Judges 14 read like a gripping Greek myth. Full of feats of strength, intriguing riddles, and duplicitous spouses, it was a jam-packed chapter. We begin to see Samson's powers as he slays a lion with his bare hands (as well as thirty Philistines). God, as was established even before his birth, intends to use Samson to end the Philistines' infringement upon the Israelites in the Promised Land. Samson takes a Philistine woman to wife and we see his first act of aggression against them when he kills the thirty. It is clear Samson will be a force to be reckoned with for the Philistines. Then there is the curious incident with the lion and the honey. The carcass of the lion killed by Samson ends up producing a colony of bees making sweet honey. It's an odd juxtaposition. From blood and death comes life and sweetness. Theories abound as to what this image could mean as a spiritual lesson. But prominent among those theories is that which makes it a symbol of Christ. From death comes life, as Christ resurrected comes from Christ crucified. St. Augustine calls the honey the New Law that arose from the harsh environs of the Old Law. It could be that God wanted to show that oftentimes from destruction and violence (Samson's killing of the lion) comes goodness and spiritual nourishment (the honey). To free the Israelites from the oppressive grip of the Philistines, God brought forth the physically strong Samson to violently bring forth that emancipation, and from thence the sweetness of life lived by God's moral law could be realized.
