(What a wonderful metaphor in Scripture)
Scripture Reference: Proverbs 24:13-14 – Proverbs 16:24
"My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off". Proverbs 24:13-14
“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24
I find today’s devotional to be very interesting. I’ve seen enough documentaries over the years to know that bees have always had great importance to our ecosystem, and that bee conservancy has been a big deal for a long time. As a young man growing up, I remember all the references to bees and honey in the Bible.
As a matter of fact, in the Bible, honey is mentioned 61 times and its meaning is often associated with prosperity and abundance. In the third chapter of Exodus, when God called Moses to lead the slaves out of Egypt, we all remember that he called him to lead them to a land that will flow with milk and honey.
Unlike many things that we wonder why they were placed on our planet, we don’t have to do a lot or research to see the immense value of bees.
Do you remember when Hurricane Ian struck Florida and left an ecological disaster in its wake. In addition to the substantial damage to homes and businesses, this massive storm wiped out much of the natural forage used to feed pollinators, leaving the bee populations who did survive at risk of starving.
Losing these colonies would permanently wreak havoc on our country's food supply. This is why you need to know these three reasons to give a buzz about bees:
How many of us know that honey bees are responsible for about ⅓ of food eaten by Americans. Without bees, the American food chain would deteriorate. The bottom line, – no bees, – no honey.
Breakfast cupboards are a fairly recent invention. When my eyes run along the shelfs in our kitchen, I see a whole host of items that would have been unknown to people a few hundred years ago. Our cupboard would include a bunch of noodles, and jars of peanut butter for Marshall.
Lots of spices, various condiments and a variety of dried cereal and what I can't live without, Mexican Hot Chocolate Tablets. So the only two things on my breakfast shelf that would have been recognized by George Washington and Napoleon would be oats and the richest, sweetest item in the cupboard: honey.
Dancing Bees and the Creator
Honey is astonishing. If I were to share a potluck meal with Shakespeare, Genghis Khan, Muhammad, Cleopatra, Queen Esther, Tutankhamun, and Abraham, we would be baffled or disgusted by many of the contributions, but we’d all come together over the golden jar in the middle.
Honey lasts through the centuries; it never goes out of date, so if an enterprising archaeologist were to find a sealed pot of Stone Age honey in a cave somewhere, you would be able to spread it on your muffin for tea.
And both of these things are true because of the truly remarkable thing about it: honey is unprocessed. In our world, virtually everything we eat is treated, sterilized, cooked, or pasteurized and then combined with other things to make it more palatable.
(If you’ve ever tried cutting all sugar or salt out of your diet, you’ll know how difficult it is to live without them.) But honey is almost unique in having no need for additives, flavorings, or preservatives. It is luxuriously sweet and delicious.
We have bees to thank for that. They rummage around inside flowers to find nectar, sometimes collecting honeydew as well, and digest it as they fly. On returning, the foragers perform a dance that explains to the others where they have found the nectar.
The dance factors in the position of the sun relative to the food source, the distance they have flown, the quality of the food available, and even the speed of the wind.
They pass the nectar on to their colleagues in the hive, who pass it around from bee to bee until it’s digested enough to be stored.
This takes up to twenty minutes. When it’s ready, they put it in the cells of the honeycomb and gradually raise its sugar content by evaporating the water, using the heat of their bodies and continually flapping their wings to keep the air circulating.
When the sugar level is high enough to ensure that the honey won’t ferment, they seal the cell with wax and move on to the next one.
As far as I know, nobody has ever published an academic paper proving the existence of God from the existence of bees, but someone probably should.
Honey is sticky, rich, golden, and delicious. It brightens the eyes and enlivens the soul (1 Samuel 14:27-29). And God is the honey maker. A God with no stomach, no tongue, no sweet tooth, and no need for calories came up with the properties of honey before he created atoms.
He invented its color and its texture, imagined the way it would seep into the holes of crumpets, and pictured the indescribable flavors that would result when it was mixed with sea salt and turned into ice cream.
He conceived of its spreadability, longevity, and medicinal properties. He foresaw the elaborate dance of the bees and smiled. Then he spoke it all into being, and behold, it was good.
Honey Reveals God’s Sweetness
Scripture never talks about divine sweetness or uses honey as an illustration of God. It would be so easily misunderstood: it would fuel our tendency to domesticate God and imagine him as a comfortable addition to our cozy lives, a flavoring we can opt for according to our mood, a spiritual condiment. (A glance at the contemporary church suggests we don’t need more encouragement in that direction.)
Yet honey appears 60 times in the Bible, and in most cases it represents one of three things. Each reveals something of what, if we were not careful, we might call the sweetness of God.
1. God’s Land and Rescue
Honey represents God’s land and rescue. If we read the story of the burning bush in Exodus 3, most of us focus (rightly) on those glorious three expressions of the divine name: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v. 6), “I am who I am” (v. 14), and “the Lord” (v. 15).
But the promise Moses receives that day, and later relays to the Israelites, is this: “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (v. 8; see also v. 17).
This is a beautifully poetic way of describing redemption from captivity into freedom. Israel has known slavery and bondage, but the Lord is rescuing her into sweetness and abundance. She has eaten bitter herbs, but she will eat milk and honey.
That promise is at the heart of the Old Testament story, which is why it is repeated so often (Ex. 13:5; 33:3; Lev. 20:24; Num. 13:27; 14:8; Deut. 6;:3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; 31:20; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32;22; Ezek. 20:6, 15). And it’s one of the most common biblical ways of describing God’s commitment to bless and rescue his people.
