Bee

רבודה , occurs Deu 1:44; Jdg 14:8; Psa 108:12; Isa 7:18. A well known, small, industrious insect; whose form, propagation, economy, and singular instinct and ingenuity, have attracted the attention of the most inquisitive and laborious inquirers into nature. Bees were very numerous in the east. Serid, or Seriad, means “the land of the hive;” and Canaan was celebrated as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” The wild bees formed their comb in the crevices of the rocks, and in the hollows of decayed trees. The passage in Isa 7:8, which mentions the “hissing for the bee,” is supposed to involve an allusion to the practice of calling out the bees from their hives, by a hissing or whistling sound, to their labour in the fields, and summoning them again to return when the heavens begin to lower, or the shadows of evening to fall. In this manner Jehovah threatens to rouse the enemies of Judah, and lead them to the prey. However widely scattered, or far remote from the scene of action, they should hear his voice, and with as much promptitude as the bee that has been taught to recognise the signal of its owner and obey his call, they should assemble their forces; and although weak and insignificant as a swarm of bees, in the estimation of a proud and infatuated people, they should come, with irresistible might, and take possession of the rich and beautiful region which had been abandoned by its terrified inhabitants.

The bee is represented by the ancients as a vexatious and even a formidable enemy; and the experience of every person who turns his attention to the temper and habits of this insect attests the truth of their assertion. The allusion, therefore, of Moses to their fierce hostility, Deu 1:44, is both just and beautiful: “The Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir even unto Hormah.” The Amorites, it appears, were the most bitter adversaries to Israel of all the nations of Canaan. Like bees that are easily irritated, that attack with great fury and increasing numbers the person that dares to molest their hive, and persecute him in his flight to a considerable distance, the incensed Amorites had collected their hostile bands, and chased the Israelites from their territory. The Psalmist also complains that his enemies compassed him about like bees; fiercely attacking him on every side. From these allusions it would however appear, that the bees of the east were of a more quarrelsome temper than ours, which exist chiefly in a domesticated state.

Bee (occurs in Deu 1:44; Jdg 14:8; Psa 118:12; Isa 7:18). This insect belongs to the family apidæ, order hymenoptera, species apis mellifica, commonly called the honey-bee, because this species has often yielded honey to man.

In proceeding to notice the principal passages of Scripture in which the bee is mentioned, we first pause at Deu 1:44, where Moses alludes to the irresistible vengeance with which bees pursue their enemies: ’The Amorites came out against you and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir unto Hormah.’ The powerlessness of man under the united attacks of these insects is well attested. Pliny relates that bees were so troublesome in some parts of Crete, that the inhabitants were compelled to forsake their homes; and Ælian records that some places in Scythia were formerly inaccessible on account of the swarms of bees with which they were infested. Park relates that at Doofroo, some of the people being in search of honey, unfortunately disturbed a swarm of bees, which came out in great numbers, attacked both men and beasts, obliged them to fly in all directions, so that he feared an end had been put to his journey, and that one ass died the same night, and another the next morning. Even in this country the stings of two exasperated hives have been known to kill a horse in a few minutes.

The reference to the bee contained in Jdg 14:8, has attracted the notice of most readers. It is related in Jdg 14:5-6 that Samson, aided by supernatural strength, rent a young lion, that warred against him, as he would have rent a kid, and that ’after a time,’ as he returned to take his wife, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion. It has been hastily concluded that this narrative favors the mistaken notion of the ancients, possibly derived from misunderstanding this very account, that bees might be engendered in the dead bodies of animals; and ancient authors are quoted to testify to the aversion of bees to flesh, unpleasant smells, and filthy places. But it may readily be perceived that it is not said that the bees were bred in the body of the lion. Again, the frequently recurring phrase, ’after a time,’ literally ’after days,’ introduced into the text, proves that at least sufficient time had elapsed for all the flesh of the animal to have been removed by birds and beasts of prey, the ants, etc. The Syriac version translates ’the bony carcass.’ The learned Bochart remarks that the Hebrew phrase sometimes signifies a whole year, and in this passage it would seem likely to have this meaning, because such was the length of time which usually elapsed between espousal and marriage (see Jdg 14:7). The circumstance that ’honey’ was found in the carcass as well as bees, shows that sufficient time had elapsed since their possession of it, for all the flesh to be removed. Nor is such an abode for bees, probably in the skull or thorax, more unsuitable than a hollow in a rock, or in a tree, or in the ground, in which we know they often reside, or those clay nests which they build for themselves in Brazil. Nor is the fact without parallel. Herodotus relates that a swarm of bees took up their abode in the skull of one Silius, an ancient invader of Cyprus, which they filled with honeycombs, after the inhabitants had suspended it over the gate of their city. A similar story is told by Aldrovandus of some bees that inhabited and built their combs in a human skeleton in a tomb in a church at Verona.

