After a while he returned to take her, and he went over to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. He came to his father and mother and gave to them, and they ate, but he didn’t tell them that he had taken the honey out of the lion’s body. His father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men used to do so. When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle now. If you can tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing; but if you can’t tell me the answer, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” They said to him, “Tell us your riddle, that we may hear it.”
He said to them, “Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness.” They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle.
On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you called us to impoverish us? Isn’t that so?”
Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me, and don’t love me. You’ve told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven’t told it to me.” He said to her, “Behold, I haven’t told my father or my mother, so why should I tell you?”
She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and on the seventh day, he told her, because she pressed him severely; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” He said to them, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have found out my riddle.”
Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck thirty men of them. He took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 Or, to take her to his wife.
Or, to take her to his wife.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–19 Jdg 14:8 And after a time he returned to…
Jdg 14:8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, [there was] a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
Ver. 8. And after a time.] Some convenient time there must be betwixt the contract and the wedding, but let it not be over long, for many reasons; whereof elsewhere.
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And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion.] That he might recognise God’s goodness to him in so great a deliverance, and be accordingly thankful. Unto true thankfulness for mercies received, there must concur recognition, estimation, and retribution. He was also brought hither again by a secret instinct of the Spirit for a further purpose, as it followeth in the history; and that he might see another wonder, for his further confirmation.
And, behold, there was a swarm of bees.] Prodigiosum est quod mellifiearunt in cadavere, saith one. {a} It was wondrous strange that bees should breed and make honey so soon in such a place: since they are naturally driven away by an ill smell, as abhorring all stinking things. Some think that the carcass was consumed to the bare bones, and so stank not. {b}
{a} Lav.
{b} Pliny, Columella.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 After a time, Heb. after days, i.e. either after…
After a time, Heb. after days, i.e. either after some days; or rather, after a year, as that word oft signifies; as Exo 13:10; Lev 25:29; Num 9:22; Jdg 17:10; 1Sa 1:3 27:7; when the flesh of the lion, which by its strong smell is offensive to and avoided by bees, was wholly consumed, and nothing was left but the bones.
There was a swarm of bees; not generated of the dead lion’s body, but elsewhere, and settling themselves there, as they have sometimes done in a man’s skull, and in a sepulchre, and such-like places.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v10 We have here an account of Samson's wedding feast…
We have here an account of Samson's wedding feast and the occasion it gave him to fall foul upon the Philistines.
I. Samson conformed to the custom of the country in making a festival of his nuptial solemnities, which continued seven days, Jdg 14:10. Though he was a Nazarite, he did not affect, in a thing of this nature, to be singular, but did as the young men used to do upon such occasions. It is no part of religion to go contrary to the innocent usages of the places where we live: nay, it is a reproach to religion when those who profess it give just occasion to others to call them covetous, sneaking, and morose. A good man should strive to make himself, in the best sense, a good companion.
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II. His wife's relations paid him the accustomed respect of the place upon that occasion, and brought him thirty young men to keep him company during the solemnity, and to attend him as his grooms-men (Jdg 14:11): When they saw him, what a comely man he was, and what an ingenuous graceful look he had, they brought him these to do him honour, and to improve by his conversation while he staid among them. Or, rather, when they saw him, what a strong stout man he was, they brought these, seemingly to be his companions, but really to be a guard upon him, or spies to observe him. Jealous enough they were of him, but would have been more so had they known of his victory over the lion, which therefore he had industriously concealed. The favours of Philistines have often some mischief or other designed in them.
III. Samson, to entertain the company, propounds a riddle to them, and lays a wager with them that they cannot find it out in seven days, Jdg 14:12-14. The usage, it seems, was very ancient upon such occasions, when friends were together, to be innocently merry, not to spend all the time in dull eating and drinking, as bishop Patrick expresses it, or in other gratifications of sense, as music, dancing, or shows, but to propose questions, by which their learning and ingenuity might be tried and improved. This becomes men, wise men, that value themselves by their reason; but very unlike to it are the infamous and worse than brutish entertainments of this degenerate age, which send nothing round but the glass and the health, till reason is drowned, and wisdom sunk. Now, 1. Samson's riddle was his own invention, for it was his own achievement that gave occasion for it: Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. Read my riddle, what is this? Beasts of prey do not yield meat for man, yet food came from the devourer; and those creatures that are strong when they are alive commonly smell strong and are every way offensive when they are dead, as horses, and yet out of the strong, or out of the bitter, so the Syriac and Arabic read it, came sweetness. If they had but so much sense as to consider what eater is most strong, and what meat is most sweet, they would have found out the riddle, and neither lions nor honey were such strangers to their country that the thoughts of them needed to be out of the way; and the solving of the riddle would have given him occasion to tell them the entertaining story on which it was founded. This riddle is applicable to many of the methods of divine providence and grace. When God, by an over-ruling providence, brings good out of evil to his church and people, - when that which threatened their ruin turns to their advantage, - when their enemies are made serviceable to them, and the wrath of men turns to God's praise, - then comes meat out of the eater and sweetness out of the strong. See Phi 1:12. 2. His water was more considerable to him than to them, because he was one against thirty partners. It was not a wager laid upon God's providence, or upon the chance of a die or a card, but upon their ingenuity, and amounted to no more than an honorary recompence of wit and a disgrace upon stupidity.
