Drink, Strong
Drink, Strong
stands in the A.V. as the rendering of the Hebrews word , shekar’ (Graecized , Luk 1:15), which, in its etymological sense, applies to any beverage that had intoxicating qualities: it is generally found connected with wine, either as an exhaustive expression for all other liquors (e.g. Jdg 13:4; Luk 1:15), or as parallel to it, particularly in poetical passages (e.g. Isa 5:11; Mic 2:11); in Num 28:7, and Psa 69:12, however, it stands by itself, and must be regarded as including wine. The Bible itself throws little light upon the nature of the mixtures described under this term. We may infer: from Son 8:2 that the Hebrews were in the habit of expressing the juice of other fruits besides the grape for the purpose of making wine: the pomegranate, which is there noticed, was probably one out of many fruits so used. In Isa 24:9 there may be a reference to the sweetness of some kind of strong drink. In Num 28:7, strong drink is clearly used as equivalent to wine, which was ordered in Exo 29:40. With regard to the application of the term in later times we have the explicit statement of Jerome (Ep. ad Nepot.), as well as other sources of information, from which we may state that the following beverages were known to the Jews:
1. Beer, which was largely consumed in Egypt under the name of zythus (Herod. 2:77; Diod. Sic. 1:34), and was thence introduced into Palestine (Mishna, Pesach, 3:1). It was made of barley; certain herbs, such as lupin and skirrett, were used as substitutes for hops (Colum. 10:114). The buzah of modern Egypt is made of barley-bread, crumbled in water and left until it has fermented (Lane, 1:131): the Arabians mix it with spices (Burckhardt’s Arabia, 1:213), as described in Isa 5:22. The Mishna (1.c.) seems to apply the term shekar more especially to a Median drink, probably a kind of beer made in the same manner as the modern buizah; the Edomite chomets, noticed in the same place, was probably another kind of beer, and may have held the same position: among the Jews that bitter beer does among ourselves.
2. Cider, which is noticed in the Mishna (Terum. 11:2) as apple-wine.
3. Honey-wine, of which there were two sorts; one like the of the Greeks, which is noticed in the Mishna (Shabb. 20:2; Terum. 11:1) under a Hebraized form of that name, consisting of a mixture of wine, honey, and pepper; the other a decoction of the juice of the grape, termed debash (honey) by the Hebrews; and dibs by the modern Syrians, resembling the of the Greeks and the defrutum of the Romans, and similarly used, being mixed either with wine, milk, or water.
4. Date-wine, which was also manufactured in Egypt (v , Herod. 2:86; 3:20). It was made by mashing the fruit in water in certain proportions (Plin. 14:19, 3). A similar method is, still used in Arabia, except that the fruit is not mashed (Burckhardt’s Arabia, 2:264): the palm wine of modern Egypt is the sap of the tree itself, obtained by making an incision into its heart (Wilkinson, 2:174).
5. Various other fruits and vegetables are enumerated by Pliny (14:19) as supplying materials for factitious or home-made wine, such as figs, millet, the carob fruit, etc. It is not improbable that the Hebrews applied raisins to this purpose in the simple manner followed by the Arabians (Burckhardt, 2:377), viz., by putting them in jars of water and burying them in the ground until fermentation takes place. SEE WINE.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Drink, strong
(Heb. shekar’), an intoxicating liquor (Judg. 13:4; Luke 1:15; Isa. 5:11; Micah 2:11) distilled from corn, honey, or dates. The effects of the use of strong drink are referred to in Ps. 107:27; Isa. 24:20; 49:26; 51:17-22. Its use prohibited, Prov. 20:1. (See WINE)
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Drink, Strong
shechar. Any intoxicating beverage, wine especially from the grape (compare Num 28:7 with Exo 29:40). Strong drink was extracted from other fruit also, as the pomegranate (Son 8:2). Beer was made from barley, lupin, skirrett, and other herbs being substituted for hops. Spices were mingled with it (Isa 5:22). Cider, or “apple wine,” is noticed in the Mishna, Terum, 2, section 2. Honey wine was a mixture of wine, honey, and pepper, also a concoction from the grape called debaash by the Hebrew, by modern Syrians dibs, wine, milk or water being added. Date wine also was made in Egypt. The Speaker’s Commentary explains the proverbial phrase, Deu 29:19, “so that the soul that is drunken with sin carry away that which thirsts for sin.” “Drinking iniquity like water himself (Job 15:16), he corrupts others thirsting for it.”
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Drink, Strong
(, shekhar; , skera; from , shakhar, to be or become drunk; probably from the same root as sugar, saccharine): With the exception of Num 28:7, strong drink is always coupled with wine. The two terms are commonly used as mutually exclusive, and as together exhaustive of all kinds of intoxicants.
Originally shekhar seems to have been a general term for intoxicating drinks of all kinds, without reference to the material out of which they were made; and in that sense, it would include wine. Reminiscences of this older usage may be found in Num 28:7 (where shekhar is clearly equivalent to wine, as may be seen by comparing it with Num 28:14, and with Exo 29:40, where the material of the drink offering is expressly designated wine).
