Judges 14:5-9

Judges 14:5-9

[5] Samson  down,  and his father  and his mother,  to Timnath,  and came  to the vineyards  of Timnath:  and, behold, a young  lion  roared  against  [6] And the Spirit  of the LORD  came mightily  upon him, and he rent  a kid,  and he had nothing  in his hand:  but he told  not his father  or his mother  what he had done.  [7] And he went down,  and talked  with the woman;  Samson  well.  [8] And after a time  he returned  to take  her, and he turned aside  to see  the carcase  of the lion:  and, behold, there was a swarm  of bees  and honey  in the carcase  of the lion.  [9] And he took  thereof in his hands,  eating,  and came  to his father  and mother,  and he gave  them, and they did eat:  but he told  not them that he had taken  the honey  out of the carcase  of the lion. 

What does Judges 14:5-9 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The first recorded indication of Samson"s superhuman strength is his ability to tear the lion apart with his bare hands ( Judges 14:6). A young lion tried to leap on Samson ( Judges 14:5), but instead the Spirit of the Lord leaped upon him ( Judges 14:6). The writer probably intended this incident to show Samson that God could empower him to dismember the Philistines. However, Samson did not abandon his plan to marry the Timnite but proceeded down to her home to continue his courtship. The phrase translated "looked good to Samson" ( Judges 14:7) literally means "was right in the eyes of Samson." Likewise the phrase "looks good to me" ( Judges 14:3) is literally "is right in my own eyes." Thus Samson was typical of the ordinary Israelite who also "did what was right in his own eyes" ( Judges 17:6; Judges 21:25).
Even though God strengthened him, Samson used that strength for his own purposes, not to fulfill God"s will. Note David"s very different reaction to God enabling him to kill a lion and a bear in 1 Samuel 17:34-37.
"Like bees in a carcass, Israel was to inhabit a country of idolaters, a country that became habitable for God"s community only through the death of God"s enemies." [1]
Bees normally do not inhabit cadavers; flies and maggots do. This unusual situation provided a temptation and a test of Samson"s character. When he scraped the honey out of the lion"s carcass with his hand ( Judges 14:9), he broke part of his Nazirite vow. Nazirites were not to touch dead bodies ( Numbers 6:6). He thought so little of his privileged position as separated to Yahweh that he forfeited some of that separate condition to satisfy his appetite (cf. Esau). Perhaps he did not tell his parents about the honey because he knew that he would have disappointed them for having broken his vow. By giving them some of the unclean honey without telling them that it was unclean, Samson callously led them into defilement. His parents had previously sanctified him, but now he desecrated them.