KJV: Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
ASV: Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
16 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
Here, 1. We are allowed a sober and moderate use of the delights of sense: Hast thou found honey? It is not forbidden fruit to thee, as it was to Jonathan; thou mayest eat of it with thanksgiving to God, who, having created things grateful to our senses, has given us leave to make use of them. Eat as much as is sufficient, and no more. Enough is as good as a feast. 2. We are cautioned to take heed of excess. We must use all pleasures as we do honey, with a check upon our appetite, lest we take more than does us good and make ourselves sick with it. We are most in danger of surfeiting upon that which is most sweet, and therefore those that fare sumptuously every day have need to watch over themselves, lest their hearts be at any time overcharged. The pleasures of sense lose their sweetness by the excessive use of them and become nauseous, as honey, which turns sour in the stomach; it is therefore our interest, as well as our duty, to use them with sobriety.
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