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 the Old Testament Triad 
 
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DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 DURHAM, N. C. 
 
 Form 934—20M—8-34—C.P.Co. 
 
 
 

 
 The Old Testament Triad 
 of Vegetable Products, 
 and Its Bearing on 
 the One-Wine Theory 
 
 An Exegesis of the Three Hebrew Words 
 
 Dagan, Terosh, and Yitzhar 
 
 _ which have been, for the most part, translated 
 “*Corn, Wine, and Oil’’ 
 
 but which should have been rendered 
 
 \griculture-Produce, Vine-Fruit and Tree-Fruit 
 
 By REV. JOHN NEWTON WRIGHT, D. D. ~ 
 Wooster, Ohio 
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 COMMITTEE 
 
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 FOREWORD 
 The author was a missionary in Persia for over 32 years. 
 
 In the spring of the year 1878 the Holy Ghost 
 said to the prophets and teachers of the presby- 
 tery of Chillicothe, Ohio, ‘‘Separate me John New- 
 ton Wright for the work whereunto I have called 
 him.’’ So I, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, 
 departed unto the northwestern part of Persia. 
 
 Now, after almost a third of a century of ac- 
 tive service in the Master’s work in that Bible land, 
 I have been led to return to my native state from 
 whence I had been recommended to the grace of 
 God for the work which I have fulfilled; and am 
 ready to rehearse to you, for your profit, some of 
 my experiences in the Master’s service there. 
 
 Two Moslem objections to the Bible. 
 
 During the whole of my missionary life I was 
 in close contact with Mohammedans, who are the 
 Rationalistic Unitarians of the Orient. 
 
 I found that they had two great objections to 
 the Bible. As Unitarians they ridiculed its teach- 
 ings as to the Trinity; and as total abstainers from 
 the use of intoxicating liquors, they were offended 
 by its praises of ‘‘wine’’. 
 
 How to remove them. 
 
 This led me to study these two subjects in a 
 
 specially earnest and prolonged way. In the end 
 8 
 
 WIG Ao 
 
I clearly saw, as I believe, how these two stumbling- 
 stones are to be removed. 
 
 The trinity is a Life-unit, with Life-distinctions, 
 
 The first is to be removed by stating the doc- 
 trine of the Trinity, not along the lines of abstract 
 philosophical argument, but along the lines of 
 creative, redemptive, and regenerating Life, Love 
 and Action ;—these being the distinguishing eharac- 
 teristics and functions of the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Spirit,—the one triune eternal life. 
 
 The word wine was, at first, generic. It meant vine 
 products. 
 
 The second stumbling stone is to be removed 
 by a correct understanding and corrected transla- 
 tion of the dozen or more different words which are 
 found in the inspired original, but all of which 
 have been translated in the versions by the one 
 word ‘‘wine.’’ 
 
 One generic word deemed sufficient to represent a dozen 
 specifie articles. 
 
 The translators of the Septuagint, it seems, 
 deemed the then generic word ‘‘wine’’ sufficient 
 to designate all the numerous products of the 
 vine. They saw no use of introducing in a transla- 
 tion a dozen names for the specific products of the 
 “‘vine’’ any more than we now, in translating an 
 Arabie book into English, would see any call for 
 the dozens of specifie Arabic words in use for 
 “‘eamel’’, being represented in the version by dozens 
 of English equivalents, when the one generic word 
 
 4 
 
 fi vi 
 
camel would answer every purpose, and be more 
 plain to the ordinary reader. 
 
 ‘The generic word “wine” has now become a specific 
 name. 
 
 But as the centuries passed the word ‘‘wine’’ 
 ‘began to lose its generic sense. The tendency has 
 been to limit more and more the content of the 
 word to a specific intoxicating liquor. At the same 
 time the idea has become prevalent that this has 
 always been its only meaning. Hence many now 
 elaim that wherever the word ‘‘wine’’ is found in 
 their Bibles it must, of course, refer to an alcoholic 
 beverage. 
 
 Mence the inadequate and inaccurate use of that one word 
 in later versions. 
 
 Following the example set by the Septuagint, 
 nearly all the later versions have translated the 
 more-than-a-dozen original words for the products 
 of the vine by the same word ‘‘wine’’. This rendi- 
 tion has become a traditional one, in fact. It has 
 also become all but universal to insist that wherever 
 this ‘‘a-dozen-in-one-word,’’ wine, occurs in the ver- 
 sions it always and everywhere means an inebriat- 
 ing liquor! 
 
 The genuine moslem abominates intoxicants. 
 
 What wonder, therefore, that the genuine Mo- 
 thhammedan, whose religion requires total abstinence 
 from such wine, should object to a Bible in which 
 he finds intoxieating viands so highly praised! 
 Common sense tells him that they are full of deadly 
 venom, and at last ‘‘bite like a serpent and sting 
 
 5 
 
 LAG A 
 
like an adder’’. Such wine is to him the very quin- 
 tessence of all that is abominable; for he has beer 
 taught that if a single drop of an intoxicant 
 should, by chance, fall into an irrigating canal, 
 and a thousand sheep should feed on the pasture 
 watered thereby, the flesh of the whole flock must 
 be counted ‘‘unclean’’; for in eating of that grass 
 some one of the flock might have imbibed an in- 
 finitesimal portion of that drop! 
 
 Wine as an intoxicant is a universal snare. 
 
 Thus it has come to pass that both Christiam 
 and Moslem have stumbled on account of the, at 
 first inadequate and now inaccurate, translation of 
 the dozen or more original words by one word, 
 which, it is now claimed, has never meant anything 
 but an alcoholic liquor. 
 
 The awful result. 
 
 Under this interpretation the so-called Chris- 
 tian lands have become notorious for the manufac- 
 ture, sale, and use of ‘‘fire-water’’; and Moslems 
 are either offended by these supposed teachings of 
 the Bible, or, sadder still, are led to accept the 
 interpretation given by Christians and are ruined 
 for time and eternity. 
 
 An investigation called for. 
 
 When, therefore, I was appointed by the West- 
 ern Persia Mission of the Presbyterian Church 
 (North) to head the committee which was to co- 
 operate with a similar committee of the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society in translating the Bible into 
 
 6 
 
the Azerbijan Turkish language, I took special pains 
 to find out just what each of the more than a dozen 
 specific words found in the original, but which had 
 so generally been translated in the versions by the 
 one word ‘‘wine’’, really meant. 
 
 Helps in making it. 
 
 In this quest I was much helped by the fact 
 that Persia is pre-eminently a land of orchards and 
 vineyards, as well as by frequent consultations with 
 the Jews who, I found, still use, for the most part, 
 the same dozen specific words as names for different 
 products of the vine. 
 
 Direcovered that Ashisha is a fruit-and-nut confection. 
 
 I soon discovered that ‘‘Ashisha’’ was not 
 “‘flagons of wine’’, but a kind of fruit-confection. 
 it is made by stirring flour into boiling molasses till 
 it is well thickened. Then this ‘‘foundation’’, while 
 still hot and soft, is filled as full as possible with the 
 kerhels of nuts and dried fruit. It is then allowed 
 to ‘‘harden’’ and become ‘‘firm’’. In short, ‘‘ Ash- 
 isha’’ is grape-molasses hardened so as to become a 
 “‘foundation’’ (Ashish) for holding nut-kernels and 
 dried fruit. It is a very compact and nourishing 
 food. The Jews still call it Ashisha, and the Mos- 
 lems call it Haséda. 
 
 And that Asis is tricklings. 
 
 Another of our ‘‘wines’’ turned out to be the 
 delicious grape-juice which ‘‘trickles’’ out of the 
 wat as the clusters of the vine are piled up in the 
 
 7 
 
vat, preliminary to their being erushed by the 
 ‘‘treaders’’. 
 
 The pressure of the superincumbent grapes so 
 ““squeezes’’ those beneath that they are soon satur- 
 ated—drenched, in fact—with their own ‘‘blood’’. 
 The vat then begins to drop ‘‘driplets,’’ trickle 
 ‘‘tricklings’’ and ‘‘drip with drippings’’. ‘‘Asis’” 
 translated into English means these innocent and 
 unfermented ‘‘drippings’’, ‘‘tricklings’’ or ‘‘juice- 
 treacle’’. 
 
 Many of the dozen words refer to foods, or non-alcoholie 
 liquids. 
 
 It would be a delight to take up each of the 
 “*more-than-a-dozen’’ words which have, in the ver- 
 sions, been rendered by the one word ‘‘wine’’, in 
 order to show you how many of them are perfeetly 
 free from alcohol—the poison that causes drunken- 
 ness. Expense of publication forbids that I do so 
 now. But just to show you what a flood of light a 
 correct exegesis of these words throws on the real 
 meaning of God’s Holy Word, I have, in the follow- 
 ing treatise, given an exegesis of the Hebrew word 
 “‘Térdsh’’. I select it because, when ‘‘wine”’ is 
 praised in the versions, the original word is generally 
 found to be ‘‘Térésh’’. 
 
 Térésh is much praised. 
 
 It is not a fermented liquor, but vine-fruit as taken from 
 the vine. 
 
 Hence if this partieular word, when eorrectly 
 exegeted, is found to have no intoxicating proper- 
 ties, the prevalent ‘‘one-wine’’ theory, which as- 
 
 8 
 
sumes that wherever the word ‘‘wine’’ occurs in 
 the versions it always refers to an intoxicating 
 liquor, will become utterly untenable. The ‘‘one- 
 wine’’ theory, which has been for ages such a 
 stumbling stone for Christian and Moslem alike, 
 yea, for the whole Bible-reading world will be, to 
 that extent, removed. 
 
 The original words for “corn, wine, and oil” are generic, 
 
 class-terms for agricultural produce, vine-fruit, and 
 tree-fruit. 
 
 At the same time you will see that the oft- 
 repeated triad of ‘‘corn, wine and oil’’ does not 
 refer to specific products such as corn, or to manu- 
 factured articles such as wine and oil; but to the 
 God-given produce of the soil as it is found in the 
 field, the vineyard and the orchard. 
 
 They are, in fact, agricultural produce, vine- 
 fruit and tree-fruit—the source of supply for our 
 food and clothing. 
 
 As you read this exegesis, let your heart lift up 
 the petition ‘‘Open Thou our eyes that we may 
 behold wondrous things in Thy law,’’ and you will 
 not read in vain. 
 
1a 
 
 TT. 
 
 EV. 
 
 OUTLINE OF CONTENTS 
 
 A Foreword—The author and his experiences 
 while in Persia. 
 
 Diagrams of the Vegetable Triad; and the 
 Vegetable and Animal Pentad and Heptad- 
 
 The Triad Exegeted Etymologically— 
 (1) Dagan is agricultural produce; 
 (2) ‘‘Térdsh”’ is vine-fruit; 
 
 (3) ‘‘Yitzhar’’ is tree-fruit. 
 
 The Triad Exegeted Contextually— 
 
 Gen. 27:27, 28. It is related to the ‘‘dew’” 
 and the soil. 
 
 Numbers 18:12,13. It is related to ‘‘first- 
 fruits’’. 
 
 Deut. 14:22, 23. It is associated with ‘‘tithes’’” 
 and the ‘‘firstlings’’ of the flock. 
 
 Deut. 7:13. It is defined as ‘‘the fruit’’ of 
 the land. 
 
 Deut. 11:11-17. It is connected with ‘‘land’’, 
 rain and the seasons. 
 
 10 
 
Deut. 12:17-19, and Deut. 14:22, 23. This Triad 
 sums up the products of plant-life, as the 
 Dyad—‘‘herd and flock’’—sums up the off- 
 spring of domestic animal-life. 
 
 Deut. 18:1-4. It was the priests’ due in lieu 
 of a land-grant. 
 
 ‘ 
 
 Deut. 28:47-51. Its presence insures ‘‘abund- 
 ance of all good things’’; its absence means 
 ‘‘want of all things’’. 
 
 Deut. 33:28 and Zech. 8:12. It consists of 
 products of the soil which, while growing, 
 are dependent on moisture. 
 
