Brother jimur
There is a way of looking into this linguistic comparative between meanings in the Old and New Testament in greek itself. This approach does represent difficulties because although the New Testament is also written in common greek it really is common greek and was written with a mind to be accessible to the general population of Hellenistic linguistic influence.
The Septuaginta is a translation of the Old Testament made in the 3rd century BC with greek speaking Jews in mind, by Jewish scholars of the original Hebrew text. The translation however is linguistically schematic in that although it is written in common greek of the same linguistic semantic influence as the New Testament it is a literal and more formal translation. I assume that this reflects the Jewish Rabbis and Scribes who carried out the work in that they would have been desirous of a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew semantic than they would have been assertive of greek vulgarisms which are reflective of the greek of the New Testament. The seeming link is in that they are both said to be Koine or common greek, yet there is a significant difference in the way the language was used. The Septuaginta was not written for the greek, but the Jew.
An example of this might be seen by comparing the English parallel translation, the Septuaginta and a passage from the new testament which alludes to the same English parallel translation of the Septuaginta and the New Testament equivalence as well as the original Hebrew text.
For example:
Isaiah 65:8 (Septuaginta).
Οὕτως λέγει κύριος Ὃν τρόπον εὑρεθήσεται ὁ ῥὼξ ἐν τῷ βότρυι καὶ ἐροῦσιν Μὴ λυμήνῃ αὐτὸν ὅτι εὐλογία κυρίου ἐστὶν ἐν αὐτῷ, οὕτως ποιήσω ἕνεκεν τοῦ δουλεύοντός μοι, τούτου ἕνεκεν οὐ μὴ ἀπολέσω πάντας
Septuaginta English translation Isaiah 65:8
Thus saith the Lord, As a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for the sake of him that serves me, for his sake I will not destroy them all.
Isaiah 65:8 Hebrew
כֹּ֣ה׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יִמָּצֵ֤א הַתִּירוֹשׁ֙ בָּֽאֶשְׁכּ֔וֹל וְאָמַר֙ אַל־תַּשְׁחִיתֵ֔הוּ כִּ֥י בְרָכָ֖ה בּ֑וֹ כֵּ֤ן אֶֽעֱשֶׂה֙ לְמַ֣עַן עֲבָדַ֔י לְבִלְתִּ֖י הַֽשְׁחִ֥ית הַכֹּֽל׃
Comparative New Testament text John 2:9
ως δε εγευσατο ο αρχιτρικλινος το υδωρ οινον γεγενημενον και ουκ ηδει ποθεν εστιν οι δε διακονοι ηδεισαν οι ηντληκοτες το υδωρ φωνει τον νυμφιον ο αρχιτρικλινος
The common terms we are concerned with are wine and grapes.
In the Septuaginta the word translated into English is grape stone, but in the actual greek it can be used as berry or grape or even a cleft. The actual greek word ῥώξ is inflected to mean fallen from the vine. Semantically it carries the meaning of a fruit which has become so mature in season that it falls to the ground. It does not need to be cut from the vine because in maturity it has fallen to the ground in order to remove the outer garment of the flesh of the fruit and reveal the seed which itself is where the blessing lies and the true increase. It is a sense of fullness and increase. We would say its a good and full fruit.
This conceptually carries to the whole passage of Isaiah 65:8 where the command is not to crush the fruit. If the fruit is crushed prematurely it will in the end not prove to be a blessing. It may well make new wine, but it cannot become a full and profitable fruit for the Lord’s purposes. “So will I do for my servants sake” is parallel in meaning to “Destroy it not” in the same verse Isaiah 65:8. So The passage may be saying saying "do not destroy the growth or development of the fruit of the vine because [I] will not destroy the fruit of the vine if [I] find just one individual to serve [Me] faithfully. It carries the sense of “abide in Me and you will bear much fruit” and at the same time it is a warning not to destroy the fruit of the vine. This is incredibly pertinent because we can both destroy ourselves as an individual fruit by continuous sin and others may seek to destroy us by lording it over us. The emphatic meaning is we are many members, one body and we are grafter into the true vine which is Christ.
A possible secondary and more literal meaning pertains to the seed which is in the grape, even as the grape is within the bunch. If just one grape has within it the obedience to mature it will fall to the ground and dying it will bear much fruit. The sparing of the Lord’s hand not to destroy the whole bunch is a reflection of the obedience of this one seed. This is like the Lord seeking just one man to stand in the way of His wrath and cry mercy mercy. Or else it is like God seeking for just one righteous man so that He can stay His hand from destroying a city (Sodom). Just to make sense of this correlation whilst “righteous Lot” lived in the city he is a picture of the church in the world. What God was looking for in Sodom was a righteous man other than Lot because Lot is in the city but not off the city. Abram should not have taken his nephew with him in the first place. Lot is a picture of being in the world, but not of the world.
You can see why you have to be so careful in these studies and not take an academic approach to understanding, but let the Lord Himself teach us by the Spirit.
In John 2:9 is the greek word οινον and really does mean new wine.
If one were to continue the deeper meaning of these things to their reasonable conclusion one would have to say that the miracle of the water into wine has nothing to do with alcohol or not, but in fact it speaks about the bruising of the true Seed in the removal of the body of [His] flesh, as promised in Genesis, resulting in the shedding of His blood for all men. There is always a greater and a lesser meaning. How wonderful is the word of God.
Rationally it is water into wine and it is new wine. But its meaning must be greater than seeking to prove a mans consciousness. It must always come back to ones own willingness to be the one seed in your day, house, church, city or nation. Blessings.
Your heart in this brother has been such a blessing to me also. I am only just come back to the original languages after many years away from them. But I realise in this little exercise what a blessing it is if we really desire to serve God.