IV. His companions, when they could not expound the riddle themselves, obliged his wife to get from him the exposition of it, Jdg 14:15. Whether they were really of a dull capacity, or whether under a particular infatuation at this time, it was strange that none of the thirty could in all this time stumble upon so plain a thing as that, What is sweeter than honey and what stronger than a lion? It should seem that in wit, as well as manners, they were barbarous - barbarous indeed to threaten the bride that, if she would not use means with the bridegroom to let them into the meaning of it, they would burn her and her father's house with fire. Could any thing be more brutish? It was base enough to turn a jest into earnest, and those were unworthy of conversation that would grow so outrageous rather than confess their ignorance and lose so small a wager; nor would it save their credit at all to tell the riddle when they were told it. It was yet more villainous to engage Samson's wife to be a traitor to her own husband, and to pretend a greater interest in her than he had. Now that she was married she must forget her own people. Yet most inhuman of all was it to threaten, if she could not prevail, to burn her and all her relations with fire, and all for fear of losing each of them the value of a shirt and a coat: Have you called us to take what we have? Those must never lay wagers that cannot lose more tamely and easily than thus.
V. His wife, by unreasonable importunity, obtains from him a key to his riddle. It was on the seventh day, that is, the seventh day of the week (as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures), but the fourth day of the feast, that they solicited her to entice her husband (Jdg 14:15), and she did it, 1. With great art and management (Jdg 14:16), resolving not to believe he loved her, unless he would gratify her in this thing. She knew he could not bear to have his love questioned, and therefore, if any thing would work upon him, that would: "Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not, if thou deniest me;" whereas he had much more reason to say, "Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not, if thou insistest on it." And, that she might not make this the test of his affection, he assures her he had not told his own parents, notwithstanding the confidence he reposed in them. If this prevail not, she will try the powerful eloquence of tears: she wept before him the rest of the days of the feast, choosing rather to mar the mirth, as the bride's tears must needs do, than not gain her point, and oblige her countrymen, Jdg 14:17. 2. With great success. At last, being quite wearied with her importunity, he told her what was the meaning of his riddle, and though we may suppose she promised secresy, and that if he would but let her know she would tell nobody, she immediately told it to the children of her people; nor could he expect better from a Philistine, especially when the interests of her country were ever so little concerned. See Mic 7:5, Mic 7:6. The riddle is at length unriddled (Jdg 14:18): What is sweeter than honey, or a better meat? Pro 24:13. What is stronger than a lion, or a greater devourer? Samson generously owns they had won the wager, though he had good reason to dispute it, because they had not declared the riddle, as the bargain was (Jdg 14:12), but it had been declared to them. But he only thought fit to tell them of it: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, made use of your interest with my wife, you would not have found out my riddle. Satan, in his temptations, could not do us the mischief he does if he did not plough with the heifer of our own corrupt nature.
VI. Samson pays his wager to these Philistines with the spoils of others of their countrymen, Jdg 14:19. He took this occasion to quarrel with the Philistines, went down to Ashkelon, one of their cities, where probably he knew there was some great festival observed at this time, to which many flocked, out of whom he picked out thirty, slew them, and took their clothes, and gave them to those that had expounded the riddle; so that, in balancing the account, it appeared that the Philistines were the losers, for one of the lives they lost was worth all the suits of clothes they won: the body is more than raiment. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, both to authorize and to enable him to do this.
VII. This proves a good occasion of weaning Samson from his new relations. He found how his companions had abused him and how his wife had betrayed him, and therefore his anger was kindled, Jdg 14:19. Better be angry with Philistines than in love with them, because, when we join ourselves to them, we are most in danger of being ensnared by them. And, meeting with this ill usage among them, he went up to his father's house. It were well for us if the unkindnesses we meet with from the world, and our disappointments in it, had but this good effect upon us, to oblige us by faith and prayer to return to our heavenly Father's house and rest there. The inconveniences that occur in our way should make us love home and long to be there. No sooner had he gone than his wife was disposed of to another, Jdg 14:20. Instead of begging his pardon for the wrong she had done him, when he justly signified his resentment of it only by withdrawing in displeasure for a time, she immediately marries him that was the chief of the guests, the friend of the bridegroom, whom perhaps she loved too well, and was too willing to oblige, when she got her husband to tell her the riddle. See how little confidence is to be put in man, when those may prove our enemies whom we have used as our friends.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–19 And after a time he returned to take her,....…
And after a time he returned to take her,.... Matters being agreed on, and settled on both sides, and the espousals made, he and his parents returned, and, at the proper usual time for the consummation of the marriage, he went again to Timnath for that purpose. It is in the Hebrew text, "after days" (c), which sometimes signifies a year, see Gen 4:3 and so Ben Gersom interprets it, that a year after this woman became Samson's wife (i.e. betrothed to him) he returned to take her to himself to wife; and it seems, adds he, that twelve months were given her to prepare herself; and some considerable time must have elapsed, as appears from what had happened to the carcass of the lion, next related:
and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: just before he came to Timnath he thought of the lion he had slain some time ago, and he went a little out of the way to see what was become of it, or had happened to it. Josephus says (d), when he slew it he threw it into a woody place, perhaps among some bushes, a little out of the road; for which reason it had not been seen and removed, and was in a more convenient place for what was done in it:
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and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion; and though naturalists (e) tell us that bees are averse to flesh, and will not touch any, yet in the course of time that the carcass of this lion had lain, its flesh might have been clean eaten off by the fowls of the air, or was quite dried away and consumed, so that it was nothing but a mere skeleton; a bony carcass, as the Syriac version. Josephus (f) says, the swarm was in the breast of the lion; and it is no more unlikely that a swarm of bees should settle in it, and continue and build combs, and lay up their honey there, than that the like should be done in the skull of Onesilus king of Cyprus, when hung up and dried, as Herodotus (g) relates. Besides, according to Virgil (h), this was a method made use of to produce a new breed of bees, even from the corrupt gore and putrid bowels of slain beasts; and Pythagoras (i) observes, they are produced from thence. This may be an emblem of those sweet blessings of grace, which come to the people of Christ through his having destroyed Satan the roaring lion, and all his works; particularly which came to the poor Gentiles, when the devil was cast out from them, and his empire there demolished.