 Judges 9:18. The vine claims ‘‘Térdsh’’ as 
 its own fruit which ‘‘cheers God and man’’. 
 
 2 Kings 18:31. Rabshakeh explains the Triad 
 to be soil-products. 
 
 2 Chron. 31:5. “‘Fuirst-fruits’’ and ‘‘tithes’’ 
 are given from this Triad. 
 
 2 Chron. 32:28 and Malachi 3:10. Storehouses 
 were required for the ‘‘increase’’ from this 
 Triad. It was used as ‘‘meat’’ (food) for 
 the Lord’s ministers. Lev. 10:8-11. 
 
 Neh. 5:11. Nehemiah rebukes those who took 
 mortgages on the growing crops of this 
 Triad. 
 
 Neh. 10:37-39 and Neh. 13:5. It is defined as 
 ‘‘the fruit of all manner of trees’’ and ‘‘the 
 
 11 
 
produce of the ground’’. It was laid up in 
 - “great chambers’’. 
 
 Neh. 13:12. Its ‘‘first-fruits’’ and ‘‘tithes’” 
 were needed for the support of the Levites 
 who had no land. 
 
 Psalm 4:7. Its goodly yield gladdens the tiller 
 of the soil. 
 
 Prov. 3:9,10 and Joel 2:21-24. Abundance of 
 the Triad is promised to those who ‘‘honor 
 the Lord’’ with offerings of its ‘‘first-fruits’’” 
 and ‘‘tithes’’ of its ‘‘increase’’. 
 
 Isaiah 24:7. ‘‘Térosh’’ is withered by a 
 drought. 
 
 Isaiah 56:17. A land of Dagan is a land of 
 bread, and a land of ‘‘Térésh’’ is a land of 
 vineyards. 
 
 Isaiah 62:8,8. God provides food for His peo- 
 ple through the inérease of this Triad. 
 
 Isaiah 65:8. ‘‘Térdsh’’ exists in the ‘‘cluster’” 
 on the vine. 
 
 Jer. 31:12. The Pentad of life-products—three 
 of them vegetable and two of them animal— 
 is the gift of God. 
 
 Hosea 2:7-12. The Heavenly Husband gives 
 this Triad of life-products, as a reward, to 
 His consort when she is faithful; and with- 
 holds it, as a punishment, when she is un- 
 faithful. 
 
 uP. 
 
Hosea 2:21,22. It is connected with the 
 clouds, fertile earth, and rain; and furnished: 
 food and clothing. 
 
 Hosea 4:11 and Hosea 2:2-12. ‘‘Térésh’’ was: 
 the gift of God’s bounty—not the gift of 
 idols. The wife’s mistake as to who, by 
 giving abundant crops, provided her food 
 and clothing. 
 
 Hosea 7:14. Wayward Israel implores this 
 Triad from idols. 
 
 Hosea 9:1,2. The Divine Husband withholds 
 His beneficent crops as a punishment for 
 Israel’s illicit love. 
 
 Joel 1:10-12. A drought affects the Triad. 
 
 Joel 2:18-24. Repentant Israel will have it in 
 abundance. 
 
 Micah 6:15. ‘‘Térésh’’ is distinguished from 
 ““Yayin’’ (Yain). 
 
 Haggai 1:10,11. It is ‘‘that which the land 
 bringeth forth.’’ 
 
 V. Conclusions—1-7. 
 
Il. (a) The Tried: 
 
 A diagram of the vegetable Triad of the Old Tegthment, ax it ix related to sinless man, inside 
 the Garden of Eden. (Man and his life-environment, while sinless.) 
 (Read in the order of the letters—A, B, C, D, E. and F.) 
 
 A. Fr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 “The Lord’God planted 
 a garden . . . in Eden; 
 and there He put the man 
 whom He had formed"’ 
 (Gen. 2:8). 
 
 “The Lord God took 
 the map and put him into 
 the Garden of, Eden +6 
 dress. it and to keep it’’, 
 i.e, to culture her and to 
 guard her (Gen. 2:15). 
 
 Sinless man, in Para- 
 dise, cultured plant-life in 
 the fertile, well-watered 
 soil, lived by and was 
 clothed with her products 
 —agricultural-p rodu ce, 
 vine-fruit, and tree-fruit 
 —and consecrated to the 
 Triune. Creator the “‘first- 
 fruits’’ and ‘“‘tithes"’ of 
 this Triad as bloodless 
 oblations (‘‘minki'’). and 
 thank-offerings.” 
 
 As ‘an agriculturixt. 
 he cultivated ‘‘Daigan"’ 
 in the arable, fecund 
 field. He prepared the 
 soil and sowed the seed, 
 the Lord God watered 
 it (Gen. 2:6-14) and 
 gave the ‘‘jncrease’”’ (4 
 Cor. 3:6). 
 
 Man, im_ fellowship" 
 with God, dwelt in, tho 
 midst of the garden, 
 and cultured bloodless 
 plant-life, while he re- 
 mained sinless (Gen. 2: 
 15). The produce of the 
 field, vineyard and 
 orchard met his needs 
 Gen. 1:29). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 D. Ez. 
 
 As‘a_ hortivel- 
 turist, he planted 
 and cared for 
 trees, and culti- 
 vated ‘‘Yitzhir” 
 in the orchards. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 As a. viticultur- 
 ist, he cultivated 
 the vine, and it 
 bore‘*Térdsh"’ for 
 him in the vine- 
 yards. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The four Blogdy of- 
 ferings show man to be 
 
 II. (c) The Heptad of 
 
 Animal and Vogetable 
 , a sinner in need of re 
 aifferings. 
 
 demption. 
 
 Three bloodless offer- Four bloody offer- 
 
 inga—three from the 
 Flock, and the Herd; 
 Orchard. respectively. ~ and one from the Birds. 
 
 ings.—one from the 
 
 Field, Vineyard and 
 
 
 
 Il. (c) The diagram of the Heptad of Offerings, being vegetable and animal products combined. 
 4See below.) (It.shows man as a sinner in.need of redemption.) 
 
 14 iia 3 oes 
 
 be 
 
IL (b) A diagram of the PENTAD of Vegetable and Animal Life, as it is 
 related to Sinful Man, outside the Garden of delight. (Man and his - 
 LIFE ENVIRONMENT, as a Sinner.) 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . A-l1. 
 “Abel wus u keeper of sheep, but Cain 
 was a tiller of the soil." “Cain brought 
 of the” (hloodlessy- “fruit' of the 
 ground an offering unto the Lord.” 
 
 “And Abel be brought. also” (in ad- 
 dition), “the firstlings of his ‘flock. 
 And the Lord had respect to Abel, 
 
 In short. sluful man. bereft of (he apirie 
 of fellowship, dwells outside the well- 
 watered, fertile garden, and is en- 
 vironed by a sin-cursed world. The 
 ground ylélds only a scanty in- 
 crease of Dagtin, Térésh and Yttz- 
 
 hir; but brings forth in abund- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and to his” Cilcody “offering.” He ST ance weeds, “thorns”, and “this- 
 “But to Cain and his” (blood- vates Digin tles"—the emblems of a per 
 leas) “offering He had not re- In the r verted, depraved, and dwarfeé 
 spect.” “And Cain was very soil, an re- life (Gen. 3:17, 1€)_ 
 
 wroth ...and rose up 
 against his brother and 
 slew him.” “And the Lord 
 sald unto Cain. . . Now 
 art thou cursed more 
 than the earth... 
 The ground shall no 
 henceforth yield unto 
 thee her strength.” 
 (Gen. 5:2-5). > 
 
 
 
 
 
 deems it from 
 
 weeds, 
 
 Yet with all his toll, 
 instead of 30, 60, or 
 100 fold, it only fields 
 8. 10. or 15 fold. 
 
 The birds of the air, the 
 rocky soll, and the choking 
 thorns prevent him from 
 having more than partial suc- 
 cess, as a szower. Matt 13:3-9. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vote 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Man, outs! the Garden, still culti- 
 vates “Digiin. Térésh and Yitz- 
 har", but under great difficul- 
 ties, Both the soil and its 
 produce need redemption and 
 regeneration. The semi- 
 barren wastes lead him 
 to become pastor and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 E.. 
 
 He culti- 
 Vates “Yitz- 
 fir” in the 
 orchard, and 
 works hard to 
 free the trees 
 from thorns and Iin- 
 sect pests. But at 
 best, he has only par- 
 tial succesS; for frosts 
 nip the tender fruit, or 
 swarms of insect-life des- 
 troy both tree and fruit 
 (Joel 1:2-12). They are like the 
 barren fig-tree «(Luke 13:6-9) 
 
 DvD. 
 He culti- 
 vater’ “Tér- 
 osh* in the 
 stony vine- 
 yard, about 
 which he builds 
 
 @ wall for protec- 
 tion. He redeems the 
 enclosure from_briars- 
 
 and thisties, and plants 
 there only the choicest 
 
 vines; yet they often either 
 remain unfruitful, or, worse 
 still, bear grapes of Sodom 
 (Isalah 6:2-4). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (Gen, 4:2). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 “ F. 
 
 As Shepherd, lie cares for and 
 protects his flock from robbers 
 and ravenous animals, on the 
 lenely wastes and- deserts. 
 In redeeming them from 
 destruction, he may 
 even sacrifice his own 
 life (Ezek. 34:11-16: 
 John 10:1-17). 
 
 G. : 
 
 As a Paster, he pastures his hers 
 in the wild mountains and re- 
 deems their lives from de- 
 struction by destroying 
 their common enemles— 
 the lions, tigers, and 
 other beasts of prey. 
 In doing-so, he often 
 puts his own life 
 in jeopardy (1. 
 Sam. 17:34- 
 36). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H-2. 
 
 Moreover, on 
 the dry, semi- 
 
 arld wastes and 
 untillable soll, 
 
 where the blessed 
 Triad of plant-life can 
 no longer thrive. and fu 
 from home. he cares for the 
 Dyad of animal-life—the flock 
 and the herd—which can thrive 
 on the stunted herbage of the 
 thirsty desert It Is thus that je 
 becomes both the good shepherd and 
 the provident pastor—the types of his 
 own Redeemer. 
 
 A-2. 
 
 Cain and Abel 
 were types of 
 the flesh-born 
 and the spirit-born 
 worshipper. Cain. by 
 his bloodless offering 
 denied his fatth In “the 
 Lamb of God which taketh 
 away the sin of the world.” 
 Abel expressed his faith in the 
 coming Redeemer by the bloody. 
 EGET which he presented (Heb. 
 
 
 
 The Pentad consists of 3 bloodlesa and 2 blewedy oblations. (Fu (he Weptad of 
 erlngs see previous page.) 
 
 15 
 
III. The Vegetable Triad Exegeted Etymologically. 
 In the Hebrew Bible the products of the field, 
 the vineyard and the orchard are so grouped as to 
 form a triad. A knowledge of this fact is of great 
 importance in order to a right understanding of the 
 Word of God, in general; and to show the false- 
 hood of the ‘‘one-wine’’ theory, in particular. 
 Ignorance of this vegetable triad, or inattention 
 to it in the translations of the Bible, impairs the 
 beauty, or destroys the true sense of scores of pass- 
 ages of the sacred record; and is largely responsible 
 for the mistaken idea that the Bible sanctions the 
 moderate use of intoxicants, as a beverage. 
 
 1. The first of the three words is “Digin”. Let us see 
 what it includes. 
 
 The eminent scholar, Kitto, says: ‘‘Under the 
 term Dagin the Hebrews comprehended almost 
 every object of field culture.’’ He should have 
 added the produce of garden culture also, so as to 
 have included under this one term all agricultural 
 produce. 
 
 That this is what he meant is evident from the 
 following remarks farther on, namely: ‘‘There is 
 now no doubt among scholars that Dagan compre- 
 hends the largest and most valuable species of vege- 
 table produce, and therefore it will be admitted that 
 the rendering of the word by ‘corn’, and some- 
 times by ‘wheat’, instead of by ‘every species of 
 grain or field produce’, tends to limit our concep- 
 tion of the Divine bounty, and to impair the beauty 
 of the forty passages where it occurs.”’ 
 
