John Gill Commentary 2 Samuel 17:29

"and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness." — 2 Samuel 17:29 (ASV)

And honey and butter
Honey was much in use with the ancients; Homer ^F2 speaks of it as a part of the provisions at a feast, and as food with which persons were nourished and brought up; and the ancient Scythians lived on milk and honey ^F3 ; and this and butter were pretty much the food of the people in Judea; see (Isaiah 7:15–22) ;

and sheep ;
with which and goats the land of Gilead abounded; see (Song of Solomon 4:1Song of Solomon 4:2) ;

and cheese of kine :
made of the milk of cows, as it commonly is:

for David, and for the people that [were] with him, to eat ;
and no doubt they brought wine with them for them to drink; the men that brought these, some brought one sort, and some another, or however different parcels of the same, and did not join in one present; for they came from different parts:

for they said, the people [is] hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the
wilderness ;
where they had been some time, and out of which they had just come, and so weary with travelling, and therefore brought beds to lie down and rest upon; and being hungry and thirsty, through want of bread and water in the wilderness, they brought them both eatables and drinkables; for though the latter is not expressed, it is to be understood, as the word "thirsty" supposes.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Iliad. 11. ver. 630. Odyss. 10. ver. 245. & Odyss. 20. ver. 72. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 11. Sueton. Vita Nero. c. 27.
• F3: Justin e Trogo, l. 2. c. 2.