Transcript

Learning is meant to be fun. I’m Shaun McMillan and this is the Best Class Ever. 

[intro music]

Today I’d like to talk about Samson’s Riddle. Samson is one of the legendary strongmen of history, right up there with Hercules or Achilles. The men who reach this legendary status are often depicted as meatheads, or played by some manly 80’s hero film weightlifter turned actor with a speech impediment like Arnold Shwartzeneger or Sylvester Stalone, you know, all brawn and no brains. But personally I like Samson because like me, he loved riddles. I think maybe he was a clever guy. But ultimately not clever enough, as I will show you in this brief moment from history.

For those of you who have learned about parables and revelations of nature from Bible Study, I think you’ll recognize a great example of how God used a parable to foreshadow the tragedy that would eventually consume Samson’s life. Listen to the story from Judges chapter 14 for yourself and see if you can recognize it. 

Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”

But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

Judges 14:1-9

Now it is important to remember that this was a time in history that was truly savage and violent. Even among the Israelites, people weren’t very spiritual back then but had to be told exactly what thou must do what thou must not do. We can easily get the impression that people were better than they were due to the holiness of Moses. But he was truly an exception for his time period as he was raised by the royal family of the greatest empire of his time. Joshua too was a great spiritual leader, but he learned from Moses. His enemies were savage, his own men were equally violent, and by the time the Judges began to rule Israel leadership was taken up by whichever strong man could stand up to their many enemies at the time.

The book of Judges immediately follows the Torah, also known as the Pentateuch, or the first 5 books of Moses. Genesis and Exodus is filled with great stories, but Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus–let’s be honest, they can get pretty boring. They are filled with genealogies, detailed procedures for rituals no one any longer performs, and very specific rules about not touching dead bodies, not eating raw meat, which animals are clean, which are not clean, not eating food that has touched a corpse, and rituals one must perform if he becomes unclean by touching anything unclean. But if you don’t read those rules you can’t really appreciate just how many of them Samson was breaking on a regular basis. He had also taken  a Nazarite vow which added even more restrictions like not going to funerals, not drinking wine, and not cutting one’s hair. That last one he didn’t break until the very end, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

For now let’s just listen to the rest of chapter 14. 

Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.

“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

He replied,

“Out of the eater, something to eat;

    out of the strong, something sweet.”

For three days they could not give the answer.

On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”

Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”

“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?

    What is stronger than a lion?”

Samson 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 powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.

Judges 14:10-20

In the Bible Study we were taught that a small tribulation often comes before a big tribulation. And if you heed God’s warning in the minor tribulation, then you can avoid the tragedy of later bigger tribulation.

So my question to you is this. 

Q: If the first part of this chapter was a revelation of nature, what tragedy was it foreshadowing in Samson’s life?

The first tribulation I’m referring to is in Judges 14:5-9. Let’s listen to it one more time. 

Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

Q: How is this a revelation of nature? Or more specifically, what aspect of Samson’s life do you think each element of nature symbolizes?

[musical pause]

First we have the dead lion. What could this possibly symbolize? If you figure this out then the rest is easier. 

Q: What archetype do lions usually symbolize? 

• Every child knows the lion is the king of the jungle. 
• Who among us didn’t love Disney’s animated film, the Lion King? 
• Why did the English empire, which stretched over the entire globe choose to depict lions in their royal crest and on every shield? 

Q: How is the lion used as a parable in the other parts of the Bible? 

• The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is one of the most pervasive visual metaphors in the Bible. 
• Jacob, the father of the Israel’s 12 patriarchs, described his most regal son Judah as a lion who would rule fearlessly over his brothers. 
• All the great kings, and Jesus himself descended from the line of Judah.

The lion in Samson’s story also refers to the current ruling authority. Especially when seen as the dead lion. The Philistines, like all of Israel’s enemies, were polytheistic, believing in the gods Baal, Astarte, and Dagon. So spiritually speaking, from God’s point of view, the Philistines were a spiritually dead ruling authority. 

Q: So if the dead lion represents the Philistines, what did the honey symbolize? 

[musical pause]

Need some help? Let’s look at the contextual clues.

• The honey was taken from out of the dead lion’s corpse. 
• Eating food that has touched a dead corpse is strictly forbidden by the laws of Moses. 
• Touching this food, or the corpse would make one unclean.
• Unlike today when sweets and processed foods are abundantly available, honey was rare, precious, delicious, and beautifully shiny and golden. 
• Samson not only ate this forbidden food himself, but also took it home to share with his parents, without regard for how religiously unclean it was. 

Need yet another clue?

If we look at the allegorical aspects of Adam & Eve’s story, we can see a parallel between that story and this one in the forbidden fruit. Both stories have a beautiful delicious delicacy strictly forbidden by God to eat.

If you still have not guessed, I will give you one more clue. What weakness did the first man in the Bible [Adam], the strongest man in the Bible [Samson], the most valiant man in the Bible [David], and the wisest man in the Bible [Solomon], all have in common?

They each had a weakness for the opposite sex. Adam was tempted by Eve, Samson had a weakness for Philistine women, David committed adultery and even murdered over his love for Bathsheba, and Solomon split the kingdom as a result of having married so many foreign women. 

Marrying outside of your faith is strictly forbidden by every religion. Are you stronger than Samson, wiser than Solomon, or more successful than David? If not then I would not think myself above making their same mistakes. 

Conclusion

There is much more to Samson’s story, which you can read for yourself in the book of Judges. He went on to face many more tribulations, but unfortunately he never overcame his weakness. It eventually ended in tragedy when he was betrayed first by his own countrymen– tribe of Judah, then by his parents-in-law, and by his second and now infamous Philistine lover, Delilah. But ultimately he betrayed himself by not obeying God’s laws, and not heeding the warnings God tried to show him through one tribulation after another. 

Next Week

That’s it for today’s class. If you thought today’s lesson was fun then you definitely want to join next time when I introduce my favorite designer board games and card games. And please let me know, what is your group’s favorite card game and why? You can leave a response in the comments or visit my website.
For more details about today’s topic, for access to the notes, or to learn something interesting, feel free to visit me at www.BestClassEver.org.