The phrase in Psa 118:12, ’They compassed me about like bees,’ is easily understood by all who know the manner in which bees attack the object of their fury.

The only remaining passage has been strangely misunderstood (Isa 7:18): ’The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the river of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.’ Here the fly and the bee are no doubt personifications of those inveterate enemies of Israel, the Egyptians and Assyrians, whom the Lord threatened to excite against his disobedient people. But the hissing for them has been interpreted, even by modern writers of eminence, as involving an allusion to the practice of calling out the bees from their hives, by a hissing or whistling sound, to their labor in the fields, and summoning them to return, when the heavens begin to lower, or the shadows of evening to fall.’ No one has offered any proof of the existence of such a custom, and the idea will itself seem sufficiently strange to all who are acquainted with the habits of bees. The true reference is, no doubt, to the custom of the people of the East, and even of many parts of Europe, of calling the attention of anyone in the street, etc. by a significant hiss or rather hist, as Bishop Lowth translates the word both here and in Isa 5:26. Hissing, or rather histing, is in use among us for setting a dog on any object. Hence the sense of the threatening is, I will direct the hostile attention of the Egyptians and Assyrians against you.

Bee. (Hebrew, deborah). Deu 1:44; Jdg 14:8; Psa 118:12; Isa 7:18. Bees abounded in Palestine, honey being a common article of food, Psa 81:16, and was often found in the clefts of rocks and in hollow trees. 1Sa 14:25; 1Sa 14:27. English naturalists know little of the species of bees that are found in Palestine, but are inclined to believe that the honey-bee of Palestine is distinct from the honey-bee (Apis mellifica) of this country.

The passage in Isa 7:18 refers "to the custom of the people in the East of calling attention to any one by a significant hiss or rather hist." We read, Jdg 14:8, that "after a time," probably many days, Samson returned to the carcass of the lion he had slain, and saw bees and honey therein.

"If any one here represents, to himself, a corrupt and putrid carcass, the occurrence ceases to have any true similitude, for it is well known that, in these countries, at certain seasons of the year, the heat will, in the course of twenty-four hours, completely dry up the moisture of dead camels, and that, without their undergoing decomposition, their bodies long remain like mummies, unaltered and entirely free from offensive odor." -- Edmann.

(Deborah.) Whence Rebekah’s nurse (Gen 35:8) and the judge (Judges 4) were named; the bee’s industry, fruitfulness, and sweetness suggesting the similitude. In Deu 1:44 "the Amorites chased you as bees do"; Psa 118:12; Isa 7:18; the bold pertinacity with which bees in swarming hosts assail the object of their wrath is the point of comparison. "The Lord shall hiss for the bee that is in the land of Assyria"; i.e., He will call for the enemy to invade the Holy Land. Bees were drawn out of their hives by hissing or whistling. They were as numerous in Assyria as "the fly" in marshy Egypt. "They shall come and rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the reeks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes"; the foes, like bees, swarming and settling on all places. Hereafter He will "hiss for" His people to "gather them, for He hath redeemed them" (Zec 10:8).

Wild honey, such as John Baptist ate (Mat 3:4), abounded in Palestine, often liquid, whence the land is described as "flowing with milk and honey" (Exo 3:8). Often found in the rocks (Psa 81:16; Deu 32:13), or in a hollow tree (1Sa 14:25). Samson, having slain a young lion, found on his return within the dried carcass a swarm of bees and honeycomb, with which he refreshed himself and iris father and mother, without telling them whence it came. (The heat in 24 hours often so dries up the moisture that, without decomposition, the bodies remain like mummies, free from odor.) Hence, he made a riddle: "out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness" (Jdg 14:14).

A type of the antitypical Samson the stronger One, spoiling the strong and roaring lion, "dividing the spoils" among His friends, and bringing forth life and divine nourishment out of death, and sweetness out of misery (Luk 11:21-22; Heb 2:14-15). Samson’s history, of which this incident is the epitome, sets forth Satan’s lion-like violence and harlot-like subtlety, overruled by divine might to his own destruction and fallen man’s redemption. The scarcity of honey (dibash) in Egypt is implied in Jacob’s thinking "a little honey" worth including in the present sent to conciliate the Egyptian viceroy (Gen 43:11); but it was the boiled down, thickened juice of grapes, dates, etc., still called dibs, an article of commerce in the E., which Jacob sent Joseph, and which the Tyrians brought from Palestine (Eze 27:17).