When our circumstances are dire, we still worship a God who takes the vinegar of our situation and turns it into honey. Even when our present is bitter—and in this age it often is—our future is sweet.
2. God’s Law and Word
Honey represents God’s law and Word. David says the rules of the Lord that warn and guide us are “sweeter also than honey, than drippings of the honeycomb” (Ps. 19:10). The psalmist sings to God, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps 119:103)
Both Ezekiel and John describe visions in which they eat the scroll of God’s Word and it tastes as sweet as honey in their mouths (Ezek. 3:3; Rev. 10:9-10).
So reading and reflecting on Scripture is like plunging your spoon, your dipper, or perhaps even your hand into the syrupy depths of a honeycomb to scoop out and eat the contents. The Word of God is rich, tasty, satisfying, and enjoyable.
It brightens the eyes and enlivens the soul. It doesn’t need any flavorings or preservatives to make it taste better, and you cannot add to it or take away from it.
We are to fill ourselves up with the Word of God. Jeremiah new its value as he told us in chapter 15:16 - “Your words were found and I did eat them, and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” What a wonderful illustration! His word truly is like honey and will produce endless joy and rejoicing of our hearts.
Holy scripture lasts through the centuries and never goes out of date. You and I can take the portions of Scripture that archeologists have found in caves, even thousands of years ago, and they are just as enlivening today as they were when they were first written. In a world filled with processed products and hybrid wisdom, the words of God are pure, golden, and luxuriously sweet.
In a world filled with processed products and hybrid wisdom, the words of God are pure, golden, and luxuriously sweet.
3. God’s Gifts and Grace
Honey represents God’s gifts and grace. The first time we encounter honey in the Bible, it’s as a gift, given by one person to gain favor with another. This pattern recurs several times: from Jacob to Joseph (Gen. 43:11), from the people of Mahanaim to David (2 Sam. 17:27-29), from Jeroboam to Ahijah (1 Kings 14:3), and from Israel to God (2 Chron. 31:5).
But when God gives honey to us, it’s not to find favor with us or to trade it for something else. God doesn’t need anything from anybody. Rather he gives honey—and his gracious gifts in general—simply to bless.
It’s hard to think of two more unmerited, one-sided gifts in the Bible than manna, which God produces out of the clear blue sky, and the water that gushes forth from the rock in the wilderness. The Israelites simply arrive somewhere, moaning and exhausted, and God provides immeasurably more than they can ask or imagine.
So it may be significant that the manna tastes of honey (Ex. 16:31) and the water is later described as “honey from the rock” (Ps. 81:16). Honey, it seems, is a symbol of the abundant sweetness of God’s gracious gifts, which cannot be earned, horse-traded, bought, or exchanged. It can only be received.
We are called not just to learn about God but to experience him. We are invited to taste his sweetness and allow his golden richness—beautifully expressed in his rescue, his Word, and his grace—to brighten our eyes and refresh our souls. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Ps. 34:8).
Let our speech always be gracious and sweet like honey
Such speech fulfills this proverb. Wise mothers say to children, If you cannot say something kind, then do not say anything at all. Parents love to hear right words (Pr. 23:16; 15:26). Your stinger should only be used as a last resort, just like the honeybee.
But is sweet speech manly? Yes, indeed! God created man and inspired this proverb, and Solomon the son of David wrote them. Were these two effeminate? David bravely killed Goliath and won Jonathan’s heart by gracious words, all in one day (Pr. 22:11; 1 Sam. 18:1)
The Lord Jesus could cut and confound the Pharisees when He needed, but His disciples knew Him for gracious and healthful speech (Ps. 45:2; Is 50:4). His gracious words at Nazareth caused the whole crowd to wonder (Luke 4:22). And the hearts of two disciples burned joyfully from His precious words on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:32).
Unnecessary harshness in speech is not a sign of manliness or the Spirit of God; it is sold by the devil to those whose hearts are not right. It flows from a heart hardened by hatred or pride, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34).
David rebuked his nephews for being too hard (11 Sam. 3:39), and Jesus did the same to James and John (Luke 9:55). Neither party had the spirit or tongue of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A bitter and biting tongue is a fire from hell; it is a world of iniquity; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison (Jas 3:2-12). No man can tame it by himself. Yet you must do all you can to cut it out from your own mouth and those of your children, by God’s grace.
Men like John the Baptist and Elijah had special missions, and you do not know they were harsh in private. They likely were not. They are not examples for common speech. You should rather choose the law of kindness to govern your choice of words (Pr 31:26)
Who can deny that God’s words are sweet? Are they not sweeter than honey (Ps 19:10; 119:103)? Do they not cause joy and rejoicing in your heart (Jer 15:16)? They are so sweet that those speaking them are described as having beautiful feet (Rom 10:15).
Can you remember the sweetness to your soul of hearing the true gospel with understanding?
There is great power in the tongue, reader (Pr. 18:21). How will you use it today? You will eat the fruit of how you use it – life or death. Every man shall bear his own burden.
God’s Word has dropped in our lap many blessed lessons regarding honey and its use and meaning throughout scripture. None more important than seeing it as a picture of the sweetness of God’s holy word. May every sweet taste of Scripture fill our heart with joy overflowing as it brings comfort and grace to our souls. Glory be to God. Amen!
From: fight the good fight of faith & life journal: by Gregg Harris
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