And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
And perhaps this was not only a prodigy of valor, but also a mystery of wisdom, an utterance of prophecy. For it does not seem to have been without a purpose that, as he was going to his marriage, a roaring lion met him, which he tore asunder with his hands, in whose body, when about to enjoy the wished-for wedlock, he found a swarm of bees, and took honey from its mouth, which he gave to his father and mother to eat. The people of the Gentiles who believed had honey; the people that were previously savage are now the people of Christ.
Nor is the riddle without mystery, which he set forth to his companions: “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” And there was a mystery up to the point of the three days in which its answer was sought in vain, which could not be made known except by the faith of the church, on the seventh day, the time of the law being completed, after the passion of the Lord. For thus you find that the apostles did not understand...
Since sacred Scripture can be understood and interpreted in many ways as a pearl, Christ himself is not unfittingly regarded as the lion.… But he was victorious in his triumph over the devil through his death on the cross. Indeed, he is both the lion and the lion’s cub: a lion because equal to the Father; the lion’s cub because the Son of the Father who was killed by his own will and rose again by his own power. Of him it is written: “Who will disturb him?” Voluntarily offering his father the sacrifice of his body for us, he who is most high forever takes up the life which he himself had laid down, as he testifies. That Samson says, “Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” is fittingly applied to Christ. By his teaching he both chews over the spiritual food of his honey and in his promises gives it to us. In still another way this can be understood concerning Christ. This lion, that is, Christ from the tribe of Judah, victoriously descended into h...
Sweetness. The explication of the ancient riddles frequently depended on the knowledge of something that had taken place. Our riddle-makers follow other rules. In a spiritual sense, the Philistines might be considered as those strong ones who had domineered over Israel, but would shortly afford them the spoils of a glorious victory. Jesus rises triumphant from the grave, and, after he has been persecuted and torn in pieces, becomes the food of Christians. (St. Augustine) (Calmet)
