Egyptian Bees<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The subtitle of Gene Kritsky's forthcoming Tears of Re is \u201cBeekeeping in Ancient Egypt.\u201d The linkage of deity, mourning, and beekeeping is too\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Egyptian Bees\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The subtitle of Gene Kritsky's forthcoming Tears of Re is \u201cBeekeeping in Ancient Egypt.\u201d The linkage of deity, mourning, and beekeeping is too\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-02T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/\",\"name\":\"Egyptian Bees\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-02T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-02T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"The subtitle of Gene Kritsky's forthcoming Tears of Re is \u201cBeekeeping in Ancient Egypt.\u201d The linkage of deity, mourning, and beekeeping is too\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Egyptian Bees\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Egyptian Bees","description":"The subtitle of Gene Kritsky's forthcoming Tears of Re is \u201cBeekeeping in Ancient Egypt.\u201d The linkage of deity, mourning, and beekeeping is too","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Egyptian Bees","og_description":"The subtitle of Gene Kritsky's forthcoming Tears of Re is \u201cBeekeeping in Ancient Egypt.\u201d The linkage of deity, mourning, and beekeeping is too","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2015-10-02T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/","name":"Egyptian Bees","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-02T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-02T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"The subtitle of Gene Kritsky's forthcoming Tears of Re is \u201cBeekeeping in Ancient Egypt.\u201d The linkage of deity, mourning, and beekeeping is too","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Egyptian Bees"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":17609,"date":"2015-10-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2435"},"modified":"2015-10-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T00:00:00","slug":"egyptian-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/10\/egyptian-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"Egyptian Bees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

The subtitle of Gene Kritsky\u2019s forthcoming\u00a0Tears of Re<\/a> is \u201cBeekeeping in Ancient Egypt.\u201d The linkage of deity, mourning, and beekeeping is too tantalizing to pass up.<\/p>\n

The title is based on a myth found in a papyrus from about 300 BC: \u201cThe god Re wept and the tears from his eyes fell on the ground and turned into a bee. The bee made (his honeycomb) and busied himself with the flowers of every plant; and so wax was made and also honey out of the tears of Re.\u201d Re, the sun god and creator, forms bees when his tears hit the ground. The mourning of the creator produces the sweetener of human life.<\/p>\n

The myth leads Kritsky, an entomologist who also works in archaeology, into a brief, fascinating exploration of apiarian practices in Egypt, as well as the mythologies, festivals, foods, sexual beliefs connected with bees.<\/p>\n

It would be an interesting exercise to place Kritsky\u2019s finding alongside the biblical references to honey and bees. Israel enters a land flowing with milk and honey, but before they do the Amorittes chase them away bees (Deuteronomy 1:44; cf. Psalm 118:12). \u201cDeborah\u201d means \u201cbee,\u201d and another judge, Samson, finds bees and honey in the carcass of a lion (Judges 14:8). Jonathan later refreshes himself with honey from the ground (1 Samuel 14).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yahweh too produces honey, not from His tears but from the laws and statutes of His mouth (Psalm 19:10; 119:103). Honey comes from the ground, from the rock (Psalm 81:16), the Rock that is Yahweh, the Rock that followed and fed and watered Israel in the wilderness, the Rock that sweetened Israel\u2019s bitter exile.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"