Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
And he said unto there - Thus he states or proposes his riddle: -
Out of the eater came forth meat,
And out of the strong came forth sweetness.
Instead of strong, the Syriac and Arabic have bitter. I have no doubt that the riddle was in poetry; and perhaps the two hemistichs above preserve its order. This was scarcely a fair riddle; for unless the fact to which it refers were known, there is no rule of interpretation by which it could be found out. We learn from the Scholiast, on Aristophanes, Vesp. v. 20, that it was a custom among the ancient Greeks to propose at their festivals, what were called , griphoi , riddles, enigmas, or very obscure sayings, both curious and difficult, and to give a recompense to those who found them out, which generally consisted in either a festive crown, or a goblet full of wine. Those who failed to solve them were condemned to drink a large portion of fresh water, or of wine mingled with a sea-water, which they were compelled to take down at one draught, without drawing their breath, their hands being tied behind their backs. Sometimes they gave the crown to the deity in honor of whom the festival was made: and if none could solve the riddle, the reward was given to him who proposed it. Of these enigmas proposed at entertainments etc., we have numerous examples in Athenaeus, Deipnosoph, lib. x., c. 15, p. 142, edit. Argentorat., and some of them very like this of Samson for example: -
, ' ;
"Who gives, and does not give?
Who has not, and yet has?"
This may be spoken of an enigma and its proposer: he gives it, but he does not give the sense; the other has it, but has not the meaning.
' ̔
· ' ̔ .
, ,
̔ · '
· ' .
\ri720 "There is a feminine Nature, fostering her children in her bosom; who, although they are dumb, send forth a distinct voice over every nation of the earth, and every sea, to whom soever they please. It is possible for those who are absent to hear, and for those who are deaf to hear also."
The relator brings in Sappho interpreting it thus: -
, .
' ͅ
' ̔ ,
̔ \· ̔ ' ͅ
̔ , .
\ri720 "The Nature, which is feminine, signifies an epistle; and her children whom she bears are alphabetical characters: and these, being dumb, speak and give counsel to any, even at a distance; though he who stands nigh to him who is silently reading, hears no voice."
Here is another, attributed by the same author to Theodectes: -
̔ , ' ̔ ,
̔.
' ͅ ,
, ͅ ͅ
ͅ ̔.
\ri720 "Neither does the nourishing earth so bear by nature, nor the sea, nor is there among mortals a like increase of parts; for at the period of its birth it is greatest, but in its middle age it is small, and in its old age it is again greater in form and size than all."
This is spoken of a shadow. At the rising of the sun in the east, the shadow of an object is projected illimitably across the earth towards the west; at noon, if the sun be vertical to that place, the shadow of the object is entirely lost; at sunsetting, the shadow is projected towards the east, as it was in the morning towards the west.
Here is another, from the same author: -
, ̔ ̔
̔, ' ̔ .
\ri720 "There are two sisters, the one of whom begets the other, and she who is begotten produces her who begat her."
Day and night solve this enigma.
The following I have taken from Theognis: -
,
, ͅ .
Theogn. Gnom., in fine.
"A dead seaman calls me to his house; And, although he be dead, he speaks with a living mouth."
This dead seaman is a conch or large shellfish, of which the poet was about to eat. The mouth by which it spoke signifies its being used as a horn; as it is well known to produce, when opened at the spiral end and blown, a very powerful sound.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Joshua 15:57
1 Kings 10:3
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