A major aspect of the vine imagery occurs in the biblical emphasis upon the “shoot of Jesse,” previously noted, which has been interpreted to refer to the coming messiah and which clearly was used as a scriptural “blueprint” in the creation of the Christ character. The relevant messianic verse at Isaiah 11:1 states:
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
We have seen that the Bible is full of grape and wine references, indicating the plant and beverage’s importance to Jews and others of the region. The vineyard and winepress were valuable parts of Israelite culture, especially in the rest of the Tanakh beyond the Torah.
“From being relatively unimportant, the deities of wine and the vine gradually came to the forefront of religious consciousness, as symbols concerned with rebirth and the life hereafter….
“Who were the Semites in Egypt? Can they…
“This is Manetho’s account [of the Hyksos]; and evident it…
