(7) Shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured . . . --Better, pour out the drink offering of strong drink. The word shecar, which is here rendered "strong wine," denotes any kind of intoxicating drink, whether made from grapes, honey, or grain; but it is more frequently used to denote a drink which is not made from grapes, as, e.g., in Leviticus 10:9, where the command is given to Aaron and his sons not to drink "wine nor strong drink" (shecar) when they went into the tent of meeting. In the parallel passage in Exodus, the drink offering was to consist of "the fourth part of an hin of wine" (Numbers 29:40). (Comp. Numbers 15:5.) In Exodus 30:9 it is forbidden to pour any drink offering upon the altar of incense, from which passage it has been inferred that the drink offerings were poured upon the altar of burnt sacrifice.

Verse 7. - In the holy place. בַּקֹּדֶשׁ. Septuagint, ἐν τῷ ἀγίῳ. Josephus paraphrases this by περὶ τὸν βωμόν ('Ant.,' 3:10), and so the Targum of Onkelos; Jonathan and the Targum of Palestine render, "from the vessels of the sanctuary." The former would seem to be the real meaning of the original. There is nowhere any specific direction as to the ritual of the drink offering (see on Leviticus 23, and Numbers 15:7, 10), nor is it certain whether it was poured at the foot of the altar (as apparently stated in Ecclus. 1. 15) or poured upon the flesh of the sacrifice on the altar (as seems to be implied in Philippians 2:17). The strong wine. שֵׁכָר. Septuagint, σίκερα. The Targums render it "old wine," because the drink offering was in every other instance ordered to be made with wine (Exodus 29:40, etc.). Shecar, however, was not wine, but strong drink other than wine (such as we call "spirits"), and it is invariably used in that sense in contradistinction to wine (see on Leviticus 10:9; Numbers 6:3, etc.). It can only be supposed that the difficulty of procuring wine in the wilderness had caused the coarser and commoner liquor to be substituted for it. It is certainly remarkable that the mention of shecar should be retained at a time when wine must have been easily obtainable, and was about to become abundant (Deuteronomy 8:8). As it would seem impossible that shecar should have been substituted for wine after the settlement in Canaan, its mention here may be accepted as evidence of the wilderness-origin of this particular ordinance. The quantity ordained (about a quart for each lamb) was very considerable.

28:1-8 God saw fit now to repeat the law of sacrifices. This was a new generation of men; and they were concerned to keep their peace with God when at war with their enemies. The daily sacrifice is called a continual burnt-offering; when we are bid to pray always, at least every morning and evening we should offer up solemn prayers and praises to God. Nothing is added here but that the wine poured out in the drink-offering is to be strong wine, to teach us to serve God with the best we have. It was a figure of the blood of Christ, the memorial of which is still left to the church in wine; and of the blood of the martyrs, which was poured out as a drink-offering on the sacrifice and service of our faith, Php 2:17.And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb,.... For the lamb offered in the morning, along with the meat offering of which went a drink offering, which was of wine, and strong wine too, as the next clause expresses it; the quantity of which was the fourth part of an hin, which was about a quart and half a pint of our measure:

in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering; that is, in the court of the tabernacle upon the altar of burnt offering, which stood there: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem interpret it of old choice wine, old wine being reckoned best, see Luke 5:39, and though this wine was poured out on the altar, and not properly drank by any, yet it was to be the strongest, best, and choicest that could be got, as it was reasonable it should; since it was poured out as a libation or drink offering to the Lord, which was his way of drinking it, as the burning of the sacrifice was his way of eating that; all which was typical of the sufferings, sacrifice, and bloodshed of Christ, which are well pleasing and acceptable to the Lord; see Isaiah 53:10.