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Marriage of Samson (Judg. 14)

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Samson went to Tamatha and saw a beautiful Philistine woman. He told his father, "Please get her as my wife."

His father answered, "Can you not find a wife in Israel?" Samson said that the girl pleased him.

So Samson and his father went to Tamatha. When they came to the vineyards of  Tamatha, a young lion came roaring to meet him. But the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and although he had no weapons, he tore the lion to pieces.

Later, when he returned to marry the woman who pleased him, he looked for the remainder of the lion and found a swarm of bees and honey in the lion's carcass. So he scooped the honey in his palms and ate it on the way. He gave some also to his parents.

Samson gave a banquet for the wedding. He had thirty companions. Samson said to them, "I will give you a riddle. If within seven days of the feast you solve it, I will give you thirty linen tunics and thirty sets of garments; but if not, you give me the prize."

"Give your riddle," they said.

So he said, "Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness."

After three days' failure, they said to his wife: "Coax your husband to answer the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your family."

At Samson's side, his wife wept and said, " You do not love me for you have not told me the answer of your riddle. She wept during the seven days of the feast. On the seventh day he told her the answer, and she explained the riddle to her countrymen.

Before the sun set on the seventh day the men said to Samson, "What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?"

He replied, "If you have not asked my wife, you would not have solved the riddle." So he went to Ascalon where he killed thirty men, got their garments and gave them to those who answered the riddle. Then he went to his family in anger.


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