How do the wedding companions get the answer to Samson’s riddle?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

They threaten to burn his wife and her father’s house unless she persuades him to explain it. After her repeated weeping, he explains on the seventh day, and she immediately tells her countrymen.

Chapter breakdown

Samson goes to Thamnatha, sees a Philistine woman and asks his father and mother to take her for his wife. They ask whether no woman among his brethren’s daughters or their own people will do, instead of a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines. He tells his father to take her because she has pleased his eyes. Challoner separately says his parents first opposed a Gentile marriage prohibited under Deuteronomy 7:3, then consented knowing it was by God’s dispensation; otherwise acting against the law would have been sinful. Scripture says his parents did not know the thing was done by the Lord and that he sought an occasion against the Philistines, who then ruled Israel.

Samson travels with his father and mother to Thamnatha. At the town’s vineyards a young lion meets him, raging and roaring. The Lord’s spirit comes upon him, and he tears it like a kid, holding nothing in his hand; he does not tell his parents. He goes and speaks to the woman who pleased his eyes. Some days later, returning to take her, he turns aside to see the carcass and finds bees and a honeycomb in its mouth. He takes the honey in his hands and eats while walking, then gives some to his parents, who eat. He does not tell them it came from the lion’s body.

His father goes to the woman and makes a feast for Samson, as young men used to do. The local citizens see him and bring thirty companions to be with him. Samson offers a riddle: if they explain within the feast’s seven days he will give thirty shirts and thirty coats; if they cannot, they must give him the same numbers. They ask to hear it. His riddle says food comes from the eater and sweetness from the strong. For three days they cannot explain it.

On the seventh day they tell Samson’s wife to soothe and persuade him to explain the riddle, or they will burn her and her father’s house. They ask whether they were invited to be stripped of their goods. She weeps before him, saying he hates rather than loves her because he will not explain the riddle proposed to her people. He replies that he has not told his father and mother, so how can he tell her? She weeps through the feast’s seven days; on the seventh, because she is troublesome to him, he explains. She immediately tells her countrymen. Before sunset that day they ask him what is sweeter than honey and stronger than a lion. He replies that without ploughing with his heifer they would not have found his riddle.

The Lord’s spirit comes upon Samson. He goes to Ascalon, kills thirty men, takes their garments and gives them to those who explained the riddle. Exceedingly angry, he returns to his father’s house. His wife takes one of his friends and bridal companions as husband.

The story inside

Samson’s request for a Philistine wife receives his parents’ objection and his answer about her pleasing his eyes. The account credits the Lord with seeking an occasion against the ruling Philistines, while the marriage note separately explains an initial objection and later consent. The lion he kills and the honey he later finds remain undisclosed to his parents. At the feast the riddle and its two-sided wager are followed by inability to answer, a threat to his wife and her repeated weeping. His explanation reaches her countrymen before their answer and his heifer reply. He obtains garments through killing thirty at Ascalon, pays those who explained and returns angry to his father’s house; his wife takes a bridal companion as husband.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The marriage note and Scripture wording remain distinguishable. Challoner explains initial resistance and later consent under dispensation, while verse 4 says the parents did not know the Lord’s purpose. The repair retains both rather than supplying an unrecorded moment of understanding.
2
The riddle depends on events Samson has not told his parents. The account records the killed lion, honey in its mouth and his sharing of it while withholding its source. The feast then gives the stated riddle and both outcomes of the wager.
3
The answer reaches the companions through a stated sequence. Their threat, the wife’s complaint and weeping, his seventh-day explanation and her immediate disclosure precede the answer before sunset. His anger and garment payment are recorded next without an invented legal justification.

Test your recall

What threat do the companions make, how does Samson’s wife obtain the explanation, and how does he supply the garments after they answer?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 26763–26790
Judges Chapter 14 Samson desireth a wife of the Philistines. He killeth a lion: in whose mouth he afterwards findeth honey. His marriage feast, and riddle, which is discovered by his wife. He killeth, and strippeth thirty Philistines. His wife taketh another man. 14:1. Then Samson went down to Thamnatha, and seeing there a woman of the daughters of the Philistines, 14:2. He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying: I saw a woman in Thamnatha of the daughters of the Philistines: I beseech you, take her for me to wife. 14:3. And his father and mother said to him: Is there no woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou wilt take a wife of the Philistines, who are uncircumcised? And Samson said to his father: Take this woman for me; for she hath pleased my eyes. Is there no woman among the daughters of thy brethren.... This shews his parents were at first against his marriage with a Gentile, it being prohibited, Deut. 7.3; but afterwards they consented, knowing it to be by the dispensation of God; which otherwise would have been sinful in acting contrary to the law. 14:4. Now his parents knew not that the thing was done by the Lord, and that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
Lines 26792–26810
14:5. Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Thamnatha. And when they were come to the vineyards of the town, behold a young lion met him, raging and roaring. 14:6. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion as he would have torn a kid in pieces, having nothing at all in his hand: and he would not tell this to his father and mother. 14:7. And he went down, and spoke to the woman that had pleased his eyes. 14:8. And after some days, returning to take her, he went aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold there was a swarm of bees in the mouth of the lion, and a honey-comb. 14:9. And when he had taken it in his hands, he went on eating: and coming to his father and mother, he gave them of it, and they ate: but he would not tell them that he had taken the honey from the body of the lion.
Lines 26812–26828
14:10. So his father went down to the woman, and made a feast for his son Samson: for so the young men used to do. 14:11. And when the citizens of that place saw him, they brought him thirty companions to be with him. 14:12. And Samson said to them: I will propose to you a riddle, which if you declare unto me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty shirts, and as many coats: 14:13. But if you shall not be able to declare it, you shall give me thirty shirts and the same number of coats. They answered him: Put forth the riddle, that we may hear it. 14:14. And he said to them: Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not for three days expound the riddle.
Lines 26830–26849
14:15. And when the seventh day came, they said to the wife of Samson: Sooth thy husband, and persuade him to tell thee what the riddle meaneth. But if thou wilt not do it, we will burn thee, and thy father’s house. Have you called us to the wedding on purpose to strip us? 14:16. So she wept before Samson and complained, saying: Thou hatest me, and dost not love me: therefore thou wilt not expound to me the riddle, which thou hast proposed to the sons of my people. But he answered: I would not tell it to my father and mother: and how can I tell it to thee? 14:17. So she wept before him the seven days of the feast: and, at length, on the seventh day, as she was troublesome to him, he expounded it. And she immediately told her countrymen. 14:18. And they, on the seventh day before the sun went down, said to him: What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you had not found out my riddle.
Lines 26851–26859
14:19. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon, and slew there thirty men whose garments he took away, and gave to them that had declared the riddle. And being exceeding angry, he went up to his father’s house: 14:20. But his wife took one of his friends and bridal companions for her husband.