Sweetness From the Strong

Samson began with every advantage: a promised birth, a Nazirite vow, and Yahweh's blessing. Yet chapter 14 opens with Samson insisting on a Philistine wife because she pleased him well. His parents objected. The narrator adds that his parents did not know it was of Yahweh, who sought an occasion against the Philistines. God was working even through Samson's stubborn choices, without approving them.

In the vineyards of Timnah, Yahweh's Spirit came mightily on Samson, and he tore a young lion as if it were a young goat. Returning later, he found a swarm of bees and honey in the lion's carcass and ate it. He gave some to his parents but did not tell them it came from the lion's body.

At the wedding feast, Samson posed his riddle: Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness. The thirty companions could not solve it in three days. On the seventh day they threatened to burn his wife and her father's house. She pressed him with tears, he told her, and she told them. Before sunset they answered, What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? Yahweh's Spirit came on Samson, and he struck thirty men at Ashkelon to pay the wager. His wife was then given to his companion.