Dead Flies, Honey Bees, and our Hearing

I will share two personal stories for this month (Av). (Sense for the month, Hearing. The tribe, Simeon, he who hears).

Dead Flies:

The first one concerns my father and mother; may their names be remembered as a blessing. My mother and father were Sunday morning church attendees; my father was an elder, missionary, and much more. In his older years, he played guitar and sang during worship. He was often called on to fix a sink or repair the AC at his assembly. My parents were faithful tithers. My mother, who had Parkinson’s in her later years, was still faithful to read her Bible and pray daily. One Sunday morning, the Pastor stood up and spoke with great power. My dad was so encouraged by his message. At the end of the message, the Pastor asked if anyone had any prayer needs. My mother, who had Lewy Body Dementia, which goes hand in hand with Parkinson’s, always requested the same thing week after week.

“Please pray for my legs they hurt awful and feel like they are on fire or being cut with a knife.”

The Pastor had prayed for my mother many times. However, before the whole congregation this Sunday, he said, “Vicky, you can take your legs home with you. We are tired of hearing it!”  The man who was to represent the Messiah was tired of hearing it. He insinuated my mother lacked faith and had sin in her life; whatever it was, he thought, his anger from possibly other pressures exploded on my sick mother in front of everyone.

Then, he continued taking prayer requests.

My father went home, put my mother to bed, and said, “Vicky, I’ll be right back. I have to take care of something.”

My dad rode back to the church and asked the Pastor if they could talk in his office. My father looked him in the eye and said, “This morning, you taught one of the most anointed messages I’ve ever heard. It ministered to me deeply, and then, in an instant, it was as if someone placed their hand on the commode and flushed the whole thing down the toilet. It did not mean a thing. It was waste,–garbage, refuse.  And you know why? Because of the way you spoke to my wife, who is suffering. You had no compassion or empathy, no mercy for her, no kind words or love, and you rebuked her for suffering in public. How is that like Messiah?

I have been coming to this church for years and have been faithful, but you are to never speak to my wife like that again, and you will openly apologize next Sunday for your words towards Vicky.”

My father got up and walked out of the office. Harper Valley P.T.A comes to mind. If you’re too young to get the comparison, you can listen to the song on YouTube.

“Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor.” Ecclesiastes. 10:1.

We’ve all had our moments of saying harmful things. We’ve all been guilty of placing flies in the anointing balm. My father was angry, but he had righteous anger, which still exists. My father covered his wife and placed a boundary. He brought correction to the Pastor.

Listen to the words the Pastor spoke: “Vicky, we are tired of HEARING it.” The problem was the way the Pastors ears were hearing, not my mother’s suffering and pain.

Dead flies and honeybees:

 

When I was 18, I lived off a military base because base housing was full. We lived in a trailer park with other military families. One day, as I was cleaning with the windows open and watching my eldest son, who was around one year old, a bee flew in my ear. It was buzzing in my ear canal. I grabbed my head and screamed, which caused my son to cry. I kept swatting my ear and slapping my head while screaming. I had no idea a bee had crawled in there until it started buzzing.

Finally, I ran to the kitchen sink and let water pour into my ear canal, and the bee flew away. My quick action had to be Yahweh giving me the wisdom to do this. It took me a minute to comfort my son and compose myself because not only was I a young woman, but I never dreamed that this type of thing could happen to a person. I was lucky because although I was smacking my ear and shaking my head for a bit, I was not stung.

However, today, as I type this message, spiritually, this might be what we need: a good ear full of bee venom. The National Library of Medicine states that bee venom is most helpful:

Bee venom (BV) consists of a mixture of substances, principally of proteins and peptides, including enzymes and other types of molecules in a very low concentration. Melittin and phospholipase A2 (PLA2) are Bee Venom’s most abundant and studied compounds. Literature on the main biological activities exerted by BV shows that most studies focus on the comprehension and test of anti-inflammatory effects and its mechanisms of action. Other properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, neuroprotective, or antitumor effects have also been assessed in vitro and in vivo.”

This month, we are to focus on hearing and our ears:

We have two ears and two kidneys. Hearing the most profound truth is attributed to the kidneys: “The Kidneys give advice” ( Chulin 11a). Ancient Chinese medicine also connects the kidneys with the ears and our hearing ability.

