SEV Biblia, Chapter 14:14
Entonces les dijo: Del devorador salió comida, y del fuerte salió dulzura. Y ellos no pudieron declararle el enigma en tres días.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Judges 14:14
Verse 14. And he said unto there] Thus he states or proposes his riddle: - Out of the eater came forth meat, And out of the strong came forth sweetness. Instead of strong, the Syriac and Arabic have bitter. I have no doubt that the riddle was in poetry; and perhaps the two hemistichs above preserve its order. This was scarcely a fair riddle; for unless the fact to which it refers were known, there is no rule of interpretation by which it could be found out. We learn from the Scholiast, on Aristophanes, Vesp. v. 20, that It was a custom among the ancient Greeks to propose at their festivals, what were called grifoi, griphoi, riddles, enigmas, or very obscure sayings, both curious and difficult, and to give a recompense to those who found them out, which generally consisted in either a festive crown, or a goblet full of wine. Those who failed to solve them were condemned to drink a large portion of fresh water, or of wine mingled with a sea-water, which they were compelled to take down at one draught, without drawing their breath, their hands being tied behind their backs. Sometimes they gave the crown to the deity in honour of whom the festival was made: and if none could solve the riddle, the reward was given to him who proposed it.
Of these enigmas proposed at entertainments &c., we have numerous examples in ATHENAEUS, Deipnosoph, lib. x., c. 15, p. 142, edit.
Argentorat., and some of them very like this of Samson for example: - didouv tiv ouk edwken, oudÆ ecwn ecei; "Who gives, and does not give? Who has not, and yet has?" This may be spoken of an enigma and its proposer: he gives it, but he does not give the sense; the other has it, but has not the meaning.
esti fusiv qhleia brefh sozousÆ upo kolpoiv authv tauta dÆ afwna bohn isthsi gegwnon.
kai dia pontion oidma, kai hpeirou dia pashv, oiv eqelei qnhtwn toiv dÆ ou pareousiv akouein exesti kwfhn dÆ akohv aisqhsin ecousin.
"There is a feminine Nature, fostering her children in her bosom; who, although they are dumb, send forth a distinct voice over every nation of the earth, and every sea, to whom soever they please. It is possible for those who are absent to hear, and for those who are deaf to hear also." The relator brings in Sappho interpreting it thus: - qhleia men oun esti fusiv, epistolh.
brefh dÆ en auth periferei ta grammata afwna dÆ onta tauta toiv porrw lalei, oiv bouleqÆ eterov dÆ an tuch tiv plhsion Æestwv anaginwskontov, ouk akousetai.
"The Nature, which is feminine, signifies an epistle; and her children whom she bears are alphabetical characters: and these, being dumb, speak and give counsel to any, even at a distance; though he who stands nigh to him who is silently reading, hears no voice." Here is another, attributed by the same author to Theodectes: - thv fusewv osa gaia ferei trofov, oudÆ osa pontov, oute brotoisin ecei guiwn auxhsin omoian.
allÆ en men genesei prwtosporw esti megisth, en de mesaiv akmaiv mikra, ghra de prov autw morfh kai megeqei meizwn palin estin apantwn.
"Neither does the nourishing earth so bear by nature, nor the sea, nor is there among mortals a like increase of parts; for at the period of its birth it is greatest, but in its middle age it is small, and in its old age it is again greater in form and size than all." This is spoken of a shadow. At the rising of the sun in the east, the shadow of an object is projected illimitably across the earth towards the west; at noon, if the sun be vertical to that place, the shadow of the object is entirely lost; at sunsetting, the shadow is projected towards the east, as it was in the morning towards the west.
Here is another, from the same author: - eisi kasignhtai dittai, wn h mia tiktei thn eperan, auth de tekousÆ upo thsde teknoutai.
"There are two sisters, the one of whom begets the other, and she who is begotten produces her who begat her." Day and night solve this enigma. The following I have taken from Theognis: - hdh gar me keklhke qalattiov oikade nekrov, teqnhkwv, zww fqeggomenov stomati. THEOGN. Gnom., in fine.
"A dead seaman calls me to his house; And, although he be dead, he speaks with a living mouth." This dead seaman is a conch or large shellfish, of which the poet was about to eat. The mouth by which it spoke signifies its being used as a horn; as it is well known to produce, when opened at the spiral end and blown, a very powerful sound.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 14. And he said unto them, out of the eater came forth meat , etc.] Out of a devouring eater, such as the lion is, came forth honey, or that was taken out of it, which Samson, and his father and mother, ate of, and which was the common food of some persons, as of John the Baptist: and out of the strong came forth sweetness : not only out of that which was strong in body while alive, but of a strong and ill scent, as the carcass of a dead lion is, and out of that came forth honey, than which nothing is sweeter. Josephus expresses it, that which devours all things furnishes out pleasant food, when that itself is altogether unpleasant: and they could not in three days expound the riddle ; so long they laboured to find it out, but then began to despair of it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 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 fur was ready to devour him. But the victory of Christ over Satan, by mean of his humiliation, agonies, and death, and the exaltation tha 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 othe senses, out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness. Samson's companions obliged his wife to get the explanatio from him. A worldly wife, or a worldly friend, is to a godly man as a enemy in the camp, who will watch every opportunity to betray him. N union can be comfortable or lasting, where secrets cannot be intrusted without danger of being divulged. Satan, in his temptations, could no do us the mischief he does, if he did not plough with the heifer of ou corrupt nature. His chief advantage against us arises from his correspondence with our deceitful hearts and inbred lusts. This prove an occasion of weaning Samson from his new relations. It were well for us, if the unkindness we meet with from the world, and ou disappointments in it, obliged us by faith and prayer to return to ou heavenly Father's house, and to rest there. See how little confidenc is to be put in man. Whatever pretence of friendship may be made, real Philistine will soon be weary of a true Israelite __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 להם מהאכל 398 יצא 3318 מאכל 3978 ומעז 5794 יצא 3318 מתוק 4966 ולא 3808 יכלו 3201 להגיד 5046 החידה 2420 שׁלשׁת 7969 ימים׃ 3117