 16 
 
The Triad was at the base of the Tithing system. 
 
 All that the land produced was subject to the- 
 law of the Tithe. And these products were summed 
 up under the generic, technical, class-terms Dagan, 
 Térodsh and Yitzhar. Hence all manner of herbs and. 
 herbaceous products also are comprehended under 
 the first term of the Triad. For they were tithed, as 
 the following references clearly show: ‘‘Ye pay 
 tithes of mint and anise (dill), and cummin’’ (Matt. 
 23:23) ; ‘‘Ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of 
 herbs’’ (Luke 11:42). Again, ‘‘ All the tithe of the 
 land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit 
 of the tree, is the Lord’s’’ (Lev. 27:30). 
 
 Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, commenting on 
 this verse, say: ‘‘The whole produce of the land 
 was subjected to the tithe-tribute. It was a yearly 
 rent which the Israelites, as tenants, paid to God, 
 the owner of the land, and a thank-offering which 
 they rendered to Him for the bounties of His provi- 
 dence’”’ (Prov. 3:9; 1 Cor. 9:11; Gal. 6:6). 
 
 Hence under the term Dagan gourds, squashes, 
 pumpkins, melons and cucumbers are included; also, 
 wheat, barley, rye, maize, rice, millet and spelt; 
 likewise the vegetables whose seeds grow in pods, 
 such as beans, peas, lentiles and fitches, for they are 
 all agricultural products. 
 
 Wherein does the unity of these field-products consist? 
 
 While various in kind, all these agricultural 
 products have much in common. They all have, 
 above ground, soft, herbaceous stalks or stems, are 
 nearly all annual plants, and their seeds must be 
 
 ily 
 
sown or planted, year by year, in newly prepared 
 soil for each new crop. They are, in a peculiar 
 manner, therefore, the products of agriculture. 
 
 The idol Dagon, and Digin. 
 
 It seems likely that the Philistine god, Dagon, 
 was their god of agricultural produce (Dagan) ; for 
 when Jehovah punished them with bodily tumors, 
 and broke in pieces their revered Dagon, they re- 
 turned the ark, not only with golden images of the 
 tumors, as a propitiation for their trespasses, but 
 with golden mice, in order that He might not further 
 chastise them by destroying their Dagan (agricul- 
 tural produce) by multitudes of mice (I Sam. 
 6 :4, 5). 
 
 2. Térédsh: What does it mean? 
 
 The next term of this remarkable Triad is 
 Térésh. It occurs thirty-eight times in the Old 
 Testament. It is derived from the verb Ydarash, 
 which means to take by seizing, capturing or ecapti- 
 vating; to take by plucking, stripping, amd so to 
 possess by dispossessing another. 
 
 The Hebrews called the grape-crop Térdsh, be- 
 cause they ‘‘stripped and spoiled”’ the vine in ‘‘tak- 
 ing possession of (or cropping) its clusters of lus- 
 cious fruit. For Téridsh is what is stripped and 
 plucked from the vine, and so taken possession of by 
 man. The vine was despoiled of its own, ‘‘stripped 
 bare’’, ‘‘made poor’’, that man might live by the 
 spoils thus taken. 
 
 Dr. George F. Moore, of Harvard University, 
 
 18 
 
says: ‘‘The notion that Térdsh is so called because 
 it intoxieates, and so possesses or dispossesses a 
 man’s senses, is no better than a possible pun; and 
 does not in the least indicate that this was the origin 
 of the word. There is direct testimony that Térdsh 
 was used for a bunch of grapes, and even for dried 
 figs.’’ 
 
 In Turkish, the grape-crop is called ‘‘bagh 
 pozumé—‘‘the spoils of the garden’’. Hence it has, 
 you see, the same fundamental idea in it that is seen 
 in Térosh. 
 
 The grape-crop, therefore, is what is signified 
 by Térésh. It is the vine-fruit in its natural, solid 
 or succulent state. It comprehends, in a word, the 
 grape-crop in general, whether on the vine or the ma- 
 ture clusters as they are taken, plucked or stripped 
 from the vine, or these clusters as hung up for use 
 through the winter months, or as dried and used as 
 ‘‘raisins’’; for this latter word is the Latin racemus 
 (our raceme), which meant ‘‘a cluster (raceme) of 
 dried berries’’. 
 
 Térésh and Yiin. 
 
 But Térdsh is never used in the sense of wine. 
 That is represented by the generic word Yayin (or 
 YaIn), which signifies ‘‘the juice of the crushed 
 grape’’ in all its states. It is a manufactured liquid 
 article, and may be either in its natural unfermented 
 state, or fermented. You must decide from the eon- 
 text each time which kind is referred to. 
 
 Our word ‘‘cider’’ is a similar voeable; for it 
 means ‘‘the juice of the crushed apple’’, whether it 
 
 19 
 
be in its natural unfermented state, or, by man’s de- 
 vice, fermented. 
 
 3. Yitzh&r: The third term of the vegetable triad. 
 
 The third term of this most interesting, but 
 hitherto much misunderstood, Triad of vegetable 
 products is YItzhar. It has, for the most part, been 
 rendered by ‘‘oil’’, in the versions. This is, to say 
 the least, very confusing; for, in Hebrew, the word 
 for ‘‘oil’’? is Shemen. It is found about two hundred 
 times in the Old Testament, and is correctly repre- 
 sented by our word oil, since it means what is fat 
 or greasy. 
 
 Yitzhiar. 
 
 Yitzhar, on-the contrary, never means what is 
 fat and greasy. It is derived from the verbal stem 
 Tzahar which means ‘‘to be high’’, elevated, emi- 
 nent. That this is its essential root-idea is shown 
 by its use, and its derivatives, both in Hebrew and 
 in the sister Semitic languages. 
 
 For example—In Arabic, Persian and Turkish 
 Zoher, and in Hebrew its cognate dual form Tzah- 
 rayim signifies high-noon. 
 
 Again—Attached to all the large temples of 
 Babylon were sacred high-places, like the so-called 
 tower of Babel, which were built in stages of differ- 
 ent widths with the smallest at the top. These were 
 called Ziggurit (the plural of Ziggur), which 
 means high-places. See Webster at Zikkurat. 
 
 Moreover, the renowned temple at Babylon, 
 where Nebuchadnezzar worshipped, was called E-sa- 
 
 20 
 
gla (or E-zagila), which means ‘‘house with a high- © 
 tower or head. 
 
 Both these words are evidently related to the 
 Arabic Ziher, and the Hebrew Tzahar, from which 
 comes Tzahrayim (high-noon). 
 
 Again—In Gen. 6:16 the word Tzodher occurs. 
 In the margin of the revised version it is correctly 
 translated by roof; for it refers, not to a “‘window’’, 
 but to the deck or high-part of Noah’s ark. 
 
 From this same verbal root, and with a similar 
 reference to highness, is derived the generic class- 
 term Yitzhar; for it denotes an ‘‘eminent’’ class of 
 fruits which are, for the most part, highly-colored, 
 highly-prized, and high-grown. In short, YItzhar is 
 the class-name for fruits which grow on high-plants. 
 It means, in plain English, tree-fruit. 
 
 A short resume. 
 
 This Triad of vegetable products, therefore, 
 comprehended all the products of the soil in their 
 natural, solid, or succulent state. This fact explains 
 why the tribe of Levi, which had no land-inherit- 
 ance, was to receive and be supported by the ‘‘first- 
 fruits’’ and the ‘‘tithes’’ of Dagan, Térdsh and 
 Yitzhér. For Dagan meant agricultural-produce, 
 _ Térdsh meant vine-fruit, and Yitzhaér meant tree- 
 fruit. This vegetable Triad, therefore, compre- 
 hended the produce of the field, the vineyard and 
 the orchard. It included ‘“‘all that the land pro- 
 duced’’; and was, for this very reason, the only 
 adequate basis for the system of ‘‘first-fruits’’ and 
 ““tithes’’ which was to furnish food and clothing 
 
 21 
 
for one whole tribe out of the twelve tribes of 
 Israel. 
 
 The English equivalents to be used for the vegetable Triad. 
 
 This being the case, we will hereafter, in our 
 exegesis, instead of the ‘‘corn, wine and oil’’ of 
 the versions, and in place of the elass-terms ‘‘ Dagan, 
 Térdsh and Yitzhar’’ of the original Hebrew, use, 
 as a rule, their real English equivalents—agricul- 
 tural-produce, vine-fruit and tree-fruit. 
 
 IV. The Triad Exegeted Contextually. 
 
 Bearing the above conclusions in mind, we wil? 
 now briefly survey the context of the passages where 
 this wonderful vegetable Triad is mentioned in the 
 Old Testament. We will thus, at once, see how very 
 apposite these renderings are, and as we proceed it 
 will become self-evident that wherever the word 
 ‘‘wine’’ in the versions is the representative of 
 Tér6dsh in the original, it can mean only vine-fruit; 
 and, consequently, can have no intoxicating proper- 
 ties. And this being so, the ‘‘one-wine’’ theory be- 
 comes utterly untenable. 
 
 The Triad is related to the “dew” and soil. 
 
 In Gen. 27:27,28 we read that when Isaac 
 blessed Jacob he said, ‘‘See, the smell of my son is 
 as the smell of a field whieh the Lord hath blessed = 
 and God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the 
 fatness of the earth,—plenty of agricultural-pro- 
 duce and vine-fruit.’’ 
 
 22 
 
The context (see verses 37-40) shows that this 
 Wlessing was all-inclusive, for only the sword re- 
 mained for Esau to live by. 
 
 “The Triad is related to “first-fruits”. 
 
 In Numbers 18:12, 18 the Lord says to Aaron, 
 “* All the best of the tree-fruit, and all the best of 
 the vine-fruit, and of the agricultural-produce—the 
 “first-fruits’ of them which they give unto the 
 Lord—to thee have I given them. The first-ripe 
 fruits of all that is in their land which they bring 
 ~unto the Lord, shall be thine.’’ The Triad of vege- 
 table products here mentioned is composed of 
 ‘crops gathered in from the field, the vineyard and 
 the orchard. Hence Térésh, the second member of 
 ‘the Triad, is not an artificially prepared inebriat- 
 ‘ing ‘‘wine’’, but the ripe grape-clusters. 
 
 “The Triad is associated with “tithes”, and the offspring 
 of animal-life. 
 
 In Deut. 14:22, 23 we find the command, ‘‘Thou 
 ‘shalt surely tithe all the increase of thy seed—that 
 which cometh forth of the field, year by year—and 
 thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God .. . the 
 tithe of thy agricultural-produce, of thy vine-fruit, 
 and of thy tree-fruit, and the ‘firstlings’ of thy 
 herd and of thy flock.’’ 
 
 ‘The members of this Triad are evidently generic class- 
 
 terms which include all that grew in the field, vine- 
 yard and orchard. 
 
 This Triad must include all crop-products. For 
 if, in the above texts, we restrict ‘‘agricultural-pro- 
 duce’’ to the one article—wheat (‘‘corn’’)—no obli- 
 
 ; 23 
 
gation exists as to. the giving of the tithe or ‘‘first- 
 fruits’’ of barley, or other cereals; or of herbs, 
 pulses, and the cucurbits! : 
 
 Moreover, if we restrict the term vine-fruit to 
 intoxicating ‘‘wine’’, then those who made use of 
 the grapes as ‘‘plucked’’ from the vine, or as dried 
 “‘racemes’’ or raisins, or used them in some one of 
 the very many other ways still in vogue in the 
 Orient, were not required to give ‘‘first-fruits’’ or 
 “‘tithes’’ of them. For it was only the intoxicant— 
 ““wine’’—that was taxed! 
 
