Kingless Folk, and Other Addresses on Bible Animals

by John Adams

The Bee.

"And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do."—Deut. i. 44.

Israel had determined at all hazards to storm the strongholds of the Amorites. But as those who disobey God can never stand before their enemies, the Israelites were no match for those hardy mountaineers of Seir. Like infuriated bees rushing out from their nest, the Amorite hordes swept out from their mountain fastnesses, and utterly overwhelmed the hosts of Israel. They "chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah."

This is the only sense in which the bee is referred to in Holy Scripture. The ant may be introduced as an emblem of industry and instinct; but the bee is always regarded as one of the scourges of mankind. It recalls an incident in the African travels of Mungo Park. "Some of his people having met with a populous hive, imprudently attempted to plunder it of its honey. The swarm rushed out in fury and attacked the company so vigorously that man and beast fled in all directions. The horses were never recovered, and several of the asses were so severely stung that they died the next day." The bee was clearly a savage and dangerous annoyance. They "chased you, as bees do."

But turning to the bee itself, let us note the three principal materials it uses in its hive.

I.—WAX.

Nothing can be done in the furnishing of the hive until a sufficient quantity of wax has been provided. And this, like the gossamer threads of the spider, is drawn from the insect's own body. The process of secretion, as it is called, may last for some twenty-four hours; and when it is completed the wax projects from between the segments of its body in the form of thin plates. The material is then taken up into the mouth and undergoes a process of mastication, until at last it issues from the mandibles in the form of a small white ribbon.

This is the material with which they build up their hexagonal or six-sided cells; and marvellous is the skill they show in the ingenious arrangement. Like Plato, they might fitly inscribe over their portal, "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here," for the bee is entitled to a first place in the ranks of the geometricians. It is even asserted on the authority of the Rev. J. G. Wood that the angles of the bee-cell are so mathematically correct that by their measurement an error in a book of logarithms was detected; and Mr Darwin himself admits that "the comb of the hive-bee is absolutely perfect in economising labour and wax."

The form of the cell has three distinct advantages. It combines the greatest strength, the largest storage, and the least expenditure of material and labour; and "the little busy bee," as if acquainted with these strict mathematical principles, has followed them so accurately that it easily steps into the first rank as a born mathematician.

But how is this fact to be accounted for? What is the explanation of these inimitable architectural powers? "Without thought or even the organ of thought, the bee can produce work which embodies thought." But to whom does this thought belong? Can there be thought without a thinker? Can there be the marks of intelligence without an original and creative mind? No! at the building up of a bee-cell, just as at the framing of a world, the thoughtful soul is face to face with Him whose mind is stamped on every part of creation—with Him who is the great and faithful Creator, whose tender mercies are over all His works.