{"id":65065,"date":"2019-11-02T18:34:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T16:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65065"},"modified":"2023-05-28T10:11:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-28T07:11:21","slug":"the-curse-of-honey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-curse-of-honey\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curse Of Honey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In chapter 7, Isaiah prophesies about the imminent Assyrian assault on Israel and Judah. Verses 21-22 seem to predict salvation from that threat: \u201cAnd in that day, each man shall save alive a heifer of the herd and two animals of the flock. (And he shall obtain so much milk that he shall eat curds.) Thus, everyone who is left in the land shall feed on curds and honey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The phrase \u201ccurds and honey\u201d (<\/span>chem\u2019ah u\u2019dvash)<\/span><\/i> is reminiscent of the frequent description in the Torah of the Land of Israel as a land \u201cflowing with milk and honey\u201d (<\/span>zavat chalav u\u2019dvash)<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, another interpretation suggests that this phrase may actually be a parody of that idyllic portrayal.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few verses earlier (7:18-19), Isaiah describes an insect invasion that will also affect the inhabitants of the land:<\/span><\/p>\n

In that day, the LORD will whistle to the flies at the ends of the water channels of Egypt and to the bees in the land of Assyria; and they shall all come and alight in the rugged wadis, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all the thornbrakes, and in all the watering places.<\/span><\/p>\n

His mention of bees indicates that the honey in verse 22 is not the typical date honey described in most biblical mentions of <\/span>dvash<\/span><\/i>, but rather bee honey. And so, this is a curse, not a blessing. He is describing a time when the land is desolate – and therefore the bees can proliferate. (The milk for the curds will also be widely available, because the cows and sheep will be able to graze on the previously tended croplands).<\/span><\/p>\n

Date honey was so significant, that when listing the seven species of the Land of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:8, dates appear as <\/span>dvash, <\/span><\/i>not as the fruit (<\/span>tamar).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Beekeeping wasn\u2019t generally practiced in biblical times, so when bee honey is mentioned, it was the wild variety. So when Jacob, suffering from famine, sent a gift to the Egyptian leader (Genesis 43:11), the small amount of <\/span>dvash<\/span><\/i> he sent was bee honey, which was difficult to obtain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, in Talmudic times, due to the spread of beekeeping, <\/span>dvash <\/span><\/i>came to generally mean bee honey, and date honey was the exception. And that is still the case today. In modern Hebrew, <\/span>dvash <\/span><\/i>is bee honey, and <\/span>silan<\/span><\/i> (originally an Arabic word) is used for date honey.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65068,"id":65068,"title":"is7-honey bees","filename":"is7-honey-bees.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-honey-bees.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-curse-of-honey\/is7-honey-bees\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is7-honey-bees","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65065,"date":"2019-11-02 16:34:35","modified":"2019-11-02 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