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1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. 5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have 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; and she pleased 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, and went on 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. 10 So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. 11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: 13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. 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. 15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so? 16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? 17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people. 18 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. 19 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. 20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
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[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Judges 14:1-3
Samson, then graced by such favors from heaven, turned his thoughts to marriage as soon as he reached manhood, whether because he detested in his mind the free and familiar manner of deceitful lust in the young, or because he was seeking a reason for loosing from the necks of his people the power and harsh tyranny of the Philistines. Going down, therefore, to Thamnatha [Timnah] (this is the name of a city in that country which then was inhabited by the Philistines), he saw a maiden of pleasing appearance and beautiful countenance. He asked his parents, who were guiding him on his way, to ask her in marriage for him. They did not realize that his purpose was so set that, if the Philistines refused her to him, he would become very angry, nor that they, if they gave their consent, would be bringing an end to the wrong treatment of the conquered. Since from intercourse a sense of equality and kindness grows apace, and, if offense is given, the desire for revenge becomes deeper, his parents thought that he should avoid her because she was a stranger. In vain did they try to change his purpose by lawful objections; finally, then, they gave their consent to the wishes of their son.

Source: LETTER 35
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Judges 14:3
Is there no woman among the daughters of thy brethren: This shows his parents were at first against his marriage with a Gentile, it being prohibited, Deut. 7. 3; but afterwards they consented, knowing it to be by the dispensation of God; which otherwise would have been sinful in acting contrary to the law.
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Judges 14:5-9
Samson obtained his request and upon his return to visit his promised bride he turned off the road for a short while; there a lion came out of the woods to meet him, a truly fierce beast, because released from the forest. No comrade, no weapon was ready at hand; the shame of fleeing and an inner sense of power gave him courage. As the lion rushed upon him he caught it in his arms and killed it with his grasp, leaving it lying there beside the road on a heap of forest wood. The spot was thick with the grassy growth of fodder and planted, too, with vineyards. He felt sure that the spoils of a savage beast would be of little importance to his beloved spouse, because the times of such events [as marriage] are made charming not by savage trophies but by genteel joys and festal garlands. Later, upon his return along the same road, he stumbled upon a honeycomb in the lion’s belly, and carried it off as a gift to his parents and the maiden, for such gifts suit a bride. After he had tasted the honey, he gave them the honeycomb to eat, but he did not disclose where it came from.

Source: LETTER 35
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Judges 14:5-9
Many of the fathers have spoken a great deal about this lion, beloved brothers, and all of them have said what is fitting and in accord with the facts. Some have said that the lion prefigured Christ our Lord. Truly, this is very appropriate, for to us Christ is a lion in whose mouth we found the food of honey after his death. What is sweeter than the Word of God? Or what is stronger than his right hand? In whose mouth after death is there food and bees, except his in whose word is the good of our salvation and the congregation of the Gentiles? The lion can further be understood as the Gentiles who believed. First, it was a body of vanity, but is now the body of Christ in which the apostles like bees stored the honey of wisdom gathered from the dew of heaven and the flowers of divine grace. Thus, food came out of the mouth of the one who died; because nations which were as fierce as lions at first, accepted with a devout heart the word of God which they received and produced the fruit of salvation.

Source: SERMON 119.1
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Judges 14:14
And perhaps this was not only a prodigy of valor, but also a mystery of wisdom, an utterance of prophecy. For it does not seem to have been without a purpose that, as he was going to his marriage, a roaring lion met him, which he tore asunder with his hands, in whose body, when about to enjoy the wished-for wedlock, he found a swarm of bees, and took honey from its mouth, which he gave to his father and mother to eat. The people of the Gentiles who believed had honey; the people that were previously savage are now the people of Christ.Nor is the riddle without mystery, which he set forth to his companions: “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” And there was a mystery up to the point of the three days in which its answer was sought in vain, which could not be made known except by the faith of the church, on the seventh day, the time of the law being completed, after the passion of the Lord. For thus you find that the apostles did not understand, “because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Source: ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 2, PROLOGUE 6.7
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Judges 14:14
Since sacred Scripture can be understood and interpreted in many ways as a pearl, Christ himself is not unfittingly regarded as the lion.… But he was victorious in his triumph over the devil through his death on the cross. Indeed, he is both the lion and the lion’s cub: a lion because equal to the Father; the lion’s cub because the Son of the Father who was killed by his own will and rose again by his own power. Of him it is written: “Who will disturb him?” Voluntarily offering his father the sacrifice of his body for us, he who is most high forever takes up the life which he himself had laid down, as he testifies. That Samson says, “Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” is fittingly applied to Christ. By his teaching he both chews over the spiritual food of his honey and in his promises gives it to us. In still another way this can be understood concerning Christ. This lion, that is, Christ from the tribe of Judah, victoriously descended into hell to snatch us from the mouth of the hostile lion. For this reason he hunts in order to protect, seizes in order to free, leads people captive in order to restore them when freed to their eternal country.

