1 Samuel 14:26

And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for the people feared the oath.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) Behold, the honey dropped.—Literally,. Behold, a stream of honey.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:24-35 Saul's severe order was very unwise; if it gained time, it lost strength for the pursuit. Such is the nature of our bodies, that daily work cannot be done without daily bread, which therefore our Father in heaven graciously gives. Saul was turning aside from God, and now he begins to build altars, being then most zealous, as many are, for the form of godliness when he was denying the power of it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The honey dropped - Rather, "Behold a stream of honey." The same thing may be seen in Spain, where in woody and rocky ground copious streams of honey are often found.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. 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].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The honey dropped. It hath been observed by many travellers and writers, that bees do ofttimes settle themselves, and make their hives and honey, in the trunks of trees, or clefts of rocks, or holes of the earth; and this in divers countries, but eminently in this of Canaan; as may be gathered from Deu 32:13 Psalm 81:16; whence it was called a land flowing with milk and honey.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when the people came into the wood, behold, the honey dropped,.... Either from trees, which produced it; so Diodorus Siculus (t) speaks of trees in some countries which produce honey; or from the sugar canes, as Jarchi; or rather from the honeycombs which were framed in trees by bees; so Hesiod (u) speaks of bees making their nests or combs in trees. Ben Gersom thinks that bee hives were placed here in rows by the wayside, from whence the honey flowed; or "went" (w), or there was a going of it; perhaps the combs being pressed by the Philistines as they fled: the land of Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey:

but no man put his hand to his mouth; that is, took not any of the honey and ate it, though it was so near at hand, and there was plenty of it:

for the people feared the oath: Saul adjured them by, or the imprecation he made on the person that should eat any food that day.

(t) Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 548. (u) Hesiod, Theogon. ver. 230. Vid. Diodor. Sic. ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 548.) (w) "ambulatio mellis", Montanus; "itio mellis", Drusius; so in Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. fab. 3.-"----jam flumina nectaris ibant".

Geneva Study Bible

And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for the people feared the {m} oath.

(m) That is, the punishment if they break their oath.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. behold, the honey dropped] Lit. behold a stream of honey. Palestine is literally “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). Wild bees settle in vast numbers in the clefts of the limestone rocks and in the trees. Compare the statement of a traveller in India, where “the forests literally flow with honey, Large combs may be seen hanging in the trees as you pass along, full of honey.” Cp. Matthew 3:4. See Tristram’s Land of Israel, p. 83. Kitto’s Bible Illustrations, p. 190.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - The honey dropped. More correctly, "Behold, a stream (or a flowing) of honey." 1 Samuel 14:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When the people came into the wood and saw a stream of honey (or wild or wood bees), "no one put his hand to his mouth (sc., to eat of the honey), because they feared the oath."