The decoction of the grape, or must boiled down, is mixed with wine or milk, and looks like coarse honey. In Isa 7:15-16, of Immanuel it is written, "butter and honey shall He eat," i.e. curdled milk (the acid of which is grateful in the hot East) and honey mixed together shall He eat, as the ordinary food of infants, marking His real humanity (Luk 2:52). In the type, the prophetess’ child, a state of distress is also implied; when, owing to invaders, milk and honey, things produced spontaneously, should be the only abundant articles of food. That distress and the invasion should cease before the child reached the age of consciousness to distinguish good and evil. The commonness of honey in Palestine as an article of diet appears in 2Sa 17:29; 2Ki 14:3; Jer 41:8; Eze 16:13; Eze 16:19.

(דְּבוֹרָה, deborah’, Gr. μέλισσα), a gregarious insect, of the family Apidae, order Hymenoplera, species Apis mellifica, commonly called the honey-bee, one of the most generally-diffused creatures on the globe. Its instincts, its industry, and the valuable product of its labors, have attained for it universal attention from the remotest times. A prodigious number of books have been written, periodical publications have appeared, and even learned societies have been founded, with a view to promote the knowledge of the bee, and increase its usefulness to man. Poets and moralists of every age have derived from it some of their most beautiful and striking illustrations.

The following is a mere outline of the facts ascertained by Swammerdam, Maraldi, Reaumur, Schirach, Bonnet, and Huber: — Its anatomy and physiology, comprehending the antennae, or tactors, by which it exercises at least all the human senses; the eye, full of lenses, and studded with hairs to ward off the pollen or dust of flowers, and the three additional eyes on the top of the head, giving a defensive vision upward from the cups of flowers; the double stomach, the upper performing the office of the crop in birds, and regurgitating the honey, and the lower secreting the wax into various sacklets; the baskets on the thighs for carrying the pollen; the hooked feet; the union of chemical and mechanical perfection in the sting; its organs of progressive motion; its immense muscular strength: — the different sorts of bees inhabiting a hive, and composing the most perfect form of insect society, from the stately venerated queen-regnant, the mother of the whole population and their leader in migrations, down to the drone, each distinguished by its peculiar form and occupations: — the rapidity of their multiplication; the various transitions from the egg to the perfect insect; the amazing deviations from the usual laws of the animal economy; the means by which the loss of a queen is repaired, amounting to the literal creation of another; their architecture (taught by the great Geometrician, who “made all things by number, weight, and measure”), upon the principles of the most refined geometrical problem; their streets, magazines, royal apartments, houses for the citizens; their care of the young, consultations. and precautions in sending forth a new colony; their military prowess, fortifications, and discipline; their attachment to the hive and the common interest, yet patience under private wrongs; the subdivision of labor, by which thousands of individuals co-operate without confusion in the construction of magnificent public works; the uses they serve, as the promoting of the fructification of flowers; the amazing number and precision of their instincts, and the capability of modifying these by circumstances, so far as to raise a doubt whether they be not endowed with a portion, at least, of intelligence resembling that of man.

The bee is first mentioned in Deu 1:44, where Moses alludes to the irresistible vengeance with which bees pursue their enemies. A similar reference to their fury in swarms is contained in Psa 118:12. The powerlessness of man under the united attacks of these insects is well attested. Pliny relates that bees were so troublesome in some parts of Crete that the inhabitants were compelled to forsake their homes, and AElian records that some places in Scythia were formerly inaccessible on account of the swarms of bees with which they were infested. Mr. Park (Travels, 2, 37) relates that at Doofroo, some of the people, being in search of honey, unfortunately disturbed a swarm of bees, which came out in great numbers, attacked both men and beasts, obliged them to fly in all directions, so that he feared an end had been put to his journey, and that one ass died the same night, and another the next morning. Even in England the stings of two exasperated hives have been known to kill a horse in a few minutes.

