Why Pauly Hart thinks bee honey is unclean


This is a weird topic for me but a lot of people are up in arms about it. I think it seems like a translation issue. In the Hebrew it is "Debash" or  דְּבָשׁ just means "syrup," specifically coming from a tree. Agave or Maple syrup are two kinds of this sweet . Only once does "honey" have a connotation with bees, and that is where Samson kidnaps some girl, tricks his parents, and lies to a bunch of wedding guests. can't see anything good coming from that.

So we know that "bees" are scripturally unclean based upon Leviticus 11.

Leviticus 11 (ESV) 20“All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you. 21Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground. 22Of them you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. 23But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.

And furthermore directly after these verses we have this warning:
24“And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 25and whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

Now obviously honey is not part of the bee carcass, nor am I implying that. However, it should not take away from the fact that, if you are in Christ, and in perfect harmony with Torah, Bees should be detestable to you. How many beekeepers are also Torah keepers? None.

If something is detestable to those in Torah, how then can we say that the Bible says it is good? Consider the four verses talking about bees in the Bible:

Judges 14:8 "When he returned later to take her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion."

Deuteronomy 1:44 "The Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and crushed you from Seir to Hormah."

Isaiah 7:18 "In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria."

Psalm 118:12 "They surrounded me like bees; They were extinguished as a fire of thorns; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off."

They are harbingers of the destructive power of YHVH. They are likened to Amorites, Assyrians, and "the nations" that sought to kill David. Does this sound like a good insect?

" These creatures on the wing were like messengers sent to admonish the saints of God that the sweetest spots of earth were polluted, and, therefore, they must watch and keep their garments. The only clean insects were the locusts — the insects so often used by God to punish a guilty land and an unclean people." AA Bonar, commentary, Biblehub.com

There are over twenty sap producing trees, thirty nectar producing flowers that can serve as a scriptural definition of "Debash" -  Why did the translators choose: "honey?"

In the New Testament, Matthew 3:4 and Mark 1:6 the word using John Baptist's food (along with locust) is "Meli" or "
μέλι" - the word used in Revelation by John the Apostle, in 10:9 and 10:10 is also "Meli" or "μέλι" , which means: "honey."

John the Apostle is told by the angel that it will be sweet like honey but make your stomach sour, and then just that happens. But both John's obeyed Torah and did not let anything unclean touch their lips. So we know that this could not have been (in John Baptist's case) real honey, and in the dream an angel (unless it was a fallen angel) would never prompt anyone to disobey Torah either. So these are instances of "syrup" or "sap" if you will.

Long and short of it is, why would we continue on touting some myth just to serve our tradition? Why can't we let God's word be God's word and let ourselves willingly submit to it?

I adore Bee honey honestly. But if I am to submit to Torah and to the Will of YHVH, in obedience to Yahshua our Messiah, then I must willingly lay down my pet doctrines and pick up obedience.

"To obey is better than sacrifice, and Agave, than the Comb of Bees." - A silly paraphrase, based on a great verse.

I love you all, hope this serves you well.

-Pauly Hart
2/15/18


P.S. I want to address rather quickly, Luke 24:42 in the King James Version, where it says: “And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.” Just a quick note on that. Sorry. That version is wrong on several accounts. The part about the honeycomb was added in and is not included in the 1598 Textus Receptus.