Honeybees are among the most interesting displays of God’s creation. Some might say, “They’re just small insects busy making honey and can’t be very important.” But honeybees are important to both man and the blossoms they visit. They are the only insects that produce food eaten by man, and many fruits and vegetables would die out if bees did not help fertilize their blossoms. Let’s take a closer look.
Their colonies come in all sizes, some containing as many as 50,000 bees—all one family. There is only one mother, the queen, in each colony, and she lays all the eggs. The drones are males and are kind of lazy. The workers are females and do all the chores except lay eggs. Several worker scouts select a spot to build a hive (or nest) which will include a special place to keep the thousands of eggs the queen lays. These eggs are guarded by “nurses” until the larvae hatch and become fully developed bees.
It is always interesting to learn how birds build their nests and how fish and animals make their homes. The hives of wild honeybees are interesting because they are made in a most unusual way. The first thing many worker honeybees do is build honeycombs in which to store pollen that other workers bring in from blossoms. Starting at the top of a cave wall, a hollow tree trunk, or the inside wall of a barn, the workers make beeswax and attach it at a suitable spot. Then, working slowly down, little six-sided, open, wax cells are formed, joined one to another and stuck tightly to the wall. Each of these cells is exactly the same size, no matter how many bees are making them. Some of these cells will hold eggs that the queen bee has laid (one to a cell), and the rest will store pollen. The pollen stored closest to the eggs becomes food for the developing bees. The pollen not used for food turns into honey. Isn’t it wonderful how the Creator of heaven and earth enables them to do this without any previous training?
When the hive becomes too crowded, the Creator has given the worker bees the instinct to build special cells for a few new queen bees. They feed these larvae special food called royal jelly. Before they emerge as new queen bees, the old queen, a few drones and many workers leave the hive as a swarm. The swarm settles on a spot that worker scouts have already selected and forms a new colony and builds a new hive.
The opening Bible verse refers to the ways of the Lord being “sweeter . . . than honey.” And another verse says, “Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:2424Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24)). If you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, He will help you to have that sweetness in your heart.