"And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
Genesis 1:25
These are the hives on our property at the moment...
Honestly, God created these insects with some amazing abilities; not only to make honey and beeswax but they live together and work in some complex ways that only the great Creator could accomplish.
Honey etc is mentioned around 60 times in scripture...so it must have been an important food in those lands.
"But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people."
Leviticus 20:24
In the past, I enjoyed working with beeswax. It's fascinating but I'm sure you can imagine, VERY messy! I would add the dirty beeswax to some muslin-type fabric and tie it up and boil it in water. The wax came through the fabric and the dirt remained inside. Then it would set hard on top of the water...then you could either melt it to filter it again or pour it into moulds.
I enjoyed doing that. It is fascinating and of course it has many uses. In the past we made some products from it. These days my sister makes some "udder balm" to use when milking the cow. She made it with beeswax, coconut oil, and olive oil. Speaking of which I took this pic this morning when we were milking.
But back to the subject...
Back in the day before the drought kind of stopped good honey production, I had a lot of honey packaging to do as we sold it to a couple small local stores. Apparantly 1 bee makes 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in it's six week life...so you can imagine the work that goes into all this! It's also fascinating how they do it. After collecting nectar from flowers into their stomach they go back to the hive and pass it from bee to bee's mouth to dry it out before storing and sealing it in the honeycomb.
Bees drinking from the pond...
A full frame of honey...
And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
And he took it, and did eat before them.
Luke 24:41-43
Give praise and glory to our God for providing some sweet food and useful wax and the continuation of plant pollination from such an interesting creature!
Some wisdom from the Word...on moderation.
"Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory."
Proverbs 25:16, 27
But God's Word is sweeter than honey...and more to be desired than gold!
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
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.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
Psalm 19:7-11
Perhaps this blessed you and God gets the glory for just one of His little creatures.
See the biblical gospel to eternal life here.