When the Hebrews were living a nomadic life, before their settlement in Canaan, the grape-wine was practically unknown to them, and there would be no need of a special term to describe it. But when they settled down to an agricultural life, and came to cultivate the vine, it would become necessary to distinguish it from the older kinds of intoxicants; hence, the borrowed word yayin (wine) was applied to the former, while the latter would be classed together under the old term shekhar, which would then come to mean all intoxicating beverages other than wine (Lev 10:9; Num 6:3; Deu 14:26; Pro 20:1; Isa 24:9). The exact nature of these drinks is not clearly indicated in the Bible itself. The only fermented beverage other than grape-wine specifically named is pomegranate-wine (Son 8:2 : the juice of my pomegranate, the Revised Version, margin sweet wine of my pomegranate); but we may infer that other kinds of shekhar besides that obtained from pomegranates were in use, such as drinks made from dates, honey, raisins, barley, apples, etc. Probably Jerome (circa 400 ad) was near the mark when he wrote, Sikera in the Hebrew tongue means every kind of drink which can intoxicate, whether made from grain or from the juice of apples, or when honeycombs are boiled down into a sweet and strange drink, or the fruit of palm oppressed into liquor, and when water is colored and thickened from boiled herbs (Ep. ad Nepotianum). Thus shekhar is a comprehensive term for all kinds of fermented drinks, excluding wine.
Probably the most common sort of shekhar used in Biblical times was palm or date-wine. This is not actually mentioned in the Bible, and we do not meet with its Hebrew name yen temarm (wine of dates) until the Talmudic period. But it is frequently referred to in the Assyrian-Babylonian contract tablets (cuneiform), and from this and other evidence we infer that it was very well known among the ancient Semitic peoples. Moreover, it is known that the palm tree flourished abundantly in Biblical lands, and the presumption is therefore very strong that wine made of the juice of dates was a common beverage. It must not be supposed, however, that the term shekhar refers exclusively to date-wine. It rather designates all intoxicating liquors other than grape-wine, while in few cases it probably includes even wine.
There can be no doubt that shekhar was intoxicating. This is proved (1) from the etymology of the word, it being derived from shakhar, to be or become drunk (Gen 9:21; Isa 29:9; Jer 25:27, etc.); compare the word for drunkard (shikkar), and for drunkenness (shikkaron) from the same root; (2) from descriptions of its effects: e.g. Isaiah graphically describes the stupefying effect of shekhar on those who drink it excessively (Isa 28:7, Isa 28:8). Hannah defended herself against the charge of being drunk by saying, I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, i.e. neither wine nor any other intoxicating liquor (1Sa 1:15). The attempt made to prove that it was simply the unfermented juice of certain fruits is quite without foundation. Its immoderate use is strongly condemned (Isa 5:11, Isa 5:12; Pro 20:1; see DRUNKENNESS). It was forbidden to ministering priests (Lev 10:9), and to Nazirites (Num 6:3; Jdg 13:4, Jdg 13:7, Jdg 13:14; compare Luk 1:15), but was used in the sacrificial meal as drink offering (Num 28:7), and could be bought with the tithe-money and consumed by the worshipper in the temple (Deu 14:26). It is commended to the weak and perishing as a means of deadening their pain; but not to princes, lest it might lead them to pervert justice (Pro 31:4-7).
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Drink, Strong
The Hebrew thus rendered seems to demand a more particular elucidation than it has yet received, inasmuch as it had in all probability a much wider signification than is now conveyed by the phrase ‘strong drink.’ We shall class the various senses of the word under three heads, in the order in which we conceive them to have been developed.
1. Shechar, luscious, saccharine drink, or sweet syrup, especially sugar or honey of dates, or of the palm tree; also, by accommodation, occasionally the sweet fruit itself. By sugar or honey the Jews understood not only honey of bees, but also syrups made from the fruit or juice of the palm and other trees. ‘In Solomon’s time, and afterwards,’ says Dr. Harris, ‘the wine and sweet cordials seem generally to have been used separately.’ It seems more probable, however, that the palm syrup or honey was used both as a sweetmeat or article of food, and as a drink, diluted with water, as with the modern grape and honey syrups or sherbets (Pro 9:2; Pro 9:5). The derivatives of shechar, expressive of its first signification, are numerous. Eastward and southward, following the Arabian channel and the Saracenic conquests, we meet with the most obvious forms of the Hebrew words still expressive of sugar. Thus we have the Arabic sakar; Persic and Bengl, shukkur (whence our word for sugar-candy, shukur-kund, ‘rock-sugar’); common Indian, jaggreeor zhaggery; Moresque, sekkour; Spanish, azucar; and Portuguese, assucar (molasses being mel-de-assucar, ‘honey of sugar,’ abbreviated). The wave of population has also carried the original sense and form northwards, embodying the word in the Grecian and Teutonic languages. Hence Greek, sakhar; Latin, saccharum; Italian, zucchero; German, sucher and juderig; Dutch, striker; Russian, sachar; Danish, sukker; Swedish, socker; Welsh, siwgwr; French, sucre; and our own common words sukkar (sweetmeat), sugar, and saccharine.
