My Bible Study: Christmas Prophecy 19

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Christmas Prophecy 19

The Messiah would be given gall and vinegar to drink.

Prophecy -

Psalm 69:21

They also gave me gall for my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Psalm 69 is Messianic through and through. This one Psalm is referenced 12 times in the gospels alone. Jesus quotes part of verse four in John 15:25.

Fulfillment -

Matthew 27:34

They gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.

What is gall? I wanted to know, so I dug into this a little bit. The Hebrew word used in Psalm 69 is rosh and means something bitter or poisonous. The Greek word used in Matthew 27 is chole and means bile, gall, or something bitter, like wormwood. If we read the same story as told in the gospel of Mark, chapter 15, verse 23, we see that it was myrrh mixed with sour wine. Perhaps myrrh is bitter, I don't know.

The commentary in my Bible says that victims to be executed customarily received wine drugged with myrrh to dull the senses. Perhaps Jesus refused the drink because of the bitter taste, or more likely, because He had to go through the pain and suffering for you and I.

The note on this passage in The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, says that the concoction given to a criminal is kindness, but given to the Sin-bearer, it was an insult.

Also to note, sour wine is vinegar. It is a process that happens as the wine is exposed to oxygen. Leave an open bottle of wine for a while and see for yourself, that it turns into vinegar.