Vinegar Tasters

I have a book about vinegar on my bookshelf. Vinegar, it tells me, has a 10,000 year history. It's mentioned in the bible several times. In Numbers 6: 2 – 4, Nazirites had to abstain from wine vinegar or vinegar made from other fermented drinks. (A Nazirite was a Jew who took a special vow which, after a period of time, made him or her 'holy unto the Lord' and qualified him/her to make three offerings: a burnt offering, a sin offering and a peace offering to God). In Ruth 2: 14, Boaz favours Ruth with an offer of bread dipped in wine vinegar. Psalm 69: 21 offers the prophetic words "They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst", and in each of the gospels there is mention of Jesus being offered wine vinegar to drink during the crucifixion. I've often wondered about this. What I didn't realise before is that the Romans had a custom of drinking Posca, 'a refreshing mixture of water and vinegar, as part of every meal and for its antiseptic properties'.*

Was it given by the soldiers, to mock him (as the Gospel of Luke indicates), or by his beloved followers in response to his words "I am thirsty" (as the verse in context in the Gospels of Mark and John suggests)? Talking of Jesus' followers, they weren't called Christians at first. They were known as followers of 'The Way'.

Tao (or Dao) is a Chinese character often translated as 'way' or 'path', and there are many parallels between the precepts taught by Lao-tse (or Lau Tsu), author of the oldest existing book on Taoism, and the teachings of the Bible eg:
The Tao of heaven is to take from those who have too much and give to those who do not have enough. Man’s way is different. He takes from those who do not have enough to give to those who already have too much.

But to get back to the subject of vinegar … please follow this link to read an excerpt from The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
http://www.taoism.net/sanctuary/books/vintaste.htm






*Vinegar – 1001 Practical Uses by Margaret Briggs