Sweeter Than Honey

“Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.” – (1 Samuel 14:29)

In 1 Samuel 14 we see a great victory for Israel against their enemies, the Philistines. It all started when Saul’s son, Jonathan, and his armour bearer decide that they are going to trust God to bring a great victory. This is a somewhat similar situation to the account of David fighting Goliath in that they were both miraculous victories and they both involved the same enemy. Here, the massive army of the Philistines is encamped near the much smaller army of Israel. Saul, Israel’s king, is not really taking any action, so Jonathon decides to do something. Him and his armourbearer go up to where the Philistines are and God goes with them and gives them a great victory. This starts a chain reaction where the Philistines run for their lives and even fight each other. Saul is watching this from a great distance and is not sure what is happening, but soon realizes that the enemy is leaving. Finally, he decides to get involved. The rest of the people of Israel, along with Saul, join the chase and attempt to kill all of the Philistines before they completely escape out of Israel. Saul then does something really dumb. He tells all of his people that they are not to permitted to eat anything until the battle is completely over, and anybody who violates this command will be put to death. The people don’t eat, but Jonathan does. He come upon a little honey in the woods as he is chasing the Philistine army and he eats it. Jonathan did not know about Saul’s order. However the Bible says that his “eyes were enlightened.”  By the way, if the rest of Israel were allowed to have a little of that honey, they would have had a lot more energy to continue in the battle. In fact, they are so famished that when it does come time to eat, they don’t even cook their meat; they eat it raw, which was against the Law of God.

There is a wonderful picture here regarding the honey. Honey is a picture of the Word of God. Notice other verses that compare honey to the Word:

“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, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” – (Psalm 19:9-10)

“How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” – (Psalm 119:103)

Notice also this reference from Psalm 19 about the Bible “enlightening the eyes.”

“The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Psalm 19:8)

As Christians, we are supposed to be in a battle, and we need to have our eyes enlightened and our spiritually batteries recharges often as we fight. We need to take time to open the Bible and allow God’s Word to “enlighten our eyes,”  giving us the wisdom and the strength that we need to face the difficult situations that will come our way. Have you eaten your honey today? Don’t let the Sauls of this world keep you from tasting the sweet Word of God.

By the way, have you noticed that Saul has a rather insecure and obsessive personality? Why would he come up with such a rule anyway. He wants total control over the people. He didn’t want their eyes to be enlightened. Religion can be like that today. It frowns upon people tasting of the heavenly honey for themselves, because they want to completely control the spiritual nutrition the people receive.

On Second Thought …

I wrote the above post a few years back but edited it for today. I had another thought from 1 Samuel 12 that I had not noticed before:

“13 Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you. 14 If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God: 15 But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.” (1 Samuel 12:13-15)

Notice that Samuel stated that if the people continued to obey the Lord and serve Him, then the king would also continue following the Lord. We often blame the rulers for the spiritual condition of the land, but perhaps the leadership is really just a reflection of the spiritual condition of the people.

Isn’t that what Solomon stated win 2 Chronicles:

“14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)