I found this but I forget where now; And they bare it.] A question has been asked, Did our Lord turn all the water into wine which the six measures contained? To which I answer: There is no proof that he did; and I take it for granted that he did not. It may be asked, How could a part be turned into wine, and not the whole? To which I answer: The water, in all likelihood, was changed into wine as it was drawn out, and not otherwise. But did not our Lord by this miracle minister to vice, by producing an excess of inebriating liquor? No; for the following reasons: 1. The company was a select and holy company, where no excess could be permitted. And, 2. Our Lord does not appear to have furnished any extra quantity, but only what was necessary. But it is intimated in the text that the guests were nearly intoxicated before this miraculous addition to their wine took place; for the evangelist says, οτανμεθυσθωσι, when they have become intoxicated. I answer: 1. It is not intimated, even in the most indirect manner, that these guests were at all intoxicated. 2. The words are not spoken of the persons at that wedding at all: the governor of the feast only states that such was the common custom at feasts of this nature; without intimating that any such custom prevailed there. 3. The original word bears a widely different meaning from that which the objection forces upon it. The verbs μεθυσκω and μεθυω, from μεθυ, wine, which, from μεταθυειν, to drink after sacrificing, signify not only to inebriate, but to take wine, to drink wine, to drink enough: and in this sense the verb is evidently used in the Septuagint, Ge 43:34; So 5:1; 1 M (refs3)acc. 16:16; Hag 1:6 (refs2); Ecclus. 1:16. And the Prophet Isaiah, Isa 58:11, speaking of the abundant blessings of the godly, compares them to a watered garden, which the Septuagint translate, ωςκηποςμεθυων, by which is certainly understood, not a garden drowned with water, but one sufficiently saturated with it, not having one drop too much, nor too little
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 13:08:13 +0000
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