Both the bee and the honey they produce are common symbols for immortality and rebirth.   Bees also symbolize order and industry (in the sense of being industrious creatures).  In the past, many believed that bees could be born from unfertilized eggs so they also became a symbol of purity, chastity and virginity as well as virgin birth.  Bees sometimes represent messengers between the physical and spiritual world and at times people believed that telling a bee about a death or other important event would pass that information on to the next world.  Bees were sometimes carved on tombs to symbolize immortality.  The bee was a symbol of the pharaoh of Lower Egypt and a queen bee was featured on a fifth century coin from Ephesus, one of the places I visited on our trip to Greece this past summer.  The Egyptians said that the tears of the sun god Ra, would turn to bees when they fell to Earth.  Napoleon had bees embroidered on his robes.  When a bee stings, it's stinger comes off and the bee dies so it can symbolize self-sacrifice for the greater good of the whole.
    Honey, in addition to immortality and rebirth, represents virility, fertility and vigor.  Honey was often used as an offering to gods.  The Essenes refused to send live animals to the Jewish temple to be sacrificed and sent offerings of flour and honey instead.  In astrology, honey is associated with the moon and with growth.  In Christianity, it represented the ministry of Christ and the sweetness of the Divine Word.  Honey can also symbolize a reward for hard work.