The first recorded indication of Samson's superhuman strength is his ability to tear the lion apart with his bare hands (v. 6). A young lion tried to leap on Samson (v. 5), but instead the Spirit of the Lord leaped upon him (v. 6). The writer probably intended this incident to show Samson that God could empower him to dismember the Philistines. However, Samson did not abandon his plan to marry the Timnite but proceeded down to her home to continue his courtship. Even though God strengthened Samson, he used that strength for his own purposes, not to fulfill God's will.257
"Like bees in a carcass, Israel was to inhabit a country of idolaters, a country that became habitable for God's community only through the death of God's enemies."258
Bees normally do not inhabit cadavers; flies and maggots do. This unusual situation provided a temptation and a test of Samson's character. When he scraped the honey out of the lion's carcass with his hand (v. 9), he broke part of his Nazirite vow. Nazirites were not to touch dead bodies (Num. 6:6). He thought so little of his privileged position as separated to Yahweh that he forfeited some of that separate condition. Perhaps he did not tell his godly parents about the honey because he knew that he would have disappointed them by breaking his vow. By giving them some of the unclean honey without telling them that it was unclean, Samson callously led them into defilement. His parents had previously sanctified him, but now he desecrated them.
