If bees' honey, or honey in the comb, was intended to be designated by Matthew and Mark as the food of the Baptist, whether it is not probable that they would have adopted one or both of these terms, rather than the one they have used?

The word being used so infrequently in the New Testament, we are under the necessity of directing our inquiries to the collateral terms in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the Septuagint version, and to the authority of Hebrew and Greek lexicographers. If we mistake not, an examination of this kind will ascertain a meaning attaching to the original Hebrew terms translated "honey" in our version, which has generally been overlooked; and we ask the indulgence of the reader while we refer to the several texts of this kind which we have carefully collated and examined in the Hebrew, and compared in the Septuagint.

There are three words in the Hebrew Scriptures rendered honey, in our version, Debash, y: Yaar, and г: Nopeth. The form Debash is almost universally used, as we shall see, even when the other forms occur in connection. It seems to be a generic term to indicate all sweets, especially of sticky substances. This definition has the authority of Gesenius: "Debash, honey, so called, as being glutinous, like a kneaded mass, Arabic Dibs, Maltese Dabsi, yellow, that is honey-colored. 1. The honey of bees, &c. 2. Honey of grapes, syrup, the newly expressed juice of grapes boiled down. 3. Joined with milk as the spontaneous productions of nature." Robinson's Gesenius. Other lexicographers say "to join together, to adhere, cement, or stick fast, as glutinous substances."

We think there could be no better description of the sweetmeat or pressed date. With these definitions before us, we are prepared to pursue the investigation, and examine the various texts in the Old Testament, where these terms occur.

Gen. xliii. 11, "honey." Here the form is simply v Debash, Sept. pin. It appears from the context that the luxuries of Jacob's table were not yet entirely exhausted; for he directs his sons to present to the ruler of Egypt "of the best fruits of the land, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds." The articles here enumerated seem all to be the fruits or production of trees. In reference to

this text we find in Kitto, v. i. 384, the following remarks: "From the fact that Egypt produced an abundance of honey, we may be led to suppose that the more valuable date-honey is here intended, which is rarely found in Egypt." The conclusion seems correct; but the reasons assigned are doubtful, as the date has abounded in Egypt from the earliest periods, though the custom of preparing it as a sweetmeat may not have been introduced into Egypt at this early day.

2 Chron.

We introduce here a note on this text from Bagster's Comprehensive Bible: " Debash, honey, is supposed by Bochart and Celsius not to have been that produced by bees, but a sweet syrup produced from dates when in maturity. The Jewish (Talmudic) doctors observed that the word xxxi. 5, properly signifies dates; and the Arabians now call the choicest dates, prepared with butter, honey (syrup) obtained from them v Dibs." probably in the southern part of the land. no doubt extensively cultivated on the Philistine plain, the climate of which is very mild. We found considerable numbers of them still existing in various places on this plain.

Dabous, and the

Jacob sojourned The date-palm was

Exodus iii. 8, Debash, Sept. Méx. By the expression, "a land flowing with milk and honey," it is understood that general abundance is implied in the products of the land of promise. For reasons which will appear when we examine Numb. xvi. 13, 14, it would seem that dates are here intended, as well as other sweets.

Ex. xvi. 31. Debash, vr, Sept. Méx. The text simply expresses the fact that manna was agreeable in taste; sweet, like honey.

Lev. ii. 11. Debash, Sept. pin. It will be observed that honey is strictly forbidden to be used with any offerings to the Lord made by fire.

Numb. xvi. 12, 13. v Debash, Sept. μén. Here Dathan and Abiram allege that they had been brought out of "a land flowing with milk and honey."

We were not in Egypt at the season that the date is produced. They ripen there in September and October; but when at Malta we procured some good specimens of African dates as growing upon their stems, which are now in good pre

servation. The tree is an indigene, unisexual; and is said to bear ten or twelve bunches every year, each of which will weigh from ten to twenty-five pounds. They grow pendent from the tree at its top, and attached to the stem, as seeds to our broom-corn; like other fruits they vary much in quality and size, growing from one to two inches long, round or ovaling in shape. As taken from the stems they are a good table fruit and much in use, although comparatively dry in taste; when put in masses they soon become more soft and honeyed in their color and taste. They are sugary, nourishing, very wholesome and require no preparation. When pressed, old, and passed through the stages of sweating, as they are always seen in this country, every one familiar with them knows their striking resemblance to old and candied honey in color and taste. inhabitants of Egypt at the present day subsist on them to a great extent, and the whole country abounds with trees. We found them on our first reaching the waters of the ancient canal that connected the Nile with the Red Sea at Suez, and on the Pelusium branch of the Nile, in "the land of Goshen."

