Judg 14:9 | KingComments | STEP | When Samson sets off to marry the Philistine woman, he visits the place where he killed the lion. There he sees a swarm of bees that has made honey in the lion’s body. Death gives rise to an abundant and ordered activity, which is represented in that swarm of bees. The product of bees, the result of their activity, is honey. Together with the milk, honey is the blessing of the land. Israel is a land flowing with milk and honey ( ). Here we see in picture that life arises from death. This picture speaks, despite that it is connected with a deviated Samson, of the death of Christ “who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light” ( ). The believer derives everything from the death of Christ. Honey is the product of diligently cooperating bees in the body of a dead lion. Honey represents the sweet, the lovable in creation, something God has given in the natural relationships between people. One of the characteristics of the “last days” ( ) is that people are “unloving”, which is ‘without natural love’ ( ). To enjoy the sweetness of mutual love in marriage and family, that love must be based on the death of Christ. If this is the starting point of our life, we will work together in preparing honey. This requires an active cooperation, nourished by love. There is no ‘Philistine’ who knows this. In the days described in 2 Timothy 3, having an active spiritual life is necessary, and the power of God comes to our aid. Samson takes the honey in his hands and eats it. The hand that killed the lion is also the hand that holds the blessing. Every victory a believer gains over the devil in his life, for example by resisting a certain temptation, gives him food. After all, it is through God’s power that he gained this victory, didn’t he? That awareness makes grateful and prevents self-esteem. However, it is a pity that Samson doesn’t tell his parents anything about his experiences. It is a good thing to share as a young person with your parents the experiences you have with the Lord. If parents do not know the Lord, it is difficult, but it is not impossible. The Lord wants to give wisdom for that. There are also parents who know the Lord, but show little interest. In that case, your experience may be an incentive for them to become more involved with the Lord and His Word. Then you can experience the opposite of what we saw earlier with Samson, that he dragged his parents along on the wrong road. It’s an assumption, but it may be that Samson didn’t want to tell his parents because deep in his heart he knew that he was carrying out a wrong plan. His physical strength was great, but he did not have enough spiritual strength to free himself from this snare. We can draw this conclusion from what we read about him.

‏ Judges 14:9

Honey From the Dead Lion

When Samson sets off to marry the Philistine woman, he visits the place where he killed the lion. There he sees a swarm of bees that has made honey in the lion’s body. Death gives rise to an abundant and ordered activity, which is represented in that swarm of bees. The product of bees, the result of their activity, is honey. Together with the milk, honey is the blessing of the land. Israel is a land flowing with milk and honey (Exo 3:8).

Here we see in picture that life arises from death. This picture speaks, despite that it is connected with a deviated Samson, of the death of Christ “who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light” (2Tim 1:10). The believer derives everything from the death of Christ.

Honey is the product of diligently cooperating bees in the body of a dead lion. Honey represents the sweet, the lovable in creation, something God has given in the natural relationships between people. One of the characteristics of the “last days” (2Tim 3:1) is that people are “unloving”, which is ‘without natural love’ (2Tim 3:3).

To enjoy the sweetness of mutual love in marriage and family, that love must be based on the death of Christ. If this is the starting point of our life, we will work together in preparing honey. This requires an active cooperation, nourished by love. There is no ‘Philistine’ who knows this. In the days described in 2 Timothy 3, having an active spiritual life is necessary, and the power of God comes to our aid.

Samson takes the honey in his hands and eats it. The hand that killed the lion is also the hand that holds the blessing. Every victory a believer gains over the devil in his life, for example by resisting a certain temptation, gives him food. After all, it is through God’s power that he gained this victory, didn’t he? That awareness makes grateful and prevents self-esteem.

However, it is a pity that Samson doesn’t tell his parents anything about his experiences. It is a good thing to share as a young person with your parents the experiences you have with the Lord. If parents do not know the Lord, it is difficult, but it is not impossible. The Lord wants to give wisdom for that. There are also parents who know the Lord, but show little interest. In that case, your experience may be an incentive for them to become more involved with the Lord and His Word. Then you can experience the opposite of what we saw earlier with Samson, that he dragged his parents along on the wrong road.

It’s an assumption, but it may be that Samson didn’t want to tell his parents because deep in his heart he knew that he was carrying out a wrong plan. His physical strength was great, but he did not have enough spiritual strength to free himself from this snare. We can draw this conclusion from what we read about him.