12 Then Samson said to them, "Let me now propound a riddle to you; if you will indeed tell it to me within the seven days of the feast , and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes . 13 "But if you are unable e to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes ." And they said to him, "Propound your riddle , that we may hear it." 14 So he said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat , And out of the strong came something sweet ." But they could not tell the riddle in three days . 15 Then it came about on the fourth day that they said to Samson's wife , " Entice your husband , so that he will tell us the riddle , or we will burn you and your father's house with fire . Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?" 16 Samson's wife wept before him and said , " You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have propounded a riddle to the sons of my people , and have not told it to me." And he said to her, "Behold , I have not told it to my father or mother ; so should I tell you?" 17 However she wept before him seven days while their feast lasted . And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard . She then told the riddle to the sons of her people . 18 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 ."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 14:12-18
Commentary on Judges 14:10-20
(Read Judges 14:10-20)
Samson's riddle literally meant no more than that he had got honey, for food and for pleasure, from the lion, which in its strength and fury was ready to devour him. But the victory of Christ over Satan, by means of his humiliation, agonies, and death, and the exaltation that followed to him, with the glory thence to the Father, and spiritual advantages to his people, seem directly alluded to. And even death, that devouring monster, being robbed of his sting, and stripped of his horror, forwards the soul to the realms of bliss. In these and other senses, out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong, sweetness. Samson's companions obliged his wife to get the explanation from him. A worldly wife, or a worldly friend, is to a godly man as an enemy in the camp, who will watch every opportunity to betray him. No union can be comfortable or lasting, where secrets cannot be intrusted, without danger of being divulged. Satan, in his temptations, could not do us the mischief he does, if he did not plough with the heifer of our corrupt nature. His chief advantage against us arises from his correspondence with our deceitful hearts and inbred lusts. This proved an occasion of weaning Samson from his new relations. It were well for us, if the unkindness we meet with from the world, and our disappointments in it, obliged us by faith and prayer to return to our heavenly Father's house, and to rest there. See how little confidence is to be put in man. Whatever pretence of friendship may be made, a real Philistine will soon be weary of a true Israelite.