Grapes -Fruits
The most recognized fruit in the Bible and an important agricultural product of the ancient Near East. The failure of the grape harvest indicates misfortune or disaster, the cultivation of grapes indicates rich and fertile land. Grapes are used to make wine. Scripture contains stern warnings against excessive drinking and drunkenness.
Instruction given by the LORD God:
And they shalt not glean their vineyard, neither shalt they gather every grape of their vineyard; they shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:10). When thou come into the neighbor’s vineyard, then they may eat grapes their fill at their own pleasure; but they shall not put any in their vessel. (Deuteronomy 23:24)
The farming of grapes indicates rich and fertile land:
Moses had sent out spies into the land of Canaan to see whether the land be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. They were to be of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. (Numbers 13:20-25).
The failure of the grape harvest indicates misfortune or disaster:
The women of Jerusalem were given a warning from prophet Isaiah. Many days and years shall they be troubled, the careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Isaiah told the women to tremble, the women that are at ease; be troubled, the careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: (Isaiah 32:10-13).
Speaking to the people of Jerusalem the LORD God says He will surely consume them,: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. (Jeremiah 8:13).
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first ripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. (Micah 7:1-2).
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. (Habakkuk 3:16-19).
The LORD shall bring the children of Israel, and their king which they shalt set over them, unto a nation which neither they nor their fathers have known; and there shall they serve other gods, wood and stone. And they shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead them. They shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. They shall plant vineyards, and dress them, but shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. (Deuteronomy 28:36-39).
Grapes used to make wine:
And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and saying there was a bine before him. The vine had three branches and it was as it was budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: And Pharaoh’s cup was in his hand: and he took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. (Genesis 40:9-11).
Jacob called unto his sons together that he might tell them what shall befall then in the last days. “Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.” (Genesis 49:9-12).
Hear now the LORD: you shall sow, but you shall not reap; you shall tread the olives, but you shall not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shall not drink wine. (Micah 6:15).
Wine was used as part of celebrations. David brought the ark of the LORD and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it. David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. When David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. Then the whole multitude of Israel ate a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed everyone to his house. (2 Samuel 6:17-19; 1 Chronicles 16:1-3).
Scripture contains stern warnings against excessive drinking and drunkenness:
Now Hannah, the mother of Samuel, spoke in her heart to the LORD only moving her lips, but her voice was not heard. Eli the prophet thought she was drunken and warned her to put away the wine from herself. (1 Samuel 1:14).
Wine is a mocker (that is a mocker to scorn, make mouths at, talk arrogantly), strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived. (Proverbs 20:1).
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! (Isaiah 5:11).
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: (Isaiah 5:22).
Treading grapes:
Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that sows seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And the LORD will bring again the captivity of His people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And the LORD will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which the LORD have given them. (Amos 9:13).
And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech. (Judges 9:27).
In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. (Nehemiah 13:15)
Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. (Jeremiah 25:30).
Harvesting grapes:
If grape gatherers come to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbors, and he is not. (Jeremiah 49:9-10).
If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. (Leviticus 26:3-5).
Whatever the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be you of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. (Numbers 13:19-20).
Give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give you corn to be meat for your enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink your wine, which you have labored: But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. (Isaiah 62:7-9).
Regulations concerning the grape harvest:
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shalt not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:9-10).
The LORD spoke unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the LORD. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. That which grows of its own accord of your harvest thou shall not reap, neither gather the grapes of your vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for you, and for your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your stranger that sojourned with you, And for your cattle, and for the beast that are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. (Leviticus 25:1-7).
When you shall make a vow unto the LORD God, you shall not delay to pay it: for the LORD God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in you. If you shalt forgo to vow, it shall not be a sin in you. Whatever goes out of your lips you shall keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as you have vowed unto the LORD God, which you have promised with your mouth. When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard then you may eat grapes to your fill; but you shall not put any in your vessel.
That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth. (Deuteronomy 23:21-24).
Dried grapes: raisins
Abigail took a hundred cluster of raisins, two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses to take to David. This was after Nabal, her husband had insulted David. David had threatened to kill Nabal and his household. (1 Samuel 25:14-19).
