Proverbs 27:7

The full soul loatheth an honeycomb,.... Or "tramples upon" it (a), as the word signifies, and most versions render it, expressive of contempt and abhorrence; and suits will the situation of the

The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Loatheth - literally, 'treadeth under foot' (Micah 5:5-6).

The full soul, a man whose appetite or desire (which is oft expressed in Scripture by the name of soul) is fully satisfied, loatheth an honey-comb, the most delicious meats. The design of this proverb is to show the inconvenience that ofttimes attends upon plenty, and the advantage of poverty, that the rich might learn moderation, and the poor content.

Proverbs 27:7 The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.Ver. 7. The full soul loatheth an honeycomb.] Heb., Treadeth it under feet as dung or dogs meat. Chrysostom reports the saying of a certain philosopher to the same purpose. Anima in satietate posita etiam favis illudit; The sated soul rejecteth finest fare and most sweetest sustenance. This holds true in spirituals too. The honey of God’ s holy word, how is it trampled on by those stall fed beasts, in whom fulness hath bred forgetfulness, - saturity security! "Our soul loatheth this light meat," said they of their manna, when once cloyed with it. The Pharisees found no more sweetness or savouriness in our Saviour’ s sermons, than in the white of an egg, or a dry chip. Our nation is also sick of a spiritual plethory or pleurisy; we begin to surfeit on the bread of life. Now when God sees his mercies lying under table, it is just with him to call to the enemy to take away. "Behold, therefore, I will deliver thee to the men of the East, - who shall eat thy fruit, and drink thy milk." But to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.] Hunger is the best cook, say the Dutch - the best sauce, say we; experience proves it so: how sweetly doth it season homely cates, coarse fare. Artaxerxes Memor being put to flee for his life, fed hungrily on barley bread, with dried figs, and said he never made a better meal in all his life. Huniades, once driven out of the field by the Turks, and lighting upon a shepherd, craved for God’ s sake of him something to eat: who brought him to a poor cottage not far off, causing to be set before him bread and water with a few onions: who in the pleasant remembrance of that passed misery, would often times after in his greatest banquets say, that he never in his life fared better or more daintily than when he supped with this shepherd. Ieiunus stomachus raro vulgaria temnit. - Horat. Turk. Hist., fol. 310.

(7) The full soul loatheth an honeycomb.—So the moderate use of the good things of this life increases our enjoyment of them. But in spiritual things, the less we content ourselves with, the less hunger we feel, and less enjoyment do we derive from them.

7. loatheth] Lit. treads under foot; calcabit, Vulg. The second clause of the verse has been compared with Horace’s “Jejunus stomachus raro vulgaria temnit.” Sat. ii. 2. 38.

The special instance covers the general law, that indulgence in pleasure of any kind brings on satiety and weariness, but self-restraint multiplies the sources of enjoyment.

7. Full soul — The satiated appetite, put by figure for the person possessing it. So, also, in the next clause. Hungry soul — A craving appetite. The proverb, in its most literal sense, is a lesson learned from experience.