Source: SERMON 119.2
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Judges 14:18-19
Why should I mention many examples? Of the many, I shall set forth one, and by the mention of this one it may be clear how dangerous it is to marry a woman who is a stranger [to the faith]. Who more than the Nazarite, Samson, ever was mightier and from the cradle more endowed with strength by the Spirit of God? Yet he was betrayed by a woman and because of her he was unable to stay in God’s good favor.…By chance one day, during a nuptial feast, the young people at the banquet challenged one another to a game of question and answer. And while one caught up the other with spicy banter, as is the custom on such occasions, the contest, which had begun in fun, grew heated. Then Samson proposed the question to his fellow guests: “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” He promised as the reward for their wisdom that those who guessed it should have thirty shirts and the same number of coats, for that was the number of men present, but if they did not solve it they should pay a forfeit.
Since they could not untie the knot and solve the riddle, they prevailed upon his bride, using repeated threats and constant entreaty, that she ask her husband for the answer to the question as a mark of his devotion in return for her love. Truly terrified in mind, or perhaps in the plaintive manner of a woman, she began her supposedly loving complaints, pretending that she was sorely grieved that her husband did not love her: she who was his life partner and confidant did not know her husband’s secret and was treated like the rest of his friends and not entrusted with her husband’s secret. She even said, “You hate me and do not love me whom until now you have deceived.”
These and other remarks overcame him, and, weakened by her womanly charms, he revealed to his beloved the riddle which he had proposed. She in turn revealed it to her countrymen. Seven days later, before sunset, which was the time agreed for the solving of the riddle, they gave the answer which they had learned and which they expressed thus: “What is stronger than a lion? What is sweeter than honey?” And he answered that nothing is more treacherous than woman, saying, “If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.” Immediately he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty men, stripped off their garments and gave them as the reward he had promised to those who had solved the riddle.

Source: LETTER 35
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Judges 14:18-19
“What,” answer they, “is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?” To which he replied, “If you had not farmed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.” O divine mystery! O manifest sacrament! We have escaped from the slayer, we have overcome the strong one. The food of life is now there, where before was the hunger of a miserable death. Dangers are changed into safety, bitterness into sweetness. Grace came forth from the offense, power from weakness, and life from death.There are, however, those who think, on the other hand, that the wedlock could not have been established unless the lion of the tribe of Judah had been slain; and so in his body, that is, the church, bees were found who store up the honey of wisdom, because after the passion of the Lord the apostles believed more fully. This lion, then, Samson as a Jew killed, but in it he found honey, as in the figure of the heritage which was to be redeemed, that the remnant might be saved according to the election of grace.
“And the Spirit of the Lord,” it is said, “came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon, and killed thirty men of them.” For he could not fail to carry off the victory who saw the mysteries. And so in the garments they receive the reward of wisdom, the badge of intercourse, who resolve and answer the riddle.

Source: ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 2, PROLOGUE 8.10
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Judges 14:18-19
Let us see further what kind of a parable Samson proposed to the strangers. “Out of the eater came forth food,” he said, “and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” This parable was revealed, carried to friends and solved. Samson was defeated. If he was a just man, the fact is well hidden and the justice of the man is deep down. For since he is read to have been overcome by the flattery of a woman and went in to a harlot, his merits seem to totter in the eyes of those who do not understand so well the secrets of truth. Indeed, he is commanded by a precept of the Lord to take the harlot as his wife. Perhaps we can say that in the Old Testament this was not blameworthy or disgraceful, seeing that whatever was said or done was a matter of prophecy.

Source: SERMON 118.2
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Judges 14:18-19
As to the question implied in the words “Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” what else does it signify but Christ rising from the dead? Truly, out of the eater, that is, from death which devours and consumes all things, came forth that food which said, “I am the bread that has come down from heaven.” The Gentiles were converted and received the sweetness of life from him whom human iniquity loaded with bitterness and offered bitter vinegar and gall as a drink. Thus, from the mouth of the dead lion, that is, from the death of Christ who lay down and slept like the lion, there proceeded a swarm of bees, that is, of Christians. When Samson said, “If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle,” this heifer is the church which had the secrets of our faith revealed to her by her husband. By the teaching and preaching of the apostles and saints, she spread to the ends of the earth the mysteries of the Trinity, the resurrection, judgment and the kingdom of heaven, promising the rewards of eternal life to all who understand and know them.

Source: SERMON 118.3