We are in Numbers chapter six with our word for today. עֵנָב wine-berry, grape. It is used 19 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used in the sense of raisin, a dried grape. Hosea 3:1 Even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes עֲנָבִֽים of raisins.” All the other uses of our word are in the sense of grape, any of various juicy fruit of the genus Vitis with green or purple skins that grow in clusters. Our word is used to describe what is less than desirable related to what is wild. Isaiah 5:2, 4 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield עֲנָבִ֖ים grapes, but it yielded בְּאֻשִֽׁים [this is a different word that means worthless things, here translated as sour or wild grapes] wild grapes … What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield עֲנָבִ֖ים grapes, why did it yield בְּאֻשִֽׁים [this is again a different word used earlier] wild grapes? Hosea 9:10 כַּעֲנָבִ֣ים Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved. We also find our word used to describe something that is desirable related to an overabundance or prosperity. Numbers 13:17-18, 20, 23 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is … whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe עֲנָבִֽים grapes … And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster עֲנָבִים֙ of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. Amos 9:13-14 Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of עֲנָבִ֖ים grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. We see our word used in the making of wine. Genesis 40:10-11 On the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened עֲנָבִֽים into grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took הָֽעֲנָבִ֗יםthe grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. Genesis 49:11 Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood עֲנָבִ֖ים of grapes. Deuteronomy 32:14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat— and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the עֵנָ֖ב grape. This is the context of how our word is used in our chapter today. Numbers 6:2-4 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice עֲנָבִים֙ of grapes or eat וַעֲנָבִ֛ים grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. As we have already seen when we looked at our word Nazirite that the point of separating yourself was the desire to glorify God and obey his word. In our context it was one of the ways that was described for this special vow. Throughout the Bible we find our word used in the sense of the outcome or what is produced on the outside from what starts or is inside or not visible. Deuteronomy 32:32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their עֲנָבֵ֙מוֹ֙ עִנְּבֵי grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter. We see this continued into the New Testament that translates the word as grape(s). We see it used by both Jesus and James in this same way. Luke 6:43-45 For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. James 3:12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? I’ll close with how the Holy Spirit uses this word in the ultimate outcome of evil that has been produced which will be judged. Revelation 14:18-19 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