(c) "a diebus", Montanus; "post dies", Vatablus. (d) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 5.) (e) Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 40. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 21. (f) Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 6. (g) Terpsichore, sive, l. 5. c. 114. (h) "----quoquo modo caesis", &c. Georgic. l. 4. ver. 284, &c. "Liguefacta boum per viscera", &c. Ib ver. 555. (i) Apud Ovid. Melamorph. l. 15. fab. 4. ver. 365, 366.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19 After a time - Hebrew. after days; that is,…
After a time - Hebrew. after days; that is, either after some days: or, rather, after a year, as that word often signifies; when the flesh of the lion, (which by its strong smell is offensive to bees) was wholly consumed, and nothing was left but the bones. Bees - Settling themselves there, as they have sometimes done in a man's skull, or in a sepulchre.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19 Verse 8. After a time] Probably about one year;…
Verse 8. After a time] Probably about one year; as this was the time that generally elapsed between espousing and wedding.
A swarm of bees and honey in the carcass] By length of time the flesh had been entirely consumed off the bones, and a swarm of bees had formed their combs within the region of the thorax, nor was it an improper place; nor was the thing unfrequent, if we may credit ancient writers; the carcasses of slain beasts becoming a receptacle for wild bees. The beautiful espisode in the 4th Georgic of Virgil, beginning at ver. 317, proves that the ancients believed that bees might be engendered in the body of a dead ox: -
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Pastor Aristaeus fugiens Peneia Tempe ___
Quatuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros
Ducit, et intacta totidem cervice juvencas.
Post, ubi nona suos Aurora induxerat ortus.
Inferias Orphei mittit, lucumque revisit.
Hic ver o subitum, ac dietu mirabile monstrum
Adspiciunt, liquefacta bourn per viscera toto
Stridere apes utero, et ruptis effervere costis;
Immensasque trahi nubes, jamque arbore summa
Confluere, et lentis uvam demittere ramis.
VIRG. Geor. lib. iv., ver. 550.
"Sad Aristaeus from fair Tempe fled,
His bees with famine or diseases dead ___
Four altars raises, from his herd he culls
For slaughter four the fairest of his bulls;
Four heifers from his female store he took,
All fair, and all unknowing of the yoke.
Nine mornings thence, with sacrifice and prayers,
The powers atoned, he to the grove repairs.
Behold a prodigy! for, from within
The broken bowels, and the bloated skin,
A buzzing noise of bees his ears alarms,
Straight issuing through the sides assembling swarms!
Dark as a cloud, they make a wheeling flight,
Then on a neighbouring tree descending light,
Like a large cluster of black grapes they show,
And make a large dependance from the bough.
DRYDEN.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv8, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18 Jdg 14:8-9. After a time — Hebrew, after days;…
Jdg 14:8-9. After a time — Hebrew, after days; that is, either after some days, or rather, after a year, as that word often signifies; when the flesh of the lion (which, by its strong smell, is offensive to bees) was wholly consumed, and nothing was left but the bones. Bees — Settling themselves there, as they have sometimes done in a man’s scull, or in a sepulchre. Came to his father and mother — From whom he had turned aside for a season, Jdg 14:8.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18 The formal dowry and gifts having been given by…
The formal dowry and gifts having been given by Samson’s father, an interval, varying according to the Oriental custom, from a few days to a full year, elapsed between the betrothal and the wedding, during which the bride lived with her friends. Then came the essential part of the marriage ceremony, namely, the removal of the bride from her father’s house to that of the bridegroom or his father.
