[geeks] OW.

[s at avoidant.org]

bill pointon wrote:

> i am reading and responding late as usual but we seem to have a
> misunderstanding of the term wine as often used in the bible --as they
> lived in a desert region the availability of water was limited so they
> used wine often to drink - but in this case it meant unfermented fruit
> juice ---- wine coming from the same root word as vine - meaning fruit


Not in Hebrew, it doesn't have the same root. Wine is yayin, vine is
gefen, and juice is mitz. Distinctly different, those.

Also, the wine was fermented, which we know because the priests only
bless the people in the morning, since we're concerned that they may
have been drinking with lunch. They don't give the blessing under the
influence. On fast days, however, they do say the blessing at afternoon
prayers, since they haven't been eating or drinking.


---sambo