If you find honey, eat just what you need, lest you have too much and vomit it up. Sermons
I. WARNING AGAINST SATIETY. (Vers. 16, 17.) The stories of Samson and of Jonathan may be read in illustration of the saying (Judges 14:8, 9; 1 Samuel 14:26). Ver. 27 points the warning against incurring the pain of satiety, "Honey, too, hath satiety," says Pindar - "A surfeit of the sweetest things, The deepest loathing to the stomach brings." 1. We should beware of a too frequent repetition of even innocent pleasures. "If a man will not allow himself leisure to be thirsty, he can never know the true pleasure of drinking." Self-indulgence far more than suffering unnerves the soul. It may well be asked - How can men bear the ills of life, if its very pleasures fatigue them? 2. A special application of the warning. Do not weary your friends. There should be a sacred reserve of a delicate mutual respect even in the most intimate relations of friendship. To invade a busy privacy, with a view to enjoy a snatch of gossip or secure some paltry convenience, is an offence against the minor morals. Defect in manners is usually owing to want of delicacy of perception. Kindly utterance must rest on the conscientious observance of peat Christian principles; let daily life be evangelized by their all-pervading power. Let us make our "foot precious" to our neighbour by not intruding it too often in his home. Better that our visits should be like angels', few and far between, than frequent and wearisome as those of a beggar or a dun. II. THE TONGUE OF THE FALSE WITNESS. (Ver. 15.) Compared to destructive weapons (comp. Psalm 52:4; Psalm 57:4; Psalm 64:4; Psalm 120:4). "The slanderer wounds three at once - himself, him he speaks of, and him that hears" (Leighton). Not only falsehood, but the perverse and distorted way of telling the truth, comes under this ban. "In the case of the witness against our Lord, the words were true, the evidence false; while they reported the words, they misrepresented the sense; and thus swore a true falsehood, and were truly foresworn (Matthew 26:60)" (Bishop Hall). III. MISPLACED CONFIDENCE. (Ver. 19.) Compared to a broken tooth and a disjointed foot. It is a too common experience, and suggests the counsel to select as confidants only good men. "Be continually with a godly man, whom thou knowest to keep the commandments of the Lord, whose mind is according to thy mind, and will sorrow with thee, if thou shalt miscarry;...and above all, pray to the Most High, that he will direct thy way in truth" (Ecclus. 37:12-15). Above all, "let God be true, and every man a liar." IV. INAPT AND UNREASONABLE MIRTH. (Ver. 20.) It is like the mixture of acid with soda, by which the latter is destroyed; while the combination with oil, etc., produces a useful compound. It is like laying aside a garment in cold weather. Discordant behaviour, the words or the manner out of tune with the occasion, is the fault pointed at. It springs from thoughtlessness and want of sympathy. The Spirit of Christ teaches us to cultivate imagination and sympathy with others. "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." - J.
Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. It is a mistaken notion that religion is a melancholy business, and the enemy of pleasure. Christianity is supposed to be synonymous with inanity, and to impose a weariness alike on flesh and spirit that stifles the freedom, represses the elasticity, and dulls the brightness which are the natural and precious heritage of youth. But this is as false as the devil who coined it. I stand here as the messenger of God, as the champion of pleasure, the advocate of hilarity, the apostle of enjoyment, the prophet of light-heartedness. Pleasure is a necessity of our nature. The goodness of God has made bountiful provision for full satisfaction and delight. The body is endowed with senses capable of exquisite sensations of delight. When you talk of the melancholy of religion you become the Pharisaic boaster, and notI. You thank your God that you are not as other men. If the intellect seeks pleasure in the study of the physical universe, does the Christian philosopher discover less to charm his mind than do his scientific comrades of less assured belief? But ours is a triple manhood. There is the moral and spiritual man. Surely there is honey in doing right; there is pleasure in goodness and truth. As to the honey of life to be found in a good conscience, in doing right, in walking uprightly, according to the universally recognised laws of morality, surely the Christian has a better chance than the ordinary man. What does religion allow, or rather enjoin, in the way of pleasant recreations? 1. They must do me no harm; neither enfeeble my body, rob my brain of its vital energy, or disturb my inward sense of right. 2. They must recreate my body; brace it up, and leave me readier for after-service. 3. They must refresh my mind; not make it sluggish, heavy, depressed, and ill at ease. 4. They must cheer my heart — in their present influence, in their results, and in their memory. (J. Jackson Wray.) Homiletic Review. 1. The Bible does not prohibit pleasure. It does not say to the man who has found honey, "Eat it not!" but "Eat so much as is sufficient for thee." What the Bible forbids is excess.2. In prohibiting such pleasures, the Bible proceeds upon a principle of benevolence. "Eat no more than is sufficient for thee!" Why? Not because pleasure is grudged, but because pain is deprecated. 3. The principle upon which the Bible proceeds in this matter is a benevolent one, because it accords with the constitution of our nature. There is a point at which pleasure becomes pain. It is the law of our being, that if pleasure is to remain pleasure, it must be enjoyed moderately and intermittently. (Homiletic Review.) 