SEV Biblia, Chapter 14:18
Y al séptimo día, antes que el sol se pusiese, los de la ciudad le dijeron: ¿Qué cosa hay más dulce que la miel? ¿Y qué cosa hay más fuerte que el león? Y él les respondió: Si no araseis con mi novilla, nunca hubierais descubierto mi enigma.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Judges 14:18
Verse 18. If ye had not ploughed with my heifer] If my wife had not been unfaithful to my bed, she would not have been unfaithful to my secret; and, you being her paramours, your interest was more precious to her than that of her husband. She has betrayed me through her attachment to you. Calmet has properly remarked, in quoting the Septuagint, that to plough with one's heifer, or to plough in another man's ground, are delicate turns of expression used both by the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, to point out a wife's infidelities. Thus Theognis, Gnom. v. 5lx21: - ecqairw de gunaika peridromon, andra te margon.
Æov thn allonrihn bouletÆ arouran aroun.
"I detest a woman who gads about, and also a libidinous man, who wishes to plough in another man's ground." Fundum alienium arat, incultum familiarem deserit. PLAUTUS.
"He ploughs another's farm, and leaves his own heritage uncultivated." Milo domi non est, perepre at Milone profecto Arva vacant, uxor non minus inde parit. MARTIAL.
"Milo is not at home, and Milo being from home, his field lies uncultivated; his wife, nevertheless, continues to breed, and brings forth children." There is the same metaphor in the following lines of Virgil: - Hoc faciunt, nimo ne luxu obtusior usus, Sit genitali arvo, sulcosque oblimet inertes. Geor. l. iii., v. 135.
In this sense Samson's words were understood by the Septuagint, by the Syriac, and by Rabbi Levi. See BOCHART, Hierozoic. p. 1., lib. ii., cap. 41., col. 406. The metaphor was a common one, and we need seek for no other interpretation of the words of Samson.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 18. And the men of the city said unto him, on the seventh day, before the sun went down , etc.] And so soon, enough to free them from the obligation they otherwise would have been under, to have given him the sheets and changes of raiment agreed unto: what is sweeter than honey ? nothing, at least that was known, sugar not being invented. Julian the emperor f293 , in commendation of figs, shows, from various authors, that nothing is sweeter than they, excepting honey: and what is stronger than a lion ? no creature is, it is the strongest among beasts, ( Proverbs 30:30). Homer gives the epithet of strong to a lion: and he said unto them, if ye had not ploughed with my heifer ; meaning his wife, whom he compares to an heifer, young, wanton, and unaccustomed to the yoke f295 ; and by “ploughing” with her, he alludes to such creatures being employed therein, making use of her to get the secret out of him, and then plying her closely to obtain it from her; and this diligent application and search of theirs, by this means to inform themselves, was like ploughing up ground; they got a discovery of that which before lay hid, and without which they could never have had the knowledge of, as he adds: ye had not found out my riddle ; the explanation of it. Ben Gersome and Abarbinel interpret ploughing of committing adultery with her; in which sense the phrase is used by Greek and Latin writers f296 ; but the first sense is best, for it is not said, “ploughed my heifer”, but with her.
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
ויאמרו 559 לו אנשׁי 376 העיר 5892 ביום 3117 השׁביעי 7637 בטרם 2962 יבא 935 החרסה 2775 מה 4100 מתוק 4966 מדבשׁ 1706 ומה 4100 עז 5794 מארי 738 ויאמר 559 להם לולא 3884 חרשׁתם 2790 בעגלתי 5697 לא 3808 מצאתם 4672 חידתי׃ 2420