2. Date or Palm Wine in its fresh and unfermented state. Bishop Lowth translates Isa 24:9 thus:
‘With songs they shall no more drink wine [i.e. of grapes];
The palm wine shall be bitter to them that drink it.’
Herodotus, in his account of Assyria, remarks that ‘the palm is very common in this country,’ and that ‘it produces them bread, wine, and honey.’
The Muhammadan traveler (A.D. 850) says that ‘palm wine, if drunk fresh, is sweet like honey; but if kept, it turns to vinegar.’
Mandelslo (1640), speaking of the village of Damre near Surat, records thus:’Terry or Palm Wine. In this village we found some terry, which is a liquor drawn out of the palm-trees, and drank of it in cups made of the leaves of the same tree. To get out the juice, they go up to the top of the tree, where they make an incision in the bark, and fasten under it an earthen pot, which they leave there all night, in which time it is filled with a certain sweet liquor very pleasant to the taste. They get out some also in the day-time, but that [owing to the great heat] corrupts immediately, and is good only for vinegar, which is all the use they make of it.’
Adam Fabroni, an Italian writer of celebrity, informs us that ‘the palm-trees, which particularly abounded in the vicinity of Jericho and Engedi, also served to make a very sweet wine, which is made all over the East, being called palm wine by the Latins, and syrain India, from the Persian shir, which means luscious liquor or drink.’
Dr. Shaw thus describes the unfermented palm wine:’This liquor, which has a more luscious sweetness than honey, is of the consistence of a thin syrup, but quickly grows tart and ropy, acquiring an intoxicating quality.’ Sir G.T. Temple says, ‘We were daily supplied with the sap of the date-tree, which is a delicious and wholesome beverage when drunk quite fresh: but if allowed to remain for some hours, it acquires a sharp taste not unlike cider. The Landers inform us that ‘Palm wine is the common and favorite drink of the natives’ of Africathat ‘the juice is called wine’ and that ‘it is either used in this state, or preserved till it acquires rather a bitter flavor.’ With these facts before us, the language employed by the prophet in the sublime chapter from which we quoted above, becomes beautifully apposite. His prediction is that ‘the land shall be utterly spoiled,’ that the light of joy shall be turned into the gloom of sorrow, even as the sweet drink which corrupts, grows sour and bitter to those who drink it. The passage clearly indicates the nature of the drink to have been sweet in what the Jews esteemed its most valuable condition, but bitter in its fermented state. Hence the drunkard is represented in Isa 5:20-22, as one who ‘puts bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.’ This palm wine, like the honey of dates and sugar, was much valued as a medicine and cordial.
3. Sakar, in its third sense as a noun, denotes both in the Hebrew and the Arabic, fermented or intoxicating palm wine. Various forms of the noun in process of time became applied to other kinds of intoxicating drink, whether made from fruit or from grain. Arrack has been commonly, but erroneously, derived from sakar, and some have confounded the arrack with the palm wine, forgetting that the original wine existed long prior to the discovery of arrack distillation. The true palm wine, also, is exclusively the juice of the palm-tree or fruit, whereas arrack is applied to the spirit obtained from fermented rice and other things, and is, as Dr. Shaw remarks, ‘the general name for all hot liquors extracted by the alembick.’
The palm wine of the East, as we have explained, is made intoxicating either by allowing it to corrupt and ferment, thereby losing the sweet luscious character for which the Orientals esteem it, and becoming ropy, tart, and bitter; or, in its fresh or boiled state, by an admixture of stimulating or stupefying ingredients, of which there is an abundance. Such a practice seems to have existed among the ancient Jews, and to have called down severe reprobation (comp. Pro 23:30; Isa 1:22; Isa 5:11; Isa 5:22).
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Drink, Strong
Drink, Strong. See Wine.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Drink, Strong
Drink, Strong. The Hebrew term, shecar, in its etymological sense, applies to any beverage that had intoxicating qualities. With regard to the application of the term in later times, we have the explicit statement of Jerome, as well as other sources of information, from which we may state the that following beverages were known to the Jews: —
1. Beer, which was largely consumed in Egypt under the name of zythus, and was thence introduced into Palestine. It was made of barley; certain herbs, such as lupine and skirret, were used as substitutes for hops.
2. Cider, which is noticed in the Mishna as apple wine.
3. Honey wine, of which there were two sorts, one consisting of a mixture of wine, honey and pepper; the other a decoction of the juice of the grape, termed debash (honey) by the Hebrews, and dibs by the modern Syrians.
4. Date wine, which was also manufactured in Egypt. It was made by mashing the fruit in water in certain proportions.
5. Various other fruits and vegetables are enumerated by Pliny as supplying materials for factitious or home-made wine, such as figs, millet, the carob fruit, etc. It is not improbable that the Hebrews applied raisins to this purpose in the simple manner followed by the Arabians, namely, by putting them in jars of water and burying them in the ground until fermentation took place.