Torah as Sweet as Honey

Proverbs 24:13-14

My son, eat honey, for it is good,
and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
if you find it, there will be a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.

Sometime in the 12th century, German Jews began a custom whereby children going to school for the first time would get a little piece of cake with honey on it to eat. It was intended to be a beautiful picture of how sweet it is to learn Torah.

This same sentiment finds expression in today’s Proverb. Wisdom is sweet to the soul (v14) even as honey is sweet to the tongue. Where can one find this tasty delicacy of wisdom? First of all, in the Word of God—in the whole Word of God—which we understand to be the Christian’s only rule for faith and life. It is through the Word of God that a person becomes a Christian, and it is through the Word of God that a person grows in wisdom as a Christian. The Word of God is the primary means of grace by which God blesses his people.

Wisdom as a delicious morsel to be savored is, however, not an end in itself. Wisdom in the book of Proverbs is not merely the skill of making good decisions. In Proverbs, the what of wisdom points to the who of wisdom. Taste and see that the Lord is good. The one who partakes of him is satisfied both now and for the future extending into eternity. His hope is secure; he will in no wise be cut off.

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