Q&A Home > H > Honey The word "honey" has occurred so often in scripture. For example: "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103). "Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste" (Proverbs 24:13). What is the relevance of honey as a substance? The word 'honey' occurs fifty seven times in the Holy Bible. In nineteen of these occurrences, it is combined with 'milk'. God described the Promised Land of Canaan as "A land flowing with milk and honey"; thus suggesting a land filled with abundance of good things (Exo 3:8,17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; Ezek 20:6,15…). A land of olive trees and honey" had the same meaning (Deut 8:8; 2 Kg 18:32), and similarly "streams of honey and butter" (Job 20:17). Honey was a standard of sweetness (Ezek 3:3; Rev 10:9-10). It typified lavish food (Isa 7:15,22; Ezek 16:13,19).
The Word of God and His ordinances are compared to honey and described as spiritually delicious (Ps 19:10; 119:103). We should delight in God's word and the rightness of God's word to His people (Ezek 3:3). The truth of God, as revealed, is more satisfying to the heart, and provides more pleasure to the soul, than that which is esteemed as the highest luxury to the appetite. For us Christians, the Word of God is loved; it is pleasant; it is agreeable; it is not regarded merely as necessary, and admitted to the soul because it is needful, as medicine is, but it is received into the soul because it is more agreeable and pleasant than the most luscious article of food is to the taste.
Honey and milk are also used to denote sweet discourse (Song of Sol 4:11) and honey taken in appropriate quantities is used to illustrate pleasure in moderation (Prov 25:16,27).
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