Judges 14:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle."

NIV: Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" Samson said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle."

NASB: So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, 'What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?' And he said to them, 'If you had not plowed with my heifer, You would not have found out my riddle.'

CSB: On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him: What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? So he said to them: If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow, you wouldn’t know my riddle now!

NLT: So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: 'What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?' Samson replied, 'If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!'

KJV: And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.

NKJV: So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down: “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them: “If you had not plowed with my heifer, You would not have solved my riddle!”

Under a death threat from her fellow Philistines, Samson's new wife has betrayed him. She has manipulated, wept, and nagged him, demanding he share a secret with her. As soon as he gave in, she passed that secret on to her murderous townspeople (Judges 14:15–17).

Samson had presented a wager to his thirty Philistine groomsmen. The stakes are thirty sets of clothes, and the challenge is to explain a "riddle." Unlike true riddles, however, Samson's mystery is just a personal secret; it's something no one could know and is therefore an unfair trick. His poetic phrasing described the discovery of a hive of bees in the carcass of a lion, a lion which Samson killed through the power of the Lord's Spirit (Judges 14:5–8, 12–14).

The Philistines confront Samson with the answer with little time to spare. The sun is going down on the final day of the feast. They frame their solution in poetic language which mirrors the original challenge. Samson immediately knows how they determined the answer. He posed the wager knowing that there was absolutely no way it could be solved—and only his new Philistine wife was told the secret.

Using yet another turn of phrase, Samson points out exactly how they came to the right answer. His retort is meant as an insult, both to the thirty men for cheating as well as a crude dismissal of his wife. She was nothing but a tool for these men to "dig up" a secret like livestock pulling a plow. Still, referring to her as a "heifer" in this context is as derogatory as calling a modern woman a "cow." It makes crude implications about intellect and ownership. A literal "heifer" is a young female cow, which in Samson's culture was associated with childish stubbornness (Jeremiah 50:11). The phrasing might also be taken as a crude accusation towards the woman's sexual faithfulness.

Thwarted in his attempt to swindle the Philistines, and betrayed by his own betrothed wife, Samson will lash out in rage (Judges 14:19).

Judges 14:10–20 explains the disastrous outcome of Samson's attempted marriage to a Philistine woman. As was the custom, a weeklong wedding feast is held. Thirty Philistines companions are assigned to Samson. He makes an exorbitant bet with them, making a riddle about his killing of the young lion (Judges 14:5–6). The men threaten the future bride, who pesters Samson until he tells her the secret, which she gives to the groomsmen. Enraged at her betrayal, and empowered by the Lord's Spirit, Samson assaults thirty Philistine men in another town (Judges 14:4). He takes their clothes as the payment for the wager. Because Samson angrily abandons the wedding feast, his bride is given to another man.

Samson (Judges 13:24–25) is now old enough to marry. He demands his parents arrange marriage to a Philistine woman with whom he is infatuated. When attacked by a lion, Samson rips the animal apart with his bare hands, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Later, he finds a beehive and honey in the lion's carcass. At the wedding feast, Samson proposes a wager based on this secret. His thirty Philistine companions become frustrated when they can't solve it. They threaten Samson's bride, and she manipulates him to get the secret. Samson attacks thirty Philistines in another town to pay the wager.

This chapter leaps forward from Samson's birth (Judges 13:5, 24–25) to somewhere in his adulthood. He demands a Philistine woman for a wife. At the wedding feast, he proposes a bet with thirty Philistine men. They learn the answer to his trick question by threatening to kill the bride. Samson attacks thirty Philistines in another town to secure the payment for the wager. His bride is given to one of the men who threatened her. Samson will return, expecting marital rights, only to be told she has been given to someone else (Judges 15:1–2).

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).