World English Bible
- Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
- He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as my wife.”
- Then his father and his mother said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among your brothers’ daughters, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”
- But his father and his mother didn’t know that it was of the LORD; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
- Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and his mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion roared at him.
- The LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat with his bare hands, but he didn’t tell his father or his mother what he had done.
- He went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.
- After a while he returned to take her, and he went over to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
- He took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. He came to his father and mother and gave to them, and they ate, but he didn’t tell them that he had taken the honey out of the lion’s body.
- His father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men used to do so.
- When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
- Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle now. If you can tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing;
- but if you can’t tell me the answer, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” They said to him, “Tell us your riddle, that we may hear it.”
- He said to them, “Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness.” They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle.
- On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you called us to impoverish us? Isn’t that so?”
- Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me, and don’t love me. You’ve told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven’t told it to me.” He said to her, “Behold, I haven’t told my father or my mother, so why should I tell you?”
- She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and on the seventh day, he told her, because she pressed him severely; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
- The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” He said to them, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have found out my riddle.”
- The LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck thirty men of them. He took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. 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.
A Devotional for Thoughtful Disciples
“Out of the eater came something to eat,
out of the strong came something sweet.”
— Judges 14:14, New International Version
Samson, fresh from the vows laid on him before birth (see yesterday’s reading, Judges 13), heads to Timnah and sees a Philistine woman. His words to his parents are blunt:
“Get her for me. She is right in my eyes.”
Hebrew note: yāšār bĕʿênay (“right in my eyes”) will appear later to describe the whole nation: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Samson’s private appetite previews Israel’s public drift.
Cross-references
• Deuteronomy 7:3-4 – Israel warned against marrying the peoples of the
land
• Proverbs 14:12 – “There is a way that appears to be right…”
• 2 Corinthians 6:14 – the unequal yoke
Yet verse 4 whispers a greater plan: “This was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines.” Divine purpose weaves through human weakness. William Cowper’s hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” sings the same truth.
On the road Samson meets a roaring lion. “The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him” (v. 6) and he tears it apart. The verb šāsaʿ paints a sudden, violent rip—used elsewhere for young lions devouring prey.
Weeks later, bees have nested in the dried carcass. Samson scoops out honey, eats, and shares it with his parents—but hides the source. This quiet secrecy is the first crack in his Nazirite calling: contact with a dead body (Numbers 6:6) was forbidden. Appetite is now joined by concealment.
Archaeological footnote: Asiatic lions roamed the Judean foothills until at least the 9th century B.C. Rock-cut tombs near Timnah preserve bee fossils, showing that wild hives often formed in hollow carcasses or crevices.
Cross-reference
• 1 Samuel 14:24-30 – Jonathan’s taste of honey strengthens an army,
foreshadowing a different son breaking a father’s rash rules.
Philistine weddings ran a full week. The groom provided a mishteh—literally “a drinking banquet.” Thirty local men (“companions,” v. 11) are assigned to guard or entertain the outsider groom. The stage is set for Samson’s playful mind:
“Let me tell you a riddle…”
Riddles were common in ancient feasts (see 1 Kings 10:1 for the Queen of Sheba’s “hard questions”). Samson wagers thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes—costly items imported from Egypt or dyed in Philistine looms at Ashkelon.
Literary device: Hebrew riddles use parallelism—ʾōkēl (food) / ʾāzah (strong)—to hide answers in wordplay.
Unable to solve the riddle, the companions threaten Samson’s bride: “Entice your husband, or we will burn you and your father’s house” (v. 15). The verb pattî (“coax, seduce”) echoes Genesis 3:13; behind it lurks the serpent’s old craft.
She weeps the answer out of Samson; he repays with a new wave of Spirit-given strength, killing thirty men of Ashkelon for their clothes. The chapter ends in cold estrangement: “Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions.” Seeds of the next conflict are sown.
Cross-references
• James 1:14-15 – Desire, sin, death
• Romans 12:19 – “Do not take revenge…”
Eyes, Appetite, and Calling
Samson’s physical sight guides him; yet his real calling was to live by
the Lord’s sight. Where do my eyes pull harder than my ear
listens to Scripture?
Spirit and Flesh
Three times God’s Spirit empowers him (13:25; 14:6; 14:19), yet Samson
gives those gifts the direction of his own temper. Gifts are not the
same as fruit (Galatians 5:22-23).
God’s Sovereign Hand in Flawed Hands
Augustine saw Samson as proof that God can write straight with crooked
lines. John Calvin warned that this does not excuse sin, but magnifies
grace.
Honey from the Carcass—A Gospel Glimpse
Early church writers (e.g., Jerome) read the lion’s carcass as a figure
of Christ’s cross: out of death comes sweetness. The riddle whispers
resurrection truth before history knew the empty tomb.
• Bride-Price vs. Wedding Feast – In Philistine
custom the groom paid heavily, sometimes by feats of valor. Samson’s
riddle is his way to finance the clothing without silver.
• Honor-Shame Dynamics – To lose a wager in public
meant deep humiliation. For the companions, threatening the bride was
about saving face.
• Nazirite Hair, not Nazirite Heart – Western readers
may focus on Samson’s hair (not yet mentioned) but overlook the wider
Nazirite call to avoid corpses and strong drink—both already broken in
this chapter.
“God Moves in a Mysterious Way” – William Cowper, 1774
Stanza 2 fits the chapter:
“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
but trust Him for His grace;
behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.”
• Read Matthew 26:49-54 to compare betrayal leading to divine
purpose.
• Explore archaeological reports from Tel Batash (identified with
Timnah) for Philistine pottery and cultic objects that frame Samson’s
world.
• Consider how Hebrews 11:32 lists Samson among the faithful—evidence
that grace, not performance, secures our place.
Lord of hidden purposes,
You bring honey from carcasses and hope from broken vows.
Guard our eyes, steady our appetites,
and let Your Spirit guide not only our strength but our motives.
Use even our stumbles to work justice and mercy,
until the true and better Deliverer, Jesus Christ,
finishes the story You have begun.
Amen.