Samson, the Lion and the Riddle

A roar splits the air among the vineyards. A young lion is charging. And the young man in its path has nothing in his hands. Nothing at all.

Samson has grown up. He is the son of promise, set apart for God from birth, his hair never cut. But he is also headstrong. One day he goes down to the town of Timnah and sees a young Philistine woman. He comes home and tells his parents, “Get her for me as my wife.” They are dismayed. “Isn't there a woman among our own relatives, or among all our people? Must you go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” Uncircumcised was their way of saying: people outside God's covenant. Samson won't budge. “Get her for me. She looks right to me.” Then the book of Judges adds something surprising. His parents didn't know that this was from the Lord, who was looking for an opportunity to confront the Philistines. Even through Samson's stubbornness, God was at work.

So Samson and his parents set out for Timnah. Somewhere among the vineyards, Samson is on his own, and a young lion comes roaring at him. Then the Spirit of the Lord comes on Samson in power. With his bare hands he tears the lion apart, as easily as if it were a young goat. And here's the strange part. He doesn't tell his father or his mother what he has done. He goes on into town, talks with the young woman, and she pleases him.

Some time later, he goes back to marry her. On the way, he turns aside to look at the lion's carcass. Bees have made a hive in it, and there is honey. Samson scoops some out into his hands and eats it as he walks along. He catches up with his parents and gives them some too. But he doesn't tell them where the honey came from.

Then comes the wedding feast, seven days long, as the custom was. The Philistines give him thirty young men as companions. Samson has an idea. “Let me tell you a riddle. If you can solve it within the seven days of the feast, I'll give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of fine clothes. If you can't, you give them to me.” “Tell us your riddle.” “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” Three days pass. They have no idea. How could they? Nobody but Samson knows about the lion. So the companions go to his bride, and they threaten her and her father's family. “Get the answer out of him, or else.” She weeps in front of Samson. “You hate me! You don't really love me. You've told my people a riddle and you haven't even told me the answer.” “I haven't even told my own father and mother,” he says. But she keeps weeping, day after day, and on the seventh day he gives in and tells her. And she tells her people.

Just before sunset on the last day, the men come to Samson, looking pleased with themselves. “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Samson knows at once what has happened. “If you hadn't ploughed with my heifer, you wouldn't have solved my riddle.” Then the Spirit of the Lord comes on him again. He goes down to the Philistine city of Ashkelon, strikes down thirty men there, and takes their clothes to pay off the bet. Burning with anger, he goes back home to his father's house. And his bride is given to one of his wedding companions instead. The wedding ends in ruin. Samson is mighty, but he is not wise. And his long struggle with the Philistines has begun.

Who were the Philistines? They were relative newcomers to the land. Around the twelfth century before Christ, they settled along the southern coast of Canaan, part of a wave of seafaring peoples who also troubled Egypt. Pharaoh Ramesses the Third had his battles against these Sea Peoples carved on the walls of his temple at Medinet Habu. The Philistines built five main cities: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron. Archaeologists can recognise their settlements by their distinctive pottery, often painted in red and black.

Samson, the lion and the riddle. You'll find it in Judges, chapter 14. Samson had strength that came from God, but again and again he did whatever looked right in his own eyes. So here's something to think about. What gifts has God given you, and are you using them his way, or only your own?