Skin, or wineskin(s)

(Gen. 21:14, Judg. 4:19). Ancient vessels for the storage of wine and water were made from the skins of various animals, which were carefully cleaned and prepared in a particular manner for this purpose. The openings of the skins were sewn up, except for the neck, through which the liquid was poured in. Skins, of course, were of various sizes, depending on the hide of the animal from which they were made, such as goat, ox, camel, and others. According to Bruce’s account, he saw in Arabia a skin made from an ox hide, which could hold sixty gallons of water (eighteen buckets), and only two such skins could be loaded onto a camel.

The Gibeonites brought to Joshua old, torn, and patched wineskins, as if in proof that they had come from a very distant and difficult journey (Josh. 9:4). Torn skins were mended with patches. Travelers in the countries of the East frequently mention goatskins and leather vessels, in which they carried water on their journeys; where the journey became difficult and the goatskins might strike against one another, they were made of the most durable material that could be found. Skins, or vessels, used for new wine were prepared from the freshest, most stretchable hide, so that they might better withstand the process of the wine’s fermentation.

A new skin was usually soft and stretchable, as may be seen from the following expression of Job: “Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles” (Job 32:19); but old skins became hard, dry, and full of holes, and easily burst under any outward pressure. It is for this reason that the Savior says: “Men do not put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish. But they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved” (Matt. 9:17).

These words show that weak, not-yet-established disciples should not be burdened with heavy commandments. Skins became black and smoke-stained from smoke; wherefore the psalmist says: “I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes” (Ps. 119:83). Skins and vessels made of other materials besides leather, such as alabaster, porcelain, and metals, are found at present among the remains of the ancient Egyptians, and were, in all likelihood, known to the Hebrews as well (Judg. 4:19).