Proverbs 25:16, Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
Almost all references to honey in the Old Testament are to wild honey, made without the helping hands of man.
Bees made their honeycombs and deposited their honey in holes in the ground; under rocks or in crevices between rocks or even in the carcasses of lions as Samson found out one day.
The Bible tells us that when Samson found the honey in the carcass of the lion that he slew, he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating.
He took handfuls of honey. It was plentiful because it came from the source of honey; the bee hive.
He then came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat.
There was plenty of honey to go around!
He did not keep it all to himself but he shared the honey that was found.
Samson found honey! This was a happy event in those days!
We cannot appreciate the happiness of finding wild honey by our experience of going to the grocery store and buying small man processed jars of honey.
It is just not the same!
But the happiness of finding honey is expressed in the question of Solomon in this proverb.
Hast thou found honey?
Wow, we might say! What a benefit, what a boon, what a bounty, what a blessing,
Honey galore, plentiful honey, handfuls of honey, buckets of honey.
This is what is being expressed here, more found honey than you need! More honey than is sufficient for you!
More honey than it takes to satisfy you!
Twelve places in the Bible describe Canaan as the land flowing with milk and honey.
God uses these remarkable foods as a way of describing a good land, a land that will support his people with good things.
Milk and honey are God supplied things.
They both come from his hand. They are bounty and blessings from God. They are given by his grace!
By Proverbs 24:13 God tells us, My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
God wants us to enjoy the good things he provides.
We have eyes to enjoy the beauty of his creation, the sunsets and the sunrises, the majestic cloud formations, the storms, the mountains and the seashore.
He has even given us taste buds to enjoy the sweetness of honey.
God in giving us taste buds communicates to us that he loves us and he wants us to enjoy his benefits.
In Psalm 68:19, David reminds us when he says, Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
God loads his children with benefits like a hive is loaded with honey.
Benefits galore, plentiful benefits, handfuls of benefits, buckets of benefits.
The word loadeth in Psalm 68:19 indicates the imposing of a heavy burden, a big load.
It indicates that the Lord gives you more benefits than you need.
He satisfies you with more benefits than you can take and use for yourself.
And unless those benefits are shared the burden becomes too great and the benefits are wasted.
Isn't this the message of this proverb? Hast thou found honey?
Are not the blessings or benefits of the Lord "found" honey?
Is not the Lord Jesus Christ the wild honey of God?
God says: eat so much as is sufficient for thee.
Go ahead and enjoy the blessings.
The word eat means to freely eat.
The same message that God gave Adam in the Garden when he commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But Child of God! eat so much as is sufficient for thee!
There is a caution Child of God!
Child of God I have loaded you with honey, I have loaded you with benefits, more than you need for yourself.
Be careful that you eat only that which is sufficient for thee.
Because I expect you to share the honey, I expect you to share the benefits that I have provided over your needs.
lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
You see what happens when keeping too much honey for yourself?
You see what happens when you are filled with too much honey?
Not a pretty sight.
Honey is clear and golden and beautiful in shape when poured.
Its consistency and its pureness make it a sweet to be desired.
It is so sweet to the taste, but when the excess is kept and not shared it is spewed out of the mouth and what comes out is an ugly and disgusting thing.
Its benefits are wasted and it can never again bring sweetness to the taste. It is no longer honey!
In 2 Kings the 6th and 7th chapter we are told that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
There was a great famine in Samaria until mothers were driven to boil their children and eat them.
An ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a quarter of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
That was the horrible condition in Israel.
In this condition we find four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?
Come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.
But during the night unbeknownst to the lepers the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to
hear a noise of chariots,
and horses, and the noise of a great host:
Wherefore the Syrians arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. They even left their honey!
And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.
Lepers, hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace:
if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.
You see the lepers had found honey.
They ate what was sufficient for them but they realized that mischief was before them if they continued to consume the blessings and benefits of God upon themselves only.
They knew that they were subject to spiritual vomiting of the good things that God had bestowed upon them.
They were compelled to share the benefits that were given to them to share and not to consume and waste the more than sufficient benefits upon themselves.
Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. God gives honey, God gives his benefits to his people to share with others!