The carcase of the lion - The lion, slain by him a year or some months before, had now become a mere skeleton, fit for bees to swarm into. It was a universal notion among the ancients that bees were generated from the carcass of an ox.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19 A honeycomb. There was a very remarkable providence in…
A honeycomb. There was a very remarkable providence in this particular of the history of Samson. From which also in the mystical sense we may learn what spiritual sweetness and nourishment our souls will acquire from slaying the lions of our passions and vices. (Challoner) --- Samson waited some time before he went to celebrate his marriage. The Rabbins say a full year was the usual term after the espousals; (Esther ii. 12,) and many have translated "after a year." (Chaldean, Arabic, &c.) During this space the flesh of the lion would be consumed, and bees might make honey in its skeleton. Herodotus (v. 114,) informs us that a swarm lodged in the skull of Onesylus, the tyrant of Cyprus, which had been suspended for a long time. They keep at a distance from carrion and every fetid smell. Some say that they were produced form the corrupted flesh of the lion, in the same manner as Virgil (iv.) describes the proceeding from a young ox beaten to death, and covered with boughs, in a place closely shut up. The bees might have laid their eggs upon these boughs, and the grass upon which an ox feeds, &c. But none of these precautions were taken with the lion which Samson tore in pieces. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv10, 15 Samson’s wedding-feast. He proposes a riddle to his companions.
Samson’s wedding-feast. He proposes a riddle to his companions.
Jdg_14:10-14.
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10So [And] his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used [it is customary for] the young men to do. 11And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought [chose] thirty companions to be with him. 12And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly [if ye indeed] declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets [shirts]10 and thirty change [changes] of garments 13But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets [shirts] and thirty change [changes] of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. 14And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
[1 Jdg_14:12.—סְדִינִים. Dr. Cassel translates this word by the general term Gewande, garments. He apparently considers the only distinction between the סְדִנִים and the חֲלִפֹת בְּיָדִים, to be that between common and more costly garments (see below). But the סְדִינִים are probably under-garments, tunicœ, shirts, made of a fine linen. The derivation of the word סָדִין, and whether it be related to the Greek σίνδων (Sept.), can hardly be determined.—Tr.]
EXEGETICAL AND DOCTRINAL
Jdg_14:10. And his father went down unto the woman. The whole narrative is full of naive delineations of manners and customs. The father’s present visit to the maiden is in his son’s behalf, and expresses the parental approbation of Samson’s marriage engagement. That the parents of the bride were consulted about the marriage is not indicated in any way, although we know that the father was still living (cf. Jdg_15:6). Are we to suppose that among the Philistines an application to the parents was unnecessary? Did not Isaac, through Eliezer, make suit for Rebecca to her father? and Jacob to Laban? Was not the same custom current also among other, heathen nations? Is not the young woman in the nuptial song of Catullus (Carmen, xii. 14:61) exhorted that it is the father and mother who must be obeyed?11 The Philistine women seem really to have enjoyed a position of great social freedom. They are seen on the street, and are visited by men, without being on that account regarded as “harlots.”
And Samson made there a feast; for such is the custom of young men. He did not take her with him into his father’s house,12 after the marriage was settled, but remained in Timnah, and there gave the feast. Among the Philistines it was customary for the bridegroom (בָּחוּר) to arrange the banquet. At the wedding of Cana, also, described by St. John (Jdg_2:10), the bridegroom seems to have been the entertainer. But this was not the case when Laban gave his daughter to Jacob, or when Tobias married the daughter of Raguel (Tob_8:19). In those instances, the parents of the bride give the feast.
Marriage feasts were much liked among all nations. When, in the Odyssey (4:3), Telemachus comes to king Menelaus, the latter is just celebrating the nuptial feasts of his children. Among the Romans, the name repotia13 was in use for the entertainments which (according to Festus) were given on the day after the marriage at the new husband’s house (cf. Horace, Sat. ii. 60). Plutarch makes the question, Why even law-givers have appointed a certain degree of luxury to be observed in connection with such feasts, a subject of discussion in his Symposium (lib. iv. quæJames 3). Samson’s marriage-celebration lasted seven days. The parents-in-law of Tobias, in their joy, appropriated fourteen days. But down to late times luxury and sensuality are more characteristic of such feasts than is compatible with their proper observance. Neither the spirit of Samson, nor the piety of Tobias fills and governs them, albeit in some instances the duration of those ancient celebrations may be rivaled. We hardly seem to have taken a long leap backward, when in the fourteenth century we hear it provided by the Ravensburg Regulation concerning weddings, that “the nuptial celebration shall only last till the next day, no longer” (Birlinger, Volksthümliches, ii. 399); or when, in 1643, the Würtzburg bishop, John Philip, orders that the custom of protracting banquets through three days be discontinued, “as a useless and hurtful expense” (Schaltjahr, i. 445). For even in our day, like excesses occur, wherever there is money and wantonness. So late as ten years ago, it was stated that in Swabia the feasting attendant upon a village wedding still frequently lasted from four to five days (Meier, Schwab. Sagen, p. 479).