 And if we restrict the tree-fruit to ‘‘oil’’, then 
 no one was required to give the ‘‘tithes”’ or ‘‘first- 
 fruits’’ of the large and valuable class of fruits that 
 grew on the trees! To even think of establishing a 
 system of taxation for the support of one-twelfth of 
 the population on the income of only such specific 
 articles as ‘‘corn, wine and oil’’, while exempting all 
 else from any payment of tax, is ridiculous, yea, ab- 
 surd. But the above passages in regard to the giv- 
 ing of ‘‘first-fruits’’ and ‘‘tithes’’ are the most 
 definite ones we can find on this subject, and are 
 evidently designed to be very comprehensive. 
 
 Moreover, since we know that ‘‘all that the 
 land brought forth’’ was ‘‘tithed’’, the practice must 
 interpret these three terms as meaning agricultural- 
 produce, vine-fruit and tree-fruit. To give to them 
 the sense of ‘‘corn, wine and oil’’ would defeat the 
 very object in view, which was the comfortable sup- 
 port of the whole tribe of Levi, which had no land- 
 inheritance. It would require ‘‘the tithe’? and 
 
 24 
 
*‘first-fruits’’ of all that the land produced to meet 
 the manifold needs of this tribe of the Lord’s min- 
 isters who had no land on which to raise crops, or 
 from which to gather fruits. The Lord’s share—the 
 tithe of all the land produced—was their inheritance. 
 
 The Triad is expressly called “The fruit of the land”. 
 
 You will see from Deut. 7:13 that this Triad 
 of vegetable blessings is specifically designated as 
 “‘the fruits of the ground’’. 
 
 “The Lord thy God will love thee, and bless 
 thee, and multiply thee; He will also bless the fruit 
 ef thy land—thy agricultural-produce, thy vine- 
 fruit, and thy tree-fruit—the increase of thy kine 
 and the young of the flocks of thy sheep, in the 
 land which He swore unto thy fathers to give thee.’’ 
 
 In this passage we have the expression, ‘‘the 
 fruit of thy land’’ actually defined as an all-inclusive 
 Triad consisting of agricultural-produce, vine-fruit 
 and tree-fruit. 
 
 In the light of such a clear declaration, how 
 defective and misleading does the translation ‘‘ wine 
 and oil’’ appear for the latter two terms; and espe- 
 cially so when it is insisted that the ‘‘wine’’ here 
 mentioned is a manufactured intoxicating liquor 
 everywhere it is mentioned in the whole Bible! 
 
 The Triad is connected with “land” rain, and the seasons. 
 
 From Deut. 11:11-17 we learn that the Triad of © 
 vegetable products is the reward which the God of 
 all life bestows on the obedient, and that the rains 
 of heaven nourish it in the valleys and on the hills. 
 
 25 
 
‘“‘The land whither ye go to possess it is ® 
 land of hills and valleys; and drinketh water of 
 the rain of heaven: a land which the Lord thy God 
 eareth for; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always. 
 upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto 
 the end of the year; and it shall come to pass, if 
 ye hearken diligently unto my commandments, 
 which I command you this day, to love the Lord 
 your God, and to serve Him with all your heart, and 
 with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of 
 your land in his due season—the first rain and the 
 latter rain—that thou mayest gather in thy agri- 
 cultural-produce, and thy vine-fruit, and thy tree- 
 fruit; and I will send grass in thy fields, for thy 
 cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 
 
 ‘“‘Take heed to yourselves that your heart be 
 not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other 
 gods, and worship them; and then the Lord’s wrath 
 be kindled against you, and He shut up the heavens, 
 that there be no rain, and that the land yield not 
 her fruit, and lest ye perish quickly from off the 
 good land which the Lord giveth thee.’’ 
 
 Disobedience brings a curse; obedience, a blessing. 
 
 The Lord God said to disobedient Adam, 
 ‘‘Cursed is the ground for thy sake, . . . thorns. 
 and thistles shall it bring forth to thee’’ (Gen. 3:17). 
 
 Renewed obedience would remove that curse, 
 and cause the earth to bring forth anew its Edenic 
 Triad of vegetable blessings—agricultural-produce, 
 vine-fruit and tree-fruit. It is evident, also, that the 
 vegetable-produce here referred to was in its nat- 
 
 26 
 
ural, solid or succulent state; and hence contained 
 no alcohol, which is the degenerate offspring of 
 death and dissolution. 
 
 This Triad sums up the products of plant-life, as the Dyad 
 —“flock and herd”—sums up the offspring of domestie 
 animal-life. 
 
 That the class-terms vine-fruit and tree-fruit 
 are the offspring of vegetable life in their solid state 
 is made evident again by the rule laid down in Deut. 
 12:17-19, ‘‘Thou mayest not eat within thy gates 
 the tithe of thy agricultural-produce, or of thy vine- 
 fruit, or of thy tree-fruit, or the firstlings of thy 
 herd, or of thy flock, . . . but thou shalt eat them 
 before the Lord, thy God, in the place which the 
 Lord, thy God, shall choose. 
 
 ‘“‘Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not 
 the Levite as long as thou livest upon the land.’’ 
 
 The Triad of vegetable, and Dyad of animal, life is men- 
 tioned again in Deut. 14:22, 23. 
 
 This instruction is again repeated in Deut. 14: 
 22,23. It reads, ‘‘Thou shalt eat the tithe of thy 
 agricultural-produce, of thy vine-fruit, and of thy 
 tree-fruit; and the firstlings of thy herd, and of 
 thy flock.’’ The Triad and the Dyad make wp a 
 Pentad of life-products. 
 
 The Pentad examined. 
 
 In the Dyad, the words herd and flock are 
 generic, collective, class-terms. 
 
 Under the former is included all the offspring 
 of the larger domestic animals, such as camels, eattle, 
 
 buffaloes, donkeys, horses and mules; and under the 
 yf 
 
latter is comprehended the offspring of all the 
 smaller animals, such as sheep and goats. 
 
 Hence the inference is natural, and quite irre- 
 sistible, that the first three terms—agricultural-pro- 
 duce, vine-fruit and tree-fruit—are also generic, 
 class-names; and sum up the life-product of what 
 springs from the ground. 
 
 The Triad of vegetable life-products, and the 
 Dyad of animal offspring were both alike the basis 
 for supplies of food and clothing; and were com- 
 posed of these life-products in their unmanufactured 
 state just as God had created them through the 
 mediation of creature life. 
 
 The Triad was the priest’s due in lieu of a land-grant. 
 
 ‘‘The priests, the Levites, shall have no portion 
 nor inheritance with Israel’’ (as to the ownership 
 of land), ‘‘and this shall be the priests’ due, from 
 the people’’ (in lieu of said ownership)—‘‘the first- 
 fruits of thy agricultural-produce, of thy vine-fruit, 
 and of thy tree-fruit, and the first of the fleece of 
 thy sheep shalt thou give him’’ (Deut. 18:1-4). 
 
 In short, the first-fruits of all vegetable life, 
 along with the first-born of all domestic animal life, 
 was to be given to the Lord’s ministering representa- 
 tives as an equivalent for having no land of their 
 own. The Lord of both kinds of life required this. 
 tribute, as a land rental. 
 
 The Triad’s presence imsured “abundance of all good 
 things”. Its absence meant “the want of all things”. 
 
 In Deut. 28 :47-51, the Lord of life says to dis- 
 obedient Israel, ‘‘Because thou servedst not the 
 28 
 
Lord, thy God, with joyfulness and gladness of 
 heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore thou 
 shalt serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send 
 against thee, in hunger and in thirst and in naked- 
 ness and in want of all things. . . . The Lord shall 
 bring against thee a nation that shall not leave thee 
 agricultural-produce, vine-fruit, or treeefruit, or the 
 increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until 
 He shall have destroyed thee.”’ 
 
 Any thoughtful person will see at once that the 
 absence of the three specific articles ‘‘corn, wine 
 and oil’’ would not reduce a nation to such a state 
 of dire necessity, as to leave them famished, thirsty 
 and naked. On the contrary, experience shows that 
 the absence of ‘‘wine’’ which intoxicates, increases 
 the well-being of a nation. 
 
 Hence the assumption—it is nothing more—that. 
 Térésh is an intoxicant gives a sense to the context 
 that is wholly irrelevant. For it was evidently a 
 fruit of the earth which would be destroyed along 
 with agricultural-produce and tree-fruit, by the cruel 
 invader. The Triad, therefore, includes all these 
 useful products of the soil. 
 
 The Triad grows and is dependent om moisture. 
 
 This view is still further confirmed by Deut. 
 33:28 and Zech. 8:12. 
 
 The former passage says, ‘‘Israel dwelleth in 
 safety, the foundation of Jaccb alone, in a land of 
 agricultural-produce, and vine-fruit; yea, his 
 heavens drop down dew.’’ The latter passage, too, 
 speaks of the ‘‘dew’’. 
 
 29 
 
These references to the dew imply that the 
 crops spoken of were products of the soil in their 
 natural, solid or succulent condition. 
 
 The vine claims Terosh as its own fruit which “cheers 
 
 God and man”. 
 
 In Judges 9:13, we have a parable in which the 
 vine claims Térésh as its own fruit, and refuses to 
 leave this source of blessing in order to become a 
 ruler in a less fruitful sphere. 
 
 ‘The vine said, shall I leave my Térésh (the 
 grape-crop), which cheereth God and man, and go 
 to wave to and fro over the trees?”’ 
 
 The ‘‘first-fruits’’ and ‘‘tithes’’ of the fruit of 
 the vine, when consecrated to God by grateful wor- 
 shippers; or which, in thankful acknowledgment of 
 the Divine goodness which gave a bountiful erop, 
 were offered to His ministering servants who had no 
 share in the land, cheered the heart of the God of 
 the whole earth; and this same grape-crop, when 
 used as food by the people, filled them, too, with 
 gratitude and good-cheer. 
 
 A dilemma for the “one-wine” theorist. 
 
 Thus the same grape-crop cheered God and mans 
 But alcoholic liquor and its resultant drunkenness 
 neither cheers God nor man. Intoxicants used as 
 beverages, displease God, and ruin man. Yet the 
 person who holds that wherever ‘‘wine’’ is men- 
 tioned in the Bible it is an intoxicating liquor, must, 
 if consistent, maintain that the Térdsh, while still 
 on the vine, has alcohol in it, and that it is this 
 
 30 
 
inebriating principle that cheers God and man, or 
 else he must give up his pet theory. 
 
 The very thought that it is intoxication that 
 cheers God and man is to me blasphemous. The 
 Bible gives the lie to such perverted ideas by telling 
 us that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 Rabshakeh explains the Triad as soil products. 
 
 That Térdsh is the ‘‘fruit of the vine”’ in its 
 natural, God-created state, is further made plain by 
 the address of Rabshakeh, the butler of the king of 
 Assyria, when he, for the royal master, exhorted 
 the Jews to submit to him (2 Kings 18:31). 
 
 ‘*Make peace with me, and come out to me; and 
 eat you every one of his vine, and every one of his 
 fig-tree . . . until I come and take you away to a 
 land like your own land—a land of agricultural- 
 produce, and vine-fruit, a land of bread and vine- 
 yards, that ye may live and not die’’, from starva- 
 tion. 
 
 The Triad is the basis for “first-fruits” and “tithes”. 
 
 Again, when Hezekiah commanded the people 
 that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the 
 priests and the Levites, that they, being free from 
 worldly cares and avocations, might give themselves 
 to the law of the Lord (2 Chron. 31:5), we read that 
 “‘As soon as the commandment came abroad, the 
 children of Israel gave in abundance the ‘first- 
 fruits’ of agricultural-produce, vine-fruit, and tree- 
 fruit, and honey and all the increase of the field: 
 
 81 
 
and the ‘tithe’ of all things brought they in 
 abundance.’’ 
 
 “First-fruits and Tithes’” were not manufactured articles, 
 but were God-created products. | 
 
 That none of these offerings were manufactured 
 articles is evident from the narrative. All were 
 given by the people as thanful recognitions of God’s 
 sovereignty and goodness. They gave them to the 
 ministers of the Lord of all life, who, through the 
 instrumentality of the lower orders of creature life, 
 had brought them into being. 
 
