All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground.
KJV
And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.
Commentary
Commentary
And all they of the land came to a wood,.... Which lay between Bethaven and Aijalon; by whom are meant not all the inhabitants of the land of Israel, but all that came with Saul and Jonathan, and that joined them in the pursuit:
and there was honey upon the ground; which dropped upon it, as in the following verse, or where it was produced by bees; for Aristotle (r) reports, that bees in some places make their combs upon the ground; this was wild honey, which Diodorus Siculus (s) speaks of as common in Arabia, and which perhaps John the Baptist ate of,
Mat 3:4
. Jarchi says, this was the honey of canes, or sugar canes, which grew in the land of Israel; and affirms from Nathan an Ishmaelite, that in the Ishmaelitish or Arabic language they call honey, sugar; but neither of these can be proved.
(r) Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 22. (s) Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 731.
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Commentary
Commentary