Vinegar

At mealtime Boaz tells Ruth, “dip thy morsel in the vinegar.” It is an ordinary food in an ordinary scene. Elsewhere vinegar is sour and unwelcome: Proverbs says a sluggard is to his employers “as vinegar to the teeth.” Then comes the sadder use. A psalmist writes, “in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” At the cross, the Gospels tell of a sponge filled with vinegar lifted on a reed to Jesus’ mouth. Matthew 27 and John 19 are where to read that scene, with Psalm 69:21 beside them.

7 verses

Ruth

Ruth 2:14

And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.

Psalms

Psalms 69:21

They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Proverbs

Proverbs 10:26

As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.

Matthew

Matthew 27:34

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

Matthew 27:48

And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

Mark

Mark 15:23

And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.

John

John 19:29

Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Heb. hometz, Gr. oxos, Fr. vin aigre; i.e., “sour wine.” The Hebrew word is rendered vinegar in Ps. 69:21, a prophecy fulfilled in the history of the crucifixion (Matt. 27:34). This was the common sour wine (posea) daily made use of by the Roman soldiers. They gave it to Christ, not in derision, but from compassion, to assuage his thirst. Prov. 10:26 shows that there was also a stronger vinegar, which was not fit for drinking. The comparison, “vinegar upon nitre,” probably means “vinegar upon soda” (as in the marg. of the R.V.), which then effervesces.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

The Hebrew word translated "vinegar" was applied to a beverage consisting generally of wine or strong drink turned sour, but sometimes artificially made by an admixture of barley and wine, and thus liable to fermentation. It was acid even to a proverb, (Proverbs 10:26) and by itself formed an unpleasant draught, (Psalms 49:21) but was used by laborers. (Ruth 2:14) Similar was the acetum of the Romans --a thin, sour wine, consumed by soldiers. This was the beverage of which the Saviour partook in his dying moments. (Matthew 27:48; Mark 15:36; John 19:29,30)