Honey

Honey

In this episode of That’s in the Bible? I want to first point out to you that honey is in the Bible.  

Then we will also see, that honey shows up in the Bible in a good context.

And then we will look at some of the insight that the Bible gives us regarding honey.

Honey is an amazing substance, and today I hope to give you a greater glimpse of just how amazing it is.

Honey shows up in the Bible 65 times, which on average, makes it nearly once per book...   

Now that is, on average...  In actuality, honey shows up in 23 books of the Bible  19 OT & 4 NT

Honey first shows up in the book of Genesis, and last shows up in the book of Revelation.

Honey shows up in each of the first 7 books of the Bible, and 11 of the first 12 books in the Bible.

Of the 65 times honey shows up in the Bible, it occurs most prominently as the word honey, but also as the word honeycomb.  

As honey 56 times, and as honeycomb 9 times.

The first time it shows up in the Bible is Genesis 43, when Jacob sends his sons to Egypt the second time to buy corn.➔

Gen. 43:11  And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

Honey was included in this gift that was to contain “the best fruits of the land...”  As soon as honey arrives on the scene in the Bible, it arrives in an elevated context.

The next time it shows up, it shows up in one of the most recognizable phrases from the Bible.  That is in Exodus chapter 3, and v. 8.  I will read it to you together with v. 7 for context.➔   

Ex. 3:7-8  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 

{8} And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

This is land is the land that the Lord promises to His people Israel.

The promised land...  And it is➔ a land flowing with milk and honey...

When God wanted to bless His people, He sent them into a land that flowed with plenty of honey.

A land flowing with milk and honey became a prominent theme in the Scriptures, that phrase alone occurring 20 times in the Bible...  All in the context of a desirable land.

And while God blesses His people with a land flowing with milk and honey, Job 20:17 says of the wicked, that➔ He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

When Israel was right with God, He blessed them with honey.➔

Deut. 32:9-13  For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 

{10} He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 

{11} As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 

{12} So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. 

{13} He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

When Israel was not right with God, they missed out on God’s blessing of honey.➔

Ps. 81:10-16  I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 

{11} But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. 

{12} So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. 

{13}Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! 

{14} I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. 

{15} The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. 

{16}He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

Note that in both Ps. 81 & Deut. 32 the Lord refers to honey out of the rock.  God identifies Himself as the rock, in Deut. 32:4.  So there is a spiritual application here too.

And in the NT, Jesus is identified as that Rock, in I Cor. 10:4.  And Ps. 81:16 tells us that honey out of the rock would satisfy a person.

And so it was, that in 1895, one Frederick Graves wrote a hymn that is still sung today, called Honey in the Rock.

O my brother, do you know the Sav­ior,
 Who is wondrous kind and true?
 He’s the Rock of your sal­va­tion!
 There’s honey in the Rock for you.

Oh, there’s honey in the Rock, my brother,
 There’s honey in the Rock for you;
 Leave your sins for the blood to cover,
 There’s honey in the Rock for you.

Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious,
 Do you walk in the way that’s new?
 Have you drunk from the living Foun­tain?
 There’s honey in the Rock for you.

Do you pray unto God the Fa­ther,
 What wilt Thou have me to do?
 Never fear, He will surely answer,
 There’s honey in the Rock for you.

Then go out through the streets and byways,
 Preach the Word to the many or few;
 Say to every fallen brother,
 There’s honey in the Rock for you.

Oh, there’s honey in the Rock, my brother,
 There’s honey in the Rock for you;
 Leave your sins for the blood to cover,
 There’s honey in the Rock for you.

There is honey in our Rock... and our Rock is the Lord.  And that is why Bro. Lester Roloff used to like to sing  

There’s something mighty sweet about the Lord.

There’s something mighty sweet about the Lord.

It really doesn’t matter, what the people say,

There’s something mighty sweet...

Amen, and Amen!

And one of the sweet things that comes forth from the Lord is His word...  And as we read the Bible, we find that...

1. Honey is a Type of the Word of God

Let’s watch it as the Bible is compared, and then likened to honey.

Ps. 19:7-10  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 

{8} The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 

{9} The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 

{10} More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Ps. 119:103  How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

As sweet as honey is, the word of God is sweeter!  

In both Ps. 19:10 & Ps. 119:103 the Bible is compared to honey for sweetness.  In Prov. ch. 16 we can see the Bible likened to honey.➔

Prov. 16:24  Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

There are no more pleasant words in the world, than the words of God!

If you know the Lord, you should know that to be true.

Ezk. 3:3  And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

Rev. 10:9-10  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 

{10} And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

It was sweet, and then bitter, because the Bible has some bitter truths in it.  Like the truth of an eternal hell for the lost, and God’s judgment upon sin in the earth, and upon individuals.

Another interesting thing is mentioned regarding honey in Lev. 2:11➔ No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.

Honey is not to be burnt, and woe to them that burn Bibles!  

In my Bible reading I am presently in the book of Jeremiah, and the last chapter I read this morning was Jeremiah 36.  In that chapter you find King Jehoiakim taking the roll of the book containing the words of God that Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet, and burning it in the fire.

These were the words of God that the king had burnt in the fire.  That did not bode well for the king.  And as a matter of fact, after he did it, God gave Jeremiah another message for the king.➔

Jer. 36:29-31  And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? 

{30} Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. 

{31} And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.

What’s the moral of the story for us?  Don’t burn the Bible!

Here is an interesting fact about honey...  And you can look this up and research it for yourself.  

*Honey doesn’t go bad!

Just like the Bible!

The following is from Foodnetwork.com

Because honey has a low water content and high acidity, it's an unfriendly place for bacteria to thrive. As long as the lid stays on and the honey stays free of added moisture, honey can be stored in the cupboard indefinitely.