In Jdg 14:5-8, it is related that Samson, aided by supernatural strength, rent a young lion that warred against him as he would have rent a kid, and that “after a time,” as he returned to take his wife, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, “and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.” It has been hastily concluded that this narrative favors the mistaken notion of the ancients, possibly derived from misunderstanding this very account, that bees might be engendered in the dead bodies of animals (Virgil, Georg. 4), and ancient authors are quoted to testify to the aversion of bees to flesh, unpleasant smells, and filthy places. But it may readily be perceived that it is not said that the bees were bred in the body of the lion. Again, the frequently recurring phrase “after a time,” literally “after days,” introduced into the text, proves that at least sufficient time had elapsed for all the flesh of the animal to have been removed by birds and beasts of prey, ants, etc. The Syriac version translates “the bony carcass.” Bochart remarks that the Hebrew phrase sometimes signifies a whole year, and in this passage it would seem likely to have this meaning, because such was the length of time which usually elapsed between espousal and marriage (see Jdg 14:7). He refers to Gen 4:3; Gen 24:55; Lev 25:29-30; Jdg 11:4; comp. with Jdg 11:40; 1Sa 1:3; comp. with 1Sa 1:7; 1Sa 1:20; and 1Sa 2:19; and 1Sa 27:7. The circumstance that “honey” was found in the carcass as well as bees shows that sufficient time had elapsed since their possession of it for all the flesh to be removed. Nor is such an abode for bees, probably in the skull or thorax, more unsuitable than a hollow in a rock, or in a tree, or in the ground, in which we know they often reside, or those clay nests which they build for themselves in Brazil. Nor is the fact without parallel. Herodotus (5, 14) relates that a swarm of bees took up their abode in the skull of one Silius, an ancient invader of Cyprus, which they filled with honey-combs, after the inhabitants had suspended it over the gate of their city. A similar story is told by Aldrovandus (De Insectis, 1, 110) of some bees that inhabited and built their combs in a human skeleton in a tomb in a church at Verona. — In Sir 11:3, the production of honey by bees, and its use as food, are also mentioned. Bees must have been very common in Palestine to justify the title given to it of a land flowing with milk and honey. They are still abundant there (Shaw, Trav. p. 292 sq.; Oedmann, Samml. 6, 136), and mentioned in the Talmud (Chelim, 16, 7; Sabb. 24, 3). See Philo, Opp. 2, 633 Bochart, 3, 352. SEE HONEY.

The reference to the bee in Isa 7:18, has been misunderstood: “The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the river of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.” Here the fly and the bee are no doubt personifications of those inveterate enemies of Israel, the Egyptians and Assyrians, whom the Lord threatened to excite against his disobedient people. But the hissing for them has been interpreted, even by modern writers of eminence, as involving “an allusion to the practice of calling out the bees from their hives, by a hissing or whistling sound, to their labor in the fields, and summoning them to return when the heavens begin to lower, or the shadows of evening to full” (Dr. Harris’s Natural History of the Bible, London, 1825). No one has offered any proof of the existence of such a custom, and the idea will itself seem sufficiently strange to all who are acquainted with the habits of bees. The true allusion is, no doubt, to the custom of the people of the East, and even of many parts of Europe, of calling the attention of any one in the street , etc., by a significant hiss, or rather hist, as Lowth translates the word both here and in Isa 5:26, but which is generally done in this country by a short significant hem! or other exclamation. Hissing, or rather histing, is in use among us for setting a dog on any object. Hence the sense of the threatening is, I will direct the hostile attention of the Egyptians and Assyrians against you.

In the Septuagint version there is an allusion to the bee, immediately after that of the ant (Pro 6:8), which may be thus rendered — “Or go to the bee, and learn how industrious she is, and what a magnificent work she produces; whose labors kings and common people use for their health. And she is desired and praised by all. And though weak in strength, yet prizing wisdom, she prevails.” This passage is not now found in any Hebrew copy, and Jerome informs us that it was wanting in his time. Neither is it contained in any other version except the Arabic. It is nevertheless quoted by many ancient writers, as Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. 1; Origen, in Num. Hom. 27, and in Isai. Hom. 2; Basil, Hexameron, Hom. 8; Ambrose, 5, 21; Jerome, in Ezekiel 3; Theodoret, De Providentia, Orat. 5; Antiochus, Abbas Sabbae, Hom. 36; and John Damascenus, 2:89. It would seem that it was in the Hebrews copy used by the Greek translators. The ant and the bee are mentioned together by many writers, because of their similar habits of industry and economy. For the natural history and habits of the bee, see the Penny Cyclopaedia, s.v. SEE SWARM.

