Samson Eating Honey From Lion's Carcass
Samson's encounter with a lion and subsequent discovery of honey in its carcass is a significant event in the biblical narrative of Judges 14. This incident provides the basis for a riddle Samson poses at his wedding feast and highlights aspects of his Nazirite vow and divine empowerment [9, 12].
The account begins with Samson going down to Timnath with his parents, where a young lion roars at him [3]. The Spirit of the Lord empowers Samson, enabling him to tear the lion apart with his bare hands, "as one tears a young goat" [5]. He does not tell his parents about this feat [9]. Later, when Samson returns to Timnath for his marriage, he turns aside to see the lion's carcass. There, he finds a swarm of bees and honey within it [1]. Josephus records that Samson took three honeycombs from the carcass [2]. Samson scoops some of the honey into his hands, eats it, and gives some to his parents, but he does not reveal to them where he obtained it [4].
This event forms the foundation for a riddle Samson presents to his Philistine companions at his wedding feast: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness" [10, 11]. The riddle refers to the lion (the "eater" and "strong") and the honey (the "meat" and "sweetness") found in its carcass [10]. Josephus notes that the Philistines, unable to solve the riddle, eventually pressured Samson's wife to discover the answer [6]. John Gill suggests that Samson's act of eating the honey from the carcass, and giving it to his parents, could have been done without defiling himself, even as a Nazirite, if he avoided direct contact with the carcass itself [7].
The narrative emphasizes Samson's unique strength, which is attributed to the Spirit of the Lord [5]. His initial empowerment by the Spirit is explicitly linked to his encounter with the lion [13]. The timing of these events is also noted; Samson first encounters the lion on his initial journey to Timnath, and then discovers the honey "after a time," which some interpretations suggest could be a year later, when he returns to consummate the marriage [8]. The incident serves as a prelude to Samson's conflict with the Philistines, as the failure of his companions to solve the riddle without treachery leads to further acts of violence [12].
Sources
- Judges “Judges 14:8 (BSB) — When Samson returned later to take her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees, along with their honey.”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 8, section 3: this marriage was of God, who intended to convert it to the benefit of the Hebrews, he over- persuaded them to procure her to be espoused to him. And as he was continually coming to her parents, he met a lion, and though he was naked, he received his onset, and strangled him with his hands, and cast the wild beast into a woody piece of ground on the inside of the road. 6. And when he was going another time to the damsel, he lit upon a swarm of bees making their combs in the breast of that lion; and taking three honey-combs away, ”
- Judges “Judges 14:5 (YLT) — And Samson goeth down--also his father and his mother, to Timnath, and they come unto the vineyards of Timnath, and lo, a lion's whelp roareth at meeting him,”
- Judges “Judges 14:9 (BSB) — So he scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. And when he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Samson — (like the sun), son of Manoah, a man of the town of Zorah in the tribe of Dan, on the border of Judah. (Joshua 15:33; 19:41) (B.C. 1161). The miraculous circumstances of his birth are recorded in Judges 13; and the three following chapters are devoted to the history of his life and exploits. Samson takes his place in Scripture, (1) as a judge--an office which he filled for twenty years, (Judges 15:20; 16:31) (2) as a Nazarite, (Judges 13:5; 16:17) and (3) as one endowed with supernatural power by the Spirit of the Lord. (Judges 13:25; 14:6,19; 15:14) As a jud”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 8, section 4: desired to know it. Then on the seventh day, whereon they were to expound the riddle proposed to them, they met together before sun- setting, and said, "Nothing is more disagreeable than a lion to those that light on it, and nothing is sweeter than honey to those that make use of it." To which Samson made this rejoinder: "Nothing is more deceitful than a woman for such was the person that discovered my interpretation to you." Accordingly he gave them the presents he had promised them, making such Askelonites as met him upon the r”
- Judges (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Judges 14:9: And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating,.... Josephus (k) says he took three honeycombs, he means three pieces of the honeycomb, and ate the honey as he went along to Timnath; which he might do without touching the carcass of the lion, and defiling himself thereby, which, as a Nazarite, he was more especially to be careful of: and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat; who went down with him to the consummation of the marriage, and from whom he had turned a little aside; and now overtook them, and to whom he gave some of his ”
- Judges (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Judges 14:8: 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 her”
- Judges (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Judges 14 (introduction): The idea which this chapter gives us of Samson is not what one might have expected concerning one who, by the special designation of heaven, was a Nazarite to God and a deliverer of Israel; and yet really he was both. Here is, I. Samson's courtship of a daughter of the Philistines, and his marriage to her (Jdg 14:1-5, Jdg 14:7, Jdg 14:8). II. His conquest of a lion, and the prize he found in the carcase of it (Jdg 14:5, Jdg 14:6, Jdg 14:8, Jdg 14:9). III. Samson's riddle proposed to his companions (Jdg 14:10-14) and unriddled by the treachery of his w”
- Judges (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Judges 14:14: And he said unto them, out of the eater came forth meat,.... Out of a devouring eater, such as the lion is, came forth honey, or that was taken out of it, which Samson, and his father and mother, ate of, and which was the common food of some persons, as of John the Baptist: and out of the strong came forth sweetness: not only out of that which was strong in body while alive, but of a strong and ill scent, as the carcass of a dead lion is, and out of that came forth honey, than which nothing is sweeter. Josephus (m) expresses it,"that which devours all things furnis”
- Judges (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Judges 14:12: HIS RIDDLE. (Jdg 14:12-18) I will now put forth a riddle--Riddles are a favorite Oriental amusement at festive entertainments of this nature, and rewards are offered to those who give the solution. Samson's riddle related to honey in the lion's carcass. The prize he offered was thirty sindinim, or shirts, and thirty changes of garments, probably woolen. Three days were passed in vain attempts to unravel the enigma. The festive week was fast drawing to a close when they secretly enlisted the services of the newly married wife, who having got the secre”
- Judges (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Judges 14 (introduction): INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 14 This chapter treats of Samson's courtship, and marriage of a Philistine woman, Jdg 14:1 of his meeting with a young lion as he went courting, and of his slaying it, and afterwards finding honey in it, Jdg 14:6, of a riddle which be framed out of this incident, and put to his companions at his marriage to solve, giving them seven days to do it in, with a promise of a reward, Jdg 14:10 and of their solving it by means of his wife, who got the secret from him, Jdg 14:15, which led him to slay thirty Philistines, to make good his p”
- Jude (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Jude 14:5: 14:5-6 Samson was first explicitly empowered by the Spirit (cp. 13:25) when he was attacked by a lion.”