 In such superabundance did the grateful people 
 give back to God of His own gifts to them that 
 Hezekiah had to build ‘‘storehouses’’ for the ‘‘in- 
 crease of agricultural-produce, and vine-fruit, and 
 tree-fruit’’ (2 Chron. 32:28). 
 
 The Triad was stored as food (“meat”) to support the Lord’s 
 ministers. 
 
 The God who provides all good things for those 
 who serve Him thus fulfilled the promise found in 
 Malachi 3:10,11, ‘‘Bring ye all the tithes into the 
 storehouse, that there may be meat’’ (food) ‘‘in 
 mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the — 
 Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of 
 heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall 
 not be room enough”’ (in the storehouses) ‘‘to re- 
 ceive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your 
 sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your 
 ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before 
 the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts.’’ — 
 
 These storehouses were, of course, for food. 
 
 32 
 
Storehouses around the temple where the Holy Spirit 
 dwelt, for intoxicating spirits, would have been as 
 incongruous then, as a saloon-attachment to a church 
 would be now. 
 
 There was, moreover, no call for intoxicants 
 there, for the law especially forbade the use of such 
 liquors by the officiating priests (Lev. 10:8-11). 
 
 Mortgages were taken on the growing crops of this Triad. 
 
 Nehemiah rebuked the usurers of his day (Neh. 
 5:11), saying, ‘‘Restore to them’’ (your brethren) 
 “even this day, their vineyards, their olive-yards 
 and their houses; also, the hundredth part of the 
 money, and of the agricultural-produce, the vine- 
 fruit, and the tree-fruit that ye exact of them.’’ 
 
 Manifestly, this Triad included all the fruits of 
 the field, vineyard, and orchard in their God-created 
 condition, which had been pledged for the payment 
 of debts to the usurers before they were ripe and 
 gathered. They were the products of manual labor. 
 (See verse 13.) 
 
 ‘The Triad is defined as “the produce of the ground”, and 
 
 “the fruit of all manner of trees,” and was laid up 
 in “great chambers”, 
 
 Again, in Neh. 10:37-39, it is recorded that we 
 will bring ‘‘our offerings and the fruit of all manner 
 of trees—of vine-fruit and tree-fruit—unto the 
 priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; 
 and the ‘tithes’ of our ground, unto the Levites. 
 
 . For the children of Israel, and the children 
 of Levi, shall bring the offering of the agricultural- 
 produce, of the vine-fruit and the tree-fruit unto 
 
 33 
 
these chambers.’’ Thus would they own the good 
 providence of their beneficent God as it was shown 
 by His munificent gifts made through the medium 
 of His Triad of vegetable life. The same great pro- 
 vision chamber is referred to again in Neh. 13:5. 
 We there find it recorded that ‘‘Elhashib had pre- 
 pared for him a great chamber, where aforetime 
 they laid . . . the tithe of the agrieultural-pro- 
 duce, the vine-fruit and the tree-fruit, as God had 
 commanded.”’ 
 
 The Triad being the basis of the tithe which 
 was used for the support of a whole tribe (one- 
 twelfth of the nation) of necessity included all that 
 the field, vineyard and orchard produced. Other- 
 wise its tithe would not have sufficed for the end 
 in view. 
 
 The Triad met all the needs of those who had no land. 
 
 Later on (Neh. 13:12), when the Prophet per- 
 ceived that this portion for the support of the 
 Levites and other ministers had not been given them, 
 his zeal was fired anew. ‘‘Then,’’ says he, ‘‘I eon- 
 tended with the rulers, and said, Why is the house 
 of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, 
 and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah 
 the tithe of the agricultural-produce, and the vine- 
 fruit, and the tree-fruit unto the treasuries.’’ 
 
 This contribution of soil-products was required; 
 because, instead of a land-inheritance, the Levites 
 inherited the first-fruits and the tithes of the God- 
 given products of the land. The Lord’s portion was 
 their support, the Lord was their inheritance. 
 
 34 
 
_& goodly yield of the Triad gladdens the tiller of the soil. 
 In the 4th Psalm (7th verse), David shows that 
 man’s happiness consists in having God’s favor 
 Contrasting this spiritual happiness with that of 
 the man of the world, he says, ‘‘Thou hast put glad- 
 ness in my heart more than in the time that their 
 agricultural-produce and their vine-fruit increased.’’ 
 Good crops gladden the farmer. A realization 
 of God’s blessed presence and gracious approval 
 gladdens still more the pious heart. 
 Abundance of the Triad is promised to those who “honor 
 
 the Lord’ with offerings of its “first-fruits” and 
 “tithes” of its imcrease. 
 
 The increase here referred to is that of the 
 field, the vineyard and the orchard, and * is prom- 
 ised to those who give the tithe to the God of life; 
 and thus honor Him. For it is written in Proverbs 
 3:9,10, ‘‘Honor the Lord with thy substance, and 
 with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall 
 thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall 
 be erushed with vine-fruit.”’ 
 
 The above is an exact rendering of the original 
 Hebrew. 
 
 Gesenius justly objects to the translation which 
 treads ‘‘thy presses shall burst out with new wine,”’ 
 on the ground that ‘‘neither can the vat of a wine- 
 press, nor yet the wine-press itself burst with plenty 
 of new wine; that a cask or a wine-skin alone can 
 do that,’’ and then only after it has ceased to be 
 new wine and the process of fermentation has set in. 
 
 Moreover the author is not speaking of what is 
 done in either the barn, or the press; but of the 
 
 35 ; 
 
superabundance of the produce collected in it. 
 Henee, rightly understood, this passage gives no 
 countenance to the common but monstrous notion 
 that Térdsh is a manufactured article, and least of 
 all that it is an alcoholic liquor. The above remarks 
 apply, also, to Joel 2:21-24, where the same figure 
 of speech is used. 
 
 Térish can not be a liquid, for it is withered by drought, 
 
 According to Isaiah 24:7, when God sends 
 drought upon the land as a judgment, ‘‘the vine- 
 fruit mourneth, the vine languisheth, and all the 
 merry-hearted sigh.”’ 
 
 This figure of speech can be appropriately used 
 of the growing vine-fruit, but not of a manufactured, 
 poisonous liquid. For the merry-hearted husband- 
 man sighs when there is a failing prospect for a 
 good grape-crop, caused by a prolonged, severe 
 drought. 
 
 A land of Diggin is a land of bread, and a land of Térésh 
 is a land of vineyards. 
 
 In Isaiah 36:17, the Rabshakeh says, ‘‘I will 
 take you away to a land of agricultural-produce and 
 vine-fruit—a land of bread and vineyards.’’ From 
 this we learn that a land of agricultural-produce is 
 a land of bread, and that Térdsh is the grape-crop 
 as it is produced in the vineyards. 
 
 God provides food for His people through the increase of 
 this Triad. 
 
 From Isaiah 62:8, 9, we learn that the Supreme 
 Ruler of nations, and the Dispenser of all the gifts 
 of vegetable-life, hath sworn by His right hand, and 
 
 36 
 
by the arm of His strength, saying, ‘‘I, even I, will 
 no more give thy agricultural-produce to be food for 
 thine enemies, and the sons of the stranger shall not 
 drink thy vine-fruit, for which thou hast labored; 
 but they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise 
 the Lord; and they that have brought it together”’ 
 (gathered it) ‘‘shall drink it in the courts of my 
 holiness.’’ 
 
 An exceptional use of Térédsh explained. 
 
 Commenting on this passage, Kitto says, 
 ‘“‘Though Térésh occurs thirty-eight times in the 
 Old Testament, this is the only passage where it is 
 connected with the act of drinking. That the 
 Prophet here speaks of it as if it was a liquid is 
 explicable by supposing that he speaks figuratively 
 or elliptically.’’ 
 
 Just as the grain Dagan, which is here said to 
 be eaten, is figuratively and elliptically used instead 
 of Lehem (the proper word for bread); so the 
 Térdsh which is said to be drunk, is metaphorically 
 and elliptically used for new wine. 
 
 Moreover, the verb translated ‘‘brought it to- 
 gether’’ would have been more appositely rendered 
 by ‘‘gathered’’ it, or ‘“‘collected’’ it, the act evi- 
 dently referring to the taking of the fruit from the 
 vine. 
 
 The whole passage has special reference to the 
 law of Moses, as contained in Deut. 12:17,18, and 
 Ley. 19 :23-25, which requires the children of Israel 
 to eat the tithe of their agricultural-produce, vine- 
 
 37 
 
‘fruit, and tree-fruit before the Lord, that is, in His 
 -sacred courts. 
 
 Another plausible explanation is suggested by 
 Lowth, namely, that since the grapes, though solid, 
 are very juicy and succulent, the verb to drink is 
 here used in its secondary sense of to suck, as is the 
 ease in the Prayer-Book version of Psalm 75:8. 
 
 In either case, there can be no reference to an 
 intoxicating drink. 
 
 “Térésh exists in the “cluster” on the vine. 
 
 That Isaiah 62:8 is figurative and elliptical is 
 shown without doubt by Isaiah 65:8, where the 
 Lord, speaking of the remnant of Israel that shall 
 ‘be saved, says, ‘‘As the Térésh (vine-fruit) is found 
 in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a 
 blessing is in it; so will I do for my servants’ sake 
 ‘that I may not destroy them all.’’ A remnant shall 
 be saved. Grapes grow in groups or clusters. A 
 futwre blessing, for all nations, is seen in Israel. 
 ‘Hence this group of men will remain as a separate 
 people till the time of their becoming a blessing to 
 ‘the whole earth arrives. 
 
 Since Térésh (vine-fruit) is found ‘‘in the 
 cluster’’, it certainly can have no alcohol in it. Bven 
 ‘were the grapes to hang in the cluster till they 
 rotted, there would be no alcohol in them. The 
 intoxicant is developed only after depraved man 
 ‘takes the juice of the fruit in hand, and perverts it 
 by various artificial devices. 
 
 The theory that wherever the word ‘‘wine’’ 
 
 ‘occurs in the versions it always and everywhere is 
 #® 
 
alcoholic, becomes utterly unscientific and ridiculous 
 with the facts above stated in view; and the witness 
 of Isaiah 65:8 that Térdsh is found in the ‘‘cluster’’, 
 and that it has a blessing in it, contradicts it. It 
 ean not be said with any truth of an intoxicating 
 beverage, that there is a blessing in it. 
 
 The Pentad of life-products—three of them vegetable and 
 
 two of them animal—is the gift of the living God. 
 
 In Jeremiah 31:12, it is said of restored Israel, 
 ‘They shall flow together to the goodness of the 
 Lord—for agricultural-produce, for vine-fruit, and 
 for tree-fruit, and for the young of the flock and 
 herd.’’ 
 
 Now, just as the words flock and herd are ab- 
 stract, technical, collective terms, and sum up in 
 themselves all kinds of domestic animal-life, so 
 Dagan (agricultural-produce), Térésh (vine-fruit), 
 and Yitzhar (tree-fruit), are class-terms for the all- 
 inclusive Triad of vegetable-life. 
 
 With the Divine blessing on their labor, their 
 vegetable and animal products will so abound that 
 “‘their soul shall be as a well-watered garden, and 
 they shall not sorrow any more at all’’. 
 
 Had Térodsh meant an intoxicant this would not 
 have been the case; for sorrow has followed its use 
 as a beverage, in every age and clime, and will con- 
 tinue to do so, of course, in the future. 
 
 The Heavenly Husband gives this Triad of life-products as 
 
 a reward to His consort when she is faithful; and 
 withholds it when she is unfaithful. 
 
 Under the figure of the marriage covenant, 
 89 
 
Hosea represents the Lord as saying of unfaithful 
 Israel (see Hosea 2:7-12), ‘‘She shall follow after 
 her lovers, but shall not overtake them; and she 
 shall seek them, but shall not find them; then shall 
 she say, I will go and return to my first husband, 
 for then was it better with-me than now. 
 