The Amalekites had carried away David his two wives. David pursued, with four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor. They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water. They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. (1Samuel 30:10-12).
The servant of Mephilosheth, son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul, met King David with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and a hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. Ziba told King David, the asses was for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink. (2 Samuel 16:1-2).
Nazirites were forbidden to consume grapes or grape products
The instruction from the LORD as told to Moses was the children of Israel when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. (Numbers 6:1-4).
The parents of Samson: man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, was visited by the angel of the LORD telling her she would conceive, and bear a son. She was instructed to not drink wine nor strong drink, and not eat any unclean things She would have a son and no razor should come on his head. The child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb. Samson shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (Judges 13:2-14).
The symbolic use of grapes symbolically or figuratively in the Bible,
Jeremiah was to search through Israel for a righteous man just as a grape-gatherer looks for grapes the LORD of hosts said, they shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets. (Jeremiah 6:9).
The LORD is speaking of a perverse and crooked generation. A foolish people and unwise. (Deuteronomy 32:5-6). They have moved the LORD God to jealousy anger with their vanities. They are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. (Deuteronomy 32:21, 28). For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. (Deuteronomy 32:32-33).
Largely it is used in the context of judgment. Eliphaz the Temanite tells Job that the wicked man will be like a vine stripped of its immature grapes. (Job 15:32-34).
The LORD God brought the Israelites out of Egypt into Canaan. The LORD God identifies the vine as a symbol of Israel. (Psalm 80:8). David in the Psalm pleads to the LORD to turn us again, “O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” (Psalms 80: 19).
The prophet Isaiah speaks of the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. (Isaiah 5:1-7).
Isaiah again speaks of the earth being defiled under the inhabitants; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourns, the vine languish, and all the merry hearted do sigh. The rejoicing of the music ceases, and the noise of those that rejoice ends. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the rejoicing of the land is gone. The city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. This is the way it will be in the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. (Isaiah 24:5-13).
The LORD said, as the new wine is found in the cluster of grapes, and one said, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. (Isaiah 65:8-9).
O vine of Sibmah (one of the towns in the pastoral district on the east of the Jordan in Moab; allotted to the tribes of Reuben and Gad), I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer (a Levitical city east of the Jordan, in Gilead in the territory of Gad, formerly an Amorite city; site uncertain): your plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting. (Jeremiah 48:32-33).
The prophet Hosea speaks of the days of visitation are come, the days of recompense that is the day of punishment are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah (the terrible immorality committed against a Levite’s concubine (Judges 19). It is because of the days of Gibeath that the LORD will remember their iniquity, and will visit their sins. The LORD found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved. (Hosea 9:7-10).
The apostle Paul cites by analogy the fruit of the vineyard in defending his right to material support from those he had evangelized. (1 Corinthians 9:7).
Jesus utilizes grapes when he teaches that a plant is recognized by its fruit (Matthew 7:15–20; Luke 6:43–45).
The prophet Joel and Revelation both speaks of the grapes are being harvested. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will the LORD sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. (Joel 3:12-13).
The wicked are described as grapes which are harvested and thrown into the winepress of the LORD God’s wrath in Revelation. The angle of the LORD will gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. (Revelation 14:17-20).
Different types of grapes
For ripe grapes when not in clusters (Genesis 40:10–11), and of grapes in clusters, (Numbers 13:23). Sour grapes (Isaiah 18:5); for wild grapes (Isaiah 5:2, 4); grapes that fall off when ripe (Leviticus 19:10); the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. (Revelation 14:18). Gleaned grapes (Judges 8:2); dried grapes or raisins (1 Samuel 25:18; 2 Samuel 16:1). Men gather grapes of thorns. (Matthew 7:16).
Common use
Grapes were also processed into syrup, vinegar, and wine, which was the most common use for grapes in ancient Israel. The grape juice was extracted by treading upon the grapes in a grape press. Grape-treading appears to have been a joyous occasion which involved the entire community (Judges 9:27).
Grapes were eaten fresh and as raisins, which could be baked into cakes (Hosea 3:1).
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Grapes -Fruits:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Feb 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2372,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, February) “Grapes -Fruits:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2372,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “Grapes -Fruits:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (February), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2372, (accessed).
