Revelation 10:10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. [kjv]
και ελαβον το βιβλαριδιον εκ της χειρος του αγγελου και κατεφαγον αυτο και ην εν τω στοματι μου ως μελι γλυκυ και οτε εφαγον αυτο επικρανθη η κοιλια μου [gnt]
John in Revelation, after eating a small book that was sweet as honey is his mouth was bitter in his belly. Can one "
taste" with the belly or stomach? Might John be indicating a sharp or keen sense of pain in the belly, stomach or gut? Might that mean that something is not right here? Could it be the feeling one has after taking poison when it is too late to do anything about it?
An English idiom is that one may have to "
eat one's words". That is, admit that they were wrong about something in the past. In Revelation 10:10 John has to "
eat words" in the form of a "
little book".
Perhaps those words relate to false teaching. Would
"idle words" need some seasoning? How about the season of the day of judgment.
Might that be related to the way that my "
salad jokes" need addressing? Let us (lettuce) leave that as a future topic.
The Hebrew word for "bitter" is "מרא" (ma-ra) ≈ "bitter" as used in the Exodus for the "bitter" springs of "Mara" and Noami telling Ruth to call her "Mara" as God has treated her "bitterly". The Greek city of Smyrna comes from the related word for "myrrh" is in "We Three Kings of Orient Are".
