Ancient Israel's Insect Life: Devorah דבורה The Bee

Nadene Goldfoot                                             

   The word, honey, is mentioned 61 times in Tanakh. If the bible is God’s inspired Word, honey must be good!  It was man's best sweet taste, and it was amazing!  Sweet grape wine used for the kiddush would be the next runner up in sweetness other than all the berries they could find or fruits.                                           

      This is a honeybee.  Bees pollinate our fields, orchards and gardens — providing nearly one-third of the food we eat. They bring sweetness to our lives. But bees face serious threats and need our help.                          

 Words of pleasantness are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and healthy to the bone. 

Proverbs 16:24

Eat honey, my child, for it is good, And drippings of the honeycomb are sweet on your palate.” (Proverbs 24:13) 

                                          

 The Promised Land to the Israelites was described as a land flowing with milk and honey in the bible, a sign of the abundance, ease, and prosperity to be found there.... the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.” (Exodus 3:6-8)                                                                   

 Honey in the bible was a symbol of good health for Samuel. So the entire people did not taste food. Then all the people of the land came into the forest, where there was nectar on the surface of the field.  The people came to the forest and behold! there was an oozing of nectar, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath..  But Jonathan had not heard when his father adjured the people,  so he stretched out the edge of the staff that was in his hand, and dipped it into the nectar of the cane;. He then brought his hand to his mouth and his eyes lit up.” (1 Samuel 14:24-27)                                                 

                                           honeycomb

Judges 14:7-9  He went down, and spoke with the woman; and she was fitting in the eyes of Samson  He returned after some time to marry her, but he turned aside to see the fallen carcass of the lion, and, behold,  a swarm of bees was in the body of the lion, with honey.  

                                                                           

Deborah is also a feminine name.  Deborah was a famous woman judge and prophet (Gen. 35.8;) She was married to Lapidoth.  Her greatest feat was to rouse the Israelite tribe to revolt under Barak, son of Abinoam,, against the Canaanite king Joabin of Hazor and Sisera, his ally and commander  (Judg.4).  The song of victory is attributed to her (Judg.5) and is regarded as one of the oldest compositions preserved in Hebrew.  

To commemorate Erev Yom Kippur  the tradition is to serve honey-cake and tea for dessert.  

Israel's  newly found Lasioglossum dorchini bees – female on left, male on right. Photo by Alain Pauly/Belgian Journal of Entomology

This species above was named Lasioglossum dorchini in tribute to the Israeli bee researcher Achik Dorchin of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University.  A new species of bee unique to the sand dunes of Israel’s coastal plains has been identified and described by Alain Pauly, a taxonomist from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.   This new type of bee is especially exciting because a decline in the world bee population is putting crop pollination in danger.

                                                                           

Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats to bees today.  

Native bees are the most important wild pollinator group. This is why researchers have been trying to conserve native bee habitats in Israel’s coastal region, where large-scale eucalyptus plantings caused dramatic changes in habitat characteristics and decreased local biodiversity.

Israeli and Belgian researchers led by Prof. Yael Mandelik and PhD candidate Karmit Levy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem spent the past five years studying the effect of restoration activities and specifically how they are benefiting the local bee population. It was during their studies at Alexander River National Park that they found the new wild bee species.

 Bee Sanctuaries consist of honeybee hives and/or native bee houses placed in zoos, urban farms, and other green spaces where they serve as valuable environmental and educational resources. Host locations provide protected habitat that includes food and nesting sites for bumble, mason, carpenter, leafcutter, honey and other bees, and sites are maintained by The Bee Conservancy’s dedicated team of Sanctuary Beekeepers. 

Over 170 diverse species of animals are to be seen at Israel's biblical Zoo. And this being Jerusalem and the ‘Biblical’ zoo, most of these were mentioned in the Bible.  Most animals you might expect to see at a zoo will be found here.       

                                                                

Bee colonies are in the midst of a massive die-off thanks to dangerous pesticides that poison them and destroy their habitats. Yet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done little to regulate the widespread use of bee-killing pesticides.

For decades, insecticides like neonicotinoids have been used on crops to kill plant pests. But it’s the bee population that has severely suffered, declining at an alarming rate and heading toward extinction.

The only way to save bees, our health, and ultimately our food supply, is to ban bee-killing pesticides -- including all products that contain neonicotinoids. 

The EPA has admitted that these pesticides are “very toxic to bees.”  It’s time for the EPA to take action to halt the harm by banning bee-killing pesticides once and for all.   

Resource: 

https://www.israel21c.org/a-new-bee-species-is-discovered-in-israel/

https://www.touristisrael.com/jerusalem-biblical-zoo/1243/     

Tanakh, Stone Edition   

https://www.israel21c.org/top-10-tourist-sites-for-animal-lovers-in-israel/   

https://www.thesca.org/connect/blog/bumblebees-vs-honeybees-what%E2%80%99s-difference-and-why-does-it-matter?gclid=CjwKCAjwhOyJBhA4EiwAEcJdcUuvROYZ0EmaOYREcqckSj9oqvhb33nl9y4npCQcvHBrYsPl0tm9pRoCf0oQAvD_BwE                                                 

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The Bee 

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