Judges 14:18

18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before sunrise, What sweeter than honey? and what stronger than a lion? and Sampson said to them, If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye would not have known my riddle.

Judges 14:18 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 14:18

And the men of the city said unto him, on the seventh day,
before the sun went down
And so soon, enough to free them from the obligation they otherwise would have been under, to have given him the sheets and changes of raiment agreed unto:

what is sweeter than honey?
nothing, at least that was known, sugar not being invented. Julian the emperor ^F14, in commendation of figs, shows, from various authors, that nothing is sweeter than they, excepting honey:

and what is stronger than a lion?
no creature is, it is the strongest among beasts, ( Proverbs 30:30 ) . Homer ^F15 gives the epithet of strong to a lion:

and he said unto them, if ye had not ploughed with my heifer;
meaning his wife, whom he compares to an heifer, young, wanton, and unaccustomed to the yoke ^F16; and by "ploughing" with her, he alludes to such creatures being employed therein, making use of her to get the secret out of him, and then plying her closely to obtain it from her; and this diligent application and search of theirs, by this means to inform themselves, was like ploughing up ground; they got a discovery of that which before lay hid, and without which they could never have had the knowledge of, as he adds:

ye had not found out my riddle;
the explanation of it. Ben Gersome and Abarbinel interpret ploughing of committing adultery with her; in which sense the phrase is used by Greek and Latin writers ^F17; but the first sense is best, for it is not said, "ploughed my heifer", but with her.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Opera, par. 9. epist. 24.
F15 Odyss. 4. ver. 336.
F16 Vid. Horat. Carmin, l. 2. ode 5. Graja. "Juvenca venit". Ovid. ep. 5. ver. 117.
F17 Vid. Bochart. Hierozoic par. 1. l. 2. c. 41. col. 406.

Judges 14:18 In-Context

16 And Sampson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not; for the riddle which thou hast propounded to the children of my people thou hast not told me: and Sampson said to her, If I have not told it to my father and my mother, shall I tell it to thee?

17 And she wept before him the seven days, during which their banquet lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she troubled him; and she told it to the children of her people.

18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before sunrise, What sweeter than honey? and what stronger than a lion? and Sampson said to them, If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye would not have known my riddle.

19 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him powerfully, and he went down to Ascalon, and destroyed of the inhabitants thirty men, and took their garments, and gave the changes of raiment to them that told the riddle; and Sampson was very angry, and went up to the house of his father.

20 And the wife of Sampson was to one of his friends, with whom he was on terms of friendship.