What Is That?
They gave for my nourishment wormwood, and for my thirst they made me drink vinegar. Psalm 69:22 [Hebrew Bible] Robert Alter
Wormwood – I’m guessing that you have no idea what “wormwood” is. And I’ll bet you’re no better informed about “gall,” the other English translation. But I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the verse before because it is often used as a Messianic prophecy concerning the actions taken at the crucifixion. Of course, it might be applied that way, but I doubt David had the Messiah in mind when he wrote these lyrics. Maybe this will help:
רֹאשׁ (rōʾš) II, gall, venom. (RSV usually “poison”.)
This is probably a Babylonian plant name which originally meant “head” of some kind of plant. It comes to mean “poison” and “poisonous” and occurs twelve times in the ot. The initial occurrence is in Deut 32:32, “Their grapes are grapes of poison.” It is also used to describe bitter waters (Jer 8:14; 9:14; 23:15), “has given us poisoned water to drink.” The “poisoned” or “bitter” water of Palestine may have merely been water too salty to drink. The translation of rōʾš is difficult in some passages, where it is parallel in poetry to another term (Ps 69:21 [H 22]), “They gave me bitter herbs (rōʾš) for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” BDB remarks that the word is always used figuratively.[1]
It’s unlikely that David was literally served poison and vinegar. This is poetic license, imagery used to create a mood. And what is that mood? It is the despair and disgust over the treatment received by others. Not even the simple act of eating and drinking is safe. These foes are so intent to bring him down that they will stoop to poison and ḥōmeṣ. Wait! ḥōmeṣ? Why would David choose this word? The answer isn’t about vinegar. The word means “anything leavened.” And that recalls the cultic prohibition against leavened food during the feast. Vinegar isn’t the issue. Sneaking in something that defiles is. Not only is his food not safe, his religious practice is also undermined. He can trust no one and no thing. It’s convenient to translate this as “vinegar,” but doing so misses the real impact. David’s foes want him to defile himself.
As I write this, American politics comes to mind. The operating principle of political action today seems to be “do anything possible to damage your opponent.” No matter what! Throw all morality aside. Forget ethics. No, rather humiliate, denigrate, smear, castigate—and anything to use in character assassination. Feed your opponent rōʾš. Make him unaware of ḥōmeṣ. Perhaps you thought that political execution is a new wrinkle in the human history of despicable behavior. Ah, not so. In the 10th Century B.C.E., David is feeing the same despairing outrage that is with us today. And that’s the lesson here. The yetzer ha’ra hasn’t changed much in 3000 years. People still behave like animals. When the lioness thinks that the dominant male is no longer worthy of the pride, she kills him and finds another mate. It seems we haven’t progressed much.
Topical Index: ḥōmeṣ, vinegar, rōʾš, wormwood, poison, defile, politics, Psalm 69:22
[1] White, W. (1999). 2098 רֹאשׁ. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 826). Chicago: Moody Press.
