{"id":11859,"date":"2007-08-29T09:51:30","date_gmt":"2007-08-29T14:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=11859"},"modified":"2019-10-05T09:54:38","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T14:54:38","slug":"what-was-the-significance-of-samson-killing-the-lion-and-eating-honey-from-its-carcass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-significance-of-samson-killing-the-lion-and-eating-honey-from-its-carcass\/","title":{"rendered":"What was the significance of Samson killing the lion and eating honey from its carcass?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>What is the symbolism of Samson killing the lion and\u00a0what was bad about Samson\u00a0giving his parents the honey that the bees had made in the lion&#8217;s dead carcass?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>I don&#8217;t recall God stating that Samson killing the lion symbolized anything in particular. It did illustrate the strength of Samson since few men would be able to kill an attacking lion with their bare hands (Judges 14:5-6). The killing of the young lion is our first introduction to the great strength of Samson. I&#8217;m sure people have applied this event to other things, but it is always dangerous to read more into an event than God states is there.<\/p>\n<p>The point about eating the honey has to do with the Nazirite laws (Numbers 6:2-21). A Nazirite was a person who has made a special vow to God. While under that vow, the Nazirite was not to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shave his head<\/li>\n<li>Eat or drink anything from the grape plant<\/li>\n<li>Eat anything unclean<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Breaking the terms required the person to restart his vow from the beginning. Samson was placed under the Nazirite vow by God from the time he was conceived. Yet, in eating the honey from the lion&#8217;s carcass, he ate something unclean because anything dead is unclean and anything that comes in contact with something dead is also unclean.<\/p>\n<p>Worse, Samson pulled his parents into his sin by giving them the same honey and not telling them about its source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: What is the symbolism of Samson killing the lion and\u00a0what was bad about Samson\u00a0giving his parents the honey that the bees had made in the lion&#8217;s dead carcass? Answer: I don&#8217;t recall God stating that Samson killing the lion symbolized anything in particular. It did illustrate the strength of Samson since few men would&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1391,882,989,202],"class_list":["post-11859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-judges","tag-nazirite","tag-samson","tag-uncleanness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18980,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/samson\/","url_meta":{"origin":11859,"position":0},"title":"Samson","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \u00a0Text: Hebrews 11:32-40 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Heb 11:32-34 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many wonder why Samson is listed among these greats. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0True, his great strength was a wonder, but his life was not one many of us would want to imitate. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How is it that Samson, with his many sins, has come to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/there-are-people-in-the-bible-with-long-hair-so-it-cant-be-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":11859,"position":1},"title":"There are people in the Bible with long hair, so it can&#8217;t be wrong","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is an old argument. There were men in the Bible who were said to have had long hair. Jehovah forbad Samson to cut his hair and David's son, Absalom, was said to have cut his hair once annually when it became a burden to him. Absalom clearly wore\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83941,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-samson-commit-suicide\/","url_meta":{"origin":11859,"position":2},"title":"Did Samson commit suicide?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The following is taken from a long letter that mostly complains that a response to a question about suicide was not kind enough. The issues raised were already addressed in \"I believe your article on suicide is unfair.\" The author of this complaint did read the answer, but it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-paul-be-under-a-nazirite-vow-since-he-shaved-his-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":11859,"position":3},"title":"How could Paul be under a Nazirite vow since he shaved his head?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, You had mentioned in your answer to the question as to why Paul shaved his head in Cenchrea recorded in Acts 18:18, that it was because of the Nazarite Vow (Numbers 6:2-21)? The Nazarite Vow does require that \"no razor touch your head\" (Numbers 6:5). How do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56341,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pearls-from-proverbs-glorying-in-glory\/","url_meta":{"origin":11859,"position":4},"title":"Pearls from Proverbs: Glorying in Glory","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel Guardian of Truth XXXI: 15, p. 456, August 6, 1987 \"It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory\" (Proverbs 25:27). A highly nutritious food, honey was often found in ancient times in trees, in holes in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/honey-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":54866,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-paul-thought-long-hair-was-bad-why-did-he-take-a-nazirite-vow\/","url_meta":{"origin":11859,"position":5},"title":"If Paul thought long hair was bad, why did he take a Nazirite vow?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thanks for the website. I read it all the time. I have a question concerning men and long hair. I know that I Corinthians 11 talks about that. The first part of the chapter is written off by many as cultural, but I disagree with that view; however, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11859\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}