Wise sayings in this section of Proverbs tend to be couplets of two verses. Here, in the first verse, father tells his son to “eat honey” because “it is good” and “is sweet to your taste.”
Of course, in the next chapter he will also tell his son to not eat too much of it (25:16)! Honey was probably the sweetest thing a guy could eat in the ancient world – there was neither cane sugar nor chocolate.
He said honey was “good.” Way before Solomon’s time, the Egyptians regularly used honey for internal and topical medical cures. It’s still done today!
In the second verse, “wisdom” is compared to honey, noting its “sweet to your soul” as honey “is sweet to the taste.” Both are seen as bringing something good, helpful and positive to our lives.
We define wisdom as “seeing life from God’s point of view” and many of us have learned to experience the sweetness of seeing things as God sees them in our daily walk. But the great thing about wisdom here is that it offers much more than just sweetness for today.
Our ability to “find” wisdom also offers us a “future” and “hope” that will last (“not be cut off”). In Jeremiah 29:11, “future” and “hope” are aspects of the plan God said he has for our lives. Wisdom empowers us to access that plan.
It is wisdom that sets us up for a great life here and now, as well as for all eternity. How sweet it is!