RUSSELL SANDERS
6-5-2020
JUJUBE – WILD HONEY LOCUST
Jujube is a sweet and very nourishing fruit that grows in regions of China, and in the Himalayan mountains of Tibet and Nepal, and in some other parts of the world.
Buddhist monks in Tibet, known for their austerity, would go on a fast as long as three to five years eating nothing but jujube. That is how complete its’ nourishment can be.
Jujube also grew wild in the Judean wilderness of Israel. It was the nourishment of John the Baptist, only they called it “wild honey locust.” The writers and translators of the gospel of Matthew (Matt 3:4) and Mark (Mark 1:6) were clearly unfamiliar with this fruit, so it is written as “locusts and wild honey.” No Bible scholars I know of have picked up on this since they have never heard of it either. That is why they erroneously teach that John was eating grasshoppers (locusts). Nor was he raiding beehives to steal their honey. He was getting his nutrition from a sweet fruit growing in the fields of the countryside, a fruit known as “wild honey locust.” Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible says, “his nourishment was…of the field.” That is where the jujube (wild honey locust) grew in Israel. Also, John did not have protective gear to prevent the stings of angry honeybees. John subsisted on a sweet fruit that grew wild in the wilderness areas where he preached. He lived off the land and ate its’ wild honey locust.
The Old Testament English word “locust” does indeed refer to the grasshopper-like flying insect. There is no such indication that the three times “locust” is used in the Greek of the New Testament that it refers to any insect of any kind. Furthermore, the use of “locust” can be used of a fruit, as in “locust bean” which is the fruit of the carob plant (or tree) which sometimes has been used as food for people. The carob fruit (locust bean) is used as a chocolate substitute and is also called “St. John’s-bread.”
The N.T. word that is translated “locust” in English is the Greek word “
akris
” (Strongs 200), akin to “
akron
” (Strongs 206) and derived from “
akmen
” (Strongs 188). None of these three words have anything to do with an insect. The Greek word “akin”, translated as “locust,” was never used in Greek to speak of a grasshopper or any insect of any kind. The translation indicates something “pointed” or as an “uttermost point” or an “extremity” or at the “tip” or “top.” The jujube fruit grows at the tip of the branches.
Revelation 9 describes beasts (locusts) with scorpion-like powers whose “tails” had power to hurt and they were armored. This sounds like some of the aircraft of today, or perhaps a helicopter type war machine, but it isn’t speaking of a grasshopper (locust).
I hope you’ve learned something that most Bible scholars don’t know. I have purchased this fruit in its dried form from a Chinese food store in Orlando. It is delicious and the size of a cherry or grape. It is also called a red date.
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