Our ears and our kidneys look very similar. Slice a kidney in half, and you get a picture of two ears.

We hear, but we do not listen. We talk, but we do not choose our words carefully.

The prophet explains our condition: “You are near in their mouth but far from their kidneys” (Jeremiah 12:2 ISR). Our Bible translators have replaced the word kidney with rein or heart and often as inward parts, but kidneys were the original wording. It was the sweet fat of the sacrifices. Our kidneys purify us. They separate the good from the bad.

For more concerning the kidneys and the ears, click HERE.

When studying the word bee, we learn that the prophetess and judge, Deborah, has a name identical to the word bee in Hebrew, which means word, logos, to speak or pronounce, and to prophesy. Like Moses, the people would come to her for guidance and seek counsel from her. She was the Buzz of the community or the queen bee.

Bees buzz. Flies buzz. There are many similarities to a bee and a fly. You might be surprised. Of course, house flies are scavengers and feed off rotten food and dead decaying things, but in the fly family, a few species are hard to tell apart from the honeybee. Hoverflies look like bees or wasps with their bright yellow and black stripes. Their larvae look like maggots, but these flies are beneficial.  They feed on nectar as adults and help control pests while pollinating flowers.

The Bible compares the Torah and books of wisdom to honey.

(Proverbs 16:24 )
“Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

“How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).

(Song of Solomon 5:1)

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.”

Many insects mirror bees’ appearance, behavior, flying action, and size. Wasps are the most obvious because of their black and yellow striped bodies and ability to cause a burning sting. Words can do the same thing? Sometimes our words sting others because we do not hear them correctly. Sometimes our ears need  (BV) Bee Venom.

We learned earlier that the anointing oil was spoiled because a fly got into the oil. Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. (Ecc 10:1).

A little folly. How much trouble can one get into by mixing a little folly—a little stupidity? A lot! And once it’s mixed in, everything is spoiled. Does this folly come from a lack of hearing?( Shema) Hearing and obedience. Who do we listen? Do we listen intently? Do we lack a keen ear for those we interact with daily?

 One Bible commentary stated that the flies mentioned in Ecclesiastes were poisonous in their bite or carried infection with them.

“Such insects corrupt anything they touch – food, ointment, whether they perish where they alight or not. They, as the Hebrew says, make to stink, make to ferment, the oil of the perfumer. The singular verb is here used with the plural subject to express the unity of the individuals, “flies” forming one complete idea. The Septuagint rendering omits one of the verbs: Σαμπιοῦσι σκευασίαν ἐλαίουἡδύσματος, “Corrupt a preparation of sweet ointment.” The point, of course, is the comparative insignificance of the cause which spoils a costly substance compounded with care and skill. Thus, little faults mar great characters and reputations. “A good name is better than precious ointment” (Ecclesiastes 7:1), but a good name is ruined by follies, and then it stinks in men’s nostrils.”

 We can easily cause a stink if not careful, and be so consumed with ourselves, we don’t even listen intently to others.

I’m paraphrasing an article I read at Abarim Publications which I will quote at the end of this blog. Flies focus on dead flesh and excrement, have no typical house, no common language, don’t care for their offspring, and don’t produce anything except rot and death. Bees focus on flowers and nectar, have a typical house and language, care for their offspring, produce honey, and help flowers reproduce.

“Flies don’t acknowledge any authority other than themselves, so the one and only Lord of the Fly (Ba’al-zebubor Beelzebub) is any fly’s own selfish self, and thus any fly’s private desire, will, and convictions. The one and only Lord of the Bee is the freedom that every individual bee has to have for any collective hive to come about and subsequently function.

Bees are essential to the global food chain and supply sustenance to a weary traveler who’s willing to brave their stings (Exodus 3:8, 1 Samuel 14:27). ” Click Here for more info.

I want to close this message by saying, Yes, Vicky, VICTORIOUS, Mary/Miriam, take your legs with you and your walk because your faithfulness and tears have been seen, and your legs continue on, even in pain and suffering. You have reaped a harvest, and your life continues, and your seed’s seed will blow shofars and wake the dead! I am my mothers daughter!

Hear, Oh, Israel! Rise up and stand like the army He created you to be. Oh, Daughters of Zion, oh, Abraham’s Seed, like Simeon who held the Messiah, carry Him with you and destroy the giants for they are FLIES!