the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Dictionaries
Honey (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (μέλι)
The words of God are often compared to food that is exceedingly agreeable to the palate-sweeter than honey (Psalms 19:10; Psalms 119:103). The prophet of the Revelation received from an angel’s hand a little book (βιβλαρίδιον)-evidently some special source, probably Jewish, which he has incorporated in his own work-and was enjoined to eat it (Revelation 10:8 f.). In his mouth it was sweet as honey (cf. Ezekiel 3:3), but as soon as he swallowed it he felt its bitterness (Revelation 10:10). To be taken into God’s council and made cognizant of His purposes gave promise of the most delightful experiences; but a prophet’s sense of the reaction of Divine holiness against the world’s sin, and his call to be the herald of Divine judgments, often made his ministry anything but enviable. Jeremiah, to whom God’s revelation, when first received, was the joy of his heart, afterwards found the truth so bitter that he refused to publish it, until it began to be like a fire shut up in his bones (Jeremiah 15:16; Jeremiah 20:9). Every true messenger of God, resolute in facing hard facts, endured sufferings to which the false prophet, optimistically predicting smooth things, was an utter stranger. ‘The persecutions, the apostasies, the judgments of the Church and people of the Lord saddened the spirit of the Seer and dashed his joy at the first reception of the mystery of God’ (Alford on Revelation 10:10). The alternation of spiritual joy and sorrow-the μέλι and the πικρία of evangelism-has been the lot of every true prophet, ancient and modern. ‘Laughter was in this Luther, as we said; but tears also were there. Tears also were appointed him; tears and hard toil. The basis of his life was sadness, earnestness’ (Carlyle, Heroes and Hero-Worship, 1872, p. 131).
James Strahan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Honey (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/h/honey-2.html. 1906-1918.
