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Agricultural Life�Peasants (Endnotes)

1. The Anti-Lebanon is the mountains just north of Mt. Hermon. The Great Rift Valley that runs from Africa into Syria lies between the mountains of Lebanon to the west, and Syria to the east. There are expansive plains just north of the city of Dan, just as there are plains in the Huleh Valley just south of Dan. Close

2. Depending on the specific time in history, the Hebrew year began either with Nisan (April) or Tishri (October). In both cases, the first rain of the year, the �former rain,� fell in the autumn, and the �latter rain� fell in the spring, later in the Hebrew year. Occasionally Western commentators become confused and say that the autumn rains are the �latter rains� since they come later on the English calendar than the spring rains do, but that is incorrect. Close

3. As Mackie says, the plowing in most of the East is opposite of what we do in the West. We plow first and drop in the seed, while the Easterner scatters the seed and then plows it in. The plow of the ancient world only scratched the surface of the dirt, it did not turn the soil over as our modern plows do. Close

4. In John 4:35 Jesus said to his disciples, ��look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.� He was speaking of the harvest of people, who would have been generally dressed in lighter colors, and making an analogy to the fields. Unfortunately, the NIV leaves out the reference to the color. Close

5. Mackie is referring to the fact that some denominations, realizing that the Hebrew and Greek words for �wine� and for �grape juice� are the same, assert that no godly person in the Bible ever drank wine. They also say that, at the wedding in Cana, Jesus Christ turned the water into grape juice. The words for grape juice and wine are the same, true, but it is because the Easterners, not having refrigeration, had no way to keep the juice of the grape as �grape juice.� In a few short weeks it would either turn to vinegar or wine. Thus Mackie is quite correct when he says, �The people of the land know nothing of unfermented wine.� Close

6. Moslem law forbids the use of alcoholic beverages. However, in the biblical culture there was both wine and fermented drinks, and drunkenness was a common vice and serious social problem. Noah got drunk after the ark landed (Gen. 9:21), and it is prototypical that his drunkenness caused family problems, something alcohol does with regularity. Lot (Gen. 19:33-35), Nabal (1 Sam. 25:36), Amnon (2 Sam. 13:28), Elah (1 Kings 16:9), and the king and princes of Syria (1 Kings 20:16) are just some of the people the Old Testament mentions as drunk. Eli thought Hannah was drunk, showing that people even showed up drunk at the Tent of Meeting (1 Sam. 1:14 and 15). Drunkenness was a special problem of the wealthy, since they could afford the alcohol, and it affected women as well as men (Amos 4:1). Alcohol clouds the judgment and corrupts morals (Isa. 28:7; Hosea 4:11; Hab. 2:15). Ultimately, alcoholism bites like a serpent, and leads to poverty, woe, and sorrow (Prov. 23:21-32). By Roman times, alcohol had become even more of a social problem. The disciples were accused of being drunk in the Temple on Pentecost (Acts 2:13-15). Christians are commanded not to get drunk (Eph. 5:18). Close

7. The fact that the same Hebrew word, debash, is used for honey from bees as well as grape syrup has caused some uncertainty in the biblical text. There was no beekeeping until Roman times, so, during the Old Testament, bee honey was from wild bees. It was therefore difficult to harvest and, while not scarce, it was not abundant either. Scholars debate which uses of debash in the Old Testament refer to honey and which refer to grape syrup. Opinions vary greatly. Close

8. Stern indignation is right! Christ repeated the phrase seven times in Matthew 23 (Matt. 23:13-15, 23, 25, 27 and 29). Close