250px, '' The Wedding Feast of Samson'', Rembrandt, 1638 Samson's riddle is found in the biblical

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...

, where it is incorporated into a larger narrative about

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution ...

, the last of the

judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a memb ...

of the ancient

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

. The

riddle A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requi ...

, with which Samson challenges his thirty wedding guests, is as follows: "Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet." The solution is apparently impossible to discern through deduction alone, since it is based on a private experience of Samson's, who had previously killed a young male lion and found

honeybee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cos ...

s and honey in its corpse. However, the wedding guests extort the answer from Samson's wife; having lost the wager, Samson is required to give his guests thirty good suits, which he acquires by killing thirty men. Modern scholars have suggested that the riddle originally existed independently of its present biblical context, and have made conjectures about other possible solutions. Aspects of the surrounding narrative have also been interpreted in various ways, with parallels being drawn to Greek myths of lion-killing heroes, and to the ancient belief that living creatures could spontaneously emerge from dead flesh.

Biblical narrative

210px, ''Samson Slaying the Lion'', Doré The story of Samson's riddle comprises

chapter 14 Chapter 14 is an American post-hardcore/alternative rock band from Carlsbad, California, consisting of vocalist Chad Ackerman (Destroy the Runner, As I Lay Dying, Austrian Death Machine), guitarist Tanner Sparks (Destroy the Runner), bassist E ...

of the

. It begins when Samson encounters a

Philistine The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek ( LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...

woman in the city of

Timnah Timnath or Timnah was a Philistine city in Canaan that is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in and in connection with Samson. Modern archaeologists identify the ancient site with a tell lying on a flat, alluvial plain, located in the Sorek Valley c ...

and decides to marry her, against the objections of his parents. While travelling to Timnah to meet with the woman, Samson is attacked by a young lion. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and he tears the lion apart with his bare hands. Some time later, Samson returns to Timnah to take the Philistine woman in marriage. On the way, he passes the spot where he had killed the lion, and finds that a swarm of bees have created a hive inside the carcass. Samson gathers some honey from the hive for himself and his parents, but he does not tell his parents about the lion. At the wedding feast, Samson proposes the following riddle to his Philistine guests: Samson wagers that the Philistines will be unable to guess the solution to the riddle within seven days (the duration of the feast); the stakes of the wager are thirty linen garments and thirty outfits of clothes. The Philistines compel Samson's new wife to discover the solution for them, threatening to burn her and her father's house if she fails. She accordingly pleads with Samson to tell her the answer to the riddle, and on the seventh day Samson capitulates. Samson's wife passes the solution on to the wedding guests, who repeat it to Samson before sunset on the seventh day, saying: "What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?" (NKJV). Bible Gateway. Samson replies: "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle." The Spirit of the Lord comes upon Samson once more, and he goes to

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border ...

and kills thirty Philistines, taking their clothes to pay off the debt owed to his wedding guests. Then, angered by his wife's betrayal, Samson returns to his own family, and the woman is given instead to one of the guests. This incident sets in motion a series of violent conflicts between Samson and the Philistines, as described in subsequent chapters.

Interpretation

There are several difficulties in the text, especially concerning Samson's parents' involvement in the phases preceding the wedding, and concerning chronological aspects in the description of the feast and the riddle. Traditional exegesis tends to harmonize the difficulties, but in critical exegesis, these difficulties are usually treated by assuming that the text has undergone several editorial phases. Some scholars, such as Othniel Margalith, think that the Samson cycle in general, and Samson's riddle and its surrounding narrative in particular, were largely influenced by Philistine culture, which is generally thought to be related to

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

culture by way of the Mycenaeans. Accordingly, some scholars treat the narrative, or certain motifs in it, in light of parallel stories of

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

and folklore.

Tearing of the lion

Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 079

The tearing of the lion can be treated as a legendary description meant to exalt Samson as a superhuman hero, like other descriptions in the Samson cycle that demonstrate his prodigious physical strength. The motif of a hero defeating a lion is widespread in world folklore, and appears in other places in the Hebrew Bible; similar stories are told of

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

(1 Samuel 17:36) and of

Benaiah Benaiah ( he, בניה, "Yahweh builds up") is a common name in the Hebrew Bible. Etymology In the etymology of the name, the first part of Benaiah comes from the root-verb בנה (bana), which is a common Hebrew verb meaning "to build". The se ...

