The Defilement (Jud. 14:9)

For many reasons (failure of national leadership due to lack of wisdom, lack of political will due to systemic corruption and nepotism, self-aggrandizement) I have used the life of Samson as a metaphor, a lens through which I can view and understand recent Filipino political history. Samson was a Judge ( and a type of Christ) raised by God to save the Hebrews from the Philistines, a neighboring tribe who we're oppressing them.  An angel of God himself told his then barren mother that she would give birth to a son and that he was to be raised a Nazarite, by strict kosher laws of purity. In this painting Samson discovers the carcass of a lion which had attacked him and he had easily slain months ago. Bees had built a honeycomb inside. When Samson compulsively tasted the sweetness of the honey he brought some to his parents without telling them from where he had taken it. In the Bible honey is symbolical of good as is the "land of milk and honey" sought by Moses and Joshua in the book of Exodus. Seeing the intense liveliness of a honeycomb within a dead carcass evokes Christ's resurrection from the dead. Yet, for me, there is a darker side because any substance that has touched a dead animal  defiles the one who touches it. Here we see Simon defiling not only himself but also his parents by  this mindless act. 

Judges 13:1-2, 12-24, Judges 14:5-9