Teaching Team
Honey Bees in Ancient Israel
“May you be inscribed for a sweet new year.” That’s one of the traditional greetings for Rosh Hashanah. It is customary to eat apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah as a symbolic gesture of our wish for a sweet New Year.
You would think that honey plays a prominent part in the Bible. After all, the land of Israel is described as a land flowing with milk and honey. However, most scholars assume that the honey the Bible is referring to is not honey-bee honey, but fruit compote. Therefore “milk and honey” refers to livestock and orchards. There are only two places in the Bible where the mention of honey is definitely honey-bee honey: Jonathan’s honey comb during Saul’s fast and Samson’s honeycomb from the lion.
The kashrut status of honey has even been questioned by some. So was John the Baptist eating locusts and honey, or locusts and fruit compote (or carob pods and fruit compote, as some have suggested)?
Evidence of domestic honey bees in ancient Israel has turned up in a fascinating new discovery at Tel Rehov. Check it out: Honey Bees in Ancient Israel.
Tel Rehov is an ancient Israelite site in the Beth Shean valley. My brother and sister-in-law participated in the dig there a few years ago. If there is time, maybe he will have us stop by the site on the FFOZ Israel trip next month.
When you dip the apple in the honey this year, remember those ancient honey bees, and may you be inscribed this Rosh Hashanah for a sweet new year.
D. Thomas Lancaster
Elul 28, 5767
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Jeremiah | September 11, 2007 4:33 PM