Jdg_14:11. And when they saw him, they chose thirty companions, who were with him. A bridegroom is like a king’s son. His wedding is his coronation. Hence, also, crown and chaplet are not wanting for the wedded pair. For the same reason they have also a following. These are ancient, universally diffused ideas, which it would lead us too far to collect together from all nations and languages. In comparatively recent times, the Jews have minutely traced the analogy of the bridegroom with the king, through all the customs pertaining to them respectively, even to the point of calling attention to the fact that חָתָן and מֶלֶךְ have each three letters. (On the proofs that חתן דומה למלך,14 compare the liturgical works, of which Tania, ed. Cremona, 1565, p. 130, and Taschbaz, of R. Meier of Rotenburg, p. 45, may here be especially cited.)
Accordingly, the כִּ־ְאוֹתם, “when they saw him,” is to be so understood, that when Samson appeared, i. e. publicly, both at the time of the marriage, concerning the manner of which nothing is said, and during the seven festive days, it was always with a retinue of thirty companions, somewhat as in our day brides are still attended by suites of bridesmaids.
וַיּקְחוּ, and they chose. It was customary, no doubt, when a daughter or son of the city was married, for the bridegroom to provide himself with a retinue. As Samson was a stranger, his bride and her father told him whom to invite, and therefore the writer says “they chose.” The number of young men chosen was thirty. Samson’s parents seem to have been in good circumstances, and hence the bridegroom appeared not without splendor, as the giver of a seven days’ feast. That thirty was the unvarying number, cannot be maintained. The ancients had a philosophical number, which they called the “wedding,” and which consisted of five or six. (Both chosen on account of their being formed from 2 × 3 and 2 + 3, one even, the other odd.) But 5 × 6 is also = 30.15 In later times, also, the Jews had many brides’-men. In Worms, their number had been restricted to eight. The later Jews called such a brides’-man ששבין, which term does not, however, come from the Syriac, as Sachs thought (Beiträge, i. 82), but is only the Hebraized form of sponsor (otherwise auspex, paranymphios, cf. Mat_9:15).—The idea of Josephus, which Bertheau adopts, that the thirty young men were to watch Samson, is to be rejected. For, in the first place, nothing was as yet known concerning Samson that could render him so seriously suspected; and, in the next place, it is manifest from Jdg_14:15, that they were invited on the part of the bridegroom himself.
Jdg_14:12-13. I will put forth a riddle unto you. The custom of propounding riddles for amusement is very ancient. The acuteness which exercised itself therein, was, as it were, the counterpart of that which invented the language of figure, signs, and symbols. For it brought to light again the secrets which the latter had locked up. “In ancient times,” says Plutarch, “the Greeks were already in the habit of propounding riddles to each other.” It is related of the maiden Cleobuline, the daughter of a wise man, that she was so ingenious, as to play with riddles as if they were dice, propounding or solving them with equal ease. The banquet of the seven wise men, in Plutarch, shows the high estimation in which the diversion was held; and Cleodemus, the physician, who was unskillful at solving riddles, is not unaptly rebuked by Æsop, for holding such occupation to be suitable only for girls when engaged in knitting girdles and hoods, but not for intelligent men. Athenæus, also, in his work (pp. 453–459), cites large extracts from the book of Clearchus on riddles, and adds, “that the unraveling of such riddles is very similar to the pursuit of philosophy, and that therefore their solution, as a sign of wisdom, is held in favor, and deemed an appropriate mode of entertainment at table.” We, however, pass by these examples from Clearchus, not only because they were already brought to the notice of expositors by Bochart, but especially because in the case of Samson’s riddle the real stake at issue is higher than a garland for the winner, or the drinking of a forfeit-cup16 by the loser. It evokes a stern conflict.
Then I will give you thirty garments (סְדִינִים) and thirty changes of raiment (חֲלִיפֹת בְּגָדִים). With this explanation, the more recent expositors would probably agree. By a “change” of raiment we are to understand a dress of state—a Sunday suit, as we would say—for which the every-day dress may be exchanged on festive occasions. The Targum, however, has another explanation, which deserves to be mentioned. Like the Septuagint and Josephus, it translates חֲלִיפֹת (changes) by אצטלית, στόλη; assuming thereby for חָלף, a signification which indeed it sometimes seems to have, namely, to fight, to wound (Sept πατάσσειν, τιτρώσκειν). For στόλη is the classical term for a soldier’s dress. In like manner, it translates סְדִינִים by פלדסים, i. e. balteus, the girdle or belt which the soldier buckled around his body (cf. 2Ki_5:23).—It was thus no small price that was put upon the solution of the riddle. But in other cases also it was probably not unusual for large sums to be staked. Thus, if we are to believe Dius, quoted by Josephus (Antiq. viii. 5, 3; cf. Jablonski, Pantheon Ægypt., Proleg., p. cxiv), Solomon and Hiram lost a great deal of money to each other. Plutarch relates how that the Ethiopian king staked many cities and villages on a riddle propounded to Amasis, and would have won them, had not the philosophical Bias come to the aid of the Egyptian monarch. It was in consequence of solving a riddle that the legendary Persian hero was permitted to marry Rudabe, the mother of Rustem. According to ancient Scandinavian law, criminals could save themselves from death by means of a riddle (Olin Dalin, Gesch. Schwedens, German, i. 155). The same idea occurs in German riddle-books (Simrock, Räthselbuch, p. 463; Menzel, d. Dichtung, i. 427).—King Heidrik in Ridgotland had a severe war with Gester Blinde, king in Gothland. Finally, he challenged him to solve riddles. The latter invoked Odin, and conquered (Olin Dalin, i. 186).
