Psalm 19 verse 9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are
true; they are righteous
altogether.
V.10 They are more desirable than
gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and
the drippings of the
honeycomb.
(New American Standard, p.565)
Aged 8 or 9, I remember, in one of my daily walks there was a large clump of honey bees hanging from one of the branches of a pine tree. I had never seen this spectacle before and it wasn't explained to me. Later I learnt that they were hanging there waiting to be located to a hive. About two years later I decided to go and walk on the roof. I saw bees flying in and out of the roof through a hole and observed them for some time. I noticed around the hole in the roof were the corpses of larger dead bees (larger than the majority of them) which puzzled me. It occurred to me much later that these were protecting the hive against marauding bees and had died in the defense of the hive. I said nothing of my excursion to anybody and it wasn't discovered until...
About three months later, a hole appeared in the plaster board of the guest wing. I knew what the problem was - it was the honey bees whose jaws had started to chew away at the plaster board. I struggled for weeks after that with the urge to tell the parents they had a bee hive in their roof. Eventually, over dinner, the topic of "what to do about that growing hole in the roof" came up and I nonchalantly said. "I know what the problem is because I have seen bees going in and out of the roof through a little hole above the guest rooms." To which Mum retorted, words to the effect, "How do you know that there is a hole in the roof and how do you know there are bees going in and out?" To which I replied, "Oh - err - well - I - went up on the roof." Mum retorted, "What! How?" "I climbed up through the washing area." I can't remember the whole conversation, suffice to say that I was in the dog house for climbing on the roof, not for discovering the bees but I wasn't punished because I had alerted them to what was causing the hole, then only a tiny one.
The hole got bigger, the rooms in the guest section were out of bounds, until a pest control lady and her skilled helpers descended on us and destroyed them. Pesticide was used which is a shame - they should have been smoked out. Hundreds of dead bees all over the place. The men and the lady seemed immune to the stings because I don't recall them putting on any protective clothing! The extracted honeycomb was enormous - I can't remember how many feet long or wide.
By the way, Deborah, the judge in the Old Testament, means "honey bee". What a curious name to address someone.
Some Bible references to honey:
Judges, 14:8; Gen. 43:11; 2 Sam. 17:29; Ex.16:31; 1 Sam 14:26; Deut. 32:13; 1 Sam. 14:25; Matt. 3:4; Ex. 3:8,17
Last edited on Thu Jun 26th, 2008 12:05 am by guitarist63
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