TASTE AND SEE

 "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ" are the famous words of exhortation of St Jerome, the doctor of the Church.

Are we genuinely making efforts to grow in knowing and understanding the Scriptures so that we can know and understand and love our God more deeply?

Let us look at one verse in the Bible that speaks of 🍯. 

Deuteronomy 32:13 reads:

"He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag.."

I have often been puzzled by the term honey from the rock and wondered how one could obtain honey of all things from a rock? On researching I found this interesting piece of information which clarified things for me. 

It said that:

Wild honey was honey stored by bees in rocks or trees.  If there is not a place for bees to create a hive, they will create a nest in rocks or, as seen in the story of Samson, in the carcass of a lion.

In the Old Testament, we see numerous references to honey. Honey seemed to symbolise abundance, prosperity. God promises the Israelites a land 'flowing' with milk and honey. In the book of Psalms we read:

Psalm 81:16

But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

The sweetness of honey is well known. In the Bible, it is used as a metaphor for delight. 

I love to sing the hymn that goes thus: 

Another book of the Bible that mentions honey is the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 16:24

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. 

Honey is considered to be a great storehouse of nutrition. The goodness of honey is extolled in many places in the Bible and was one of the gifts given to honour a person. 

In the book of Genesis, Jacob sends honey to Joseph in Egypt as one of the gifts to honour him. In  Samuel 2 we read that Jonathan dipped his staff in the honeycomb and 'his eyes brightened'. John the Baptist lived on locusts and wild honey when he was in the desert.

Honey is also mentioned in the last book of the Bible. In 10:9. 

Since ancient times, honey has been used as both a food and a medicine.

How is honey made?

Bees collect sugar — mainly the sugar-rich nectar of flowers — from their environment. Once inside the beehive, they repeatedly consume, digest and regurgitate the nectar. The end product is honey, a liquid that serves as stored food for bees. The smell, color and taste depend on the types of flowers visited.

High-quality honey contains many important antioxidants. These help reduce heart disease.  

Honey also helps improve cholesterol. It causes modest reductions in 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) while raising 'good' cholesterol (HDL).

Topical honey treatment has been used to heal wounds and burns since ancient Egypt and is still common today.

Studies show that honey reduced cough symptoms and improved sleep more than cough medication 

Honey is used as a sweetener (substitute for refined sugar). Keep in mind though that it should only be consumed in moderation, as it is still high in calories and sugar.

Also, make sure to choose a high-quality brand, because some lower-quality ones may be mixed with syrup.

Raw, unpasteurized honey contains trace amounts of local pollen, which may help desensitize allergic reactions.

Honey is higher in fructose than glucose. Fructose is sweeter than glucose, so you may be able to use a smaller amount of honey in your food or drink without sacrificing sweetness. 

There's one 🍯 though that you can consume in unlimited amounts and that is JESUS. So taste and see that the Lord is good and make Him your EVERYTHING, your ALL! 

Bonus FYI:

Beekeeping is the maintenance of beehives by bee farmers in apiaries. It can be done alongside agriculture since the bees need the nectar which the flowers provide while the flowers get pollinated by the bees. 

Besides honey, the 'honey farmer' can also harvest beeswax, royal jelly, flower and bee pollen.  

Beekeepers wear protective gear to avoid getting stung by bees.