Meet the Appealing Grape
A GRAPE. Yes, that is what I am, a grape. You have tasted me directly from the vine, dried me as a raisin, crushed me for your wines, turned me into jams and jellies, and placed me in your salads. I have pleased you in many ways, but have you given much thought to the importance of my existence?
I was here long before you and your ancestors came upon this earth. In fact, I was created for your enjoyment. My growth was deterred for a brief period of time because of the Flood in Noah’s day, but I regained prominence as well as notoriety when Noah imbibed a little too freely.—Genesis 9:20, 21.
Wine is my specialty. When used in moderation I can make the heart rejoice and put the heart in a merry mood. (Psalm 104:15; Esther 1:10) I can be used for medicinal purposes, as the apostle Paul advised Timothy. Or be used as an antiseptic. (1 Timothy 5:23; Luke 10:34) In modern times I am used to build up the blood of anemic ones.
The land of Canaan gave evidence of my rich fruitage when the Israelite spies entered the land of “milk and honey” and returned with one cluster of grapes so large it had to be attached to a bar carried on the shoulders of two men. (Numbers 13:27, 23) This region was well known for its rich productivity of grapes. One cluster could weigh from 10 to 12 pounds, with one cluster recorded at 45 pounds (20.4 kg).
For centuries I was one species, Vitis vinifera, an Old World grape. But as civilization increased, interest in my culture also increased. Seeds and cuttings spread in the Old World to Asia Minor, then to Greece and Sicily. The Phoenicians on their travels brought my ancestors to France. The Romans introduced me to England. I also spread to India and the Orient. Today I am cultivated on all continents and islands where the climate is suitable.
My seeds have been entombed with mummies in Egypt and closely resemble my seeds of today. The details for grape and wine production figured in the mosaics of the Egyptian dynasties as far back as 3,500 years ago. During the time of Homer, wine was a regular commodity among the Greeks. Pliny, a part resident of Rome, described 91 varieties of my grape descendants and listed 50 different kinds of wine. There are many more today.
Just as you of the human race come in various sizes and colors, I too come in various sizes and colors. From the pale greens to the rich reds and deep purples—grouping me as table grapes, raisin grapes, juice grapes or simply grapes for decoration purposes—I can satisfy the most critical connoisseur.
I can adapt myself to a wide variety of soils, but I prefer the deep fertile soils. Cool weather? Yes, I can take it. But during my ripening period I have a tendency to become more acid and sour to the taste, setting your teeth on edge. It was even so in Bible days. (Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2) Hot weather? Ah, yes, now that is my personal choice. My acid content becomes lower and my sweetness becomes prominent.
Today, when I have reached a sugar content of from 20-23.5 percent sugar, I am picked, crushed, stems are removed, I am pumped into stainless steel tanks, cultured yeast is added for fermentation and eventually my grape sugar is converted to alcohol and CO2 gas. Then the use of centrifuge or filters removes yeast cells and other solids, and I stand as a newly fermented wine. I am analyzed and checked with constant care until I reach maturity, when I am bottled and ready for release.
But it was not always so. In the early history of man, especially in the regions recorded in the Bible, I reached my maturity and sweetness during August and September. I was then gathered and placed in limestone vats where men, barefoot and singing as they worked, crushed me gently so that my stems and seeds would not be broken down and very little of the tannic acid in my skins would be released.—Isaiah 16:10; Jeremiah 25:30; 48:33.
Whereas you humans have a tendency to deteriorate with age, I improve. In Bible days, for the aging period I was placed in jars or skin bottles made from the hides of sheep, goats or oxen. Left undisturbed while fermentation took place and the dregs fell to the bottom, I reached my zenith in flavor.
Jesus mentioned this process as an example that the truth of Christianity was too powerful and energetic to be retained by the old system of Judaism, when he stated: “Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins; but if they do, then the wineskins burst and the wine spills out and the wineskins are ruined. But people put new wine into new wineskins, and both things are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17) You see, as my new wine ferments, it generates carbon dioxide gas that can cause the new skin bottles to expand. Old, dry skin bottles would burst under the pressure.
I have long graced the tables not only of common man but especially of kings. Melchizedek, king of Salem, set before Abraham “bread and wine.” (Genesis 14:18) The Pharaohs, served wine by their official cupbearers, enjoyed the fruitage of their many vineyards. (Genesis 40:21) King Ahasuerus, in the days of Mordecai and Esther, had royal wine at his disposal in great quantity. (Esther 1:7) And King Belshazzar enjoyed his wine at the feast of his 1,000 grandees.—Daniel 5:1.
I was included as a commodity in trade between nations, even as I am today. (Nehemiah 13:15; Ezekiel 27:18; Hosea 14:7) King Solomon provided 20,000 baths—approximately 116,200 gallons, or 440,000 liters—of wine, in part payment to Hiram the king of Tyre for building materials and craftsmen in preparation of the temple building. I was used as a tithing contribution for the support of the priests and the Levites. (Deuteronomy 18:3, 4; 2 Chronicles 31:4, 5) I was offered up to Jehovah in sacrificial worship.—Exodus 29:38, 40; Numbers 15:5, 7, 10.
Are you impressed? But there is more. I became involved in the first miracle performed by Christ Jesus when he turned water into wine at a wedding feast. (John 2:2-10) And I gained further prominence when Christ Jesus on the last night spent with his apostles used wine in symbol of the blood he was about to shed.
In symbol and in a figurative sense, I am mentioned in fulfillment of prophecy in the last days when Christ Jesus gathers the grape vines (picturing his enemies) and hurls them “into the great winepress of the anger of God.” (Revelation 14:19, 20; 19:11-16) Removal of all wickedness from the earth would then usher in the conditions mentioned at Isaiah 25:6: “And Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples, in this mountain, a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs, of well-oiled dishes filled with marrow, of wine kept on the dregs, filtered.” And again at Isaiah 65:21: “They will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage.”
Has your estimation of me improved? Well, now, that was my purpose. I want our association to be a joyous one now and for all eternity.—Contributed.