Honey From The Rock
Posted: March 6th, 2010, 6:05 am
A HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #135d, Re-Written 06MAR10
From The Rock—Part Four: Honey From The Rock
by rev. dave c
There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God (1Sa 2:2; NIV). For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede (De 32:31; NIV). While exploring the Bible regarding God furnishing water from the rock to the nation of Israel during their 40 years in the wilderness (Ex 17:1-7 & Nu 20:1-12), I discovered that God also supplies honey (De 32:13 & Ps 81:16), oil (De 32:13), and fire (Jg 6:21) “from the rock”. Although the situations vary, in each instance Scripture makes it clear that it is God who satisfies a particular need or desire of His people, and, regardless of circumstances, He provides for that need when and where it is needed.
No less a figure than the Apostle Paul draws a metaphoric relationship between that rock in the desert from which flowed a miraculous river, and Jesus from Whom flows eternal streams of living water (Jn 4:10-14). In First Corinthians 10:1-4 we read, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ (NIV). By taking our cue from Paul, we are justified in drawing poetic inferences between firstly honey, then oil, and finally fire “from the rock” and the Person and ministry of Jesus Christ. That said, let’s take a look at this “honey from the rock”.
Deuteronomy 32:9 For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. 10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. 12 The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him. 13 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… (NIV).
Both literally and symbolically, honey is referred to as an important food throughout Scripture. Depending on your version of the Bible, honey is mentioned up to 60 times in the Old and New Testaments. Honey is first mentioned in Genesis 43:11 within Jacob’s list of “the best products of the land” (NIV) that his sons should take back to Egypt as gifts in hope of placating Joseph. Beginning in Exodus 3:8 and throughout the OT, God describes the promised land as “a land flowing with milk and honey” in order to indicate His proffered life of abundance. As a pastor once pointed out many years ago, milk requires cows and honey requires bees; any place that will support cows and bees is also a great place for human beings—especially if we consider that most of the surrounding countryside is rocky, mountainous, and desert.
Throughout the Bible, honey is held as the benchmark for sweetness. In Psalm 19:9&10 (and in Ps 119:103) we are told, The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb (NIV). In Ezekiel 3:3, the prophet tells us, Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth (NIV). Proverbs 16:24 says, Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones (NIV). As commanded by an angel in Revelation 10:9&10, John the Beloved obediently ate “the little scroll”, which “tasted as sweet as honey in his mouth” (although it then “turned his stomach sour”).
Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off (Pr 24:13&14; NIV). Like water from the rock as metaphor for the life sustaining blessings of Jesus, our Rock—honey (‘the chief of sweet things’) from the rock is strongly indicative of the sweetness of life in Christ. In the OT, honey is said to be found in the skull of a lion (Jg 14:8), in trees (1Sa 14:25&26), and in the wilderness of Judea (Mt 3:4). Scripture makes it clear, however, that honey from the rock is best. "If my people [us] would but listen to me, if Israel [the Church] would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you" (Ps 81:13-16; NIV).
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing (Ps 34:8&9; NIV). Oh, that we could pray with the writer of Psalm 119: I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (101-103; NIV).
From The Rock—Part Four: Honey From The Rock
by rev. dave c
There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God (1Sa 2:2; NIV). For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede (De 32:31; NIV). While exploring the Bible regarding God furnishing water from the rock to the nation of Israel during their 40 years in the wilderness (Ex 17:1-7 & Nu 20:1-12), I discovered that God also supplies honey (De 32:13 & Ps 81:16), oil (De 32:13), and fire (Jg 6:21) “from the rock”. Although the situations vary, in each instance Scripture makes it clear that it is God who satisfies a particular need or desire of His people, and, regardless of circumstances, He provides for that need when and where it is needed.
No less a figure than the Apostle Paul draws a metaphoric relationship between that rock in the desert from which flowed a miraculous river, and Jesus from Whom flows eternal streams of living water (Jn 4:10-14). In First Corinthians 10:1-4 we read, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ (NIV). By taking our cue from Paul, we are justified in drawing poetic inferences between firstly honey, then oil, and finally fire “from the rock” and the Person and ministry of Jesus Christ. That said, let’s take a look at this “honey from the rock”.
Deuteronomy 32:9 For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. 10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. 12 The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him. 13 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… (NIV).
Both literally and symbolically, honey is referred to as an important food throughout Scripture. Depending on your version of the Bible, honey is mentioned up to 60 times in the Old and New Testaments. Honey is first mentioned in Genesis 43:11 within Jacob’s list of “the best products of the land” (NIV) that his sons should take back to Egypt as gifts in hope of placating Joseph. Beginning in Exodus 3:8 and throughout the OT, God describes the promised land as “a land flowing with milk and honey” in order to indicate His proffered life of abundance. As a pastor once pointed out many years ago, milk requires cows and honey requires bees; any place that will support cows and bees is also a great place for human beings—especially if we consider that most of the surrounding countryside is rocky, mountainous, and desert.
Throughout the Bible, honey is held as the benchmark for sweetness. In Psalm 19:9&10 (and in Ps 119:103) we are told, The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb (NIV). In Ezekiel 3:3, the prophet tells us, Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth (NIV). Proverbs 16:24 says, Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones (NIV). As commanded by an angel in Revelation 10:9&10, John the Beloved obediently ate “the little scroll”, which “tasted as sweet as honey in his mouth” (although it then “turned his stomach sour”).
Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off (Pr 24:13&14; NIV). Like water from the rock as metaphor for the life sustaining blessings of Jesus, our Rock—honey (‘the chief of sweet things’) from the rock is strongly indicative of the sweetness of life in Christ. In the OT, honey is said to be found in the skull of a lion (Jg 14:8), in trees (1Sa 14:25&26), and in the wilderness of Judea (Mt 3:4). Scripture makes it clear, however, that honey from the rock is best. "If my people [us] would but listen to me, if Israel [the Church] would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you" (Ps 81:13-16; NIV).
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing (Ps 34:8&9; NIV). Oh, that we could pray with the writer of Psalm 119: I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (101-103; NIV).