1 Samuel 14:25

1Sa 14:25 And all [they of] the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.

Ver. 25. And there was honey upon the ground.] Wild honey (such as John Baptist fed on) dropping from the trees, where wild bees left it, and frequently fought with wild bears that there sought and sucked it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 14:25. All they of the land — The six hundred that were with Saul, and who were now engaged in the pursuit of the Philistines, are chiefly intended here. Many others, however, from different parts of the neighbouring country, had begun to flock in, and join them as soon as they understood that their enemies fled. There was honey upon the ground — Which had dropped, as was usual, from the hollow trees, or the clefts of rocks, where bees were wont to make their combs in that country, as they also use to do in many others, and even upon the very ground.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(25) And all they of the land came to a wood.—In the wilder parts of the land the old woods were not yet cleared. There seems to have been once in that favoured land an abundance of woods.

And there was honey . . .—The wild bees, as has been often seen in the American forests, fill the hollow trees with honey, till the combs, breaking with the weight, let the honey run down upon the ground.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, Mat 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 Ishmaelite, that in the Ishmaelitish or Arabic language they call honey, sugar; but neither of these can be proved.

(r) Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 22. (s) Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 731.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

All they of the land - literally, all the land, probably meaning all those named in 1Sa 14:21-22, who now flocked to the wood as a rendezvous.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ground. Even still travellers perceived the smell of honey very frequently in that country. (Maundrell) --- The people use honey almost in every sauce and in every repast. Virgin assures us, that "bees dwell in holes under ground, in hollow stones, and trees." (Georg. iv.) The Scripture frequently mentions honey flowing, Exodus ii. 8., Psalm lxx. 17., and Job xx. 17. Mella fluant illi, ferat & rubus asper amomum. (Virgil, Eclogues iii.)

Sanctius says, that in Spain, streams of honey may be seen on the ground; and Maldonet[Maldonat?] observes, that the countrymen get a livelihood by gathering it from the trees in Betica, or Andalusia.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

All they of the land, Heb. all the land, i.e. the people of the land; as it is explained below, 1Sa 14:29; and so the word is taken Gen 41:57. All the Israelites who were with Saul.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And all they of the land. Hebrew, "the whole land," or, as we should say, the whole country, which had risen to join in the pursuit. Honey upon the ground. The wild bees in Palestine fill fissures in the Deu_32:13; Psa_81:16 and hollow trees with honey, till the combs, breaking with the weight, let it run down upon the ground. A similar abundance of honey was found by the early settlers in America.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There was honey. Cane sugar grows in Eretz Yisroel.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.