Judges 14:18

“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, (<203030>Proverbs 30:30). Homer f294 gives the epithet of strong to a lion: and he said unto them, if ye had not ploughed with my heifer; meaning his…”

“If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle--a metaphor borrowed from agricultural pursuits, in which not only oxen but cows and heifers were, and continue to be, employed in dragging the plough. Divested of metaphor, the meaning is taken by some in a criminal sense, but probably means no more than that they had resorted to the aid of his wife--an unworthy expedient, which might have been deemed by a man of less noble spirit and generosity as releasing him from the obligation to fulfil his bargain.”

“They try to give the answer in a way to make it appear that they had guessed it. Samson saw at once that she had betrayed him. He lets them know in a speech, which was of the nature of a riddle, that he had discovered the treachery. return to 'Top of Page'”

“If ye had not &c. - If you had not employed my wife to find it out, as men plough up the ground with an heifer, thereby discovering its hidden parts; he calls her heifer, because she was joined with him in the same yoke. Judges 14:19”