Do you remember the experiment in grade school where we were given different things to taste? If memory serves me, they were tiny squares of paper?? Anyway, depending on where it was placed on the tongue, it would register on our taste buds as bitter, sour, salty, or sweet.
We were told that our tongue was divided like a map into sections, with our bitter taste buds lying toward the back of the tongue, then, coming forward, our tongue registers sour, then salty, until we get to the tip of the tongue, which registers sweet.
Well, that was then, this is now. It’s not true.
According to the Smithsonian, that familiar but not-quite-right map has its roots in a 1901 paper, Zur Psychophysik des Geschmackssinnes, by German scientist David P Hänig. I’ll let you do more research.
Scientists have more recently learned that taste buds on every part of the tongue are able to detect every kind of taste quality.
The adult human tongue contains between 2,000 and 8,000 taste buds, each of which are made up of 50 to 150 taste receptor cells. Taste receptor cells are responsible for reporting the sense of taste to the brain.
Amazingly, we also have taste buds in our palate and the throat!
And, according to verywellhealthdotcom, taste buds develop in utero. Scientists believe they are functional by 10 to 13 weeks of gestation! Fetuses are able to taste foods in the maternal diet that pass through the amniotic fluid.
That to me is simply amazing. Our Creator thought of everything.
Something else I have noticed; things don’t taste the same, and I have thought, more than once, “are my taste buds dying?”
The answer is yes, but not in the way I thought.
The taste receptor cells that make up taste buds are responsible for sending perceptions of taste to the brain. These cells regenerate quickly and have an average lifespan of only eight to 12 days.
Also, a 5th taste has been added since our grade school days: Umami.
Human brains are able to detect five basic tastes:
Bitter
Sweet
Salty
Sour
Umami (savory)
Taste buds are such an amazing part of creation. Jesus did not have to create us to enjoy food the way we are able to. It could have been a purely life-sustaining act of plugging in and filling up, but He, in His love and care for us, gave us taste buds.
I think of the joy of introducing new foods to your young child. They soon let you know what their tongue enjoys and what it does not. As our kids grow, they soon learn that all food cannot be trusted and we then find ourselves coaxing them, “just try it.” Just try it. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.
How many times have I said that over the years? Just try it. You can’t possibly know if you don’t like it, unless you try it.
One of my grandson’s was standing in my kitchen with me a couple of months ago. I had made a soy meat meatloaf. It is my grandma’s recipe, and it is DELICIOUS. But for a 25-year-old man who loves his pepperoni pizza, this would be a challenge. “Just try it, you might like it.” He took a bite and said “not bad” but declined anything additional. More recently I brought home some of the vegan bacon we made for our BLT’s at Better Life’s Donor Dinner. To me, it tasted exactly like these fake bacon-bits my mom used to buy for our salads when I was a kid. I liked it, he not so much.
With those thoughts in my mind, I think of this invitation: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Isn’t that an interesting choice of words?
Taste.
That verse is found in Psalm 34:8.
What I did not fully understand until today, was that King David was recounting a story told in 1 Samuel 21 which records David, on the run, acting insane to avoid being recognized.
“Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”
“Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard.
“Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?” 1 Samuel 21:10-15 NKJV.
1 Samuel 22:1 says David was able to escape to the cave of Adullam. Adullam is an ancient ruin today, but then, it was David’s hiding-place.
So, why did David pretend to be insane?
“David was not safe in Israel since Saul sought to kill him. He thought he would be safer with the enemies, the Philistines. The Bible does not say why David thought he would be safer with the Philistines. Perhaps he thought they would not recognize him as the one who killed Goliath, and that they would welcome him as a wayfaring stranger. The Bible does say that when David arrived in the Philistine town, people recognized him right away. After all, in addition to killing Goliath, David had a reputation for exceptional military prowess.
“David became afraid when the Philistines recognized him. Would they imprison him? Kill him? So David pretended to be insane: “pounding his head on the city gate and foaming at the mouth, spit dripping from his beard.” (The Message, I Samuel 21:13)
“The Philistines wanted nothing to do with him. Achish the king said, “Can’t you see he’s crazy? Why did you let him in here? Don’t you think I have enough crazy people to put up with as it is without adding another? Get him out of here!” (The Message, I Samuel 21:15) And so, David managed to escape.” (Source: papertrelldotcom)
By the way, according to my online research this morning, the Cave of Adullam was discovered about 13 miles west of Bethlehem in 1871. There is a small hill, about 500 feet high, and buried beneath it, numerous caverns, some large enough to hold 200 or 300 men.
We, like David, make mistakes, we struggle with current situations, we endure unfair hardship and stretch to understand our purpose in life. When King David wrote, “taste and see that the LORD is good,” he was expressing his utmost devotion to, and love for, God. We should always do the same.
“He is good, for he makes all those that trust in him truly blessed; let us therefore be so convinced of his goodness as thereby to be encouraged in the worst of times to trust him,” - Matthew Henry Bible commentary.
Just like David, we need to make it a habit to praise God. Praise Him in the good times; praise Him in the bad times. And maybe once in a while, act a little bit crazy.
by Jeanette Stark – Monday, May 22, 2023.
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