Texts in Conversation
In 1QSa from the Dead Sea Scrolls, new wine belongs to a priestly and messianic banquet. In Matthew 9, Jesus uses new wine to explain why new practices need suitable forms, giving a familiar image of renewal a different application.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1QSa 2:14
Rule of the Congregation
Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts
14 [before him, each] according to his honor. And afterward the Messiah of Israel [shall sit], and before him shall sit the heads of 15 [the thousands of Israel, each] according to his honor, according to [his position] in their camps and on their marches. And all 16 the heads of the [fathers of the] congregation, with the wise men [of the holy congregation], shall sit before them, each according to 17 his honor. And [if] they gather [at the] table of the community [or to drink the] new wine, and the table of the community is set 18 [and the] new wine [is mixed] for drinking, no one [shall stretch out] his hand to the first portion of 19 the bread and [the new wine] before the priest, for [he] blesses the first portion of the bread 20 and the new wine, [and stretches out] his hand to the bread first. And afterward the Messiah of Israel stretches out his hands 21 to the bread. [And afterward] all the congregation of the community [shall bless], each [according to] his honor. And by this statute they shall act
Date: 160–100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 9:17
New Testament
14 Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?” 15 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment because the patch will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse. 17 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.”
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... the image of new wine is suggested by the context of a feast at the beginning of a new age. When Hosea describes the restoration of the marriage of Israel, the wife is given vineyards (2:16-17) and the Lord will cause the earth to produce grain and תִּירוֹש, “new wine.” New wine is associated with the eschatological age in Joel 2:24 and is the wine served in the messianic banquet in 1QSa. The noun תִּירוֹש was used in 1QSa because this is the wine set aside for the priests in the first fruits offering (for the details, see Long, Jesus the Bridegroom, 160) ... in both metaphors everything is ruined, both the old and the new. It is not the case that new wine is somehow preserved when it bursts the old wineskin. It too spills all over the ground in this ruined! The clothing is ruined when it is inappropriately patched. If this is an allegorical description of the state of the church during Matthew’s day, then it is difficult to see how the new wine of the Christian church has destroyed the old Jewish wineskin yet somehow was preserved ..."
Phillip J. Long, What Did Jesus Mean by “Old and New Wineskins”? (Grace Christian University, 2020), 1–5.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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