Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Lees
Subjects in this Topic:
(only in the plural ùְׁîָøַéí , shemarim', from ùָׁîִø , to keep [Jer_48:11; Zep_1:12; rendered “wines on the lees” in Isa_25:6; “dregs” in Psa_75:8]; Sept. ôñõãßáé ; Vulgate faeces). The Hebrew term ùֶׁîֶø , shemer (the presumed singular form of the above), bears the radical sense of preservation, and was applied to ‘“lees” from the custom of allowing the wine to stand on the lees in order that its color and body might be better preserved; hence the expression “wine on the lees,” as meaning a generous, full-bodied liquor (Isa_25:6; see Henderson, ad loc.). The wine in this state remained, of course, undisturbed in its cask, and became thick and syrupy; hence the proverb “to settle upon one's lees,” to express the sloth, indifference, and gross stupidity of the ungodly (Jer_48:11; Zep_1:12). Before the wine was consumed it was necessary to strain off the lees; such wine was then termed “well refined” (Isa_25:6). To drink the lees or “dregs” was an expression for the endurance of extreme punishment (Psa_75:8). An ingenious writer in Kitto's Cyclopaedia (s.v. Shemarim) thinks that some kind of preserves from grapes are meant in Isa_25:6, as the etymology of the word suggests; but this supposition, although it clears the passage from some difficulties, is opposed to the usage of the term in the other places. SEE WINE.