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.