1. Pleasure is a necessity of our nature.(1) A necessity of its complex constitution. We are made to enjoy. We have capacity for (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) 2. Pleasure is a possibility of our condition. God, the all-wise and all-kind, has not only made us for pleasure and given us a strong desire for it, but has also bountifully surrounded us with its sources.(1) For the animal faculties. There is light for the eye, music for the ear, fragrance for the smell.(2) For the intellectual. The universe is a problem for our study.(3) For the moral. The true and good are around us, in the character of God, the actions of the good, etc.(4) For the religious. God in Christ is revealed as the Object of worship.(5) For the social. There is society, with its varied life. 3. Pleasure is an element of our religion. Christianity is not a morbid, ascetic system. "Rejoice in the Lord alway." II. THE LIMITATION: "Eat so much as is sufficient for thee." Pleasure is not to be indulged indiscriminately and unlimitedly. We must indulge in such pleasures only as are — 1. Dignified in their nature. We must remember the spirituality of our nature and the immortality of our being. We are not animals. Let us not make the mistake of the rich fool. We are made in God's image, and are capable of high and noble joys. 2. Beneficial in their influence. Pleasure must not be sought and indulged in on its own account, but as a means toward the attainment of a higher end. The objects of pleasure are — to recreate the body; to refresh the mind; to cheer the heart; to fit us for the work of life. 3. Christian in their sanction. 4. Proportionate in their degree. Pleasure must not be the end of life. It must not be pastime. Time is too valuable to be frittered away. (Thomas Baron.) I. The world HAS ITS HONEY.1. It has a gastric honey. What pleasures can be derived from a participation in the precious fruits of the earth! 2. It has a gregarious honey. How great the pleasure men have in mingling with their kind, merely as social animals; the pleasure of mates, parents, children. 3. It has a secular honey. Pursuit, accumulation, and use of wealth. 4. It has aesthetic honey. The beautiful in nature, art, music. 5. It has intellectual honey. Inquiry into, and discovery of, the Divine ideas that underlie all the forms, and ring through all the sounds of nature. II. The world's honey MAY BE ABUSED. 1. Some eat too much of the gastric honey, and become gourmands, epicures, voluptuaries. 2. Some eat too much of the gregarious honey, and become profligate debauchees, bloated animals. 3. Some eat too much of the secular honey, and become wretched misers, haunted with a thousand suspicions. 4. Some eat too much of the aesthetic honey, and grow indifferent to everything but what they consider the beautiful and harmonious. 5. Some eat too much of the intellectual honey, and they have no life but in that of observatories, laboratories, and libraries. III. The world's honey abused PRODUCES NAUSEA. Over-indulgence in any worldly pleasure issues in a moral sickness and disgust. There is what the French call the ennui that comes out of it — "that awful yawn," says Byron, "which sleep cannot abate." The intemperate use of this honey often makes life an intolerable burden. Conclusion: Take care how you use the world. You may have too much of a good thing. There is a honey, thank God! of which you cannot take too much, which will never surfeit or sicken — that is, the honey of spiritual enjoyment; the enjoyment of studying, imitating, worshipping Him in whose presence there is fulness of joy, etc. (D. Thomas, D.D.) People Hezekiah, SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Able, Eat, Excess, Fear, Filled, Full, Hast, Honey, Lest, Sated, Satiated, Sufficiency, Sufficient, Surfeited, Therewith, Vomit, VomitedOutline 1. observations about kings8. and about avoiding causes of quarrels Dictionary of Bible Themes Proverbs 25:16 5850 excess Library An Unwalled City'He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.'--PROVERBS xxv. 28. The text gives us a picture of a state of society when an unwalled city is no place for men to dwell in. In the Europe of today there are still fortified places, but for the most part, battlements are turned into promenades; the gateways are gateless; the sweet flowers blooming where armed feet used to tread; and men live securely without bolts and bars. But their spirits cannot yet … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture God's Glory in Hiding Sin Good News That a Man Should not be a Curious Searcher of the Sacrament, but a Humble Imitator of Christ, Submitting his Sense to Holy Faith Epistle xxxix. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Epistle Xlii. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Wherefore Christ Undertook a Method of Setting us Free So Painful and Laborious, when a Word from Him, or an Act of his Will, Would Alone "Boast not Thyself of To-Morrow, for Thou Knowest not what a Day May Bring Forth. " Love in the Old Covenant. The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close. How the Silent and the Talkative are to be Admonished. God's Glory the Chief End of Man's Being Christian Behavior Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature The History Books The Ninth Commandment Proverbs Links Proverbs 25:16 NIVProverbs 25:16 NLT Proverbs 25:16 ESV Proverbs 25:16 NASB Proverbs 25:16 KJV Proverbs 25:16 Bible Apps Proverbs 25:16 Parallel Proverbs 25:16 Biblia Paralela Proverbs 25:16 Chinese Bible Proverbs 25:16 French Bible Proverbs 25:16 German Bible Proverbs 25:16 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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