Judges 14:18
And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.
And the men of the city said unto him, on the seventh day, before the sun went down,.... 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 {n}, 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 {o} 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 {p}; 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 {q}; but the first sense is best, for it is not said, "ploughed my heifer", but with her.
{n} Opera, par. 9. epist. 24.
{o} Odyss. 4. ver. 336.
{p} Vid. Horat. Carmin, l. 2. ode 5. Graja. "Juvenca venit". Ovid. ep. 5. ver. 117.
{q} Vid. Bochart. Hierozoic par. 1. l. 2. c. 41. col. 406.