QMCO5
New Member
If I may add to everyone's knowledge: gleukos means sweet “wine,” not grape juice. Grape juice is a modern invention. After all, the pasteurization process to prevent fermentation of grape juice wasn't discovered until the 19th century. You probably know that Thomas Welch, an American Methodist dentist, was the first to succeed on a large scale of producing grape juice. Through the marketing by his son, Charles, "Welch's Grape Juice" became both a popular beverage and the preferred alternative for the communion table of most Protestant churches, largely at the behest of the temperance movement.
The mention of sweet wine in Acts 2:13 does allude to a contemporary problem in Israel with their wine production. According to articles I’ve read the wines shipped from Israel to ancient Egypt were so bad that they had to be seasoned with honey, pepper and juniper berries to make them palatable, and those sent to Rome during the height of ancient Roman civilization arrived so thick and sweet that no modern wine expert could possibly approve of them. “Sweet” did not mean non-alcoholic. Jews still enjoy sweet wine for meals. Wine is sweetened by adding corn syrup, but for Passover a kosher sweet wine will contain cane sugar. The alcohol content is still 11 or 12 per cent. Think of Welch's with a kick. Personally, I don't care much for sweet wine.
One more historical note. By rabbinic instruction Jews diluted wine with three parts warm water for Passover observance, because in ancient days wine was very potent (cf. Isaiah 28:7; Talmud, Tractate Pesachim, X, 1). The warnings against drunkenness in both the Old and New Testaments exist because wine was an important part of Jewish culture and some people overindulged. Wine was a beverage that Yeshua enjoyed and consumed at the Last Seder. We may enjoy wine, too, as long as we take into consideration the cautions offered in Scripture.
The mention of sweet wine in Acts 2:13 does allude to a contemporary problem in Israel with their wine production. According to articles I’ve read the wines shipped from Israel to ancient Egypt were so bad that they had to be seasoned with honey, pepper and juniper berries to make them palatable, and those sent to Rome during the height of ancient Roman civilization arrived so thick and sweet that no modern wine expert could possibly approve of them. “Sweet” did not mean non-alcoholic. Jews still enjoy sweet wine for meals. Wine is sweetened by adding corn syrup, but for Passover a kosher sweet wine will contain cane sugar. The alcohol content is still 11 or 12 per cent. Think of Welch's with a kick. Personally, I don't care much for sweet wine.
One more historical note. By rabbinic instruction Jews diluted wine with three parts warm water for Passover observance, because in ancient days wine was very potent (cf. Isaiah 28:7; Talmud, Tractate Pesachim, X, 1). The warnings against drunkenness in both the Old and New Testaments exist because wine was an important part of Jewish culture and some people overindulged. Wine was a beverage that Yeshua enjoyed and consumed at the Last Seder. We may enjoy wine, too, as long as we take into consideration the cautions offered in Scripture.
