Nuhou, Volume II, Number 21, 7 October 1873 — "Locusts and Wild Honey. [ARTICLE]

"Locusts and Wild Honey.

hleee Dr. Clarke 3 fcbe oriental traveler, first p:opagated the opinion that the food of John the in the wilderne6s, wae the fruit of a tree, :c;l not msecte 5 and the eecretions of ineeeie, hae bceD a great deal of dißCussion in reepect to the diet of the forerunner of the Messiah, Popular opinion throughout Americ& as well as 'n Europe accepte the etotement, that the <4 locusts and wlld lionej " epoken of in the New Testament is tbe fruit of the u honey locust,' ? or cmsia It has a pod, when well matured, irom. ten inphee to one foot long, and abo.ut one ineh and a half wide. t Its skin, when lipe, is hlaek, and it ie shaped 3ike a knife, and in the edge, ōr what we will eall the back blade, ie a neh jellowish pulp, like an inspissated ejnip, īhis pulp has a pleasant suhacid :i&Tor, and is highjj nutritioue. It ofiers a most pa3atable refreehrpent to a wearj nian without the slightest nē£d of preparation; whieh ,thV pede of the algaroba, and the pcculiar twisted eork«serew pods of the mesquit icquire. But we are not inolined to maintain tht adentīty a the 44 honej locust or eama fi\tula with the :ood of the BaptWt, any more than we would m 4 ebalf of the algaroba, or ralow slUqua; or my other tree, wliether a prosopis, or a casda > cr whether of tbc order gīatkista or n 4 iinia, for we £nd a great deal of eonlueion among botanists reipcct to nomeiielature und identitj, and dxs;?eion on sueh point*? seeme usuallj an effort to crudition. We are inclined toagree with the , w īn refpeet to tbe loeuele and wiW bonej "

lūkui h -y the llawaihm iluireh 3luDthly Megsenger in Its October number, whieh we insert belo>v. Anel we are Jcil to thie irom bumc study and obscrvation ol' our own. Wē leam from Haselquist and other travelers in Syria and Arabia, that the 3ocust inseet, or. gryllae is a eommon articlc of diet, and pa!atable ae we know broiled grasshoppers to be, and all these creaturcs may bc regarded as acccptable artie!cs of diet, and not more curious or repulsive than We scc indccd that thc locust wa« one of thc articles of food permitted to the Israelites by Moses. See how especially the diet of the chosen people is prescribed in the eleventh ehapter of Leviticus : Yet thesc ye may eat- of every fiying, creeping tbing thatgoeth upon all fotu , 9, whieh havc legs above tl:cir fcot, to leap with all upōn tho carth. Evcn t!icse of thcm ye may eat; tho locust aftcr liis kind, and thc bald loeust after his kind, and the beetle after !)is kin<! ? and the grasshopper after 3iis kind.''

Now as Forbes and othcrs say that the honcj bee prepares its eomb in the elefts of roeks ia Sjria and Arabia, the same a.s in Ilindustan; and is found m eueh and eaten Arabs at this day, there seems to be no reason, for seeking any other mterputation of the words,and his food was loeusts aixl wild honcy s " than tliat the abundant and nutritious. ineeets of the eountry, and the melifluent bounty of the land, AYOuId afford f ) a man who' was living in a statc of n^tuu lf any body ean provc to us thac John the Baptif»t fed ou algarol>a pods, we shali be COpfcpat. But we wani faets, authentieated statexoent€; and will not be satisfied with inere aesertion, and a parade of eoientifie nomenelature. 44 ithe infcereefcing artieles, fchafc have lately been written with refercnee to the algaroba trce, have 4|eidentally raiseu a question about the food of the Eapiiei, in wildernees. Thc W|iter in īhe Gazelti\ of Septcml)er 24th, mentions a popular belief existing In Spain, that the lpng sweet pods of thia trec, whieh have reeeived fcho uame of SL John s bread, formed the food of fchc £apfcisfc a and are to bc regarded as the ♦•locu6te" Mated by St. 31atthew to have bcen hiS 606tcnaneo. Oia the day bcforc wc read in fcho Kihoih that v the pod of thc Syrian locust, fchc Siune as au Amenean variety, whieh exudefi a rioh i?yrup of ewccfc eubacid flavor, and higlily nuuiiioue» is supposedi to havc heen the * wild hoocy' that fed St. John the Baptist iu thc ihe alga<roba was ecrtainly a \aluablc tree to the in tlie wilderne6i if he was ahle to ilnd his daijy iood rcady to his hand, as he eat beneath its grateful shade, We do not ineau to infer x that it Wjculd.altcr our eonccptioxi of ile hardy b!mplicity, cf jbc Baptist e liie, or

