Complaint and Confession of Jerusalem (1:12–22)

In his winepress (1:15). The vineyard and grapes are frequently represented in ancient Near Eastern literature and art. Two types of winepresses have been found in excavations of Iron Age Israel (1200–333 B.C.). The yeqeb refers to the type of winepress found at or near a vineyard. It is typically a large vat or basin cut into bedrock. The gat refers to the type of winepress that was constructed out of stone and mortar inside the city. In either case these vats were typically lined with plaster.

Winepress

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com

The winepress accommodated a load of grapes and the persons who would tread the juice out of the grapes with bare feet. The juice flowed through a drain channel into large earthen jars, where it would ferment into wine. The fact that wine making was such a common and visible part of the culture provided speakers and writers with rich metaphors that their audience would easily understand. While the winepress provides a number of positive metaphors, here the emphasis is on the trampling and crushing aspects.36

May you bring the day you have announced (1:21). A normal component of ancient Near Eastern treaties that established a formal relationship between two parties was the calling upon deities to execute judgment against a treaty-breaker. For example, in the second millennium treaty between Ramesses II of Egypt and the Hittite king Hattusilis, we read: “As for him who shall not keep [this treaty] a thousand gods of the land of Hatti, together with a thousand gods of the land of Egypt, shall destroy his house, his land, and his servants.”37

In the Hebrew Bible, calling on God to execute judgment against his enemies (by extension, the enemies of God’s people are God’s enemies) is in contrast to taking vengeance into one’s own hands. Moses did so (Num. 10:35), as did Deborah (Judg. 5:31), David (Ps. 7; 35; 58; 59; 69; 109; 139), Asaph (Ps. 83), Jeremiah (Jer. 11:20; 15:15; 17:18; 18:21–23; 20:12), and a psalmist in exile (Ps. 137).38