The

The margin of the desert is skirted with thick masses of the date-palm, where they seem to stand as a bulwark against the sands which threaten to overwhelm the narrow belt of vegetation and fertility. There, in ancient days, we have the best reason to believe, the Israelites were wont to see them, if in later stages of their "hard bondage" they were debarred from subsisting upon them.

Deut. vi. 3. v Debash, Sept. pin. The same form as Ex. iii. 8.

Deut. vii. 7, 8. v Debash, Sept. pin. "A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive (olive-tree of oil) and honey. Dates seem here specially intended. Debash, is here in the category of the fruits of trees. The order of style and laws of language seem to imply this. Moses spake these glowing words of encouragement to the homeless tribes, of the land of their hope and destination. He seems to say to them, "Prolific as is the soil of Egypt, where we and our fathers have so long sojourned, abounding as it does with milk and honey-dates and other sweets yet there you were slaves, deprived of the enjoyment of

these luxuries, doomed to toil on a narrow and monotonous strip of fertility, bounded on either side by a dreary, boundless and monotonous desert. How cheering in the contrast is the land to which we now hasten; 'for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills.'"

Deut. xxxii. 13. Debash. The honey of bees may be indicated. The context, however, shows that the language is highly figurative, and a poetic license may be here presumed, for oil too is said to come "out of the flinty rock."

Judg. xiv. 8. Here the text expressly declares that there was a swarm of bees, Devorim, vy and Debash, honey. Sept. μoor, Melisson. Up to this text we find the LXX. use the simple form μé in the translation of w¬¬. Here we find the discrimination "made by bees."

1 Sam. xiv. 25-29. In the 25th verse it is simply said there was honey, upon the ground. Sept. μoor. Here again the Septuagint discriminates, and we find the simple Heb. rendered "honey made by bees," in accordance with

the context.

In the 26th verse we are told that the honey dropped, that is, from the limb or hollow of the tree, where it had been deposited; and in the 27th verse that it was beyaarath hadebash,

"honey in a honey comb." The honey of bees we see is here very expressly indicated. This form occurs in Cant. v. 1.

2 Sam. xvii. 29.

Debash. Sept. μén. As the articles. enumerated in the context were sent to satisfy the hunger of David and his company, it may be that the honey here indicated was the sweetmeat or pressed date.

2 Chron. xxxi. 5. Debash. Sept. μeiros. In this instance is rendered dates in the marginal readings by our translators, the obvious propriety of which will be apparent when it is compared with Ex. xxii. 29. "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits." We will here remark that it was the marginal reading of this text, in connection with Josephus' observations on the palm trees of Jericho, which first suggested this investigation. We find the following note on this text in Bagster's Comprehensive Bible: "Honey or dates. The

word v Devash generally denotes honey produced by bees; but, as we have already observed on Gen. xliii. 11, the Jewish Doctors are of opinion that it here signifies dates, or the fruit of the palm-tree, which the Arabians call Daboos, and the honey (syrup) produced from them Dibs. Though Jehovah forbade any v Devash or honey to he offered to him upon the altar, yet it appears it might be presented as "first fruits," or in the way of tithes, which were designed for the sustenance of the priests." Job xx. 17. y. Honey and butter are here united, indicating a combination probably in frequent use among the Arabs. We have seen in the note quoted from Bagster, on Gen. xliii. 11, that the Arabs call a preparation of their choicest dates and butter Dabous, a custom and name which has probably come down from the days of Job.

Psa. xix. 10. p. Here the Psalmist expresses, in strong and figurative language, his estimates of the judgments of Jehovah; sweeter than Debash, honey, and, or even than, Nopeth, the honey comb or dropping honey. Here we have two kinds of honey distinctly recognized in the swelling gradations of the poet's style. This form occurs in Prov. v. 3; xxiv. 13; xxvii. 7; and Cant. iv. ii.

Prov. xxiv. 13, same as above, eat honey, and or even, the honey comb, the dropping honey.

יער

Cant. v. 1. "I have eaten my honey comb," Yaar. Sept. npion, "with my honey" Dabshi, two kinds of honey

mingled in the luxuries of a banquet.

Isa. vii. 15, 22. Butter and honey. See Job xx. 17.

Jer. xli. 8. Eze. iii. 3 and xvi. 13. In these instances and several others, we find the simple form. There is nothing in the context sepecially to discriminate the kind of honey.

Eze. xxvii. 17. Debash. We have here, in the category of the fruits or production of trees, honey, oil and balm. Allusion may be made to the date-tree in the pictorial descriptions in chap. xlvii. 12.

Under the article "honey," Calmet says: "By the word Debash, the rabbins and lexicographers understand not only the honey of bees, but the honey of dates or the fruit of the palmtree, or the dates themselves, from which honey is extracted;