The 'land of milk and honey' is famous for its high quality
honey. Notwithstanding the long debate over whether each reference to
honey in the bible actually refers to date honey or comb honey, there
are several definitive references to honey in the old testament:
- Deuteronomy XXXII, 13: ”…and he made him to suck honey out of the rock.” - This refers to the difficulty of extracting honey from inside rocks, which are the second most popular residence for feral bees, after hollow logs.
- Samuel XIV 27: “But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath…and dipped it (the stick) in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.” - Who has not seen a child eating honey for the first time, or the strength gained by eating just a few teaspoons of honey? Indeed, honey enlightens the soul and satisfies the physical cravings of hunger and frailty.
- Solomon’s songs (Song of Songs IV, 11): “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb, honey and milk are under your tongue” and later (V, 1): “I have come into my garden, o my sister/spouse… I have eaten honeycomb with my honey.” - Both of these describe what later became idiomatic - the reference to your loved one as “honey”. In addition, the feeling and practice of love is described and compared to the sheer sweetness and joy of eating honey straight from a honeycomb.
- And then there is of course the famous story of Samson who found a honey bee hive within the corpse of a lion that he had sleign previously. (Judges XIV, 8): “…and he turned to see the carcass of the lion: and behold there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion”. Samson turned this into a riddle (XIV, 14): “And he said unto them - out of the eater came forth food, and out of the bold came forth sweetness” for which the answer was (XIV, 18): “What is sweeter than honey, and what is bolder than a lion?” - This riddle subsequently became symbolic for many, for example: i) regeneration in nature; ii) sometimes you’re up, sometimes your down; iii) Leveraging unorthodox situations to one’s advantage.
