Well, here it is over a year since I started my blog. My intent was to use this format to share my occasional insights into the Bible that result from my personal study. While I have a handful of essays in rough draft, it is a very difficult task to get them into a finished, easy-to-follow, format. However, this is the first time in many years that I’ve had clarity of mind (having gone through about 10 years of difficult life circumstances, including a mild form of an autoimmune malady). So, I trust that my writing skills will break forth shortly. In the meantime, in hopes that it will spark my inspiration to offer something new, I resurrected an old essay written around 1988. It is titled, “What is Sweeter than Honey?”
what is sweeter than honey?
An often quoted prophecy of Jesus found in the Old Testament goes
as follows:
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good (Isaiah 7:14, 15).
The first part is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ, the son of God, being born to the virgin Mary; but the verse following is a bit more puzzling, and, to my knowledge, has never been explained. Surely it must be part of the same prophecy.
Obviously it can’t mean actual butter and honey that he (Jesus) would eat. If that were so then all we would have to do to be able to discern right from wrong is spread a little butter and honey on our toast at breakfast, bypassing the life-long task of learning the difference between good and evil. Of course it is not that easy.
I set out to find the underlying meaning of butter and honey in this text, focusing especially on honey. The following paragraphs will show the path of scriptures taken to find the answer.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of 1 Samuel we learn that Jonathan, the son of King Saul, commanded one thousand men of Saul’s army in a clever and victorious pursuit against the Philistines. Saul and his band eventually joined the pursuit, having forbidden any man to taste of food until evening on pain of death. Not knowing of this command or the consequences of breaking it, Jonathan tasted a little honey while passing through a forest.
And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.
And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth; for the people feared the oath.
But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore 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.. . . see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.1Some translations use the word “refreshed” or “brightened” instead of “enlightened”. While those words may better express the meaning in this context, it is the same Hebrew word used for enlightened, elsewhere. I think that we can safely use this clue. To me, it just reinforces the inspiration of the scriptures.
Although I feel sure there is more to be discovered about the meaning of this story, I simply want to point out for this essay how honey had the effect of enlightening one’s eyes.
The writer of the book of Proverbs gives us a kind of definition of honey and the honeycomb:
My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb which is sweet to thy taste: so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul (Prov. 24:13-14).
As honey is to our taste, so the knowledge of wisdom is to our soul. Now our next problem is to define wisdom. There are no doubt many scriptures that have to do with wisdom but I have chosen these:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have they that do his commandments . . . .(Psa. 111:10).
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding (Job 28:28).
And finally Ecclesiastes sums up Solomon’s discovery of what wisdom is by saying,
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of Man (Ecc. 12:13).
To confirm the two similes, one of which relates honey to wisdom, and the other, wisdom to obedience of God’s law, here is a passage in which both are used.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb (Psa. 19:7-10).
To summarize: as honey is sweet to our taste, so wisdom is sweet to our soul. The soul perceives wisdom as the tongue tastes honey – both are sweet. Our obedience to God’s word and our fear of the Lord is wisdom – it enlightens our spiritual eyes.
With that foundation let us go on to another series of related questions concerning a story about Samson.
Samson, accompanied by his parents, was on his way to Timnath to visit the woman whom Samson would marry. “A young lion roared against him” in the vineyards of Timnath. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, giving him the strength to kill the lion. On the return journey Samson went back to see the carcass of the lion in which was honey and a swarm of bees. Samson ate of the honey and gave some to his parents who also ate of it; but he did not divulge to them from where it came.
Later, at a wedding feast attended by thirty men of his wife’s people, Samson asked them a riddle:
Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness (Judges 14:14).
The Philistines would have never guessed the answer without the help of Samson’s wife. She coaxed the answer out of him, then told her people. Here is the answer they gave:
What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion (Judges 14:18)?
Notice that their reply is actually two questions. Rather than being an answer, it is another riddle that also requires explanation. Here is my answer to both Samson’s and the Philistines’ riddles, (beginning with the latter first).
What is sweeter than honey? We have already learned from Psalm 19:10 that wisdom, or God’s law, is sweeter than honey.
What is stronger than a lion? Let us first establish what is strong.
A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength ( Prov. 24:5).
And the child (Jesus) grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. . . . .They found him (Jesus) sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 11:20-22).
That Jesus would have wisdom and might was prophesied by Isaiah.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:1-2).
Who, then, is the lion?
. . . your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).
Jesus’ first recorded personal encounter with the “roaring lion” took place immediately after his baptism by John the Baptist, at which time the Spirit of God descended upon him, (just as the Spirit of the Lord had come upon Samson giving him power over the lion). Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. With every temptation that Satan hurled at him, Jesus answered with, “it is written” or quite simply, the word of God. After the third try at making Jesus succumb, the devil left for a season (Matt. 4:1-11).
