“A Land Flowing With Milk and Honey”

WHEN Jehovah God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, he promised to bring them “to a land good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”​—Exodus 3:8.

As the Israelites settled in the Promised Land, they raised cows, sheep, and goats, thus having an abundant supply of milk. What, though, about honey? Some believe that the expression refers to sweet syrup made from dates, figs, or grapes. And most of the specific Bible references to the honey of bees is to wild honey, not to a cultivated crop. (Judges 14:8, 9; 1 Samuel 14:27; Matthew 3:1, 4) Was the land really “flowing” with honey as well as with milk?

A recent archaeological find in modern-day Israel provides a clearer picture. Of the discovery, a Hebrew University press release stated: “This is the earliest apiary [beehive colony] to be revealed to date in an archaeological excavation anywhere in the Ancient Near East, said Prof. (Amihai) Mazar. It dates from the 10th to early 9th centuries B.C.E.”

The archaeologists found more than 30 beehives in three rows, and they estimated that the total area would have contained some 100 beehives. Study of the beehives has found parts of bees’ bodies and beeswax molecules in the remains. Scholars estimate that “as much as half a ton of honey could be culled each year from these hives.”

In ancient times, not only was honey delicious food but beeswax was used in the metal and leather industries. Another use was for writing boards made of a wooden panel with a recess filled with beeswax, which could be melted down for reuse. What conclusion do the archaeologists draw from this discovery?

“While the Bible tells us nothing about beekeeping in Israel at that time,” continues the press release, “the discovery of the apiary at Tel Rehov indicates that beekeeping and the extraction of bees’ honey and honeycomb was a highly developed industry as early as the First [Solomon’s] Temple period. Thus, it is possible that the term ‘honey’ in the Bible indeed pertains to bees’ honey.”

[Picture Credit Line on page 15]

Institute of Archaeology/​Hebrew University © Tel Rehov Excavations