1 Samuel 14:25

25 even though they had all found honeycomb on the ground in the forest.

1 Samuel 14:25 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:25

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 ^F18 reports, that bees in some places make their combs upon the ground; this was wild honey, which Diodorus Siculus ^F19 speaks of as common in Arabia, and which perhaps John the Baptist ate of, ( Matthew 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 22.
F19 Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 731.

1 Samuel 14:25 In-Context

23 So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle continued to rage even beyond Beth-aven.

24 Now the men of Israel were pressed to exhaustion that day, because Saul had placed them under an oath, saying, “Let a curse fall on anyone who eats before evening—before I have full revenge on my enemies.” So no one ate anything all day,

25 even though they had all found honeycomb on the ground in the forest.

26 They didn’t dare touch the honey because they all feared the oath they had taken.

27 But Jonathan had not heard his father’s command, and he dipped the end of his stick into a piece of honeycomb and ate the honey. After he had eaten it, he felt refreshed.