Judges 14King James Version
Samson grows up and goes down to Timnath. He sees a Philistine woman and wants her. On the way to marry her, a young lion roars against him. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him and he tears the lion apart with his bare hands. Later, bees have made honey in the carcass. At his wedding feast he poses a riddle: out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong came forth sweetness. His bride gets the answer out of him with tears.
Samson sees a Philistine woman in Timnah and demands his parents arrange the marriage. On the journey he tears apart a young lion with his bare hands and tells no one. When he returns, he finds a honeycomb in the lion's carcass and eats from it. At the wedding feast he poses a riddle about the lion and the honey for a seven-day wager. His bride is threatened and pressures him until she extracts the answer on the seventh day. He pays the debt by killing thirty Philistines for their clothes. His wife is given to his companion.
Samson's first act of war is motivated not by national deliverance but by a personal insult, and the riddle that starts it is built on a secret he was never supposed to touch.
6: "And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done." The secrecy is deliberate; everything in this story depends on what is not said.
Timnah sits on the edge of Philistine territory, a day's walk from Zorah. Samson travels the road alone when the lion attacks, near the vineyards, which are themselves already a violation of his Nazirite vow. The honeycomb in the lion's carcass is a second violation: contact with a carcass is ritually unclean. Two strikes before the wedding feast begins.
Samson, driven by appetite and pride; his unnamed Timnite wife, caught between husband and kinsmen; Samson's parents, troubled by the match; thirty Philistine companions at the wedding feast.
The chapter introduces the template for all of Samson's stories: desire leads to conflict, conflict triggers supernatural strength, the strength creates a crisis, someone close to Samson betrays him. The marriage to a Philistine woman is condemned by his parents but described by the narrator as God's doing, working through Samson's appetites to provoke confrontation.
For when you are watching someone brilliant make choices that are obviously going to hurt them, and they cannot hear you over their own certainty. Samson's parents see the problem. He sees a woman he wants.
1And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
2And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
3Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
4But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
6And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
7And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.
8And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
9And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.
10So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.
11And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
12And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments:
13But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it.
14And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.
15And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so?
16And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee?
17And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
18And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.
19And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.
20But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.