Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, so that he tore him as one tears a young goat though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. So he went down and talked to the woman; and she looked good to Samson. When he returned to take her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. So he scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. 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 scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah: Samson's parents caved in to Samson's demands. The three of them journey to Timnah so marriage arrangements could be made. On the outskirts of the Philistine village was a vineyard. Samson and his parents separate. Going through the vineyard would have been the direct route to Timnah. However, since Samson was a Nazirite, he had to avoid contact with grapes. Thus, he took the long way around.
Behold, a young lion came roaring toward him: Suddenly, Samson stumbles upon a lion. The startled lion roars at Samson. Samson leaps into action.
The Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily: We see God using this situation for His purposes. When the Spirit comes upon Samson, it overwhelmed him with supernatural strength and courage. With bare hands (i.e., using no weapon), Samson tore the lion apart and killed it.
Who can imagine fighting a lion under any circumstances let alone without any kind of weapon? But let us also not make it out to be more than what it is. The Hebrew word used here for lion is kephir. There are five Hebrew words for lion, and they are NOT synonyms. Rather, each Hebrew word for lion sets up a hierarchy of the lion's maturity.
He did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion: Since Samson went a different route than his parents, his mom and dad did not know about the adventure Samson had with the lion. Samson did not bring this topic up. This of itself is going to play a role in what comes a little later in the story.
So he went down and talked to the woman: When they arrived in Timnah, all three went to the family home of this unnamed Philistine girl. Samson took some time to speak with her. Up until now, he had only been struck by her lovely appearance. After getting to know the woman, he became pleased with her countenance.
When he returned to take her: The next verse skips ahead quite a bit. Some amount of time has passed. Samson's parents had apparently met their Philistine counterparts. Marriage terms were agreed upon and the betrothal period began. How long this is we do not know. Undoubtedly, it was some compromise between the Hebrew and the Philistine's customs of the day.
Verse eight has Samson returning to Timnah to claim his bride. (Again, it appears Samson's parents took a different route as they approached Timnah's vineyards.) Along the way, Samson remembers the lion and went over to the same spot to see if the remains of it were still around. Samson saw the lion carcass.
The image we need to get in our mind is that this was not a sun-bleached lion skeleton lying there. Rather, it was more of a mummy. It was summer in Canaan--it is hot and dry. During summer, when an animal died, it was quite usual for scavengers to do their jobs to empty the dead animal of its internal organs. But, at the same time, the sun and lack of humidity had the effect of rapidly dehydrating the remaining skin and flesh. Meat and fish are often preserved this way. They are flayed and laid open to the sun to become dried and preserved for use later.
It was inside the cavity of the lion where the skin was still stretched over the skeleton that a colony of bees had established a hive. Honey was a prized food. There was not a great deal of it. (Bees were not cultivated in hive farms like they are now.) Honey offered a wonderful and rare flavor. So Samson took full advantage of this novel treat. He scraped out of the carcass as much honey as he could with his hands. He ate some and then later offered some to his parents when he met up with them again. We are told that Samson withheld the matter of where he got the honey from.
The body of a lion: A lion was an unclean animal. Worse, this was a dead unclean animal. So while Samson did not seem to be bothered by the prospect of either contact with this ritually impure object northat eating food taken from it, his parents would not have eaten the honey had they known the source. Technically, a Nazirite was not supposed to touch a dead body under any circumstance. He could not ever bury his own parents if they passed away. However, tradition had developed a Nazirite was not to contact any dead thing including an animal. (One distinction was made: a Nazirite could eat and touch a clean dead animal, otherwise eating meat would have been out of the question. There is no record of requiring a Nazirite to become a vegetarian or to abstain from sacrificial offerings.)
It is unimaginable that Samson's parents would have eaten honey taken from the corpse of a dead unclean animal such as a lion. This shows once again how Samson paid little attention to the Laws of Moses or even Hebrew traditions if it did not suit him. He really did not care too much about the feelings and concerns of others. This included even his own parents.