Jdg_14:14. Out of the consumer came material for consumption, and out of the terrible came sweetness. The translator must take care not to destroy the ambiguity of the term אֹכֵל, consumer. For this reason, the rendering of De Wette and Arnheim, “vom Fresser kommt Frass” [from the feeder comes feed], is not good; for, on the one hand, Frass [feed, a term used only for the food of beasts]17 is not applicable to the honey which is meant, and on the other hand, human beings [do not feed, but] eat. Ewald’s rendering, “aus dem Esser kam ein Essen” [out of the eater came an eating, i. e. something eatable], is unsuitable, because the lion, who is meant, is not an Esser, eater, nor yet as Bertheau renders, a Speiser [both terms being used of human beings only]. Equally erroneous is it to translate עַז by “sour.” For the antithesis between this word and מָתוֹק is here to be taken in a wider sense, so as to give rise to a second equivoque; for מָתוִֹק means not only “sweet,” but metaphorically also “pleasant,” agreeable. The ingenuity of the riddle consists precisely in this, that the ambiguity both of its language and contents can be turned in every direction, and thus conceals the answer. It is like a knot whose right end cannot be found,—a figure from which the sense of the Hebrew חוּד, to propose a riddle, as also that of the Greek γρῖφος (cf. γρῖπος, the braided fishing net), is doubtless to be derived. The Gordian knot was likewise an emblematical riddle. Samson’s problem distinguishes itself only by its peculiar ingenuity. It is short and simple, and its words are used in their natural signification (אֹכֵל is to consume, in general, without regard to the specific form or nature of the consumption, and עַז is terrible, as “the strong one,” whether in a good or evil sense, always is). It is so clear as to be obscure. It is not properly liable to the objection, that it refers to an historical act which no one could know. The act is one which was natural in that country. Its turning-point, with reference to the riddle, was, not that it was an incident of Samson’s personal history, but that its occurrence in general was not impossible.
The ingenuity of the riddle shows itself further in that it applies equally well both to an historical occurrence and a mere abstract conception. This was a characteristic of ancient popular riddles in general, and indicates their origin. Just as it was an art to represent historical facts symbolically by pictures (of which the modern rebus is an insipid distortion), so it was an art out of such abstractions to disinter an historical fact. Most popular riddles call for the exercise of this art. The instance showing most likeness to the riddle proposed by Samson, is found in a story current in North Germany, and communicated by Müllenhoff (Sagen, p. 504): A man was condemned to death. His wife intercedes for him. The judges offer to let him go, if she can propose a riddle which they shall not be able to solve. The woman says:—
“ As ik hin güng, as ik wedder kam,
Den Lebendigen ik uet den Doden nam.
Süss (Sechs) de güngen de Saewten (den Siebenten) quitt,
Raet to, gy Herren, nu ist Tyt.”18
The woman had found the carcass of a horse by the way, and in it a bird’s-nest, and in the nest six young birds. The six young ones she took with her, whereby these became quit of the seventh; and thus she had taken the living out of the dead. It went with the wise judges even as it did with the proud Philistines—they guessed nothing.
Footnotes:
[10][Jdg_14:12.—סְדִינִים. Dr. Cassel translates this word by the general term Gewande, garments. He apparently considers the only distinction between the סְדִנִים and the חֲלִפֹת בְּיָדִים, to be that between common and more costly garments (see below). But the סְדִינִים are probably under-garments, tunicœ, shirts, made of a fine linen. The derivation of the word סָדִין, and whether it be related to the Greek σίνδων (Sept.), can hardly be determined.—Tr.]
[11]Quibus parere necesse est.
[12]Because she was an alien. He does not impose upon his father’s house that in which he allows himself. That would have been an insult to the law and customs of Israel.
[13]“An after drinking.” The Sept. renders מִשְׁתֶּה (Jdg_14:10) by πότος, a drinking.
[14]Cf. Jalkut, Shophetim, n. 70, p. 11 c.
[15]Cf. Plutarch, on the doctrine of the Timœus concerning the origin of souls.
[16][That is, a cup of unmixed wine, or of wine mixed with salt-water, to be emptied at one draught. See Smith’s Dict. Antiq., s. v. “Symposium.” It will be remembered that the Greeks always mingled water with their wine. They considered it not only unhealthy, but barbarous, to drink clear wine, which may suggest an explanation of the above-mentioned penalty.—Tr.]
[17][In German, the act of eating on the part of beasts is called fressen; on the part of human beings, essen or speisen. The nearest approach we have to this distinction in English is between feeding and eating.—Tr.]
