Many English versions translate משתה generally as either “feast” (e.g., ESV, KJV, NKJV) or “banquet” (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRS, RSV, TNK) and understand משתה יין as functioning adverbially. The NASB, for example, understands this construct[…]
…the Israelites departed from Egypt, a country where this bread-beer was the only obtainable or national alcoholic luxury, to the land flowing with milk, honey, and wine: instead of poverty-stricken slaves, they became a free[…]
…I contend that the words in Exodus xii. 19, “that which is leavened,” which in Hebrew are rendered מַחְמֶצֶת, or machmetzeth, was a beer similar to the modern Egyptian paste or bread beer (Boosa), now[…]
…the substance now rendered as “that which is leavened” (Exodus xii. 19) was, in reality, the Hebrew beer, a substance resembling the present Arab bread-beer Boosa, a fermented and eatable paste of the consistency of[…]
Today, while ‘strong drink’ remains the most frequent English translation of שֵׁכָר, confusion about its identity persists. The problem of rendering שֵׁכָר into English is best exemplified by the JPS translation of the Hebrew Bible,[…]
Archaeological evidence of beer-making is often hard to come by because most of the tools used in beer production — such as mortars, querns and winnowing baskets—are often linked to bread-making, and the possible connection[…]
The truth is, much like The Odyssey, the Bible is a majestic story of a journey that lives uncomfortably at odds with what the failures inevitable upon arrival. Home is never quite as good as[…]
Leviticus 15 is concerned with normal and abnormal, male and female genital discharges. As scholars have noted, the chapter is structured chiastically: (A) Verses 2-15 describe males with abnormal (gonorrhea) discharges (zav), (B) verses 16-18[…]
Ancient Israelites, with the possible exception of a few teetotaling Nazirites and their moms, proudly drank beer—and lots of it. Men, women and even children of all social classes drank it. Its consumption in ancient[…]
…the Hebrew Bible records barley (שְׂעֺרָה) as one of the most abundant and important crops of ancient Israel. It is one of the seven species by which the Promised Land is blessed (Deut. 8:8). In[…]