Samson’s Riddle
1 Samson went down to Timnah v and saw a young Philistine woman there. 2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife? ”
But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, w who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation. At that time, the Philistines were ruling Israel.
5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, 6 the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully on x him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she seemed right to Samson.
8 After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass. y
10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty men to accompany him.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” z Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. 13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let’s hear it.”
14 So he said to them:
Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet.
After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us? ”
16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me! a You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”
“Look,” he said, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you? ”
17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. 18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:
What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?
So he said to them:
If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn’t know my riddle now!
19 The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, 20 and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.
14:1–3. Having noticed the Philistine woman in Timnah, Samson goes to his parents demanding that they get her for him as a wife (14:1–2). The parents, alarmed that he wants to marry a non-Israelite who belongs to the occupying power, try in vain to suggest that he find someone from among their own people (14:3a). But Samson is insistent, and echoing an expression that will eventually appear again in the epilogue’s refrain (cf. 17:6; 21:25), he justifies his request by declaring that the woman seems “right” to him (14:3b).
14:4. Given the blatant disapproval of marriages with foreigners already expressed in 3:5–6, it seems obvious that Samson’s desires in this matter should be viewed negatively. But the supplementary information provided by the narrator, that Samson’s parents are ignorant of the Lord’s plan to seek an occasion against the Philistines (14:4), suddenly seems to cast that evaluation in doubt. Is Samson right to seek a marriage alliance with the Philistines?
14:5–7. At Samson’s insistence, his parents give in. As Samson goes down to Timnah again, presumably to seek the woman’s hand in marriage, a young lion attacks him just as he is approaching the vineyards (an ominous note since a Nazirite is supposed to avoid any product of the vine). But the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and he tears the lion in two with his bare hands (14:5–6). When he reaches Timnah, he speaks to the woman, who, for the second time (see 14:3), is described as someone who “seemed right to Samson” (14:7).
14:8–9. Having returned home, Samson makes another trip down to Timnah to marry the woman. At the place where he previously killed the lion, he finds inside its carcass a swarm of bees and some honey, which he scoops up and eats (14:8). He even brings some back with him for his parents, who, ignorant of the source of the honey, eat it as well (14:9). In so doing, Samson both violates his Nazirite status by eating unclean food and also brings ritual defilement to his parents, as food contaminated by a carcass is considered unclean even to ordinary Israelites (see Lv 11:39–40).
14:10. But not only does Samson violate the food stipulation of his status, he also appears to violate the stipulation against fermented drink. In 14:10, he is said to have “prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do.” In those days, wine and fermented drink were commonly served at such feasts. In fact, the Hebrew words for “wine” and “beer” found in the stipulations for Nazirites (Nm 6:3–4) and for Samson (Jdg 13:4, 7, 14) are explicitly associated with the word for “feast” elsewhere in the OT (1 Sm 25:36; Is 5:12; Jr 51:39; cf. Est 5:6; 7:2, 7, 8; Dn 1:16). If Samson conducted himself as was customary for bridegrooms of his day, then he would certainly have consumed such drinks.
14:11–20. Caught up in the festivity of the occasion, Samson challenges his thirty Philistine groomsmen to a timed riddle with the wager set at thirty sets of clothing (14:12–13). Since the riddle involves Samson’s earlier experience of eating honey out of the lion’s carcass, the groomsmen obviously cannot guess the answer (14:14). So they threaten Samson’s wife-to-be with death, and she, in turn, keeps nagging Samson until he gives in and tells her the answer (14:15–17a). She then reveals the answer to the groomsmen, who naturally win the bet (14:17b–18). Samson, realizing that he has been betrayed by his wife-to-be and not having the means to pay the wager, then goes down to Ashkelon, kills thirty Philistines, and takes their clothes to pay up. Then without consummating his marriage, he angrily returns to his father’s house (14:19). With the groom gone, the bride is given to one of the groomsmen instead (14:20).