The well-known insect that supplies honey. They are referred to symbolically as chasing and surrounding an enemy, and the painfulness of their attacks has often been experienced. Deu 1:44; Jdg 14:8; Psa 118:12; Isa 7:18. Bees abound in Palestine, making their nests in the woods and in the clefts of the rocks, which habit well illustrates the description of the land as "flowing with milk and honey:" cf. 1Sa 14:26.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Immanuel Benzinger

A honey-gathering insect frequently referred to in the Bible. Bee-keeping dates very far back, and it is quite probable that the ancient Hebrews were engaged in it, although there is no direct testimony on the subject either in the Old or in the New Testament. Isaiah vii. 18 is usually quoted in evidence, and the phrase "the Lord shall hiss . . . for the bee" is explained as a technical term of apiculture, meaning to entice the bees to the hive; but the correctness of this supposition may be questioned. It would be more justifiable to quote II Chron. xxxi. 5, where reference is made to the first-fruits of honey. Philo is the first to mention beekeeping, and the Talmud often refers to it. Whatever age, therefore, is to be assigned to apicultureamong the Hebrews, in any case wild bees abounded in Palestine; the phrase "the land flowing with milk and honey" (Ex. iii. 8) vouches for this fact. In Gen. xliii. 11, and also in Ezek. xxvii. 17, honey is named as an article of export; and in other passages of the Old Testament the abundance of wild honey is often spoken of (Deut. xxxii. 13; Judges xiv. 8; I Sam. xiv. 25 et seq.; Ps. lxxxi. 17 [A. V. 16]; Prov. xxv. 16; Matt. iii. 4). In Hebrew cookery, honey plays an important part (see Honey). The Bee is also often mentioned; and a swarm of wild bees is compared to a hostile army (Deut. i. 44; Isa. vii. 18 et seq.; Ps. cxviii. 2). The small, unpretentious work of the Bee, that yet gives such sweet produce, is praised in Ecclus. (Sirach) xi. 3; compare the sentence added in the Septuagint to Prov. vi. 8, where much the same is said of the Bee as the Hebrew text says of the ant. From the word "Bee" is derived the popular name "Deborah" (Bee). To-day apiculture is carried on to a considerable extent in Palestine, and not only is Palestinian honey exported in large quantities to Europe and America, but even the bees of Palestine are sent to other countries. The beehives consist of hollow cylinders, made of earth mixed with chopped straw, about 39 inches long and ten inches wide. The beehives in ancient times could hardly have been more primitive.

Bibliography:

Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, pp. 322-326;

Hart, Animals of the Bible, pp. 32-33.

BEE (debôrâh).—The bee (Apis fasciata) is a very important insect of Palestine. Wild bees are common, and stores of their honey are often found by wandering Bedouin, especially, it is said, near the Dead Sea. Most of the honey consumed and exported in large quantities is made by domesticated bees. The vast numbers of flowers and especially of aromatic plants enable the skilled bee-keeper to produce the most delicately flavoured honey, e.g. ‘orange flower,’ ‘thyme,’ etc.; be carries his hives to different parts according to the season. Many now keep bees in hives of European pattern, but the ordinary native still universally uses the primitive tube hive. This is like a wide drain-pipe of very rough earthenware, some 3 ft. long and about 8 in. in diameter, closed at the end with mud, leaving a hole for ingress and egress. A number of hives are piled one above the other. A few years ago, while the owner of several swarms of bees was transferring his brittle mud hives on donkey-hack, one of the asses stumbled and in falling broke one of the hives. In a moment the whole swarm fell on the unfortunate animals and on a fine horse standing near. One donkey was quickly stung to death, and all the other animals were severely injured. Cf. Deu 1:44, Psa 118:12, and Isa 7:18, where the hosts of Assyria are compared to such a swarm let loose. That a swarm of bees should settle in a carcass (Jdg 14:8) is certainly an unusual occurrence, as indeed is suggested in the narrative, but the dried-up remains of animals, little but hide and ribs, so plentiful by the roadsides in Palestine, often suggest suitable places for such a settlement. Honey has probably always been plentiful in Palestine, hut it is very doubtful whether ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ could have meant the product of bees alone. See Honey and Vine. In the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] there is an addition to Pro 6:8, in which the bee is, like the ant, extolled for her diligence and wisdom.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Emblem in art associated with

