Vinegar

Vinegar in the Bible refers to sour wine (hometz in Hebrew, oxos in Greek), produced when wine undergoes further fermentation and becomes acidic. It was a common beverage of laborers and soldiers in the ancient world, being inexpensive and thirst-quenching when mixed with water (the Roman posca). Boaz's workers dipped their bread in vinegar (Ruth 2:14), and the Nazirite vow prohibited its consumption along with wine (Numbers 6:3). Proverbs 10:26 uses the sharpness of vinegar on the teeth as a metaphor for the irritation a sluggard causes his employer.

The theological weight of vinegar concentrates in its association with the suffering of the Messiah. Psalm 69:21—"They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink"—is cited as a prophetic text fulfilled at the crucifixion. The Gospel accounts record that Jesus was offered vinegar mixed with gall (Matthew 27:34) as an act of mockery or compassion; he tasted it and refused. Shortly before his death he was offered vinegar on a sponge (John 19:29), which he received, enabling him to speak his final words. These scenes stand as direct fulfillments of the Davidic psalm's prophetic complaint.