Judges 14 Part Three (Verses 15-20)

3. (Judges 14:15-18) Samson's Philistine wife extracts the answer to the riddle from Samson and tells it to the Philistines
Then it came about on the fourth day that they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, or we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?" Samson's wife wept before him and said, "You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have propounded a riddle to the sons of my people, and have not told it to me." And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?" However she wept before him seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people. So the men of the city said to 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 to them, 
"If you had not plowed with my heifer, 
You would hot have found out my riddle."  

Then it came about on the fourth day: The thirty men continued to try various methods to answer the riddle. Unsuccessful, they were beginning to realize not only had Samson made a fool out of them, but they were going to leave the wedding feast poorer than when they had arrived. This infuriated them. So they confronted Samson's bride and demanded she pry the solution out of her husband.      

The fourth day: Depending on your Bible translation, it may say, "It came about on the fourth day" or "it came about on the seventh day." The English translators are trying to make sense of this story for us Greek-minded folks. The actual Hebrew states, "It came about on the seventh day." Yes, the Hebrew text actually makes this story a little bit confusing.

It is quite time consuming to go into depth about how everything plays out on a timeline. I will summarize. It says the 30 men could not solve the riddle after three days. Then the Hebrew says on the seventh day, the men went to Samson's bride. Next, we see Samson's bride ask Samson for the information, Samson refuses, and then he gives in because it says she cried for the entire seven days. By the seventh day, Samson was worn down and tells his bride the answer to the riddle. We see a few timing conflicts. For instance, it says after the third day of a seven day feast the 30 men approached the bride. Yet, it says she cried for all seven days (presumably to get Samson to tell her the answer). Then we are told before the seven days ended, the Philistine men received the answer from Samson's bride and delivered the answer to Samson.

The timing issue can be solved if one understands we most likely have a contextual mixing of the same term meaning two different things. The term is "seven days". Seven days was the length of the wedding feast, but we have no idea what day of the week the festival began. Seven days is also how long the girl cried. And the "seventh day" is also a common biblical term which means the Sabbath. (The Sabbath is the seventh and final day of the week.) Thus, it was very likely not on the seventh day of the wedding banquet in which the men came to the girl to convince her to help them solve the riddle. Rather, it was referring to the seventh day of a standard week (the Shabbat). You can continue this theme for the rest of the timing issues to resolve anything which may appear as a timing conflict.

Samson's wife wept before him: Moving along, Samson did not want to tell the girl his riddle. He knew she may divulge his answer to the 30 men. After all, despite the fact they were in the marriage process, her family was Philistine, and her culture was Philistine. Also, all her friends were Philistines. The pressure would have been too much for her not to help out those who she had been closest to all of her life. In fact, Samson says not even his own parents knew the answer to the riddle.

(There was good reason for this. Remember, Samson's parents were not present when Samson discovered the honey inside the lion. Samson gave his parents honey from an unclean lion carcass. If they ever found out, they would be furious with Samson because they would have to go through a long and costly process of ritual purification. Moreover, the mere thought of them eating something unclean would have probably made them sick.) But this also was an important tool for the LORD to use in His determination to undermine the peace process between the Philistines and the Israelites.

The tears from Samson's bride finally have their desired effect. Samson tells her the answer to the riddle. I think most men can identify with this situation. When a woman cries even for a few minutes, most men are ready to do almost anything to stop her tears. Most men have no idea what to do with a crying woman...and most woman know this. I cannot imagine how heart-breaking it must have been for Samson's bride to be crying during the wedding feast.

She then told the riddle to the sons of her people: Unfortunately, the girl instantly goes to her 30 men and tells them the riddle's answer. Just moments before the end of the seventh day, when the time would have ended for the men to declare the answer or owe Samson the clothing, they go to Samson and give him the solution.

If you would not have plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle: Samson may have had character flaws, but he was no dummy. He knew immediately his wife had betrayed him. Thus, he told the men in a kind of riddle form that he knew what they did.

A short detour
All throughout this story, this girl has been called Samson's wife. But that is not correct. The Hebrew term being translated is ishsheh; it can mean girl, woman or wife. The meaning is derived from the context. The problem in this story is that the whole wedding process was interrupted before the end of the seventh day. But more importantly, this rift between Samson and his bride seems to have happened BEFORE they had sexually consummated their marriage. This is key. By Hebrew standards, the marriage ceremony consisted of a gathering of friends and family, a brief ceremony officiated by the parents and then everyone watched as the couple went into their home to consummate their union. In the morning, a marriage cloth was used as proof of the consummation. The cloth was given to the mother of the bride for safekeeping; this was in effect the equivalent to a signed marriage certificate.


The point is this: by everything in the Scriptures, there was no consummation of this marriage. Thus, Samson and his bride were never officially married. Thus, to translate the word ishsheh as wife is a misnomer. So why do we find it in the text this way? The answer is the rabbis (especially those who helped create the Greek Septuagint) wanted to make Samson out as a great and near perfect man, rather then the seriously flawed man that he was. Thus, they concocted all kinds of fanciful and unsubstantiated excuses and scenarios which changed the plain meaning of the holy texts. For instance, they claim that before Samson married thus girl, she converted to Judaism. Then they claim Samson and this girl were legally married in correct Torah fashion. Thus, this girl was his wife. The next chapter (chapter 15) will bring up this issue in more detail. So we will examine it a little more at that time.


4. (Judges 14:19-20) Samson's anger and revenge
Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and he went down to Askelon and killed thirty men of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father's house. But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily: Verse 19 states the Spirit of the LORD came over Samson as he went to Ashkelon. The Spirit gave Samson the burst of supernatural strength which allowed him to go through the city and kill these random Philistine men in order to take their clothing from them. This reminds us that the LORD was behind this all. Yes, Samson's own evil inclinations made him the bully with anger management issues, but the LORD used this for His purposes.

Samson was beside himself in anger. His betrothed had betrayed him. And now he had to come up with thirty sets of clothing for his guests as their prize for "solving" his riddle. Rather than just tell the men their method of getting the answer negated what he owed them, he determined he would meet his obligation.

So boiling with rage, he went to Ashkelon (about 30 miles away). He proceeded to kill 30 male citizens of Ashkelon in order to take their clothes from them and give them to his wedding guests. These men Samson killed had no connection to the weeding. By all accounts, these were random killings, but undoubtedly, Samson picked men who possessed the special kind of clothing the bet required. He took the clothes and gave them to the men he owed them to. He then went to his father's house in Zorah.

But Samson's wife was given to his companion: Back in Timnah, his wife and her family would have waited and waited for Samson to return. But Samson never did. What a terrible insult to her family and what a dilemma. Was this girl married or not? Would Samson return and complete the marriage process or was this girl to remain in limbo? After some time passed (we do not know how many days, weeks or months may have elapsed), the girl's father gives her in marriage to Samson's best man.

In summary, Samson's rash decision to marry the Philistine girl, the girl's decision to betray her fiance to the 30 wedding guests, and then her father's decision to give her to another man after Samson took off now made reconciliation impossible. Samson's war against the Philsitines was about to begin in earnest. By the way, the Rabbis handle all this (and what is about to come) by explaining that Samson's co-called "wife" now gave up her Judaism and returned to the religion of her Philistine family.