What Can Be Sweeter? A Study Of All The Scripture References To Honey – Part 2 Series

WHAT CAN BE SWEETER? A STUDY OF ALL THE SCRIPTURE REFERENCES TO HONEY – PART 2

HONEY IS GOD’S PROVISION - THE APPLICATION OF HONEY IN THE SCRIPTURES

This study continues the thoughts we saw in Part 1. I hope you found some value in it. God’s word is meaningful in every way. Honey is another special substance in the bible.

[15]. {{Proverbs 24:13 “My son, eat honey, for it is good. Yes, the HONEY from the comb is sweet to your taste.”}}

Here is instruction to “my son” that may mean a son of Solomon or an injunction to a young believer. What does it mean when advised to eat honey. For that answer we must realise what honey means and we have touched on that. The verse says honey is good and that is why it should be eaten. Solomon is speaking about the literal honey itself and the people then believed honey was of great benefit. Also the latter part of the verse links in sweetness which was a desired thing obviously.

Moving to the application, from that we can say that any sweetness is good, so the sweetness of one’s relationship with God is good, as is the sweetness of the word of God that we have seen. Perhaps I’d make the parallel with “As newborn babes, desire the unadulterated milk of the word.” Desiring the milk of the word is like desiring and eating honey.

[16]. {{Proverbs 25:16 “Have you found HONEY? Eat only what you need, lest you have it in excess and vomit it.”}}

Can we get too much of God? No, we can not. Can we get too much of the bible? No, we can not. Drinking too much orange juice may cause diaorrhrea, and drinking too much cream as I did once as a kid causes one to vomit. Looking at this again, can we get spiritual vomiting? I am not sure here what can be said except over-indulgence in what is good, is not good. Maybe others can draw the application. Perhaps this is a verse that has the literal sense and one we can not make an application from. To find good things of God and try to store them up just for oneself is not good. We are meant to share the good things, and the sweetness of the Lord with others. That is proper stewardship. That is what the lepers found when the Assyrian army fled leaving all its belongings.

[17]. {{Proverbs 25:27 “It is not good to eat much HONEY, nor is it glory to search out one’s own glory.”}}

Solomon sure was careful about his honey intake. I think what he is striving to say is that a controlled moderation is what is required of us. Sober minded and self controlled in all things.

The second part of this verse is such a danger for us. We like to be noticed; we like acclaim, and if we don’t get it we pass out hints as to why we should receive glory. Seeking out our own glory, or importance, or recognition is what the world does, and is NOT the Christian teaching on humility and preferring others to ourselves. If men praise you, trust the Lord that it does not go to your head, and “don’t eat too much honey”. {{Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth, a stranger, and not your own lips.” This is the same idea – do not search out your own glory.”}}

[18]. {{Proverbs 27:7 “A sated man loathes HONEY, but to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet.”}}

Here there is a picture of a man who has bloated himself on food so much so that his greedy eyes sees honey but his belly rejects it because he is like a stuffed turkey. He is so sated (bursting, gorged) that even the most delectable thing – honey – is obnoxious to him. That means his greed has undervalued honey. His over indulgence has won the day against the good provision of the Lord.

The second picture here is the famished man with an empty belly desperately wanting food. Even the basic things and the foods that are coarse and bitter and not desirable are not only acceptable for him but they become sweetness to him. That second picture is such a contrast to the first one but is the way it is for so many people.

It is the greedy person who has filled himself and is full of neglect and is full and careless who has taken his fill of the useless things. The honey is not valued; it is despised. May we never fill ourselves with what is not of value to the neglect of the honey - the absolute sweetness of God’s word. Do not feed yourself on the world’s delights so that you despise the honey of God, that sweetness in His word.