were buried in the earth. The wine cellars were not subterranean, but built upon the earth. When deposited in these, the firkins, as is done at the present time in Persia, were sometimes buried in the ground, and sometimes left standing upon it. Formerly, also, new wine or must was preserved in leathern bottles; and, lest they should be broken by fermentation, the people were very careful that the bottles should be new, Job 32:19; Mat 9:17; Mar 2:22. Sometimes the must was boiled and made into syrup, which is comprehended under the term דבש , although it is commonly rendered “honey,” Gen 43:11; 2Ch 31:5. Sometimes the grapes were dried in the sun and preserved in masses, which were called “bunches or clusters of raisins,” 1Sa 25:18; 2Sa 16:1; 1Ch 12:40; Hos 3:1. From these dried grapes, when soaked in wine and pressed a second time, was manufactured sweet wine, which is also called new wine, γλευκος, Act 2:13.

Wine-press. From the scanty notices contained in the Bible, we gather that, the wine-presses of the Jews consisted of two receptacles of vats placed at different elevations, in the upper one, of which the grapes were trodden, while the lower one, received the expressed juice.

The two vats are mentioned together only in Joe 3:13. "The press is full: the fats overflow" -- the upper vat being full of fruit, the lower one overflowing with the must. See Wine. The two vats were usually hewn out of the solid rock. Isa 5:2 margin; Mat 21:33. Ancient winepresses, so constructed, are still to he seen in Palestine.