Another matter: “These are the words [hadevarim]” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘My children were led in the world like bees [kadevorim] by the righteous and by prophets.’12Bees follow in a swarm after the queen, and so too Israel follows their righteous individuals and prophets. Another matter: “these are the words [hadevarim]” – just as the bee [hadevora], its honey is sweet and its sting is bitter, so are matters of Torah.
Anyone who violates them receives a punishment, as it is stated: “The adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10); “its desecrators shall be put to death” (Exodus 31:14). But anyone who fulfills them merits life, as it is stated: “So that your days will be extended” (Exodus 20:12). Another matter, “these are the words [hadevarim]” – just as the bee [hadevora], its honey goes to its owner and its sting to others, so are matters of Torah.
They are an elixir of life for Israel and a lethal drug for the idolaters. Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Just as the bee, everything that it amasses, it amasses for its owner, so, too, all the mitzvot and good deeds that Israel amass, they amass for their Father in Heaven.