God's Honey Bees

by Elijah Rodgers

When some people think of bees, they may think of getting stung but God has made bees for special purposes. Bees pollinate the fruits and vegetables we eat and they produce honey and beeswax.

Bees are closely related to wasp such as the yellowjacket and hornet, but are not wasp. There are many types of bees, but the most interesting of the bees to me is the honey bee.

The honey bee is probably one of the most popular of the bees. They produce honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, and royal jelly. They feed royal jelly for the nursing of all larva, but feed queen larva extra royal jelly to produce a queen bee.

The Beekeeper

In American, traditionally, beekeepers house honey bees in a hive that is called the Langstroth hive. The Langstroth hive is a vertical, stackable hive. It has removable frames. This makes it easy for the beekeeper to manage the hive. The beekeeper usually wears a protective hooded suit with a veil and gloves so they avoid getting stung. Also they use a smoker. A limited amount of smoke helps keeps the bees calm. The bees use propolis to glue the hive together. The beekeeper uses a hive tool to be able to unseal the propolis and work in the hive.

The Honey

You may see honey for sale at a store or from a local beekeeper, but how is this liquid gold, honey, made? It starts in the plant or tree flower. The flower produces nectar, and this nectar attracts the worker honey bee. As the worker bee moves around on the flower to get the nectar it pollinates the flower for the plant to make fruit. While the worker bee is pollinating it and gathering the nectar, it collects pollen. The nectar then goes to the honey stomach of the bee and the bee then processes the nectar to make honey. In order to get enough nectar to take back to the hive the worker bee visits hundreds of flowers. The worker bee returns to the hive it processed nectar to other bees working the hive. Those bees process the nectar again in order to produce honey. After that they place the honey into the honey combs that is perfectly made into a hexagonal shape. At this point the honey still has a high water content, so to reduce the water content the bees fan the hive and thus the water content is reduced to just about 18%. The bees then cap the honey, and now the honey is ready to be harvested for consumption.

What is amazing about honey is that it never ferments if stored right. And it can be used for many purposes; as a natural sweetener and for health purposes. Proverbs 24:13 says, “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:”

Honey is very sweet but God's law and testimony is sweeter. Psalms 19:7 ,8,10 says, “ The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” And Psalms 119:103 says, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Importance of Bees

Honey bees are great pollinators. They have a very important role in our agriculture. Nearly every fruit and vegetable we eat has been pollinated by honey bees. They do a job that people nor machines cannot do like the honey bee.

Honey bees are very sensitive to pesticides and herbicides that are put on many farms today. I am a beekeeper. I started beekeeping when I was about 7 or 8 years old because they seemed fascinating to me. Over time I got up to 11 hives. On one day a truck and a helicopter came to spray a forest on property beside us with herbicides. We had an area of land that was a good spot for the helicopter to land, so they asked us if they could land there and we did not know how bad the result would be, so we permitted them to land there. They sprayed the herbicide on the forest beside us and this weakened the honey bees. Not long afterward, I lost most of my bees. This is an example of how honey bees are sensitive to environmental hazards and must be kept carefully.

Lesson from Bees

Beekeeping is a very good hobby. I am 13 years old now and I am still a beekeeper. Beekeeping shows us how orderly God is. Honey bees are very hygienic and they do things orderly. There is a continual cycle; the queen lays the eggs, the eggs eventually mature into bees. The young worker bee cleans the hive and feeds the larvae. Then the bee makes and builds beeswax for the bees to store in. And near the end of the bees' life they go foraging for nectar to make honey. All worker bees are female. During the active warm seasons they live a very busy life, but only 5 to 6 weeks. In the winter months worker bees can live between four to six months. Each hive has only one queen who main job is to mate with the drone male bee from other hives and lay larva in her home hive to produce more bees. The queen bee lives an average life of three years.

 God has many lessons in nature for us to learn. God has given bees specific tasks in order to have a clean and productive hive. Bees are extremely focus on their God given tasks and are not easily diverted. They work on one tasks at a time. God has given us specific tasks to spread the everlasting gospel and we must not be diverted by the devices and tricky of Satan.

When each bee stays focused on their God given tasks the hive remain orderly. 1 Corinthians 14:40 says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” “The wisest of men may learn useful lessons from the ways and habits of the little creatures of the earth. The industrious bee gives to men of intelligence an example that they would do well to imitate. These insects observe perfect order, and no idler is allowed in the hive. They execute their appointed work with an intelligence and activity that are beyond our comprehension. The ants, which we consider as only pests to be crushed under our feet, are in many respects superior to man; for he does not as wisely improve the gifts of God. The wise man calls our attention to the small things of the earth: 'Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.' 'The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.' We may learn from these little teachers a lesson of faithfulness. Should we improve with the same diligence the faculties which an all-wise Creator has bestowed upon us, how greatly would our capacities for usefulness be increased. God's eye is upon the smallest of His creatures; does He not, then, regard man formed in His image and require of him corresponding returns for all the advantages He has given him?” {Testimonies for the Church Volume Four p.455,456}