The Bee and Honey

Honey was the sweetest thing the ancient world knew, and God described Canaan as 'a land flowing with milk and honey.' Samson killed a young lion with his bare hands and later found 'a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion,' which became his riddle: 'Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.' Honey refreshed Jonathan in battle and fed John the Baptist in the wilderness, and the psalmist said God's judgments are 'sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.' Bees themselves picture swarming enemies.

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Strongest connections in Scripture

Judges 14 Psalms 19

Key Passages

Honey from the Lion

Judges 14:5-9

Samson finds bees and honey in the carcass of the lion he killed, the strange scene behind his famous riddle.

T⁵hen went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.

⁶ And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. ⁷ And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. ⁸ And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. ⁹ And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.