[Greek] πατέω (pateō), [Latin] calcare: to make a path, to tread on, to be trampled under, to tread under foot, trample, to step on, to conquer, to treat dispairingly, to walk; Lk.10:19, Lk.21:24, Rev.14:20, Rev.19:15, Rev.11:2
Jesus give His disciples the power to overcome the powers of Satan
Background Information:
Septuagint/Old Testament: In classical Greek, this term means to walk, to tread, to treat disparagingly, and to maltreat. This term does not denote purposeful movement, but treading of the feet on something. Treading on a winepress indicates the early agricultural activity in cultivation of the vine. Corn and grain are trodden by oxen. Wheat is threshed. This term, used in a negative sense, denotes God judgments in history. This judgment is depicted under the image of the winepress. Treading a land means to take possession of this land. Treading and trampling is the characteristic attitude of the arrogant and ungodly conqueror.
Wine press: In the book of Isaiah 63:1-6 a majestic figure, from Edom, wears crimson red garments. This figure represents the Lord. He treads the wine press in anger. God shows His wrath. The wine press is a symbol of a bloody judgment. The Lord’s garments become red from the judgment battle. The crushed grapes represents the spilled blood. The scripture passage provides the background for the notion of “the grapes of wrath” (wrath of God).
New Testament: This term, as used in the Old Testament, is only found in Luke and Revelations. In Lk.10:19 Jesus grants to His Apostles the power to tread on (overcome) every power of Satan. This makes reference to Psa. 91:13 in which someone, in the shelter of the Most High, was given the power to tread upon the asp and the viper. Lk.21:24 prophecies that Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles. This foreshadows the Gentiles “conquering and subduing” the Jewish opposition against this growing Christian movement. It will be through the Gentiles that Christianity will flourish and spread to the ends of the earth. In Rev.14:20 the winepress will be trodden in God’s anger. This revisits the Old Testament image of the winepress as a symbol for the judgment of divine wrath.
Scripture:
“Behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.” Lk.10:9
Jesus grants to His disciples the power to overcome every power of Satan
“They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Lk.21:24
The house of Israel is to be scattered. The Gentiles will be permitted to have full power over Israel and over all nations of the world. This time begins with the apostleship of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
“The angel threw his sickle into the great wine press of God’s fury. The wine press was trodden outside the city and blood poured out of the wine press to the height of a horse’s bridle for two hundred miles.” Rev.14:19-20
This is a stark warning to the enemies of God. This continues the Old Testament imagery of God’s wrath. All enemies of God, however powerful, will be trodden as easily as grapes are crushed. To tread a person as in a winepress is to destroy or crush that person. The crushed grapes make us think of the image of the spilling of blood.
Conclusion:
Path, calcium
To tread is to make a path. This path may involve trampling, overpowering, conquering, owning, and cultivating. I think most of us already can associate treading upon with agriculture and farming. And most of us already know that a winepress is used to tread or stomp grapes in order to make wine. But I really never connected the dots in how treading a winepress can lead to God’s wrath. I never would have thought to put these two ideas together.
It was quite interesting to discover that there were many nuanced uses of this term in the Old Testament. I was not aware of these non-literal uses. Treading upon someone sounds like what an oppressor or tyrant might do. I would have never thought that this term would be used in a positive sense in Lk.21:24. Perhaps this provides an apt image in how the Gentiles had overcome the Jewish opposition to this growing Christian movement. This is how the Gentiles made their path to all the ends of the earth.
So now you know how we get the “Grapes of Wrath”! So, John Steinbeck borrowed this line for his famous book.