 ‘‘For she did not know that I gave her agri- 
 cultural-produce, and vine-fruit, and tree-fruit, and 
 multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared 
 for Baal. 
 
 ‘‘Therefore, will I return and take away My 
 agricultural-produce in the time thereof, and My 
 vine-fruit, in the season thereof. . . . I will des- 
 troy her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath 
 said, ‘These are My rewards that My lovers have 
 given me’.”’ 
 
 It is the Lord of all life, both vegetable and 
 animal, that speaks thus of the products of the 
 soil wherewith He blessed and provided for His 
 covenant people ‘‘in the time thereof’’ and ‘‘in 
 the season thereof’’, when they were faithful to 
 their marriage-vow; but punished them, by the 
 failure of crops, when they attributed these re- 
 wards of loving obedience to another than their 
 Covenant Husband. 
 
 Adulterous Israel has yet to learn that the 
 only source of her blessings, both temporal and 
 spiritual, is the living God, and then she will return 
 and be betrothed again to her provident, gracious 
 Lord; and He will then forgive and receive her, 
 and again provide for her every need. 
 
 40 
 
The Triad has to do with the clouds, fertile earth, and 
 ‘rain; and furnished food and clothing. “ 
 
 Such is the promise contained in Hosea 2:21, 22, 
 “Tt shall come to pass in that day I will hear, saith 
 the Lord, I will hear the heavens’’ (that is, provide 
 them with clouds), ‘‘and they shall hear the earth’’ 
 (that is, shall provide her with moisture), ‘‘and the 
 earth shall hear’’ (by providing) ‘‘the agricultural- 
 produce, and the vine-fruit, and the tree-fruit, and 
 they shall hear’’ (that is, provide for) ‘‘Jezreel’’, 
 as to food and clothing. 
 
 In this passage the whole chain of secondary 
 causes and effects, as used and over-ruled by the 
 beneficent God of providence, are traced, link by 
 link, till food is ready to answer the people’s need. 
 
 The beauty and the consistency of the whole 
 metaphor depends upon the Térdsh (vine-fruit), 
 and the Yitzhar (tree-fruit), holding the same rela- 
 tion to mother earth that the Dagan (agricultural- 
 produce) does. This would not be the case were 
 they artificially prepared ‘‘wine’’ and oil’’. 
 
 The whole context requires that the moistened 
 earth should bring forth the triplets of agricultural- 
 produce, vine-fruit, and tree-fruit in the field, the 
 vineyard, and the orchard—that she should cherish 
 and nourish them on her bosom till they, having 
 matured, are ready for the harvesting, the taking 
 possession of, and the ingathering. All alike are 
 seen to be the products of the soil in their original 
 condition. 
 
 41 
 
‘Térdsh was the gift of God’s bounty, not the gift of idols. 
 The wife mistakes as to who, by giving abundant 
 crops, provided her with food and clothing. 
 
 [ next direct your attention to Hosea 2:2-12 and 
 4:11, especially the latter passage. 
 
 These verses are the last resort of those who 
 hold the theory that wherever the word ‘‘wine’’ 
 occurs in the authorized version of our Bible, it 
 means an intoxicant. Hence they call for a careful 
 exegesis, that the truth may be brought to light, 
 and freed from the amazing maze of error which 
 has encompassed it. This is all the more necessary 
 because some who deny the ‘‘one-wine’’ theory, 
 and clearly see that Térésh is elsewhere a fruit, 
 have felt called on here to admit that it refers, in 
 this instance, to an inebriating liquor. 
 
 Hosea 4:11 reads, ‘‘Whoredom and wine and 
 new wine take away the heart.’’ 
 
 The word for ‘‘wine’’, in this verse, is in the 
 Hebrew, Yayin (or Yain), which means the juice 
 of the crushed grape, whether sweet or sour; and 
 the word translated ‘‘new wine’”’ is ‘‘Térésh’’, 
 which means the fruit of the vine in its natural 
 state, as it is plucked, or taken from the vine when 
 ripe. And the first of the three nouns which form 
 the subject of the verb ‘‘take away’’ is Zunuth, 
 which, as the whole of the book of Hosea shows, 
 refers to Israel’s illicit love for and worship of idols. 
 In fact, the noun, Zunuth, is never used in any other 
 sense; it is used figuratively for spiritual apostacy 
 from God, and in no other connection. (See Jer. 
 3:2,9; Ezek. 23:27; 43:7; Numbers 14:33.) 
 
 42 
 
Israel, in her spiritual apostasy, forsook the- 
 Lord of life, and worshipped and served those idols: 
 which, as her polytheistic neighbors taught, caused 
 the fertility of the soil and gave abundant crops 
 of agricultural-produce, vine-fruit, and tree-fruit. 
 
 It is this spiritual whoredom and its hoped-for 
 rewards from the field, the vineyard, and the 
 orchard, which (Hosea says) ‘‘take away the 
 heart’’. 
 
 It is assumed quite generally that the verb 
 translated ‘‘take away’’ must refer to the inebriat- 
 ing effects of alcohol. To make this assumption is 
 to beg the whole question. 
 
 The simple fact is that the verb Laqah (to take 
 away) is nowhere else, in the whole Bible, used in 
 the sense of ‘‘to intoxicate’’, Why, then, assume 
 that it has that meaning here? 
 
 Surely whoredom is not an alcoholic liquor! 
 Yet it is one of the triad that are said to ‘‘take 
 away the heart’’! All of the texts examined so 
 far show that Térdsh (‘‘new wine’’ in the author- 
 ized version) means vine-fruit as it is taken from 
 the vine. We may conclude, therefore, that Térdsh 
 is not an alcoholic liquor. The plain fact is that 
 the prophet, Hosea, is rebuking the covenant people 
 for idolatry and its hoped-for rewards, and not for 
 the use of intoxicating liquors. In doing so, he 
 mentions three separate things that captivated, 
 captured, and so took away, the heart. 
 
 The first of this triplet is Whoredom, which, 
 according to the figure used all through the book 
 
 43 
 
of Hosea, consists in spiritual apostasy. For Israel 
 broke the Divine marriage covenant made with 
 Jehovah, by giving her heart to certain idols who 
 were thought to preside over the field, the vineyard, 
 and the orchard; and by trusting in them to meet 
 her needs and provide her with an abundance of 
 their fruits (Térdsh and Yain), which she, in turn, 
 would use as a basis for foods and drinks. 
 
 An examination of the context will confirm this 
 interpretation as the true one. 
 
 According to the metaphor employed, the na- 
 tion of Israel is the wife; and the individual citi- 
 zens are her children. ; 
 
 Hence we understand why, in Hosea, 2:2-12, the 
 latter are exhorted as follows: ‘‘Plead with your 
 mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am 
 I her husband: let her put away her whoredoms 
 
 . lest I strip her naked . . . and make her as 
 a wilderness and like a dry land, and slay her with 
 thirst. And I will not have merey upon her chil- 
 dren, for they be the children of whoredoms. . . . 
 
 “She said, I will go after my lovers that gave 
 me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, 
 mine oil and my drinks. . . . For she did not 
 know that I gave her agricultural-produce, and 
 vine-fruit, and tree-fruit, and multiplied her silver 
 and gold, which they prepared for Baal. 
 
 “‘Therefore, I will return, and take away My 
 agricultural-produce in the time thereof, and My 
 wool and My fiax given to cover her nakedness; 
 
 . and I will destroy her vines and her fig- 
 
 44 
 
trees, whereof she hath said, These are My rewards 
 that My lovers have given me.’’ 
 
 But hereafter the repentant nation will be re- 
 married to Jehovah, her gracious and provident 
 Husband, and then He will hear her prayer and 
 answer all her needs. 
 
 For, ‘‘It shall come to pass in that day, I will 
 hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and 
 they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear”’ 
 (and provide) ‘“‘the agricultural-produce, and the 
 vine-fruit, and the tree-fruit; and they shall hear’’ 
 (and provide) ‘‘Jezreel’’ and her inhabitants, with 
 food and clothing. 
 
 But, alas! Notwithstanding her re-instatement 
 and this gracious and abundant provision by her 
 Divine Husband, ‘‘as they were increased, so they 
 sinned against Me; whoredom and wine (Yain), 
 “‘and vine-fruit (Téroésh) “‘take away’’, that is, 
 captivate, and capture ‘‘the heart.’’ She again 
 turned from her covenant God and attributed her 
 bountiful supply of the good things of this life to 
 her secretly worshipped idol-lovers. The citizens of 
 the nation waxed fat and kicked. They not only 
 attributed their good crops to the heathen idols 
 who were supposed to preside over the field, the 
 vineyard and the orchard; but they drank to their 
 health in their social feasts, and gave them thanks 
 for the excellent grape-crop—the Térésh and the 
 ‘Yain. 
 
 It is thus seen that it was idolatry and its sup- 
 
 45 
 
posed rewards that captivated and “‘took away 
 the heart’’ of Israel from God. 
 
 Hence, if there be any reference at all in this 
 much-misunderstood passage to an intoxicant it 
 must be found in the word YAain (‘‘wine’’), which, 
 being the juice of the crushed grapes, might have 
 been in a fermented state. But that no alcohol 
 existed in Zunuth (whoredom) or in Térdsh (vine- 
 fruit), is certain. 
 
 Wayward Israel implores the Triad from the idols which 
 the worshippers of nature served. Hence the Triad 
 
 must be the direct OFFSPRING of NATURE as found 
 in the field, vineyard and orchard. 
 
 That Hosea 4:11 does not prove Térésh (vine- 
 fruit) to be an intoxicating liquor, but refers to 
 polytheistic nature-worship and the good crops 
 which the idolized idols were supposed to bestow 
 upon their votaries is further shown by Hosea 7:14, 
 where it is said that the Israelites, neglecting their 
 Divine Husband and Lord, ‘‘ Assemble themselves 
 for agricultural-produce, and vine-fruit; and they 
 rebel against Me.”’ 
 
 Gesenius, a celebrated Hebrew lexicographer, 
 thinks that the allusion here is to meetings for 
 supplicating the idols to grant fertility to the soil. 
 
 The Septuagint, agreeing with this idea, has 
 rendered the passage, “‘For corn and wine they have 
 cut themselves’’ (in order to propitiate their gods). 
 So too the Arabic version. 
 
 The Divine Husband withholds His beneficent crops as 2 
 punishment for the illicit love of His covenant people. 
 
 If any further confirmation of this interpreta- 
 46 
 
tion is called for, it will be found in Hosea 9:1, 2, 
 where the prophet says, ‘‘Rejoice not, O Israel, 
 for joy as other peoples; for thou hast gone a whor- 
 ing from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon 
 every corn-floor’’ (threshing place for Dagan). 
 
 ‘The floor and the wine-press shall not feed 
 them; the Térdsh (vine-fruit) shall fail in her.’’ 
 
 Thus the Lord of covenant-life would punish 
 unfaithful Israel by withholding from her His gifts 
 of vegetable-life which they, on account of their 
 perverted heart, thought to be the rewards of their 
 devotion to the idols of the heathen nature-wor- 
 shippers. 
 
 A drought affects the Triad. Hence it must be the product 
 of field, vineyard and orchard. 
 
 Additional direct proof that the class-words, 
 Dagan, Térdsh and Yitzhar refer to a Triad of vege- 
 table earth-products in their natural, solid or succu- 
 lent state, and not to artificial, specific, man-made 
 preparations, is found in Joel 1:10-12. 
 
 Here the prophet, in describing the effects of 
 a drought, says, ‘‘The field is wasted, the land 
 mourneth; for the Dagan’’ (agricultural-produce) 
 “9s wasted away, the Térdsh’’ (vine-fruit) ‘‘is dried 
 up, the Yitzhar (tree-fruit) ‘‘languisheth . . . the 
 harvest of the field is perished, the vine is dried 
 up, and the fig-tree languisheth, the pome-granate 
 tree, the palm tree, also, and the apple tree—all the 
 trees of the field—are withered.’’ 
 
