Archæology and the BibleBarton, George A. (George Aaron)
Religion
Archæology and the Bible
Barton, George A. (George Aaron)
Bible -- Antiquities; Egypt -- Antiquities; Middle East -- Antiquities
(9) _Vineyards and Wine-vats._--The grape is often alluded to in the
Bible, and directions are given as to how one may conduct himself in a
vineyard (Deut. 23:24) and as to how thoroughly one might glean his vines
(Lev. 25:5). The most complete description of a vineyard is in Isa. 5:1-8.
The one feature of that description that would survive for an archæologist
to discover is the wine-vat. These vats were often cut in the solid rock,
and many of them have been found, both in excavating and in traveling over
the country. The vats for pressing grapes and other fruits may be
distinguished from olive-presses because they lack all arrangements for
mechanical pressing. The grapes were trodden with the feet, and as the
juice was pressed out it ran down into a deeper portion of the vat. Some
of these vats are surrounded by “cup-marks” or hollow places cut in the
stone in order to hold pointed-bottomed jars upright. Sometimes the
cup-marks are connected with the main vat by tiny channels, through which
any of the grape-juice that might drain from the outside of the jar, after
the jar had been dipped in the vat, might run back; (see Fig. 87).
(10) _Olive-presses._--Similarly, olive-presses are very numerous in
Palestine. Presses were found in the stratum of the cave-dwellers of
Gezer. The olive industry is, accordingly, very old. Olive-presses
comprised, in addition to the vat, an upright stone with a large hole in
it. In this hole a beam was inserted. This beam rested on the olives which
were to be pressed, extending far beyond the receptacle containing the
olives, and weights were hung on the end farthest from the stone; (see
Fig. 88). Palestine in ancient times, as now, was covered with olive
orchards, many of which had oil-presses. Such an orchard was called a
“garden.” The Garden of Gethsemane, the scene of one of the most sacred
incidents of the life of Christ (Matt. 26:36; Mark 14:32), was an olive
orchard and took its name from the oil-press. Gethsemane means
“oil-press.” Wine-vats and oil-presses were of various types, but into
their forms there is not space to enter here[163]; (see Figs. 85, 86).
The prominent place held by wine and oil among the agricultural products
of the country is indicated by the receipts for the storage of various
quantities of these articles which were found at Samaria.
(11) _The Agricultural Calendar._--In the books of the old Testament the
names applied to the months are, for the most part, names derived from
Babylonia, but it appears that at Gezer they had a series of names for the
months based on their agricultural year. In the stratum which contained
remains from the time of the Hebrew monarchy, 1000-550 B. C., an
inscription was found which, though the end was broken away, contained the
following names for the months:
1. Month of ingathering. (See Exod. 23:16; 34:22.)
2. Month of sowing.
3. Month of the late [sowing?].
4. Month of the flax-harvest.
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