Psalm 81 questions/interpretations

[iProfess]

Pax!

Towards the end of Psalm 81, one reads the following:

"But Israel I will feed with the finest wheat,

I will satisfy them with honey from the rock.”

What is a good way to interpret “honey from the rock?”
I was reading “finest wheat” as a foreshadowing of the Holy Eucharist, but honey from the rock has been leaving me kinda stumped.

I have a hypothesis about what it could mean and I’ll pose it later after I read some of the responses.

Thanks!!
Sincerely in Christ through Mary,
iProfess

 

[Gorgias]

What is a good way to interpret “honey from the rock?”
I was reading “finest wheat” as a foreshadowing of the Holy Eucharist, but honey from the rock has been leaving me kinda stumped.

I have a hypothesis about what it could mean and I’ll pose it later after I read some of the responses.

Wild bees often make their hives in rock crevices. If a person stumbles upon one of these – that is, a ‘wild’ hive, and not one that has been cultivated & worked by humans – then he gets honey ‘for free’.

I might suggest that God is promising Israel something valuable, filling, ‘nutritious’, and most important gratuitous. God’s grace is fully given, and not ‘cultivated’ by humans.

 

[Augusta1990]

Also notice that the same image occurs in the canticle of Moses (Dt 32:13), in a context that supports Gorgias’s point.

 

[COPLAND_3]

Here is what St. Augustine says

In the wilderness from the rock He brought forth water, Exodus 17:6 not honey. “Honey” is wisdom, holding the first place for sweetness among the viands of the heart. How many enemies of the Lord, then, that lie unto the Lord, are fed not only of the fat of wheat, but also from the rock with honey, from the wisdom of Christ? How many are delighted with His word, and with the knowledge of His sacraments, with the unfolding of His parables, how many are delighted, how many applaud with clamor! And this honey is not from any chance person, but “from the rock.” But “the Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:4 How many, then, are satisfied with that honey, cry out, and say, It is sweet; say, Nothing better, nothing sweeter could be thought or said! And yet the enemies of the Lord have lied unto Him. I like not to dwell any more on matters of grief; although the Psalm ends in terror to this purpose, yet from the end of it, I pray you, let us return to the heading: “Exult unto God our Helper.” Turned unto God.

Here is what Cassiodorus has

Here the dutiful love of the Creator is expounded; He filled his enemies, that is, those who were ungrateful for His kindnesses and who earlier were said to have lied. With the fat of wheat means either manna or the body of Christ the Lord. We use the word aleps for the bodily fat of animals, and it is improperly applied to wheat to denote that it contains some goodness within. With honey out of the rock means from the wisdom of Christ, for He is the Rock from which the honey of heavenly teaching flowed. He filled them, that is, with His holy preaching, but the traitors fasted from the food of faith and listened with deaf ears.

 

[Glacies]

St. Alphonsus de Liguori (September 27, 1696 – August 1, 1787) giving a literal explanation says that honey from the rocks means in abundance. The corresponding Latin Vulgate verse is “Et cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti, et de petra melle saturavit eos.”

From The Divine Office. Explanation of the Psalms and Canticles:

1. “Ex adipe frumenti.” With the flower of the flow of wheat. “De petra melle.” With honey gathered from the rocks; that is, in abundance, since the bees had even made their honey in the midst of rocks.