 With such a plain passage as the one above 
 to guide us in interpreting the Word of God, ‘‘the 
 
 47 
 
one-wine theory’’—which contends that wherever 
 the word Térésh is found, it means a man-made, 
 alcoholic liquor—becomes utterly untenable. For 
 here in the first place, the Triad of soil-products is - 
 mentioned—Dagin, Térésh and Yitzhar; then their 
 source is declared to be the harvest, the vine, and 
 the trees, all of which the severe drought withered 
 and blasted. 
 Repentant Israel shall have the Triad of plant-life in 
 abundance. 
 
 On condition of repentance, the Lord of plant- 
 life will restore His blessings—the rewards of devo- 
 tion to Him—as we learn from Joel 2:18:24. For, 
 ‘*then the Lord will be jealous for His land, and pity 
 His people; yea, the Lord will answer, and say unto 
 His people, ‘Behold, I will send you agricultural- 
 produce, and vine-fruit, and tree-fruit; and ye shall 
 be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make 
 you a reproach’ (by sending famine), ‘among the 
 heathen’.’’ Hence ‘‘be not afraid, ye beasts of the 
 field, for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, 
 and the tree beareth her fruit, and the fig-tree and 
 the vine do yield their strength; and the floors shall 
 be full of grain, and the fats shall overflow’’ (that 
 is, superabound) ‘‘with vine-fruit and tree-fruit.’’ 
 
 Not only enough for man and beast, but a great 
 superabundance of the products of the vegetable 
 Triad, is assured to repentant Zion, by her cove- 
 nant Lord. 
 
 Térdsh is clearly distinguished from Y&Ayim (Ydin). 
 
 On the other hand, as a punishment for their 
 48 
 
wickedness, Micah (Micah 6:15) says to back-slid- 
 den Israel, ‘‘Thou shalt sow, but. thou shalt not 
 reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt 
 not anoint thyself with the oil (Shemen); and 
 Térdsh (vine-fruit), but thou shalt not drink the 
 Yain’’ (the juice of the crushed grapes). ; 
 
 Here Térdsh (vine-fruit) is as clearly placed 
 in apposition to Ydin (wine) as olives are to oil 
 (Shemen). In each ease, the first named is the 
 fruit from which the last named of the pair is made 
 by erushing, or pressing it. 
 
 It is strange, indeed, how so many translators, 
 by blindly following tradition, have failed to see 
 that poetical consistency and common sense, alike, 
 require that Térdsh be the solid but succulent fruit 
 of the vine, pressure on which crushed it, and 
 yielded the drink called Ydin (wine). 
 
 How tantalizing to pluck and take the Térdsh 
 from the vine, and by treading it crush .the berries; 
 and yet not be allowed to drink the wine (Ydain) 
 that flowed from the wine-press; or to press the 
 olives, and yet not be permitted to make any use 
 of the oil (Shemen) ! 
 
 How can words make it clearer that the Térésh 
 is the vine-fruit which, when pressed and crushed, 
 yielded the liquid called Yain (wine) ? 
 
 "The Triad is summed up in the phrase “That which the 
 ground bringeth forth”, 
 
 But to make assurance doubly sure read Haggai 
 1:10, 11, ‘‘The heaven over you is stayed from dew, 
 and the earth is stayed from her fruit. I called for 
 
 49 
 
a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains; 
 and upon the agricultural-produce, and upon the 
 vine-fruit, and upon the tree-fruit—upon that which 
 the ground bringeth forth; and upon men, and upon 
 cattle, and upon all the labor of Thy hands.”’ 
 
 ~ It is evident that lack of moisture would ruin 
 the growing crops—that Triad of vegetable bless- 
 ings ‘‘which the ground bringeth forth’’, and which 
 is here designated 1s ‘‘all the labor of thy hands’’. 
 It is equally evident tnat the different orders of 
 animal-lifé, also, would be slain by the thirst and 
 hunger brought about by the drought. 
 
 We have now completed our survey of all the 
 passages in the Old Testament where this wonder- 
 ful Triad of vegetable life and its products are 
 mentioned. It is, therefore, time to conclude with 
 some general observations, 
 
 V. Conclusions—1-7. 
 
 1. The Triad, when rightly undersiood, gives an enlargeé 
 view of God’s wonderful work of providence. 
 
 What an enlarged view a correct exegesis of 
 this Triad gives us of the methods of God’s work 
 of providence as it is carried on through the opera- 
 tion of the laws of nature which are impressed on 
 vegetable life! He uses these laws of nature, more- 
 over, for the accomplishment of moral ends. For 
 by increasing His gifts of agricultural-produce, 
 vine-fruit, and tree-fruit, He rewards the obedient 
 and supplies their every need. To those who honor 
 Him, by bringing the first-fruits and the tithes into 
 His store-houses as food for His ministering servy- 
 
 50 
 
ants, He grants a superabundance of the good things 
 of this life; on the contrary, by decreasing the yield 
 of the field, the vineyard, and the orchard He pun- 
 ishes His unfaithful covenant people who withhold 
 this just land-rent, or who erroneously think that 
 these rewards are given by other gods. 
 
 2. Through this Triad of vegetable-life and the Dyad of 
 animal-life, which is associated with it—the flock 
 and the herd—we get a view of the very intimate rela- 
 tionship which exists between the Creator and the 
 creature. 
 
 He is not, as some men think an absentee land- 
 lord who is indifferent to the conduct of His ten- 
 ants, but is anever-present, imminent Ruler who 
 through the laws of nature executes His most holy 
 will. 
 
 3. We now see what a flood of light the correct exegesis 
 
 of this vegetable Triad throws upon the true interpre- 
 tation of scores of passages in God’s Word. 
 
 The ‘‘corn, wine and oil’’ of the versions is 
 seen to be agricultural-produce, vine-fruit and tree- 
 fruit—the totality of the products of vegetable-life 
 as they are grown in the field, the vineyard and the 
 orchard, for man’s use. 
 
 4, 
 We see that the contextual setting of this Triad 
 
 nowhere indicates a specific object like ‘‘corn’’, or 
 manufactured articles like ‘‘wine and oil’’, but al- 
 -ways requires technical class-terms—generic names 
 which shall include all that the soil produces for 
 the sustenance of man. 
 
 This being the case, the long and widely held 
 51 
 
‘‘one-wine’’ theory, which contends that in the 
 thirty-eight places where Térésh oecurs alcoholic 
 liquor is meant, and that everywhere that the other 
 eight or more Hebrew words which have been trans- 
 lated by the one word ‘‘wine’’ in the versions, are 
 found, only intoxicants are meant, becomes utterly 
 untenable. This theory is seen to be, in fact, a 
 most harmful and horrible perversion of the Word 
 of Truth. 
 
 ¢. 
 
 This widely accepted and stubbornly defended 
 error is, no doubt, the main reason why Jewish and 
 Christian lands are everywhere notorious for the 
 manufacture and use of intoxicants. They have 
 mistaken the praises of vine-fruit (Térésh) for the 
 praises of alcoholic ‘‘wine’’. They have, in the next 
 place, degraded and perverted agricultural-produce 
 and tree-fruit in a like manner, and from them 
 manufactured poisonous, fermented liquors. Thus 
 the whole vegetable Triad is perverted from its de- 
 signed use for food and clothing; and is so abused 
 as to have become a great curse. For, darkness has 
 been put for light, and the poison of the serpent 
 for the Triad of food which was created to nourish 
 life. What a delusion! What a pity! 
 
 The fact is that the Bible, when correctly trans- 
 lated, everywhere reprobates the depraved appetite 
 which craves fermented liquors. The use of these 
 poisons is everywhere deprecated. But the Bible 
 has unbounded praises for Dagan (agricultural-pro- 
 duce, Térédsh (vine-fruit), and Yitzhar (tree-fruit) 
 
 52 
 
—‘‘that which,’’ with the blessing of God, “‘the 
 ground bringeth forth.”’ 
 7. 
 
 In conclusion, (1) I exhort you to help correct 
 the misleading and mischevious impression which is 
 given in the versions, by the narrow and wholly 
 inadequate terms ‘‘eorn, wine and oil’’. Substitute 
 for these specific names the generic, technical, class- 
 terms ‘‘agricultural-produce, vine-fruit and _ tree- 
 fruit’’, when you read or explain your Bibles. 
 
 By so doing, you will help correct the pernici- 
 ous and destructive ‘‘one-wine’’ theory, which even 
 eontends that Ashesha (fruit-and nut-confections) 
 are ‘‘flagons of intoxicating wine!’’ See 2 Sam. 
 6:19, Song. 2:5, and Hosea 3:1, for instances. By 
 substituting agricultural-produce, vine-fruit and 
 tree-fruit for ‘‘corn, wine and oil’’, you will make 
 known the greatness and beneficence of our Cre- 
 ator’s works of providence; wherein, through the 
 produce of the field, the vineyard and the orchard, 
 He, the Lord of Life, provides for the wants of all 
 His creatures. For ‘‘our Father Who is in heaven’’ 
 usually answers the petition ‘‘give us this day our 
 daily bread’’ by His blessing upon our crops through 
 which He provides us with an abundance of agri- 
 cultural-produce, vine-fruit and tree-fruit. 
 
 (2) Especially do I say to every minister of 
 the Word of God, ‘‘Study to show thyself approved 
 unto God, a workman that needeth not to be 
 ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’’ (2 
 Tim. 25:15). By so doing you will not only help to 
 
 53 
 
‘banish the ‘‘open saloon’’ from our midst, but will 
 hasten on the time when intoxicants will not be 
 used as a beverage at all by Christians; and when, 
 instead of ‘‘corn, wine and oil’’ in our versions, 
 we shall find the all-inclusive, beneficent class-terms 
 “‘agricultural-produce, vine-fruit and tree-fruit’’. 
 May God’s blessing be added to this exegesis of His 
 vegetable Triad. 
 
 54 
 
TEMPERANCE AND MISSIONS. 
 By Robert E. Speer. 
 
 The liquor traffic is a hindrance to Missions.— 
 First, because it gives the people of the non-Chris- 
 tian lands a suspicion and distrust of Christianity 
 —Christianity and liquor coming from the same 
 countries; second, it misrepresents Christian civili- 
 ation ; third, it demoralizes the weaker peoples living 
 often in trying climatic conditions, which makes 
 them less able to endure the ravages of drink; 
 fourth, it debauches mind, body and soul, so that 
 the material offered to the Gospel has become al- 
 most unredeemable; and lastly, often where its ef- 
 fects are not so extreme, it operates to lower morals 
 and to exalt appetite. 
 
 55 
 
A PRAYER FOR TEMPERANCE. 
 
 O Lord, we praise Thy holy name, for Thou 
 hast made bare Thine arm in the sight of all na- 
 tions and done wonders. But still we ery to Thee 
 in the weary struggle of our people against the 
 power of drink... . —— 
 
 May those who now entrap the feet of the 
 weak and make their living by the degradation of 
 men, thrust away their shameful gains and stand 
 clear. But if their conscience is silenced by profit, 
 do Thou grant Thy people the indomitable strength 
 of faith to make an end of it. May all the great 
 churches of our land shake off those who seek the 
 shelter of religion for that which damns, and stand 
 with level front against their common foe... . 
 
 O God, bring nigh the day when all our men 
 shall face their daily tasks with minds undrugged 
 and with tempered passions; when the unseemly 
 mirth of drink shall seem a shame to all who hear 
 and see; when the trade which debauches men shall 
 be loathed liked the trade which debauches woman; 
 and when all this black remnant of savagery shall 
 haunt the memory of a new generation but as an 
 evil dream of the night. For this accept our vows, 
 © Lord, and grant Thine aid. 
 
 Walter Rauschenbusch. 
 
