Jesus and Sour Wine: Psalm 69:20-21

Moving forward to another prophecy that was fulfilled while Jesus was on the cross, we turn our attention onto several verses tucked within a psalm written by David. Within this psalm, we discover something that seems difficult to believe happened by chance, even though historians might say that this type of thing was common. While I don’t know how significant this connection point is, or if what was described ultimately became common practice for those being crucified during the first century, I do find it amazing how the details David describes are included within Jesus’ crucifixion, and in such a way that it is easy to see the connection.

Let’s read what David wrote. Using the New American Standard Bible, reading from Psalm 69, starting in verse 20, David writes:

²⁰ Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick.
And I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
And for comforters, but I found none.
²¹ They also gave me gall for my food
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

While it would be easy to continue reading, after describing what he was offered, David shifts his focus in the next few verses.

On the surface, while I suspect none of us would want to be put in a situation like David was in while He wrote this psalm, it is interesting in my mind that at a point where there would be no one to comfort or sympathize with him, he would be offered gall and vinegar.

Moving forward to the New Testament, and specifically Jesus’ time on the cross, Matthew’s gospel gives us insight into the fulfillment of this prophecy. In Matthew, chapter 27, starting in verse 33, we learn that:

³³ [And] when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, ³⁴ they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.

John’s gospel records this a little differently, though equally relevant. In John, chapter 19, starting in verse 28, we learn that:

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. ³⁰ Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

I will be the first to acknowledge that I don’t know whether Jesus was offered the wine multiple times during the hours that He hung on the cross. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were multiple points when the wine was offered to Him.

However, taking a step back for a moment, I thought it interesting that the Psalm described gall being mixed with vinegar, while Matthew’s gospel describes gall being mixed with wine. This prompted me to look up what, if any, difference there is between vinegar and wine, or more specifically sour wine, as John’s gospel describes the liquid that was present.

The short search I did turned up the information that vinegar as a term is pretty generic, and that sour wine shares many similar properties with vinegar. Being offered a vinegar that would be edible or drinkable would be very similar, or perhaps even indistinguishable from being offered wine that had turned sour. While some people might consider this change of terms a failed prophecy, I don’t. Instead, sour wine is in my mind a type of vinegar, and Matthew and John are actually describing a more specific substance under the generic heading of vinegar. It also wouldn’t surprise me if the vinegar David writes about being offered would be the same level of edibleness as the sour wine Jesus was offered.

However, aside from the prophetic nature of this offer of wine, is there anything else that we should understand about this detail that was written into Jesus’ time on the cross?

In my mind, there is.

First off, focusing our attention onto the wine and gall mixture that Jesus was offered at the start of His time on the cross, and the detail that Jesus ultimately refused this initial offer, prompts me to understand that Jesus was not interested in hastening His death, or in deadening His senses, which wine and gall would have done. In some places, gall is described as a poison, while other places describe it as a bitter spice. Either way, wine and gall would have numbed Jesus’ senses to the pain of the cross, and while it seems difficult to imagine, if Jesus had done something to minimize the pain He faced on the cross, the case could be made that the price He paid, and the sacrifice He offered, was not as valuable.

Also tied to this thought is the idea that as Someone set apart from birth as dedicated to God, Jesus was to avoid any alcohol or fermented drink. Traditionally this would be called a nazirite pledge, though it is unclear whether Jesus’ life and ministry would be constrained in the same or in a similar way. Also complicating the nazirite pledge is passages that clearly describe Jesus as drinking wine – except that when I search for a passage like this, I cannot find one where Jesus drank wine prior to this crucifixion event. The closest suggestion to Jesus drinking is found in Luke’s gospel, where Jesus is contrasted with John the Baptist who didn’t drink, while Jesus is framed as eating and drinking too much.

Even when describing Jesus’ last supper with His disciples, there isn’t a description given for Jesus drinking from the cup prior to giving it to His followers. Jesus simply promises that He won’t drink from that point on. While it could be said that Jesus drank immediately prior to this statement, it could also simply be a reaffirmation to a non-drinking pledge that was already in effect.

Complicating Jesus’ drinking or not drinking of wine is the Bible’s generic usage of this term. Wine in the Bible is used to describe both fresh, unfermented grape juice, as well as the fermented grape juice that we would call wine in our culture today. This means that we must be extra cautious when understanding what is being described. When the word wine is used, does it mean every type of drink that is derived from grapes, does it mean only unfermented fresh grape juice, or does it mean only fermented grape juice that is more commonly called wine.

Sometimes we have a clue, since some places describe new wine or fresh wine and contrast it with old wine, giving us a clue that new, fresh wine would be unfermented, while old wine was fermented. A clear example of this usage is when Jesus is illustrating new wine being placed in new wineskins rather than in old ones.

My suspicion is that Jesus avoided all forms of grape juice as much as possible, and that the drink in the cup He connected spiritually with His blood would have been new wine, or unfermented grape juice. This is because Jesus’ life was pure and undefiled, and fermentation in a drink that represented Jesus’ life would make it impure.

However, what of Jesus’ time on the cross. While Jesus clearly rejected the wine mixed with gall when He was first raised up on the cross, multiple gospels describe what we read about in John’s gospel that describe Jesus being given sour wine right before His death. It is interesting though that the gospels are almost entirely silent on what Jesus did with the sour wine He was offered. The only clue is in John’s gospel where John says that after Jesus “received” the sour wine, which prompts me to believe Jesus ingested some of it.

If Jesus ingested some of the sour wine that was offered to Him, some might say this act broke His promise to His disciples the night before. However, to contrast the negative way of framing this idea is a powerful, positive symbolic idea: By ingesting some heavily-fermented, impure, sour wine, Jesus was internalizing sinful human nature and taking this imperfection with Him to the grave. This would be a symbolic way of saying that Jesus took our sins with Him to the cross.

While I have no idea whether Jesus ingested the sour wine right before taking His last breath, any way we understand this is powerful. Jesus took our sins, our imperfections, and our guilt with Him to the cross, and He offers us His perfect, sinless life in exchange. This is great news worth sharing and celebrating!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue to seek God first in your life. Accept Jesus’ offer of His sinless life in exchange for our sin-stained lives and lean on Him for help moving through life.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, to purposefully grow closer to Jesus and to God each and every day. Through personal prayer and Bible study, discover just how much God loves you and just how much Jesus wants to redeemed into eternity.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!