[18][“As I came along, I took the living out of the dead; six got quit of the seventh; guess away, my masters, now is the time.”—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 12, 18, 19 after a time he returned to take her--probably after…
after a time he returned to take her--probably after the lapse of a year, the usual interval between the ceremonies of betrothal and marriage. It was spent by the bride elect with her parents in preparation for the nuptials; and at the proper time the bridegroom returned to take her home.
he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion--In such a climate, the myriads of insects and the ravages of birds of prey, together with the influences of the solar rays, would, in a few months, put the carcass in a state inviting to such cleanly animals as bees.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 8. After a time he returned to take her…
8. After a time he returned to take her — That is, to consummate the marriage. Several months, often a year, elapsed between the betrothal and the wedding.
A swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion — “This, it must be confessed,” says Dr. Thomson, “is an extraordinary occurrence. The word for bees is the Arabic for hornets, and these we know are very fond of flesh, and devour it with the greatest avidity. I have myself seen a swarm of hornets build their comb in the skull of a dead camel, and this would incline me to believe that it was really our debabir — hornets — that had settled in the carcass of Samson’s lion, if it were known that they manufactured honey enough to meet the demands of the story. However, we find that not long after this bees were so abundant in a wood at no great distance from this spot that the honey dropped down from the trees on the ground, (1Sa_14:26;) and I have explored densely-wooded gorges on Hermon and southern Lebanon where wild bees are still found, both in trees and in clefts of the rocks. It keeps up the verisimilitude of the narrative that these are just the places where wild beasts still abound, and though bees ordinarily avoid dead carcasses, it is possible that they on this occasion selected that of the lion for their hive.” Rosenmuller in his “Bible Archaeology” says: “In the desert of Arabia the heat of a sultry season will often dry up all the moisture of men or camels that have fallen dead, within twenty-four hours of their decease, without their passing into a state of decomposition and putrefaction, so that they remain for a long time like mummies, without change and without stench.” In such a case it would be very possible and likely that a swarm of bees would take up their abode in what more resembled a crust of rock than a decayed carcass. Or we may suppose that the carcass had become a dry and naked skeleton, and that some sort of wild bees had formed their nest and combs within it. On this point we may well add the weighty testimony of Dr. Kitto: “In the East, vultures and insects, particularly numerous swarms of ants — and these abound in vineyards — will, in an astonishingly short time, clean completely out all the soft parts of any carcass, leaving the skeleton entire, covered by its integuments, for, the flesh having been picked out, the skin would not be rent and destroyed. All the softer parts being thus removed, the bones and skin will rapidly be deprived of all their moisture by the heat of the sun; and the skeleton, covered over with the dry parchment into which the skin has been turned, becomes a sweet and very convenient habitation, in which a swarm of bees would be very likely to settle, especially in a secluded spot, among the shrub-like vines. In the East, bees establish themselves in situations little thought of by us; many wild swarms, being left to find homes for themselves, fix in any hollow which seems to them suited to their wants.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–19 8. he returned] i.e. to Zorah; the woman stays…
8. he returned] i.e. to Zorah; the woman stays in her father’s house, as was the rule in a mot‘a marriage. The natural sense of the narrative is destroyed by the expression to take her, i.e. to marry her (a single word in the Hebr.); obviously it has been inserted. The marriage does not begin till later, Jdg_14:10.
a swarm of bees] Though in a hot country the carcase would quickly decay and shrivel up, some time must have elapsed before the bees could hive in it and form honey-comb. But in a popular story, so full of marvels, this matter-of-fact detail would not be considered. The tale of Onesilus told by Herodotus, 14:114, has been quoted to illustrate the incident. If we wish to look for the origin of this popular story, Stahn (l.c. on p. 140) offers an explanation which is certainly plausible. The connexion between the lion and the honey may be founded on the observed fact that when the sun stands in the sign of Leo, i.e. in the month of May–June, bees in Palestine produce their honey. This would be common knowledge, and would suggest an answer to the riddle in Jdg_14:14, which the Philistines might have answered if they had used their wits.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 (8) After a time.—There is nothing to show how…
(8) After a time.—There is nothing to show how long this time was. A betrothal might last a year. In Jdg_11:4 the same phrase (“after days “) is used of many years.
To take her.—To lead her to his own home after the bridal feast.
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A swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.—This incident has been questioned, because it is truly said that bees hate all putrescence and decomposition, and that the notion of bees being generated in the rotting bodies of oxen (which we find in Virgil, Georgic 4, &c.) is a vulgar error. But it is overlooked that the word “carcase” here means (as the Syriac renders it) “skeleton.” The fierce sun of the East dries up all the animal moisture of a dead body, and reduces it to a skeleton with extreme rapidity, and bees have no dislike to dried bones as a place in which to swarm. Thus Herodotus tells us (v. 114) that when the Amathusians cut off the head of Onesilus, because he besieged them, and hung it over their gates, a swarm of bees filled the skull with their combs and honey. Rosenmüller also quotes the authority of the physician Aldrovand for the story that swarms of bees built their combs between the skeletons of two sisters who were buried in the Church of Santa Croce, at Verona, in 1566. (Comp. Plin. H. N., xi. 24; Varro, R. R., 3:16.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 He returned to take her. All the preliminaries being…
He returned to take her. All the preliminaries being settled between the parents, he returned to Timnath to take his bride by the same road which he and his parents had travelled by before, and, remembering his feat in killing the lion, very naturally turned aside to see what had become of the carcase. And, behold, there was a swarm of bees, etc.
