Samson at the table

Among the Hebrews in the time of the Judges, the meal has neither appetizer nor dessert: everything revolves around barley bread, broken by hand and dipped in oil or stew. People share it sitting or squatting near the hearth: a pot of legumes, olives, fresh cheese, figs, and meat only on feast days or sacrifices. They bless before eating, and the host serves the stranger and traveler first.

Harvested from hollow trunks and dried carcasses in the Judean desert, wild honey is the sugar of the strong. For Samson, it carries the full weight of his riddle: 'Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.' It flavors both the traveler's cake and the offering.