Judges 14:18

18 And they, on the seventh day before the sun went down, said to him: What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you had not found out 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 So she wept before Samson and complained, saying: Thou hatest me, and dost not love me: therefore thou wilt not expound to me the riddle, which thou hast proposed to the sons of my people. But he answered: I would not tell it to my father and mother: and how can I tell it to thee?

17 So she wept before him the seven days of the feast: and, at length, on the seventh day, as she was troublesome to him, he expounded it. And she immediately told her countrymen.

18 And they, on the seventh day before the sun went down, said to him: What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you had not found out my riddle.

19 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon, and slew there thirty men whose garments he took away, and gave to them that had declared the riddle. And being exceeding angry, he went up to his father’s house:

20 But his wife took one of his friends and bridal companions for her husband.