They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
All Commentaries on Matthew 27:34 Go To Matthew 27
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And they gave Him wine (Arab. and A. V, vinegar) to drink mingled with gall. This was while the Cross was being made ready, and Christ was resting for a while. Wine used to be given to condemned criminals to quench their thirst, and to strengthen them also to endure their sufferings, as it is said ( Proverbs 31:6), "Give strong drink unto those that are ready to perish, and wine to those in bitterness of heart." But the Jews, with untold barbarity, made this wine bitter with gall, partly to insult and partly to give Him pain. Whence Christ complains, "They gave Me gall to eat" (Tertullian, Lib. x. contra Judos, reads "to drink"); for the gall was Christ"s food, the wine His drink. Euthymius thinks that bits of dried gall were steeped in vinegar, so that the vinegar was in the place of wine, and the bits of gall instead of the morsel of bread which is thrown into the wine, that those who are faint might drink first and eat afterwards.
This was different from the draught given to Christ on the Cross, this being of wine, the latter of vinegar. The Greek writers here mention "vinegar," but it was probably only a sour kind of wine. On the first occasion Christ says, "They gave Me gall to eat;" on the second, "They gave Me vinegar to drink." S. Mark terms it "wine mingled with myrrh," myrrh and gall having been mixed together, or because the myrrh, from being bitter, was called gall. So say all the Fathers and commentators, except Baronius, who considered that the wine was flavoured with myrrh and other spices. But the Jews would not have allowed this to be given to Christ. Baronius seems afterwards (vol. x. ad fin.) to have changed his opinion.
And when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink. Either as offended at the Jews for offering so nauseous a draught, or as wishing to suffer greater thirst on the Cross, and thus set us an example of self-mortification.
Palamon is said to have refused to taste some wild herbs which his disciple Pachomius had, for his Easter repast, flavoured with oil, saying, "My Lord had vinegar to drink, and shall I taste oil?"