Jesus proved himself stronger than Satan. His strength was not physical; it was godly wisdom obtained by his fear of and obedience to God.
Another passage that shows Jesus stronger than the lion is found in something Jesus said.
But if I (Jesus) with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divided his spoils (Luke 11:20-22).
The “stronger” man is Jesus’ reference to himself as the one who bound Satan. (We will talk about the “spoils” later.)
John the Apostle in his first epistle warns us to beware of the spirit of Antichrist who is already in the world; but we can overcome him because “greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). I assume we all believe that this is speaking of the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in Jesus.
Again, strength here is not physical strength but spiritual strength obtained by wisdom. (Not that our own minds are capable of withstanding Satan, but we can have the “mind of Christ” by our obedience to Him.)
Oh how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way (Psalms 119:97-104).
Now let us go on to the next riddle and begin by answering the second part first: “Out of the strong came forth sweetness.” Based on what we have already learned, we know that Jesus was the strong one and out of him came forth words of wisdom sweeter than honey.
To explain the next part, “Out of the eater came forth meat,” we will begin by defining “meat.” On one of his journeys, Jesus sat down to rest while his disciples went to get meat. When they returned, they urged Jesus to eat, but he said,
I have meat to eat that ye know not of . . . .My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish the work (John 4:32,34).
Later Jesus told the multitudes who were interested in him only for the loaves and fishes,
Labor not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed (John 6:27).
They then asked him for a sign that he did the work of God. ( Here again, we are reminded of our original scripture, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive . . . .” –Isaiah 7:14). What the virgin brought forth was the true bread from heaven). They said Moses had been given a sign, the sign of manna, which they called the bread from heaven.2God through Moses told the Israelites that His doctrine would drop as rain and his speech would distil as the dew (Deut. 32:2). Manna also fell with the dew; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey! (Ex. 16:14,31).
Jesus continues the discourse explaining that He is the true bread from heaven and if any man eat of this bread he shall never die.
Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you . . . .For my flesh is meat indeed (John 6:53,55).
Jesus knowing that many were offended by these strange words answered,
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and the are life (John 6:63).
Broadening our understanding of “meat,” we go to the book of Hebrews whose writer reprimands his spiritually immature reader; for when they should have been teachers themselves they still had need to be taught the basic oracles of God, having “need of milk and not of strong meat.3In the Scripture “Butter and honey shall he eat,” the Hebrew word for butter can be interpreted “curds” or “milk.” Another reference to milk is, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). Thus, both “butter” and “honey” are symbols of the word of God. For, he said, every one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness; in fact, he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb. 5:13-14).
Then the writer goes on to exhort us to leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ, going on unto perfection; because it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted [the honey] of the word, which is the heavenly gift, and made partakers of the Holy Spirit, if they fall away to renew them again to repentance (Heb. 6:1-6).
Let us summarize: (1) Jesus’ meat was to do the will of the Father, that is, obey God’s word, (2) to have eternal life we must eat his flesh that is, his words, and (3) strong meat belongs to those who are spiritually mature, and can discern both good and evil. (Here we are reminded of the very scripture we started out with, “Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.”)
We may safely conclude that obedience and respect to the Word of God is wisdom, and that honey and meat are both figures of speech used to describe properties of wisdom.
What effect does “eating” the Word of God have on our soul? It enlightens our spiritual understanding. We learn to know the difference between good and evil and learn to choose the good.
To illustrate this last point and to show who the “eater” is in our riddle, “out of the eater came forth meat,” we will now take a look at the scene in Luke 24, where Jesus, having already risen from the dead, appeared to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. They did not recognize him as they talked on the way but were amazed at how he understood the scriptures.
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:27).
When they reached the village they asked the “stranger” to stay awhile.
And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them and their eyes were opened and they knew him . . . .(Luke 24:30-31).
They returned to Jerusalem where the apostles and other disciples were gathered. Jesus himself suddenly appeared in the midst of them. They were afraid thinking they had seen a spirit. To prove to them he was not a spirit he asked them to touch his hands and feet. When they still did not believe he said,
Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures (Luke 24:41-45).
Although Jesus ate a literal honeycomb, I believe it was symbolic of his fulfillment of “out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” For when he had eaten the honeycomb out of his mouth came the meat of the word, words of wisdom, sweet to our soul. What he had actually eaten was the meat he described as “to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish the work.” He had done the will of the Father being obedient unto death. This total obedience to God resulted in his obtaining complete wisdom (“In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”–Col.2:3). Since wisdom and strength go hand in hand, Jesus also was given all power (“having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it”–Col.2:15). He had slain the lion; he had partaken of the honey; and from him, the strong one, came forth sweetness, the word of God.
