Pro 25:27 | KingComments | STEP | Eating much of what may be eaten in itself ( ), is not good. The emphasis is not on the goodness of it, but on the not-goodness of it. Honey represents the sweetness of good earthly things. We may enjoy that while thanking God for it ( ). But there is also a danger in it. That danger is that we may search out our own glory in it. This is evident from the second line of verse. If anyone brought a grain offering, he was not allowed to prepare it with honey ( ). The grain offering is a picture of the Lord Jesus in His perfect life. In His life, He never let Himself be guided by the natural relationships that He too had. His mother could not make Him depart from the way His Father wanted Him to go, yet He always maintained due respect for His mother ( ). In our serving God, it should be the same. “Eating much honey” seems to be about searching out one’s own glory in the natural things such as family, work, position. However, our glory should be in “examining weighty things”, as the second line of verse is translated in the Dutch translation I use. It is not about our glory in relationships, but about gaining understanding of the important things God has prepared for us based on the work of His Son. Examining weighty things focuses attention not on ourselves, but on God and His will with and for us. Then we examine His Word, of which it is written that it is “sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” ( ).

‏ Proverbs 25:27

What Determines One’s Own Glory

Eating much of what may be eaten in itself (Pro 24:13), is not good. The emphasis is not on the goodness of it, but on the not-goodness of it. Honey represents the sweetness of good earthly things. We may enjoy that while thanking God for it (1Tim 4:4-5). But there is also a danger in it. That danger is that we may search out our own glory in it. This is evident from the second line of verse.

If anyone brought a grain offering, he was not allowed to prepare it with honey (Lev 2:11). The grain offering is a picture of the Lord Jesus in His perfect life. In His life, He never let Himself be guided by the natural relationships that He too had. His mother could not make Him depart from the way His Father wanted Him to go, yet He always maintained due respect for His mother (Lk 2:48-51). In our serving God, it should be the same.

“Eating much honey” seems to be about searching out one’s own glory in the natural things such as family, work, position. However, our glory should be in “examining weighty things”, as the second line of verse is translated in the Dutch translation I use. It is not about our glory in relationships, but about gaining understanding of the important things God has prepared for us based on the work of His Son. Examining weighty things focuses attention not on ourselves, but on God and His will with and for us. Then we examine His Word, of which it is written that it is “sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” (Psa 19:10).