Samson’s Marriage
One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw a young Philistine woman. 1Jn 2:16Jos 15:10Jos 19:43Psa 119:372Sa 11:2Gen 34:1-2Gen 38:12-13Gen 6:2 So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.” Gen 34:4Gen 24:2-3Gen 21:212Ki 14:9Gen 38:6
But his father and mother replied, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” 1Sa 17:36Deu 7:2-3Jdg 15:181Sa 14:61Sa 17:261Sa 31:42Sa 1:20Exo 34:12-16
But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, for she is pleasing to my eyes.” (Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.) Jos 11:20Psa 115:3Jdg 13:11Ki 12:152Ch 10:152Ch 22:72Ki 6:332Ch 25:20
Then 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, and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. Jdg 3:10Zec 4:6Jdg 13:251Jn 3:81Sa 11:61Sa 17:34-371Sa 17:46Isa 42:2 Then Samson continued on his way down and spoke to the woman, because she was pleasing to his eyes.
Samson’s Riddle
When Samson returned later to take her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees, along with their honey. Gen 29:21Mat 1:20 So he scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. And when he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass. 1Sa 14:25-30Pro 25:15
Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom. Ecc 10:19Est 1:7-22Gen 29:22Jhn 2:9Mat 22:2-4Rev 19:9 And when the Philistines saw him, 1 they selected thirty men to accompany him. Jhn 3:291Sa 10:231Sa 16:6Mat 9:15
“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 1Ki 10:1Ezk 17:2Gen 45:222Ki 5:222Ki 5:5Pro 1:61Co 13:12Ezk 20:49 But if you cannot solve it, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let us hear it.”
So he said to them: 1Ki 17:6Jas 1:2-41Pe 2:24Rom 8:372Co 12:9-10Mat 13:112Ch 20:22Ch 20:25
“Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet.”
For three days they were unable to explain the riddle. So on the fourth 2day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?” Jdg 15:6Jdg 16:5Mic 7:5Gen 3:1-6Jdg 12:1Pro 1:11Pro 5:3Pro 6:26
Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.” Jdg 16:15Gen 2:24
“Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”
She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people. Jdg 16:16Luk 18:4-5Gen 3:6Jdg 16:13Jdg 16:6Job 2:9Luk 11:8Pro 2:16-17
Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson:
“What is sweeter than honey?
And what is stronger than a lion?”
So he said to them:
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle!”
Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house, 1Sa 11:6Jdg 3:10Jdg 13:25Jdg 14:6Jdg 15:14 and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him. Jdg 15:2Jhn 3:29Jhn 13:18Jdg 15:6Jer 9:5Mat 26:49-50Mic 7:5Psa 55:12-13