Wine-fat in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

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What is a Wine-fat?
WINE-FAT
, WINE-PRESS. An excavation (probably rectangular) was made in the rock, or was formed in the ground and lined with mason-work, in which to crush the grapes. This was the press (Heb. gath), and another cavity, arranged to catch the juice, was the fat or vat. Ancient excavations of this kind remain in Palestine, and one of them is thus described by Robinson with his usual accuracy: "Advantage had been taken of a ledge of rock; on the upper side a shallow vat had been dug out, 8 feet square and 15 inches deep. Two feet lower down another smaller vat was excavated, 4 feet square by 3 feet deep. The grapes were trodden in the shallow upper vat, and the juice drawn off by a hole at the bottom (still remaining) into the lower vat." Both these vats are referred to in Joel 3:13. By the larger or upper receptacle Gideon threshed wheat for the sake of concealment. Jud 6:11. Such rock presses as these are still used in some parts of Syria. Travellers tell us that the first vintage usually begins in the latter part of August; that they often see the black grapes spread on the ground in beds, exposed to the sun to dry for raisins, while Treading the Wine-Press. at a little distance one or two, and sometimes as many as five, men are seen, with feet and legs bare, treading the fruit in a kind of cistern, or vat, usually about 8 feet square and 4 feet high, with a grated aperture near the bottom, through which Egyptians expressing the Juice of the Grape. the expressed juice runs into a vessel beneath. Isa 63:3; Hag 2:16. The treaders sung and shouted, Isa 16:10, while the red blood of the grapes flowed around them and thoroughly stained their flesh and garments. Isa 63:1-3; Jer 25:30; Jer 48:33; Lam 1:15; Rev 19:13-15. The ancient Egyptian mode of expressing the juice of grapes may be learned from the preceding cut. The fruit is placed in a cloth, which is twisted and strained until the liquor is wrung out into a vessel below. "Gath," a wine-press, is of common occurrence in the names of Hebrew localities. "Gethsemane" means "an oilpress."

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Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'wine-fat' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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