botanical background
order: Vitales
family: Vitaceae
genus: Vitis
species: Common grape vine (Vitis vinifera)
attributes: climbing bush, if not cut back, it can reach a height of ten meters, heart shaped leaves
origin: domesticated form of wild vine
Indigenous to central and south eastern Europa up to central Asia and Iran can be dated back to 5000 BC in southern Caucasus Mountains (Georgia) and Mesopotamia (Iraque)
habitat: moderate or subtropic climate
In the Bible
I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every one that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bring forth more fruit.
John 15,1-2
The vine is one of the most commonly mentioned plants in the Bible. Owing to the perfect climate conditions for the cultivation of vine in Palestine the vinyard with his annual harvest and products was an integral part of everyday life in the worlds of Old and New Testament. The cultivation of vinyard was more or less restricted to wealthy classes, because much money and time had to be invested, before the gains could be collected. As a staple food drunk every day during meals and feasts wine was considered healthy (Jes 5,12), because unlike the at the time water it did not contained germs. Wine was appraised as a gift of God (Proverbs 3,9-10) and a sign of peace and affluence.
The New Testament doesn‘t only contain the wine miracle worked by Jesus at a wedding as a key moment (Joh 2,1-12), but also the last supper, where Christ declares wine a symbol of his blood amongst his disciples. The Gospel of John even has him calling himself a vine. The image symbolizes the relation between the disciples and Christ as basis for a fruitfull life.
mentions: several
other text passages (selected):
Genesis 9,21
Deuteronomy 16,13
1. Chronicles 12,41
Psalms 104,15
Proverbs 20,1
High Song 7,9
Isaiah 5,1-10
Matthew 26,27
Luke 6,44
John 2,7-9
Sources
Hepper, F. Nigel: Pflanzenwelt der Bibel. Eine illustrierte Enzyklopädie von F. Nigel Hepper, Stutgart 1992, 96-102.
Riede, Peter: Weinstock/Weinberg/Weinproduktion, in: Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet (Aug. 2022), URL: https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/wibilex/das-bibellexikon/lexikon/sachwort/anzeigen/details/weinberg-weinstock-weinproduktion/ch/a7013aea1d0c21431df1a0006e1da476/ (abgerufen 06.06.2023).
Modern King James Version.
