Q: What did the soldiers at the crucifixion give to Jesus to drink? Matthew 27:34 says that it was vinegar to drink mingled with gall. Mark 15:23 says that it was wine mingled with myrrh. And John 19:29 says that the soldiers filled a sponge with vinegar and delivered it to Jesus by way of a branch of hyssop.
A: First, the SABs citation from John 19:29 is not a parallel to Matthew 27:34 or Mark 15:23; it runs parallel to Mark 15:36. The attestation for the earlier scene is limited to Matthew and Mark.
Second, theres a textual question here. The KJVs text-base in Matthew 27:34 says ochos (vinegar) and the second-century church leader Irenaeus supports this, but a change from oinon (wine) to ochos (vinegar) may have been made so as to conform the Matthean text to Psalm 69:21 (They put gall in my food, and gave me vinegar for my thirst). On the other hand, Matthew himself may have had in mind exactly that connection to Psalm 69:21, and someone else may have changed the text to harmonize with the parallel in Mark.
The earliest extant Greek manuscripts favor wine. If this reading is adopted, one need only observe that this wine was intended to serve as an anaesthetic, and note that as such it would contain both gall and myrrh, among other ingredients. The myrrh would have been added to offset the bitter flavors of the pain-relieving ingredients.
But what if vinegar, the support for which includes an early Middle Egyptian manuscript, is original? No problem; cider could be fairly described as both wine and as vinegar, and this could easily be the main ingredient in the mercy-draught, to which was added various other ingredients including gall and myrrh.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: First, the SABs citation from John 19:29 is not a parallel to Matthew 27:34 or Mark 15:23; it runs parallel to Mark 15:36. The attestation for the earlier scene is limited to Matthew and Mark.
Second, theres a textual question here. The KJVs text-base in Matthew 27:34 says ochos (vinegar) and the second-century church leader Irenaeus supports this, but a change from oinon (wine) to ochos (vinegar) may have been made so as to conform the Matthean text to Psalm 69:21 (They put gall in my food, and gave me vinegar for my thirst). On the other hand, Matthew himself may have had in mind exactly that connection to Psalm 69:21, and someone else may have changed the text to harmonize with the parallel in Mark.
The earliest extant Greek manuscripts favor wine. If this reading is adopted, one need only observe that this wine was intended to serve as an anaesthetic, and note that as such it would contain both gall and myrrh, among other ingredients. The myrrh would have been added to offset the bitter flavors of the pain-relieving ingredients.
But what if vinegar, the support for which includes an early Middle Egyptian manuscript, is original? No problem; cider could be fairly described as both wine and as vinegar, and this could easily be the main ingredient in the mercy-draught, to which was added various other ingredients including gall and myrrh.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
