the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
came
בָּ֣אוּBa.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
wood
בַיָּ֑עַרvai.Ya.'ar
H3293
a copse of bushes · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
honey
דְבַ֖שׁde.Vash
H1706
honey (from its stickiness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
upon
פְּנֵ֥יpe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
ground
הַשָּׂדֶֽהha.sa.Deh
H7704
a field (as flat) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unt…
Numbers 13:27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit…
Deuteronomy 9:28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and becau…
Matthew 3:4-5 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 14:24-35
We have here an account of the distress of the children of Israel, even in the day of their triumphs. Such alloys are all present joys subject to. And such obstructions does many a good cause meet with, even when it seems most prosperous, through the mismanagement of instruments.
I. Saul forbade the people, under the penalty of a curse, to taste any food that day, Sa1 14:24. Here we will suppose, 1. That as king he had power to put his soldiers under this interdict, and to bind it on with a curse; and therefore they submitted to it, and God so far owned it as to discover, by the lot, that Jonathan was the delinquent that had meddled with the accursed thing (though ignorantly), on which accou…
all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey--The honey is described as "upon the ground," "dropping" from the trees, and in honeycombs--indicating it to be bees' honey. "Bees in the East are not, as in England, kept in hives; they are all in a wild state. The forests literally flow with honey; large combs may be seen hanging on the trees as you pass along, full of honey" [ROBERTS].
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 14:25
There was honey upon the ground - There were many wild bees in that country, and Judea is expressly said to be a land flowing with milk and honey.
John Gill on 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 (r) reports, that bees in some places make their combs upon the ground; this was wild honey, which Diodorus Siculus (s) 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 Ishmaelit…
The Church Fathers
There follows: (Verses 25, 26) "And all the common people of the land came into a forest, in which there was honey upon the surface of the field. And so the people entered the forest, and flowing honey appeared, and no one put his hand to his mouth." A forest is a wooded and hilly place. By this name, indeed, the hearts of worldly people are fittingly designated, because while they serve external cares with all their attention, like wooded places, they are not cultivated for the fruit of good work by the plowshare of preaching. And who are signified by the name of the common people in this passage, if not religious and simple men? Indeed, they are called the common people of the earth: because they are great in good work, yet they are not great in the loftiest contemplation. Noble indeed in action, but common people in comparison with the highest men. What then does it mean that the common people of the earth came into the forest, except that religious and simple men, through the examples of their good works, are often brought to the notice of worldly people? There honey appears in the field, because from the example of good work among worldly people they find both the breadth of devotion and the fruit of reverence. For what is a field in a forest, if not devotion in the uncultivated and unpurged heart of worldly people? And what is honey upon the surface of the field, if not the sweetness of favor? This is rightly said to appear after the entrance of the common people, because indeed the rough hearts of worldly people, if they do not first see the examples of religious men, are unable either to stretch themselves out in the breadth of devotion or to proclaim the glory of another's holiness. Before the entrance, there is only a forest, having neither a field nor flowing honey. But after the entrance, it has both the breadth of a field and the sweetness of honey, because often those who love the world receive the examples of the saints with fervent love, so that the good they see not only pleases them, but they also ardently desire to proclaim it. Yet the life of the saints is to be praised, and that praise must in no way be seized by them to whom it belongs through vainglory. It ought only to be seen, not received, so that one may rejoice that God is glorified in his work, but may scorn to be exalted on account of God's grace. Hence it is carefully…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bee — First mentioned in Deut. 1:44. Swarms of bees, and the danger of their attacks, are mentioned in Ps. 118:12. Samson found a “swarm of bees” in the carcass of a lion he had slain (Judg. 14:8). Wild…
Forest — Heb. ya’ar, meaning a dense wood, from its luxuriance. Thus all the great primeval forests of Syria (Eccl. 2:6; Isa. 44:14; Jer. 5:6; Micah 5:8). The most extensive was the trans-Jordanic forest of…
Honey — (1.) Heb. ya’ar, occurs only 1 Sam. 14:25, 27, 29; Cant. 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,…
Jonathan — Whom Jehovah gave, the name of fifteen or more persons that are mentioned in Scripture. The chief of these are, (1.) A Levite descended from Gershom (Judg. 18:30). His history is recorded in 17:7-13…
Moabite — The designation of a tribe descended from Moab, the son of Lot (Gen. 19:37). From Zoar, the cradle of this tribe, on the south-eastern border of the Dead Sea, they gradually spread over the region on…
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Saul — Asked for. (1.) A king of Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48. (2.) The son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of prayer, “asked for”), of the tribe of Benjamin, the first…
Armies Of Israel, The · Strict discipline observed in — Strict discipline observed in
Forests · Abounded with wild honey — Abounded with wild honey
Honey · Found upon the ground — Found upon the ground
Saul's precipitate haste. - Sa1 14:24. The men of Israel were pressed (i.e., fatigued) on that day, sc., through the military service and fighting. Then Saul adjured the people, saying, "Cursed be the man that eateth bread until the evening, and (till) I have avenged myself upon mine enemies." יאל, fut. apoc. of יאלה for יאלה, from אלה, to swear, Hiphil to adjure or require an oath of a person. The people took the oath by saying "amen" to what Saul had uttered. This command of Saul did not proceed from a proper attitude towards the Lord, but was an act of false zeal, in which Saul had more regard to himself and his own kingly power than to the cause of the kingdom of Jehovah, as we may see a…
With his oath, Saul forced abstinence from food on men who were already hungry and exhausted from battle. This oath was probably a pagan-like attempt to manipulate God into giving them a favorable result (cp. notes on Exod 23:26; 25:22; 32:4). • That Saul said my enemies rather than “our enemies” reflects his self-centered pride.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 14:25
There was honey. Cane sugar grows in Eretz Yisroel.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
