wine-vessels Summary and Overview

WINE-VES'SELS . The Hebrews, as well as the Greeks, preserved their wine in large earthen vessels or jars, which were buried up to their necks in the ground. These jars were quite large, containing often as much as one of our barrels. The must, or new wine, after being poured into such vessels, was stirred thrice a day for about twenty days with wooden rods. When wine was to be transported, the Persians sometimes decanted it into flasks or bottles, but skins are now in common use, as they were among the ancients. The Hebrews poured even the must, or new wine, into skins, but for this purpose they used such as were fresh and flexible, and therefore not liable to be broken by the fermentation of the liquor. Matt 9:17. By "new wine," Joel 1:5, is intended sweet wine, which was purer and stronger and more capable of preservation, and of course more inebriating. Isa 49:26; Acts 2:13. Drinking wine in bowls. Am 6:6, is supposed to refer to the richness and magnificence of the vessels, and not to the quantity of wine drank.