B. The feast and the riddle
1. (Judges 14:10-11) Samson hosts a "bachelor party" for Philistine friends
Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men customarily did this. When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Then his father went down to the woman: In verse ten, we are told that the marriage ceremony began as Samson's father went down to greet Samson's bride-to-be. There is no hint which indicates the situation was tense or even uncomfortable for the two families. In many ways, this is just another subtle example of how familiar and at ease God's people had become with God's enemies. This helps us understand why the LORD was going to do something about this ridiculous state of coziness between the two sides which ought not to exist.
Samson made a feast there: We are told a banquet was served. This was the way young men used to go about a marriage ceremony. The young men are referring to Philistine young men. This banquet was a Philistine tradition, not Hebrew. Since Samson was in Philistia, marrying a Philistine girl, there were not any of Samson's Isrealite friends with him. So, out of hospitality, the bride's family provided 30 Philistine men as "companions" for the groom. I suspect Samson had at least some familiarity with many of these men, especially the best man. It seems as though a Philistine wedding ceremony was much like our modern bachelor parties in the USA. Only this party was a seven-day long affair!
2. (Judges 14:12-14) Samson poses a riddle concerning the lion and the honey
Then Samson said to them, "Let me now propound a riddle to you; if you will indeed tell it to me within seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes. But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes." And they said to him, "Propound your riddle, that we may hear it. So he said to them,
"Out of the eater came something to eat,
And out of the strong came something sweet."
But they could not tell the riddle in three days.
Then Samson said to them: As you can imagine, without television or a DJ, a long seven-day event could get a little bit boring. So, some kind of entertainment was called for. The nearest larger-sized city to Timnah was Askelon, which was about 30 miles away. It is not feasible the guests traveled this distance every day for entertainment. Rather, the wedding guests would have stayed in Timnah during the entire wedding events.
In those day (and for hundreds of years into the future), a favorite party activity was telling riddles. Along with the riddles came drinking copious amounts of alcohol. There is not statement which indicates Samson drank. But if he had not, it would have been a serious breech of hospitality and protocol. Additionally, strictly speaking, a Nazirite was only supposed to stay away from grape-based alcohol (even though tradition stated Nazirites should not drink any alcohol). There were many kinds of alcohol made from grain. In any case, there are some scholars and many Rabbis who try to make the case Samson avoided drinking alcohol. This ideology would have gone against everything we are told about Samson's character if Samson did not partake in at least a little bit of alcohol.
Thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes: The bridegroom does his duty to entertain the guests. Samson offers a riddle. And to go along with it, he offers a wager: if the thirty male guests can decipher the answer, Samson promises to buy them thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes.
Various Bible versions offer different translations about what Samson wagered. The linen wraps are written in Hebrew as sedinim; these are rectangular pieces of fine linen which was often used as soft undergarments. This would have been immensely helpful since most outer garments were made from coarse materials which tended to be very scratchy to the touch. The changes of clothes is written in the Hebrew as chalipha; it means a festive garment. It is a garment reserved for a special occasion.
The main point about these pieces of clothing is that they were expensive garments. By Samson offering this wager, he was really sticking his neck out. If Samson lost, one could wonder where he would have acquired the funds to buy so many costly items. Naturally, part of the bargain was that if the thirty men could not guess the answer to the riddle by the end of the seven-day marriage feast, they would then each owe Samson a sedinim and chalipha. Samson was not planning on losing because in reality, the riddle was not a fair one. But the guests accepted it and the wagers were set.
The riddle: Out of the eater came something to eat. And out of the strong can something sweet: This riddle is referring to the lion Samson killed, and the honey the bees formed inside it. But who could have ever guessed such a thing? This is nothing in which logic, deductive reasoning or cleverness could ever solve. One had to be there at the lion incident to have any idea what Samson was talking about. Solving such a so-called riddle is impossible. Here again, Samson's character flaws show themselves. He has organized a scheme which will take advantage of his own guests, but of course, this is more or less what the LORD had planned all along as a mean to stoke the fires of unrest between the Philistines and the Israelites.
But they could not tell the riddle in three days: Verse 14 tells us that after three days, all 30 men working together to solve this great mystery had no solution.
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