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The Fellowship of Life |
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Sir � I was very surprised to read in Rabbi Blue�s article entitled �Saucy Locusts� (Universe, August 5), that he seems to believe that St John the Baptist actually ate the creepy-crawlies. I went to Palestine in 1964 with a party, and was shown some fine locuste trees, known locally as �St John�s Bread.� These could grow in very arid areas, and had fruits like small, thin, black bananas, very �chewy� with a strong flavour of honey and very sweet. I am wondering if the �locusts and wild honey� should read �locuste (fruits) and wild honey,� or even �honey-flavoured fruits of wild locuste trees.� I am no Hebrew scholar but I know that Jews of that date used many expressive metaphors. As an analogy in modern times, how would someone translate, in 2,000 years� hence, our expression �it�s raining cats and dogs.� The original meaning could be lost, leaving only the words. I should be interested if a biblical scholar could comment on this. Diana F. Kraemer (Mrs) Return to Letters |
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