I was reading through the story of Samson in the book of Judges and his riddle is one of the greatest pictures of the gospel in the Old Testament. Judg 14:14: “And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.” Like the riddle, the gospel was a mystery that could only be revealed by the one who created it. The answer to Samson’s riddle was “What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?”, but there is a better answer. Jesus is stronger than a lion and his gospel is sweeter than honey. Jesus died and from his dead body came his flesh and blood that he freely gives to us. Samson saw a glimpse of something so amazing it could only have been revealed by the Spirit.
Wow, thank you for this. I was always confused by how it was a riddle. Still kinda seems like Samson was just being deceitful, but the parallels you posted are awesome.
No problem! It’s important to remember that the honey from the lion was a miracle from God, since that scenario would never happen normally. God had a purpose in showing Samson that. I believe that Samson understood it on some level, since the honey was so sweet that he felt compelled to share it with his parents. May we all feel that way about the glorious gospel.
I appreciate this parallel and thank you for sharing.
I am curious is there’s another aspect that is important here. Samson seems to be a Nazarite. And Nazarites had prohibitions around dead carcasses. Samson has to get very very close to a dead carcass to get the honey. Any thoughts on the significance of this?
I’m not completely sure, there is actually some debate on whether or not Samson broke his vow since it seems his strength would have left him if he broke it. He did also use the donkey jawbone to kill the Philistines while the Spirit of God was on him. If these cases did break his vow then they seemed to be sanctioned by God. Perhaps Samson touching the unclean was to signify that Jesus could make the unclean clean?