Jaredites and Beekeeping - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

Indy Coug · 09-06-2007, 03:31 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science....ap/index.html

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/ether/2/3#3

Solon · 09-06-2007, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science....ap/index.html

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/ether/2/3#3

Why do you refer to the Jaredites? 900 BCE is after the division of Judah and Israel.

That's recent history in the ANE, where the pyramids at Giza are nearly 5,000 years old.

MikeWaters · 09-06-2007, 03:57 PM

has there been some controversy that the jaredites could not have had bees?

Indy Coug · 09-06-2007, 04:02 PM

...

Quote:

The Bible repeatedly refers to Israel as a "land of milk and honey," but that's believed to refer to honey made from dates and figs -- there is no mention of honeybee cultivation. But the new find shows that the Holy Land was home to a highly developed beekeeping industry nearly 3,000 years ago.

Solon · 09-06-2007, 04:07 PM

Whether or not they were cultivated, there are plenty of mentions of honey in the Bible. Israel, indeed, was the land of honey - if not milk.

http://www.honey-health.com/honey-52.shtml

If anything, this would influence me to think that the Jaredites and their bees are anachronistic, since hives from 900 BCE are so rare, and the Jaredites are supposed to have lived 10000000000000000000 years ago.

I'm not trying to argue, though - it's an interesting article and an important archaeological find. Thanks for posting it, though.

Indy Coug · 09-06-2007, 04:16 PM

Well, I think the significance is two-fold

1. They state in the article that the beekeeping industry was "highly developed" 3,000 years ago, which would imply the "technology" had been around long enough to become highly developed.

2. The biblical mention of "honey" had been viewed with skepticism until now because there was no evidence of beekeeping. Thus the conventional wisdom had been that the honey was not bee-made, but from dates and figs. Therefore, it's a sign that a current lack of archaeological evidence shouldn't be used to refute scriptural historical/cultural claims.

So when the Book of Mormon has a reference about beekeeping maybe it isn't as far-fetched as it might have once been.

09-06-2007, 03:31 PM	#1
Indy Coug Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Between Iraq and a hard place Posts: 7,569	Jaredites and Beekeeping http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science....ap/index.html http://scriptures.lds.org/en/ether/2/3#3

09-06-2007, 04:07 PM	#5
Solon Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Happy Valley, PA Posts: 1,866	Whether or not they were cultivated, there are plenty of mentions of honey in the Bible. Israel, indeed, was the land of honey - if not milk. http://www.honey-health.com/honey-52.shtml If anything, this would influence me to think that the Jaredites and their bees are anachronistic, since hives from 900 BCE are so rare, and the Jaredites are supposed to have lived 10000000000000000000 years ago. I'm not trying to argue, though - it's an interesting article and an important archaeological find. Thanks for posting it, though. __________________ I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free. - Epitaph of Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957)

09-06-2007, 03:57 PM	#3
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,368	has there been some controversy that the jaredites could not have had bees?

09-06-2007, 04:16 PM	#6
Indy Coug Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Between Iraq and a hard place Posts: 7,569	Well, I think the significance is two-fold 1. They state in the article that the beekeeping industry was "highly developed" 3,000 years ago, which would imply the "technology" had been around long enough to become highly developed. 2. The biblical mention of "honey" had been viewed with skepticism until now because there was no evidence of beekeeping. Thus the conventional wisdom had been that the honey was not bee-made, but from dates and figs. Therefore, it's a sign that a current lack of archaeological evidence shouldn't be used to refute scriptural historical/cultural claims. So when the Book of Mormon has a reference about beekeeping maybe it isn't as far-fetched as it might have once been.