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"Land of Milk and Honey"

 Celebrating Israel's 60th Anniversary

Flowers - farm crops - the search for sweeteners

Summer 2008

Mystery Solved

Honey has a long   and honored history as people from the most primitive times have searched for sweeteners.  The biblical promise to lead the Israelites into a "land of milk and honey"  had an obvious appeal to the newly freed slaves and the phrase is used frequently in the early biblical books.  Yet there is a mystery as no evidence of honey was found in archeological excavations.

For the last century, scholars have maintained that the honey of the Bible referred to the syrup extracted from the date palm.  This has been widely attested throughout the ancient Near East as a major source of sweeteners.  Undoubtedly this was also an important source for the biblical Israelites.

In the summer of 2007 the first behives were discovered through a major archeological excavation.  they date back three thousand years and indicate a rather sophisticated management of bees for the production of honey.  Research is now continuing in an effort to discover which plants the bees used for their production.  More on this in a later release.

Our special exhibit will show the plants which have been used throughout the ancient Middle East and trace the story of honey to modern Israel. 

This exhibit will be added to the normal display of biblical plants and plants with biblical names.

For further information contact Irene Jacob E-mail Jacob@Rodefshalom.org  (412) 621-6566; FAX (412) 621-5475.

              Last updated: June 10, 2008.mailto:jacob@Rodefshalom.org