that therē \vould haie been anything lusuriou.-. Io his tablc, if jt bad beea fumis3;e(l ivitli tLc produce of this tree- ia plaee of loeusts (wc mean tbe insects so ealle*]) dried in the suu and eat«n with the lioney of wiU becs. The questiyii is, how are we to upderstand the wurJe of St. Matthew? Were the locusts the insects ee, called, or the pods of| the locust tree, the Ctratona Sili<fua, whi6b are still called bj the Mouki of Palestine, St. Jolm's brcad? Wae thc uiul honey tbe honey of w;ild bees, or something eke ? The »'(W fwney has| bee&jvariou£ly iniei-pi'eieā. Some have suppose<3 it to be a decoctiou of thcjuiee of the grape, whieh is still called dils, (a corruption of Mcsh the Hebrew word for hou;j) and whieh foras an 1 artielc af eoiumeiee iu tbe East. Others have $xed upon n kind uf houey that \vas u)anufaeturqj froui the jukc jf dalc Then therc is a kind pf vegcta'jlc " honev, tl:c exudations of ceatain |trees and shrul;whieh arc found in the peninsyla of Sinai. h has becu held that this was the honej whieli Jouatlian au in ttic wood (1 Sam. xiv 25) aud that wliieh ported the Baptist in the wildorue£s. Ihis it the tbeory referred to by the Nuuoi. liut it is somewhat against this theory, tliat tlic vegetablc honey ie only found in' srne.ll globules, whieh ruust ibe carefully colleetecl and straine 1 bofore bcing |u6ed, whereas tbe boney in the wood was iu sueii i abundanee that Jonathan tojk it up at tho cnd of stick. wliieh he i?i u-i /ioih^cutitL s euiJ the wild honcy in thc | wlldcruess was sufieieuuj plentiful to form part| of the ordiDary £ustcQaaee of the Baptiet. lbc uiost euvious jjait of iheīe iu;orpictatioūi is that they sbould Le.ve leeu piopoundcu, or beir,g propounded .-houlil eouiiuue to bc asseried, af»if there were any |rcason for supposiug tkit tbc honey in quesiioQ was i:ot the houe,)- oi' »iid bees, Palestine wus |alwais u' htl h ho,« „.. Sucli txvssagp tLcsc, , m Jt (hmi') oul vf iht rocX (Deut. mii l.''), nnd ia!h lotuyou! cj~».,e siony rocL shouiJ J hai•< <otbfu? r?it t-, (iyi m lxsii 10) would lead ui to conjocturc that would bc as pieuiU'ul ui the wilderness of as iu tlio more populatcvi p}»Tts of thc countrj.; Acd that tliisis Uie casc we have two eseelled autlionues. Joscphus (£, i ' n *•> «pwilia t!;e uatural proJ duction? of t!ie 0 f Jcridw, aud tūe \vdlknown auihor of :kt £*md auu <m &Vo.\ givcs thc following iuformation wūh cs i .<\ l ai to flvJ of S. Jobc : ! " lioncjr ihe axtkie iisade h$ bccs) {sliU iu krgc txcc6 iu Uie a%I ūom rocfo iu thc juet wherc tl:c Ea|>tiit &>jounioJ t anu whcrc he preaciiiu£ tl:c haptism of mxnui : l ' - i ' 1 ["■ -