LIQUOR THE GREATEST HINDRANCE 
 TO MISSIONARY WORK 
 
 There is abundant proof of it in Africa. For 
 100 years Missionary work has been carried on at 
 a great cost of money and men in East, South and 
 West Africa, with very unsatisfactory results, and 
 that because of the effects of this deadly drink. I 
 have traveled from Cape Town right up the coun- 
 try, and crossed the Zambesi into Barotseland, in 
 Central Africa; and I have studied the Christian 
 work among the natives, and I am convinced that 
 their evangelization is an impossibility where they 
 have access to intoxicating drink, and this is the 
 general opinion of most of those who are striving 
 to bring them to the knowledge and obedience of 
 Christ. On the other hand, some thirty years ago 
 Missionaries commenced work in Uganda. In 
 1890 my dear friend, Bishop Tucker, arrived there; 
 there were then about 300 converts to Christianity 
 and one church. In a letter recently received from 
 him he tells me there are now some 60,000 Chris- 
 tians, 1,700 churches, with a cathedral at Mengo 
 which holds about 3,000 people. These churches are 
 mainly served by native converts. All this glorious: 
 progress has been made notwithstanding the terrible 
 affliction of what is known as the ‘‘sleeping sick- 
 ness,’’ which has carried off such large numbers, 
 
 57 
 
including many Christian converts. Why such mar- 
 velous success in Uganda, with such comparatively 
 poor results in East, South and West Africa? The 
 answer is because in Uganda there is no destroying 
 liquor traffic. The people are in their natural condi- 
 tion, so that the Gospel can act upon their minds and 
 the Holy Spirit upon their souls. They believe and 
 live, and Almighty God is glorified; and this result 
 would follow the faithful preaching and teaching of 
 the Gospel of Christ the world over if the proper 
 conditions were observed. All God’s promises are 
 eonditional, and if the conditions are fully carried 
 out on the human side, the blessing from heaven will 
 always follow and success will be the result. Wher- 
 ever there is no success in Christian work it is be- 
 cause God’s conditions are not observed and carried 
 out. 
 
 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS AMONGST THE 
 ORIENTAL NATIONS 
 
 If Christianity is to make any progress in the 
 Oriental world, especially among Mohammedans, 
 educated Hindus, Chinese, and even the thinking 
 Heathen, it must produce far better results than 
 it has yet done, and show them a more excellent 
 way, by producing a sober, honest, moral people. 
 The lives of so many so-called Christians who go to 
 these Oriental countries are so loathsome, so dis- 
 gusting in the eyes of these people, that they say, 
 
 58 
 
“Tf this is the fruit of Christianity we will have 
 none of it.’’ 
 
 The drinking of intoxicants has been all down 
 the ages, since the early Apostolic period, an inte- 
 gral part of the Christian system, and it has well 
 nigh brought ruin upon Christianity, and will ulti- 
 mately destroy it unless Christian teachers revert 
 to the Teaching of the Apostles upon the use of 
 intoxicating liquors, and the Bishops and Clergy 
 of all denominations must cease to talk hesitatingly 
 on this all-important matter, and must lead the 
 people with a strong, fearless lead in the right way, 
 not only by what they say but also by what they 
 do. 
 
 JOHN ABBEY. 
 
 59 
 
CATALOGUE OF PUBLICATIONS BY PRESBY- 
 TERIAN TEMPERANCE COMMITTEE. 
 
 No. Per hundred 
 4Sinning Against the Unborn.—Scientifie 
 Temperance Federation ................- 15e 
 5—Aleoholic Heredity.—Dr. Ladame of Uni- 
 versity of Geneva..............csss=aeen 15¢ 
 7—Deliverances of the General Assembly 
 (Abridged) ................-==eene Free 
 8—Temperance Recitations (Original and Se- 
 lected)... si... sac 00k oc +6 = «cen 40e 
 
 10—Does it Pay ?—(English)—Charles Scanlon 15e¢ 
 10—Does it Pay ?—Paga?— (Spanish )—Charles 
 
 Seanlon ./. 2.0.2 -ss~ oss kad ole 2 15e 
 10—Does it Pay ?—Kifizeti ez magat? — (Hun- 
 
 garian) ccs <2. Sein Skies boa ee ee 15e¢ 
 10—Does it Pay?—(German)—Charles Seanlon 15e 
 12—Temperance Recitations ................. 40e 
 13—The Old Decanter—(Poem).............. 10e 
 14—A Boy’s Determination.—Elbertine ’ Robert- 
 
 SON) 5 ed Lo cwue lane ay ee ae ee ee 15¢ 
 
 15—Hanley’s Hates.—Gov. Frank J. Hanley... 15¢ 
 16—Facts Concerning Aleohol—Heinrich Quen- 
 
 sels oss aiwis' 0.28) p un Reena a 15¢ 
 16—Facts Concerning Alcohol — (German).— 
 
 Heinrich Quensel :.....: s........5 oo 15¢ 
 17—That Man.—Rev. R. S. Holmes, D.D. ...... 15¢e 
 18—Drink and the Doctor’s Bill.—Scientifie 
 
 Temperance Federation ..............+.- 15¢ 
 
 60 
 
No. Per hundred 
 
 19—Grades in Brain Work.—Henry Smith Wil- 
 | LE TRIIE > 131] 9 AG petty Shep, QE NS co 
 20—Why I Became a Prohibitionist—Rudyard 
 POG eee RoE eye co IIE. we 
 21—Address of Emperor William of Germany. 
 SSE. EIN SG) e902 ooo ian 
 21—Address of Emperor William of Germany. 
 oS SESSTTIES) placa alk OO ciel 
 22—Success in Work and Play.—Mrs. E. L. 
 IMP ATIGERIIT SSS 3 SSS eeeeneeotine.c cate eaeere bee 
 24—-How to Teach the Quarterly Temperance 
 Inesson.—Charles Scanlon ................ 
 25—Alcohol and the Death Rate.............. 
 26—Causes of Alcoholism ................... 
 27—-A Thing to Cry Over.—Rev. John Hall, D.D. 
 
 28—What a Christian Can Do?—Reyv. R. S. 
 EIGPEPE EUR) hn rete he tain sas Bake sic he eee 
 
 29—Save the Children—Rev. John F. Hill, D.D. 
 
 31—The Great Wreeker of Homes.—Rev. T. De- 
 Papeete RAE Ss he eve. scare Sela pe aie sis « 
 35—Is There Room for Me? (English)—Rev. H. 
 Wp. LEONI CIR 02 0 Sgt ase ee ne ae err Ute 
 35—Is There Room for Me? (German) ....... 
 37—I Know When to Stop.—Mrs. Grace Liv- 
 MOS COMM ML DAKLZ SS. «, . sata vi te eke ae 
 38—The Temperance Pledge——Rev. Frances J. 
 COCLITAITS \ Sie Saat ee Pr ewan renee | SP 
 39—Temperance Work for Girls——Rose Eliza- 
 WetoR Cleveland aco. 8 vedi een Se eee oe 
 
 15e 
 
 15¢ 
 
 15¢ 
 
 15¢ 
 
 15e 
 
 15e 
 15¢ 
 15¢ 
 15e 
 
 15e 
 15¢ 
 
 40e 
 
 20e 
 20e 
 
 20e 
 
 20¢ 
 
No. Per hundred 
 40—The General Assembly of 1895 and Unfer- 
 
 mented Wine ........--.-+-++-«.sea———nnn Free 
 41—The Draught that Quenches Thirst.—Miss 
 
 C. B. Hawes........0.20+0+5+55enn 20¢ 
 45—Drink Like a Gentleman................. 15¢ 
 46—The Licensed Saloon.—(English) ......... 10¢ 
 46—The Licensed Saloon.—Avviso birreria au- 
 
 torizzata (Italian) .....<....°..,aee 15¢ 
 46—The License Saloon. — Bar Licncie.— 
 
 (French) .........05..... 0+ «> =e nnn 15¢ 
 47—The Relation of Temperance to Missions.— 
 
 Mrs. H. O. Hildebrand .......... eee 
 48—Charged with Murder ...............+-; ., See 
 49—Judge Morse’s Reasons .............-.-.. 20e 
 51—Poor Rosy.—Mrs. C. M. Livingston....... 20¢ 
 52—On the Fence.—(English)—Grace Living- 
 
 ston Hill Wuutz .. 20.222 458 3.5. eee 20¢ 
 
 52—On the Fence.—Na plote.—(Bohemian).... 20¢ 
 52—On the Fence.—En la cerca.—(Spanish).. 20¢ 
 
 54—A Study in Faces.—(English) ............ 15¢ 
 54-A Study in Faces.—Une Etude de Visages. 
 —(French) 9.3.00... 00.45.2850 15¢ 
 54——A Study in Faces.—Studie obliceju—(Bo- 
 hemian) | 0.00... OV... ee 15e 
 54—A Study in Faces.—Um estudo em physion- 
 omias.—Portuguese) ...............5 15e 
 54—A Study in Faces.—Porownanie dwoch 
 twarzy.—(Polish) ...¢5 5 ..5:5.00.<ee 15e 
 54—_A Study in Faces.—Un estudio de Caras.— 
 (Spanish)... «40 idee a oadee ee 15¢ 
 
No. Per hundred 
 55—They Must Have Them.—John F. Hill, D.D. 15c 
 59—Medication Without Alcohol.—Mrs. V. C. 
 LESCRTE GLE a URE NE GS rag Sie 15¢ 
 62—Pledged—HElbertine Robertson ............ 20¢ 
 64—Why the Man Who Works for a Living 
 Should not Drink Beer. — Mrs. Mary H. 
 PSUDIERT | CURES Sea (A et abe alan aa Sa 20¢ 
 65—My Brother’s Keeper.—Elbertine Robertson 20c 
 66—Suggestions for Church Temperance Com- 
 
 STAC) SAS ES ai Se eS ee ea 15¢ 
 67—Battles Fought and Won.—Rev. G. C. Wild- 
 REMOTE Na NUM ee a Peta Saniedre, wiayes sche web 6° 15¢ 
 69—Biblical Temperance.—Prop. James Wal- 
 Wonca eet) Meters ass ss aes ee SOR enue a se 40e 
 70—Shall I Drink-—Robert E. Speer, M.A. .... 15¢ 
 73—The Story of Daniel—Rev. James H. Snow- 
 LIDGE, JOD Ran ieee ee a ae Pe ge Tag 15¢ 
 75—African Missions and the Liquor Traffie— 
 LRATIOSIES Dy SS) OCS) iar 15¢ 
 78—May I Ask?—Charles Seanlon ............ 15¢ 
 80—A Medical Prescription.—Scientifiec Temper- 
 MCORP ATION of. 55 26s whe es clovee ene 15¢ 
 85—The New Boy.—By Pansy ............... 15e 
 86—The Broken Chain.—By Pansy ........... 15¢ 
 
 95—The Great Destroyer.—Hon. R. P. Hobson. 15¢ 
 99—Why Sign the Pledge—Hon. William J. 
 
 ECW ED. 5.9 ois ane a eee ee er yea he 15e 
 Pledge Cards — (Adapted to Presbyterian 
 CLITA NES O12) i er ee ....Free 
 
 Sunday-school Temperance Pledge Roll....each 25e 
 * 63 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. Per hundred 
 Temperance Day Programs, 12 pages, with musi¢ 
 and recitations $1.00 per hundred. Samples free, 
 
 NOTE :—The contributions of churches, ‘Ben 
 day school and Young People’s Societies may be 
 plied as subscriptions to The AMETHYST, the of- 
 ficial temperance organ of our denomination, pub- 
 lished monthly at 25¢ per single copy or 20¢ pet 
 year in clubs of twenty-five or more to one address. 
 Send for sample copy to Presbyterian Temperance 
 Committee, 72 Conestoga Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 The work of this Committee is supported by 
 voluntary offerings from individuals and from or- 
 ganizations connected with the Presbyterian Church 
 in the U. S. A. Churches, Sunday-schools, Young 
 People’s Societies and Presbyterian Temperance 
 Unions which contribute as recommended by the 
 General Assembly are entitled to receive a reason- 
 able amount of literature without charge. To oth 
 organizations or individuals it is furnished, postpaid, 
 at the prices given. A liberal discount will be ma 
 on large orders. An assorted sample package will 
 be sent for 10c. . 
 
 Address orders to Rev. John F. Hill, 
 Conestoga Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 C4 
 

 
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