And saith unto him,.... The following words; expressing the common custom used at feasts:

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Have well drunk (μεθυσθῶσι)

Wyc., be filled. Tynd., be drunk. The A.V. and Tynd. are better than the Rev. when men have drunk freely. The ruler of the feast means that when the palates of the guests have become less sensitive through indulgence, an inferior quality of wine is offered. In every instance of its use in the New Testament the word means intoxication. The attempt of the advocates of the unfermented-wine theory to deny or weaken this sense by citing the well-watered garden (Isaiah 58:11; Jeremiah 31:12) scarcely requires comment. One might answer by quoting Plato, who uses βαπτίζεσθαι, to be baptized, for being drunk ("Symposium," 176). In the Septuagint the verb repeatedly occurs for watering (Psalm 65:9, Psalm 65:10), but always with the sense of drenching or soaking; of being drunken or surfeited with water. In Jeremiah 48:26 (Sept. 31:26), it is found in the literal sense, to be drunken. The metaphorical use of the word has passed into common slang, as when a drunken man is said to be wetted or soaked (so Plato, above). The figurative use of the word in the Septuagint has a parallel in the use of ποτίζω, to give to drink, to express the watering of ground. So Genesis 2:6, a mist watered the face of the earth, or gave it drink. Compare Genesis 13:10; Deuteronomy 11:10. A curious use of the word occurs in Homer, where he is describing the stretching of a bull's hide, which, in order to make it more elastic, is soaked (μεθύουσαν) with fat ("Iliad," xvii. 390).

Worse (ἐλάσσω)

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Every man - It is customary, or it is generally done.

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The good wine until now - That which our Lord now made being perfectly pure, and highly nutritive!

And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have {e} well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

(e) Literally, are drunken. Now this saying, to be drunken, does not always refer to being drunk in the evil sense in the Hebrew language, but sometimes signifies an abundant and plentiful use of wine, which is nonetheless a measured amount, as in Ge 43:34.

2:10 Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine. The language of the ruler is sportive, but still he states a custom. The best wine was offered when the appetite of the guests was sharpest and most critical.

Have well drunk. Not intoxicated, but have drunk considerable. Satan gives his good wine first; so the drunkard finds it; so did the prodigal son. Afterwards he gives the bitter; red eyes, pain, hunger, wretchedness.

Thou hast kept the good wine until now. What meaneth Christ making wine? In Palestine there were three kinds of wine: (1) Fermented wines, which, however, were very unlike our fiery liquors, and contained only a small per cent of alcohol. These were mixed with two or three parts of water. The fermented wine was only intoxicating when used in enormous quantities. (2) The unfermented juice of the grape. (3) An intoxicating drink called new wine in Ac 2:13. Whedon says:

We see no reason for supposing that the wine of the present occasion was that upon which Scripture places its strongest interdict (Pr 20:1 23:31; Isa 22:13), rather than that eulogized as a blessing (Ps 104:15; Isa 55:1). Even adopting the view that it was fermented wine, it was totally unlike the fiery and undiluted drinks sold as wines in saloons, used in many families, offered at hotels and wine parties, and even poured out at communion tables. In the use of the usual wine of Palestine there is not the slightest apology for drinking as a beverage the alcoholic drinks which are the curse of our times. With regard to them the only safe rule is to touch not, taste not, handle not (Col 2:21).''

2:10 And saith - St. John barely relates the words he spoke, which does not imply his approving them. When they have well drunk - does not mean any more than toward the close of the entertainment.

10. the good wine … until now-thus testifying, while ignorant of the source of supply, not only that it was real wine, but better than any at the feast.

John 2:10 Parallel Commentaries
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