[Sca-cooks] period date info?

[Chip]

> I don't have one down here in my "office", but bells are going off
> in my head about references to date wine in the Bible.

> Kiri

Not being a bible scholar, I thought I'd take a crack at it anyhow.

I got an electronic copy of the King James Bible from a Project
Gutenberg mirror.  A search for 'date' comes up with no hits.  Not
one.  I was very surprised.  I wondered if maybe it was the text
editor I was using, but several programs later, same result.

Seems that dates aren't mentioned at all.  I wonder if KJV literalists
eat dates?

A little web research seems to point to the Greek term 'sikera' and
the Hebrew term 'shecar' which in the KJV are translated as "strong
drink".  Some new translations seem to feel that these are more
properly translated as "palm wine" or "date wine".  Some bible
scholars feel that these can refer to any of the several beverages of
the time:  beer, apple wine and cider, and various other brews made
from millet, figs, and carob.

So, Kiri, I hope I can save you some frustration -- before you flip
through a KJV by hand for naught, you might try another translation
first.  BTW, the terms in question seem to come up in the book of
Isaiah a couple of times (5:11 and 24:9).

"Is there a bible-ologist in the house?"

Iyad
Easaraigh, Meridies
www.easaraigh.org