Customs & Culture

Wine, Wineskins and Fermentation

Food and Meals • Material Culture

Wine was a common ancient beverage produced by fermenting grape juice and stored in jars or skins. Scripture recognizes both its ordinary use and the dangers of drunkenness.

Primary Scripture

Mark 2:22

Historical and Cultural Background

Freshly fermenting wine releases gas and can stress a container. Jesus' saying about new wine and old wineskins uses the familiar incompatibility of active new wine with a container no longer able to expand safely.

Biblical Examples

Wine appears at feasts, offerings, weddings, and meals, while biblical wisdom and apostolic teaching repeatedly warn against intoxication.

Biblical Significance

The wineskin image emphasizes the destructive result of trying to contain something new within a form unable to accommodate it.

Related Images

Common Misconceptions

Ancient wine should not be described as either always nonalcoholic grape juice or always identical in strength and serving practice to modern table wine.

Historical Setting and Evidence

Culture: Ancient Near Eastern, Israelite, Judean/Jewish, Greek/Hellenistic, Roman

Period: Patriarchal Period, Exodus and Wilderness, Conquest and Judges, United Monarchy, Divided Monarchy, Kingdom of Judah, Babylonian Exile, Persian Period, Hellenistic Period, Hasmonean Period, Roman / Second Temple Period, Apostolic / Early Church Period

Evidence: Well Attested

Interpretive Importance: Major

Viticulture and wine production are extensively attested archaeologically and textually.