Judges 14:8

8 A few days later Samson went back to marry her. On the way he left the road to look at the lion he had killed, and he was surprised to find a swarm of bees and some honey inside the dead body.

Judges 14:8 Meaning and Commentary

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" ^F3, which sometimes signifies a year, see ( Genesis 4:3 ) ( Exodus 13:10 ) 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 ^F4, 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:

and, behold, [there was] a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of
the lion;
and though naturalists ^F5 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 ^F6 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 ^F7 relates. Besides, according to Virgil ^F8, 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 ^F9 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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Mymym) "a diebus", Montanus; "post dies", Vatablus.
F4 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 5.)
F5 Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 40. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 21.
F6 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 6.
F7 Terpsichore, sive, l. 5. c. 114.
F8 "----quoquo modo caesis" Georgic. l. 4. ver. 284, &c. "Liguefacta boum per viscera" Ib ver. 555.
F9 Apud Ovid. Melamorph. l. 15. fab. 4. ver. 365, 366.

Judges 14:8 In-Context

6 Suddenly the power of the Lord made Samson strong, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as if it were a young goat. But he did not tell his parents what he had done.

7 Then he went and talked to the young woman, and he liked her.

8 A few days later Samson went back to marry her. On the way he left the road to look at the lion he had killed, and he was surprised to find a swarm of bees and some honey inside the dead body.

9 He scraped the honey out into his hands and ate it as he walked along. Then he went to his father and mother and gave them some. They ate it, but Samson did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the dead body of a lion.

10 His father went to the woman's house, and Samson gave a banquet there. This was a custom among the young men.