This has been objected to as improbable, because bees are very dainty, and would not approach a putrefying body. But as a considerable time had elapsed, it is very possible that either the mere skeleton was left, or that the heat of the sun had dried up the body and reduced it to the state of a mummy without decomposition, as is said to happen often in the desert of Arabia.
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Vers. 8, 9. Recalling past deliverances.
In this case Samson is led to do so either by curiosity or the impulse of God"s Spirit. He revisits the scene of the exploit, and meets with welcome but unexpected refreshment. There are various ways of recalling spiritual experiences of God"s saving power in the past. Sometimes an accident(?) may bring up vividly some forgotten circumstance of Divine grace, and we are overwhelmed with the recollections that crowd upon the mind. Soldiers who have fought side by side in famous battles have their anniversaries of fellowship and celebration. Are there no circumstances that justify these amongst Christians? It is a spiritual education and confirmation to recall circumstances and revisit scenes of God"s saving mercies.
I THE DUTY OF THANKFUL RECOLLECTION OF DIVINE INTERPOSITIONS.
II THE SECRET AND UNSHARED COMMUNION OF THE SUBJECT OF GRACE WITH HIS SAVIOUR.
III ITS ADVANTAGE AND BLESSING. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v10 The Riddle at the Wedding-Feast. —
The Riddle at the Wedding-Feast. —
v. 10. So his father went down unto the woman, to signify his parental approval of the match and to attend the wedding; and Samson made there a feast, intending to live in Timnath and not take his bride to the city of his parents; for so used the young men to do, that was the custom at that time, that the bridegroom provided the entertainment.
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v. 11. And it came to pass, when they, the parents and relatives of the bride, saw him, that they brought thirty companions, attendants of the groom, "sons of the bride-chamber," to be with him, for Samson had neglected to provide himself with these very necessary witnesses, with this retinue of merrymakers.
v. 12. And Samson said unto them, evidently as soon as the festivities began, I will now put forth a riddle unto you, announce or propose it to them; if ye can certainly declare it me, give its solution, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets, ordinary garments, and thirty change of garments, dresses of state, to be worn on festival occasions;
v. 13. but if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, feeling sure of their ability to gain the prize held out before them, Put forth thy riddle that we may hear it.
v. 14. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness, literally, "Out of the feeder, consumer [German, Fresser], came forth food, and out of the powerful one something sweet. " And they could not in three days expound the riddle, for so long they attempted to get the solution honestly.
v. 15. And it came to pass on the seventh day that they said unto Samson’s wife, Entice thy husband that he may declare unto us the riddle, she was to manage in some way to get him to reveal the solution or at least a key to its understanding, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire; have ye called, invited, us to take that we have, to impoverish, to plunder them? Is it not so? They implied that the riddle was merely a pretense, a scheme, to make them pay, although they had willingly agreed to the terms stated by Samson. Their threat shows their callous brutality, their miserable covetousness.
v. 16. And Samson’s wife wept before him and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not, the easiest and handiest reproach in the circumstances; thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people and hast not told it me. Her speech shows that the woman, in a choice between her husband and her people, inclined to the Philistines, the usual result in the case of mixed marriages. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, who might, till now, have expected him to share his secrets with them, and shall I tell it thee?
v. 17. And she wept before him the seven days, for her curiosity had prompted her to badger him from the very first day, while their feast lasted; and it came to pass on the seventh day that he told her, because she lay sore upon him, she was unbearably importunate in her pleading; and she told the riddle to the children of her people, thus betraying the confidence of her husband.
v. 18. And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, before the time as fixed by him had expired, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle, a proverbial expression which, at the same time, indicated his contempt for the method employed by them.
v. 19. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, a city of the Philistines on the coast of the Mediterranean, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, their attire, of which the fallen were usually stripped, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. "It is in harmony with the dramatic course of the action that Samson flung to his treacherous friends, as the price of their deception, garments snatched from their own countrymen. " (Lange. ) And his anger was kindled, in a flame of bitter resentment against the entire Philistine nation, and he went up to his father’s house, leaving his wife at Timnath.
v. 20. But Samson’s wife, for such the woman now was before all the world, was given to his companion, to his chief attendant at the wedding festival, to his "best man," whom he had used as his friend. Cf Joh 3:29. This action on the part of the woman’s parents shows the low state of morals in their nation, and the fact that the woman added infidelity to treason characterizes her as well; hers was a mean and small soul. Note: It was the Spirit of God who urged Samson to slay the Philistines. The same Spirit today is full of zeal against all godlessness and impels the believers to use the weapons of the Word in combating every form of unchristian doctrine and conduct.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19 Samson's father went down to where the woman was
Samson's father went down to where the woman was
The phrase "went down" is used to describe Timnah which is lower in elevation than where Samson's father lives. AT: "Samson's father went to where the woman lived" (See: Idiom)
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the custom of the young men
It may be helpful to state that this was a marriage custom. AT: "the custom of young men who were getting married" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
thirty of their friends
"30 of their friends" (See: Numbers)
translationWords
Samson
feast
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.