Metheq comes from the root mathaq (to be sweet, to be pleasant). It denotes sweetness as a physical sensation and as a metaphor for delight and pleasure. The word appears only 2 times in the Hebrew Bible, both in wisdom contexts where it is used to describe the pleasures of friendship, community, and counsel.
Sweetness is one of Scripture's most sensory metaphors for spiritual experience. The Psalms compare God's word to honey: "sweeter than honey from the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:10). Proverbs uses metheq for the sweetness of friendship and advice (Proverbs 27:9). In Ezekiel's and John's visions, the prophetic scroll tastes like honey (Ezekiel 3:3, Revelation 10:10) — the word of God is sweet before it becomes bitter in proclamation. Metheq reminds us that the life of faith includes genuine delight, not just duty.