The Swiss Army Bee

Genesis 43:11
“And their father Israel said to them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts and almonds…”

Just about everybody has seen a Swiss army knife. This tool is much more than a knife and has all sorts of other devices tucked away in its handle.

The legs of the worker honeybee are very much like the Swiss army knife. Each leg has an extra joint between the knee and the joint of the foot. The bee’s foreleg has a special notch with bristles like a brush for cleaning its antenna. The middle leg has what has been called a crowbar that comes in handy for a variety of jobs in the hive. The back legs of the worker honeybee have pollen baskets that the bee uses to carry pollen to the hive. In addition, the back legs have a combination of spears and pincers for use in defending the hive. The back legs also have cleaning bristles for scraping pollen off the middle legs, while the middle legs have the same bristles for scraping pollen off the front legs.

Just as no one finding a Swiss army knife would think that it was just a random formation of nature, no one should think that the worker honeybee is something formed randomly by nature either. God has made the bee’s legs for the purpose of making it an efficient link in the production of honey, a food prized by many living things, including man.

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, we see everywhere in the creation that as the Maker of all, You have generously spared nothing to provide us with good things. We thank You for this care. I especially thank You that You even gave up Your life for my salvation. Amen.

Notes:
Darwin’s Fatal Bee Sting (Book Fellowship, Tract No. 1218). Photo: Worker honeybees. Courtesy of Todd Huffman. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.