It is common knowledge that honey was found in the tomb of the Egyptian King Tutankhamun and that it was safely edible.

This next quote comes from McGill.ca, a website that states on its header 

Office for Science and Society

Separating Sense from Nonsense

Among the treasures discovered during the famous 1922 archaeological excavation of King Tutankhamun’s tomb was a jar of honey.  Archaeologists tasted it (brave souls those archeologists), and to their amazement, found it to be as sweet as, well, honey.  Due to its low water content and acidic pH, this bee regurgitation is one of the few foods that does not spoil.  The sticky goo starts out as flower nectar, containing about 60% water.  Bees add enzymes that break down the complex carbohydrates to simple sugars and then store the nectar in honeycombs where the water content is reduced to about 18% through evaporation. 

Honey does not spoil, and neither does the word of God.  Of course, you can corrupt either of them by mixing something else with it.

But, as the apostle Paul said in II Cor. 2:17➔  For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

All right, here’s something else about honey...

2. Honey is Good for Your Health

The Bible is good for your health, and so is honey.  

The Bible➔ 

Prov. 4:20-22  My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 

{21} Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 

{22} For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Prov. 24:13  My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:

Good food will help you to have good health.

*Honey is good food.

John the Baptist ate honey.➔

Matt. 3:4  And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

And I suppose, if I was going to eat locusts, that’s how I’d eat them!

Jesus even ate honey in His resurrection body!

In Luke 24 Jesus shows Himself alive to the apostles, and they are absolutely astonished.

Luke 24:41-43  And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 

{42} And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 

{43} And he took it, and did eat before them.

Prov. 16:24  Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Both the Bible & honey are sweet & healthy...  They are health to the bones.

Again, Prov. 24:13 says➔ My son, eat thou honey, because it is good;

The Lord says➔ eat thou honey...  So then, I guess we should!

Unless there is some medical reason why you should not do so, I would recommend that you eat honey based on the Bible.

Let me, however, caution you about giving honey to babies, as medical experts say that babies should not have honey until they are 12 months old.

One other caution is that the Bible warns us about eating too much honey.➔

Prov. 25:16  Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.

*My experience...

Prov. 25:27  It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.

Honey is God’s sweetener, and honey is good for you.  Good food leads to good health, and vice-versa.

The food you eat can help you or harm you.  Look at➔ 

Ps. 103:1-5  Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 

{2} Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 

{3} Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; {4} Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 

{5}Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things...

Not everything that we eat for our satisfaction is good for us...

When we eat something and say  That is so good, it is virtually always a reference to how it tastes...

But not everything that tastes good, is good for you.

Let me ask you this...  Do you think the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil tasted good when Eve ate it?

She saw that it was good for food, and then she ate it...  I think I’m on solid ground here, when I say that it tasted good...  But it would ultimately kill her.

Sin can be pleasurable, but its pleasures are but for a season...

It is worth noting that the first sin had to do with food.

Today people are allured to decadent food, with taste-tempting goodness...

Decadent - current Merriam-Webster def. 

1: characterized by or appealing to self-indulgence

2: marked by decay or decline

I think the word decadent is related to the word Decalogue...

Decalogue is a word that means the 10 commandments...  Dec- meaning 10...  Like decimal - mathematical system based on the number 10...

What does deca or 10 have to do with self-indulgence?  I think the idea of “decadent” is indulging yourself by breaking the one or 10 commandments...

Think of it like this...  Putting a “dent” in the “Decalogue”.

This is how rich, good tasting desserts are described.

*Decadent

*Taste-tempting

*Sinfully delicious

Now, this is not to say that good food can’t taste good...  It most certainly can.

But the reason that some people don’t find good food good tasting, is the same reason why lost people don’t find good living appealing...

*The lost man is so used to indulging himself with sin that he finds 

  righteous living bland, distasteful, and unappealing...

*And the person that feeds constantly on junk food, finds good food 

  bland, distasteful, and unappealing...

Prov. 27:7  The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

According to Ps. 103:5 one ofe thing to dos to renew your youth is to learn to satisfy your mouth with good things, not with bad things, and honey is a good thing and we should eat it, according to Prov. 24:23.

Let me show you one more amazing thing about honey...

3. Honey is Good for Your Spiritual Health

As the word of God enlightens your eyes spiritually, so can honey.

Remember when Jonathan ate some honey during the battle in I Sam. 14?  It says in I Sam. 14:27 that➔ he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.

Ps. 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Honey can contribute to your ability to both understand the Scriptures and obey them.  Honey can help you to make wise moral choices.

Does that sound like a preposterous, off the wall statement?

Does that sound like some wild, baseless claim from a spiritual snake oil salesman?  Well... I guess it’s easy to miss great truths in the Bible.

Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah ch. 7➔

Is. 7:15  Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

*Don’t miss this truth!  Eating honey caused him to be able to say, “No” to sin, and “Yes” to right living.

And hold on...  Notice something else!  Look at Is. 7:14➔ 

Is. 7:14-15  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 

{15} Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

Jesus ate honey both before His resurrection & after it.

And if God in the flesh, ate honey to assist Him to make the right moral choices, how much more do we need it!!

It is no coincidence that, in this morally depraved world, the bee population is on the decline.

Lack of bees equal lack of honey.  

The price of honey has gone up signifcantly in recent years.  That in itself will keep people from buying it.

Of course they’d have no problem spending the same amount on junk food!  And the junk food will last them a night or two, while the honey will likely last them months.

I have already read you Prov. 24:13...  In closing, I am going to read to you again, along with the verse that follows it.  

So here is Prov. 24:13-14➔  

{13} My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: 

{14} So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.