Saint Ambrose of Milan refers to his honey-tongued speaking ability

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Saint Dominic de Guzman

Saint Isidore of Seville

Saint Modomnoc

bē (דּבורה, d^ebhōrāh; compare Arabic dabr, “a swarm of bees,” also Arabic debbūr, “a wasp,” said to be a corruption of zunbūr, “a wasp”; all are apparently from the Hebrew dābhar, “to speak,” “arrange,” “lead,” “follow,” or from Arabic dabara, “follow” (compare Arabic dabbara, “arrange”), though the connection in meaning is not apparent): Honey is mentioned many times in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, but the word “bee” occurs only four times, and only one of the four times in connection with honey in the story of Samson (Jdg 14:8). Both wild and domesticated bees are found today in Palestine, but it is not clear that bees were kept in Bible times, although it would seem very probable. The frequently recurring phrase, “a land flowing with milk and honey,” certainly suggests that the honey as well as the milk is a domestic product. The hives now in use are very primitive and wasteful as compared with hives that are made in Europe and America. Sometimes a large water jar is used. More frequently a cylinder about 3 or 4 ft. long and 6 inches in diameter is constructed of mulberry withes plaited together and plastered with mud or cow dung. A number of these cylinders are placed horizontally, being piled up together under some rude structure which serves as a protection from the direct rays of the sun. In the passage already cited it is related that Samson found a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion which he had killed on his previous visit. We are not told how much time had intervened, but it does not take long in the dry climate of Palestine for scavenging beasts and insects to strip the flesh from the bones and make the skeleton a possible home for a swarm of bees. The other three passages refer to the offensive power of bees. In Deu 1:44, in the speech of Moses he says, “The Amorites chased you, as bees do”; in Psa 118:12, the psalmist says, “They compassed me about like bees”; in Isa 7:18, the bee is the type of the chastisement that the Lord will bring from the land of Assyria.

Bee. Bees are not mentioned often in the Bible, but honey is. Honey was the major sweetening substance for primitive peoples. Beekeeping was practiced in Canaan. Indeed, the Jews spoke of the Promised Land as a region flowing with milk and honey. Honey was among the gifts Jacob sent to Joseph in Egypt (Gen 43:11). (Eze 27:17) notes that Israel marketed honey in Tyre.

Bees may remind us of honey, but biblical writers saw angry bees as a picture of God’s wrath (Psa 118:12). These insects can be ferocious when disturbed or threatened. Wild bees of Palestine often choose strange hives. They may hide their honeycombs in the crannies of high rocks (Deu 32:13). One swarm even settled in the carcass of a lion (Jdg 14:8).

A bee is a flying insect that produces honey and wax. Bees are mentioned in the Bible for their productivity and as a source of food.

Bees (Apis mellifica) are one of two insects that are kept and bred by humans. The other is the silkworm. Bees collect nectar from flowers while spreading pollen. They might show other bees where to find nectar using a "dance" that communicates distance and direction. Bees can see four colors:

• blue-green,

• yellow-green,

• blue-violet, and

• ultraviolet (not visible to the human eye).

Israel's and Palestine's wild bees are aggressive. Only female "worker" bees sting. Their venom becomes stronger in warm weather. Several biblical passages mention bees' irritable nature and painful stings (Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalm 118:12; Isaiah 7:18).

One reference notes that wild bees can build a nest in the remains of a dead animal after jackals or vultures have eaten the flesh and the bones have dried in the sun (Judges 14:5–9).

The Egyptians considered the bee sacred. In ancient Greece, candles were made from beeswax. In Israel and Palestine, beekeeping was likely not practiced until the second century BC. Ezekiel 27:17 suggests it may have been done earlier. If the Hebrews could not find domestic honey, they would seek wild honey. Travelers would look for caches of honey in rocky crevices and other likely spots. The Philistines and the Hittites practiced beekeeping in their cities.

The Bible contains many references to bees and bee products. A bee swarm was valuable, though honey was cheap. Honey was sometimes eaten with the honeycomb (Song of Solomon 5:1). Honey was not just for food. People also used it as medicine and to preserve things. When they wanted to keep a dead body from decaying, they would sometimes cover it with honey (embalming).

The land of Israel was described as a land flowing with milk and honey. Honey was very important to people in biblical times because it was one of the few ways they could make food taste sweet (compare Judges 14:8–9). The Hebrew word for "honey" may mean both bee honey and the sweet syrup from figs, dates, and grapes. So, "a land flowing with milk and honey" does not mean a land of bees (Exodus 3:8). It means a land rich in sweetness.

See also Food and Food Preparation; Honey.

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