Judges 14:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And after a time— In the Hebrew, after days; i.e. (as this phrase frequently signifies, and as the circumstances seem to render probable,) after a year; See Exodus 13:10. For it was not usual to celebrate the nuptials between a man and an espoused virgin till twelve months after the espousals. See Selden Uxor. Heb. lib. 2: cap. 8 and so long time seems necessary for the reducing the carcase of the lion, to a state proper for the reception of bees; which, as Aristotle and other naturalists observe, being remarkably abhorrent of all foetid smells, would scarcely settle in the carcase of a lion till the flesh was wholly consumed by the birds and beasts and time; but that being done, there is nothing more probable, than that a swarm of bees should settle in such a skeleton. See Boch. Hieroz. pars 2: lib. 4 and Vossius de Orig. et Prog. Idol. lib. 4: cap. 72. We have here a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil is the roaring lion, whom our divine Samson has destroyed; and from his victory consolations are brought to the believer's soul, sweeter than honey and the honey-comb.