Honey
(1.) Heb. ya’ar, occurs only 1 Sam 14:25, 1 Sam 14:27, 1 Sam 14:29; Song 5:1, where it denotes the honey of bees. Properly the word signifies a forest or copse, and refers to honey found in woods.
(2.) Nopheth, honey that drops (Ps 19:10; Prov 5:3; Song 4:11).
(3.) Debash denotes bee-honey (Judg 14:8); but also frequently a vegetable honey distilled from trees (Gen 43:11; Ezek 27:17). In these passages it may probably mean “dibs,” or syrup of grapes, i.e., the juice of ripe grapes boiled down to one-third of its bulk.
(4.) Tsuph, the cells of the honey-comb full of honey (Prov 16:24; Ps 19:10).
(5.) “Wild honey” (Matt 3:4) may have been the vegetable honey distilled from trees, but rather was honey stored by bees in rocks or in trees (Deut 32:13; Ps 81:16; 1 Sam 14:25–29).
Canaan was a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:8). Milk and honey were among the chief dainties in the earlier ages, as they are now among the Bedawin; and butter and honey are also mentioned among articles of food (Isa 7:15). The ancients used honey instead of sugar (Ps 119:103; Prov 24:13); but when taken in great quantities it caused nausea, a fact referred to in Prov 25:16, Prov 25:17 to inculcate moderation in pleasures. Honey and milk also are put for sweet discourse (Song 4:11).
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
