A land of wheat and barley
There were two harvests in it, one a barley harvest, which began
at the passover, and the other a wheat harvest, which began at
Pentecost: instances of the great plenty of these might be
observed in the vast quantities consumed in the times of Solomon,
in his household, and in the yearly distribution he made to
Hiram, ( 1 Kings 4:22
1 Kings
4:28 ) ( 5:11 ) (
2
Chronicles 2:10 ) , yea, there was such plenty of wheat in
this land, that it not only supplied the inhabitants of it, but
even furnished other countries with it; with this the merchants
of Israel and Judah traded at the market of Tyre, ( Ezekiel
27:17 ) ( Acts 12:20 ) . According
to the Jewish writers, the best fine wheat flour was at Mechumas
and Mezonichah, and the next to them was Chephraim, or Ephraim,
in the valley F8:
and vines;
with which this land abounded everywhere; the places most noted
were Lebanon, Eshcol, Engedi, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Sarepta;
according to the above writers F9, Cerotim and Hatolim were the
first for wine, and the second to them were Beth Rimah and Beth
Laban in the mountain, and Caphat Sigmah in the valley; the wine
of Sharon is also highly commended by them F11
and fig trees and pomegranates:
according to Josephus F12, the country of Gennesaret
furnished with the best grapes and figs for ten months without
intermission, and the rest of fruits throughout the whole year.
Figs and pomegranates, the spies brought with them when they
returned from searching the land, as well as grapes, are a
specimen of the fruits of it, ( Numbers
13:23 )
a land of oil olive;
the mount of Olives was famous for olive trees, and had its name
from thence; the whole land abounded with them, and though oil
was so much in common use with the Jews, they supplied their
neighbours with it: see ( 1 Kings 5:11
) ( 2 Chronicles
2:10 ) ( Ezekiel
27:17 ) . It was usual also, as we are told, for the ten
tribes to send oil into Egypt F13; according to the Jewish
doctors, Tekoah was the first place for oil, and the second,
Ragab, beyond Jordan F14; very probably the same with Argob,
( Deuteronomy 3:4 ) .
and honey;
besides the great quantities of honey produced by bees in this
country, there was much of another sort that dropped from trees,
called wild honey, the food of John the Baptist in the
wilderness, ( Matthew 3:4 ) . Pliny
F15 speaks of a sort of honey which he
calls "eloeomeli", or oil honey, which is said to flow from the
olive trees in Syria; but this honey here is generally thought by
the Jewish writers to be an honey which was made of the fruit of
palm trees, frequent in this country, and especially about
Jericho; of which Josephus F16 says, that the palm trees
about Jericho, the fatter of them (i.e. of the fruit of them)
being pressed, emit a large quantity of honey, scarce exceeded by
any; and Maimonides F17 says, that the honey spoken of in
the law, particularly in this place, is honey of palm trees, so
Ben Melech; and it was not unusual for people of other nations to
make honey of the fruit of them. Herodotus F18
reports, that the Babylonians made honey out of palm trees; so
the Arabs call honey of palm trees "dibs, dibis, dipso"
F19, the same with the word here used;
agreeably to which both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem
paraphrase the words,
``out of whose palm trees honey is made.''