Judges 14:8

he returned i.e. to Zorah; the woman stays in her father's house, as was the rule in a mot-amarriage. The natural sense of the narrative is destroyed by the expression to take her, i.e. to marry her (a single word in the Hebr.); obviously it has been inserted. The marriage does not begin till later, Judges 14:10.

a swarm of bees Though in a hot country the carcase would quickly decay and shrivel up, some time must have elapsed before the bees could hive in it and form honey-comb. But in a popular story, so full of marvels, this matter-of-fact detail would not be considered. The tale of Onesilus told by Herodotus, 14:114, has been quoted to illustrate the incident. If we wish to look for the originof this popular story, Stahn (l.c. on p. 140) offers an explanation which is certainly plausible. The connexion between the lion and the honey may be founded on the observed fact that when the sun stands in the sign of Leo, i.e. in the month of May June, bees in Palestine produce their honey. This would be common knowledge, and would suggest an answer to the riddle in Judges 14:14, which the Philistines might have answered if they had used their wits.