Psalms 78:47

He destroyed their vines— Egypt is not by any means a wine country, nor ever was; so far from it, that they were forced to use a sort of beer for common drink, and do so to this day, made of barley and some intoxicating drug; this country not producing, like other countries in the east, wine in such quantities, as to be tolerably proportionate to the wants of its inhabitants. We may therefore, perhaps, wonder that their vines should have been considered by the Psalmist as so important to be singled out, together with their sycamores, from their other trees, in his account of the destruction made among them by the hail; and may fancy that there must have been other trees of much more consequence to them, and in particular the date, which Maillet affirms to be the most esteemed at this time in Egypt on account of its profitableness. But it ought to be remembered, that many trees which are now found in Egypt, might not have been introduced in those times. Dr. Pococke supposes, that very few of the present Egyptian trees are natives; the sycamore and the vine might at that time therefore be very well thought the most valuable that they had. Their sycamores were undoubtedly very important to them, and their destruction a heavy loss. The ancient Egyptian coffins were made of this kind of wood, as are the modern barques according to Norden, of which they have such numbers on the Nile; and, consequently, we may believe that their ancient barques, of multitudes of which they must always have stood in great need, on account of their country, were made of the same wood. But beside these uses, they produce a sort of fig upon which, Norden informs us, the people, for the greater part, live; thinking themselves well regaled when they have a piece of bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a pitcher filled with water from the Nile. If their vines too were as useful then as they are now, the loss of them was very great. Their fruit serves for a considerable part of the entertainments that they give their friends: so Norden was treated by the Aga of Essuaen with coffee, and some bunches of grapes of an excellent taste, but small. If we may believe Maillet, they make still more of the leaves of their vines than they do of their fruit, using them when young prodigiously; for, minced-meat being one great part of their diet, they wrap it up in little parcels in vine-leaves, and, laying thus leaf upon leaf, season it after their mode, and so cook it, and make it a most exquisite sort of food, and one of the most delicious that comes upon their tables. But, beside these uses, they make some wine, which, though now it is made in very small quantities, as it is also in other Mahometan countries, yet was anciently much more plentiful, and even exported: for though, as was before observed, Egypt never produced wine in such quantities as to be tolerably proportionate to the number of its inhabitants, as in many other countries; yet they made so much, and that so delicious, as that it was carried to Rome, and so much drank there, as to be very well known in that seat of luxury; insomuch that Maillet, who never forgets any of the excellencies of this country, tells us, it was the third in esteem of their wines. It was made then, without doubt, and in considerable quantities, for the use of Pharaoh, and of his court, (Genesis 40:9; Genesis 40:23.) who, probably, could procure no such wine from abroad, nor were acquainted with such liquors as the great now drink in Egypt; and consequently the loss of their vines must have been considerable. As to the date-trees, which are said to be the most important now of any to the Egyptians, and which are mentioned neither in this psalm nor in the 105th; may we not suppose that the storm of hail did not reach them? The trees, it is certain, which produce the best dates in Egypt, grow in the desarts, where it seems nothing else grows, and there they are in great numbers; and as hailstones are not wont to extend very far, so there is no reason in the world to suppose that this storm reached to those desarts. It was sufficient if it fell with severity before the eyes of Pharaoh, and demolished the country which was cultivated, and particularly that part which was near to him; agreeable to which, we may observe, that the vineyards of Egypt were in the country of Fioum, which, according to William of Tyre, is but one day's journey from Cairo, and consequently less from Memphis, the old royal city; Memphis and Fioum lying both south-west of Cairo. As for the sycamores,

Dr. Pococke tells us, they are planted near villages, especially about Cairo, and consequently not far from Memphis. Upon the whole, it is no wonder that we have no account of any damage done to their date-trees, and that their sycamores and vines are distinguished from their other trees in the Mosaic history of this desolation. See Observations, p. 370.