The Vine, with its fruit, the grape, as well as wine, is very frequently mentioned in Scripture, as might be expected from its being a native of the East, well known to ancient nations, and highly esteemed for its various natural and artificial products. The vine is a native of the hilly region on the southern shores of the Caspian, and in the Persian province of Ghilan. Every part of it was and still continues to be highly valued. The sap was at one time used in medicine. Verjuice expressed from wild grapes is well known for its acidity. The late Sir A. Burnes mentions that in Cabul they use grape powder, obtained by drying and powdering the unripe fruit, as a pleasant acid. When ripe, the fruit is everywhere highly esteemed, both fresh and in its dried state as raisins. The juice of the ripe fruit, called must, is valued as a pleasant beverage. By fermentation, wine, alcohol, and vinegar are obtained; the lees yield tartar; an oil is sometimes expressed from the seeds; and the ashes of the twigs were formerly valued in consequence of yielding a salt, which we now know to be carbonate of potash.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the vine is so frequently mentioned both in the Old and in the New Testament, for it was one of the most valuable products of Palestine, and of particularly fine quality in some of the districts. Those of Eshcol, Sorek, Jibmah, Jazer, and Abel, were particularly distinguished.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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