Oil and wine were very precious to the Israelitish people, and great store was set on these commodities. They were essential in the daily living, used for food, for cleansing, for offerings in worship, for tithes, and for light. The best of the oil was reserved for anointing and for the lamps. We read in Exodus (27:20), "And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always." When Samuel at the command of the Lord went to seek a king among the sons of Jesse, he filled his horn with oil for the anointing. In the book of Revelation at the opening of the third seal a voice in the midst of the four beasts, after retailing the price for wheat and for barley, gave this command: "And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine."
If the material oil and wine are considered so precious, how immeasurably more precious must be the spiritual reality which they hint. A study of these two words "oil" and "wine" with the Concordances of the writings of our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, gives one a practical understanding of their true significance and their precious value: consecration, gladness, spiritual understanding, inspiration, love; light that shines constantly and food that nourishes eternally.
Christ Jesus said, "No man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles." Mrs. Eddy has in several instances amplified this statement in a most enlightening manner. On page 281 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she says: "Divine Science does not put new wine into old bottles, Soul into matter, nor the infinite into the finite. Our false views of matter perish as we grasp the facts of Spirit. The old belief must be cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the inspiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be lost."
