Xanthe Hancox

Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass. Judges 14:8b-9

The story of Samson’s riddle is one of the strangest passages in the Bible. Samson is on his way to meet a girl he’s noticed around town. His parents are with him and he’s attacked by a lion. God gives him supernatural strength and he tears the lion apart. Some time later, he goes back to marry her and passes the carcass, finding it inhabited by a swam of bees. He helps himself to some honey and carries on his way to his wedding.

Samson didn’t tell his parents that the honey was from a carcass because at that time in Israel’s history, touching the carcass of a dead animal was considered unclean (Leviticus 11). But Samson ate the honey anyway, gave some to his parents, and so defiled himself and his parents.

At the wedding feast Samson entertains the local young men with a riddle about sweetness. Unable to solve the riddle, the men threaten Samson’s new wife. Fearing for her life, she begs and harasses Samson until he tells her—and then she tells the Philistines.

The prize for guessing the riddle was 30 linen shirts and 30 sets of clothes. Betrayed and enraged, Samson goes to Ashkelon and kills 30 Philistines to pay up.

Samson was furious, but the mess was his own doing. He’d created the riddle from the carcass, something no faithful Israelite would touch. Honey from a lion’s carcass? Eat it! A Philistine woman? Get her for me! Defiling himself or his parents didn’t matter to this saviour of Israel.

Many years later, Jesus, the true Saviour, explained that what really defiles people is what’s in their hearts, not what they eat (Mark 7:1-23). Samson defiled himself by turning away from God to pursue his own desires and doing what was right in his own eyes. But Jesus took our sins on himself, washing us clean and giving us new life.

Prayer: Lord, we see so much of ourselves in Samson. We’re stubborn, we’re arrogant, and we fill our hearts with things that bring us harm. Thank you for washing us clean. Amen