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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.
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[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