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Riddle: Lion and Honey
Judges 14:5-9 “.. a young lion came roaring at him .. And the Spirit of YHWH came mightily upon him, and he tore it apart as the tearing apart of a young goat, with naught in his hand.. he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion, and saw a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.. And he took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. And he came to his father and mother, and gave them, and they ate. But he did not make known to them that he took the honey out of the carcass of the lion”
Judges 14:12-14 “..And Shimshon said to them, “Please let me put forth a riddle to you… `Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness`”
This is the only explicit example of a riddle in the Hebrew Bible, and has been described as an unfair one, as it is apparently impossible to guess the answer without knowledge of Samson’s encounter with the lion, which he had kept a secret from everyone. Perhaps one could rather take this as a prophecy.
Samson is a picture of the YHWH Himself, who destroys His enemies, yet brings the ‘sweet‘ to those who abide in Him. Note that ‘honey’ is one of the things the land was supposed to be flowing with (along with milk) when Moses lead the people out of Egypt, and that a lion is a man-slayer, or representative of the dangers that Israel faced in Canaan. The lion might logically represent the wicked Philistines oppressing Israel, or the dangers that Samson (as Israel’s representative) introduces to his own life by marrying a philistine. Honey is the blessing to Israel that YHWH will bring from the carcass of the Philistines.
The lion’s carcass was an unlikely host for a “community” of bees. But so was Canaan for Israel. For although the promised land was introduced as a “good land”, initially YHWH’s nation entered an “unclean” zone. When Israel set foot on their new homeland, they were to destroy all traces of idolatry, on account of which the land was “defiled”. Of course, the defilement of the land had to do with the uncleanness of the people who used to live in it, so that the state of the land could only be lifted by the death of its inhabitants. Like bees in a carcass, Israel was to inhabit a country of idolaters, a country that became habitable for YHWH’s community only through the death of YHWH’s enemies.
Fun fact.. An illustration of the lion’s corpse with honey bees in it and the second half of the riddle appears prominently on the tin of Lyle’s Golden syrup. The slogan was chosen by Abram Lyle, the inventor of golden syrup.
300 Foxes on fire
Judges 15:4-6 “And Shimshon went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned them tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails, and set the torches on fire, and sent them out … because he took away his wife and gave her to his companion.” Then the Philistines went up and burned her and her father with fire.”
In Scripture, the number 300 is usually associated with Gideon and his army’s victory over the Midianites in Judges 7-8, where YHWH instructed him to reduce his forces to 300 men. Here again we see a prophecy on the 300 for destruction.
“Samson” represents the morally Strong Man. The “harvest” represents the end of the World” (Matt. 13:39, “And the harvest is the end of the age”). The “wife” represents the wife that already made a commitment, and went with another man, either by own will or given over, as result of no commitment to YHWH.
The “Foxes” represent hollowing out or gathering. The hebrew word for the “fox” or “jackal” is SUAL H7776 – šûʿāl, meaning a burrower. The root word is SOAL H8168 – šōʿal, meaning a hollow hand, or handful.. like hollowing the ground out with your hands..
The “Firebrands,” or Torches, represent the judgement again, as described in 2 Peter 3 and the book of Revelation.
Donkey jawbone
Judges 15:15-17 “And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and smote a thousand men with it. And Shimshon said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, one heap, two heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have smitten a thousand men!” And it came to be, when he had ended speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place Ramath Leḥi.”
Ramat Lehi in Hebrew is H7437 – rāmaṯ leḥî, meaning height, high place or hill (Rama) of jawbone (Lehi).
In Judges 15:16, Samson makes a poem like statement, “And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.”
Samson is making a pun about using a donkey’s jaw to pile up defeated enemies. The Hebrew word is rather “ass“. And our english translations fail us again on this one.. his words would have sounded like saying “I made heap of asses out of them!“
The donkey represents a humble means. The jawbone represents “YHWH’s provision” for Samson to fulfil his purpose. The jawbone also represents “speaking”, thus judgement. Samson is just the messenger, sending a message.
Samson and Delilah
Samson’s name in Hebrew is H8123 – šimšôn, meaning as bright as the sun, sunlight or rising/setting of the sunlight. Delilah’s name in hebrew is H1807 – dᵊlîlâ, meaning feeble. Not that she was feeble, but that she would make men feeble. The root word is DALAL H1809 – dālal, meaning to be brought low, dry up, make empty, impoverise, make thin, to be made weak or in distress.
Judges 16:5 “And the princes of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and see by what we might overpower him, then we shall bind him to humble him. And let us give you, each one of us, eleven hundred pieces of silver.””
In a spiritual context, “Delilah” is often used to represent seductive or deceptive influences that can lead individuals away from their spiritual commitments or YHWH’s purpose. She will drain you slowly without you realizing, making you empty of the commitment you had to YHWH. Delilah betrays Samson by revealing the secret to his strength, leading to his downfall.
Samson's Hair
Judges 16:17 “No razor has ever come upon my head”, and verse 22 “But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.”
Samson’s uncut hair symbolizes his dedication to God. Losing his hair meant losing his strength. Samson’s hair is the visible symbol of the commitment which God made to him. It was the promise made by YHWH to Samson, not a promise from Samson to YHWH. However, Samson had to keep the commitment, by keeping his hair, a sign of obedience. But sleeping with the enemy, they can trick you, and without you knowing you can lose your obedience to YHWH. That is definitely not what Samson wanted.. but that is the risk you take by sleeping, walking and staying with the enemy.
2 Pillars
Judges 16:29 “And Shimshon took hold of the two middle columns which supported the house, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.”
The name Dagon H1712 – dāḡôn, has been always associated with the fish like god which many try to depict as a merman–a half man, half fish, and was a Canaanite god from the early gods prior to Ba’al. Since they were worshipping a fish-god, and the Philistines are know as being part of the “sea peoples“, it is probably that the two pillars in their temple represented the “two pillars in the northern sea“. They typically refer to the Pillars of Heracles, also known as the “Pillars of Hercules“, which are the two prominent promontories flanking the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The pillars, and strait-way is associated with a journey to the new/other world. How prophetic that Samson came and destroyed Hercules’ pillars.
Solomon’s Temple also had two prominent bronze pillars, named Jachin (meaning “he shall establish”) and Boaz (meaning “in strength”). When Herod rebuilt the temple, he did include these two pillars also. But also, Jachin and Boaz have been adopted as symbols in Freemasonry. Twin pillars are archetypal symbols representing an important gateway or passage toward the unknown. Samson could be a prophetic messianic message about Yeshua coming to destroy the temple, and also giving His own Life for it – spiritually and physically.
The word STRAIT (and not straight) is also used by Yeshua in Matthew 7:14 “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” And Yeshua repeats in John 14:6 that He is.. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,”