(2 Samuel 23:20). According to

Paul Carus Paul Carus (; 18 July 1852 – 11 February 1919) was a German-American author, editor, a student of comparative religion

, the lion is a mythical symbol of the heat of the sun, and Samson represents the

solar deity A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. T ...

who can "kill the lion", that is, diminish the heat of the sun. Carus' conjecture is rooted in an old scholarly approach, not accepted in current research, which considers Samson a mythological "solar hero" – that is, a god or a demigod related to the sun – and interprets the stories about him from this point of view. Othniel Margalith points out the fact that in other occurrences of the motif of the defeating of a lion in the Bible, and in the

ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran (Ela ...

in general, the hero hunts the lion and does not kill him bare-handed as in the Samson story. On the other hand, this detail of killing the lion bare-handed is widespread in Greek sources. This indicates, according to Margalith, the Mycenaean background of the biblical story. Margalith compares the story about Samson tearing the lion to the story about

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adopt ...

killing the Nemean lion bare-handed; and to other heroes of Greek mythology, who like Samson kill a lion bare-handed on their way to obtain a wife. In 2012, archaeologists excavating Tel Beit Shemesh in the Judaean Hills near

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

discovered an ancient stone seal that may depict the story of Samson's fight with a lion. The seal, measuring 1.5 centimeters in diameter, shows a large animal with a feline tail attacking a human figure with what appears to be long hair. It has been dated to roughly the 11th century BCE, a period many scholars consider to be the time of the Biblical judges. The seal was unearthed near the river Sorek, which marked the boundary between the Israelites and their Philistine foes, indicating that the figure on the seal could potentially represent Samson or could evidence the origin story of Samson's fight with the lion.

Honey in the lion's carcass

Samson's discovery of a beehive in the lion's carcass is difficult to explain in realistic terms, as bees would normally avoid putrifying flesh. It is sometimes suggested that the word usually translated "carcass" should actually read "skeleton", or that the insects found by Samson were in fact carrion flies, but neither explanation gives a satisfactory reading. The incident is more often considered to be a miraculous occurrence,For example, by . or to be inspired by the ancient belief in

spontaneous generation Spontaneous generation is a superseded scientific theory that held that living creatures could arise from nonliving matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular. It was hypothesized that certain forms, such as fleas, could arise f ...

, the emergence of living creatures from nonliving matter. Numerous Greek and Roman literary sources describe a ritual known as

bugonia In the ancient Mediterranean region, bugonia or bougonia was a ritual based on the belief that bees were spontaneously (equivocally) generated from a cow's carcass, although it is possible that the ritual had more currency as a poetic and learne ...

, which was said to be a way of producing bees from the carcass of an ox, and this may have been the basis of the Samson narrative.

The riddle

Samson's riddle – the only explicit example of a riddle in the Hebrew Bible – has been described as an unfair one, as it is apparently impossible to guess the answer without knowledge of Samson's encounter with the lion, which he had kept a secret from everyone. Many commentators have therefore attempted to prove that the riddle is capable of other solutions. In the early 20th century, Hermann Stahn, followed by

G. A. Cooke George Albert Cooke (26 November 18659 September 1939) was a British Anglican clergyman and academic. He held two senior chairs at the University of Oxford: Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture from 1908 to 1914, and Regius Pro ...

, observed that bees in Palestine produce their honey during the months of May and June, when the sun is in the sign of

Leo Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts an ...

, a fact which Samson's guests ought to have known. Hans Bauer suggested that the riddle was a play on words, positing that the original text of the story made use of an Arabic word for "honey" which, in Hebrew, would be identical to the word for "lion". According to this theory, the riddle was etymological, with the solution being: "the word 'honey' was derived from the word 'lion. However, later scholars have been unable to confirm the existence of the Arabic word in question.

James L. Crenshaw James L. Crenshaw is the Robert L. Flowers Professor of the Old Testament at Duke University Divinity School. He is one of the world’s leading scholars in Old Testament Wisdom literature. He proposes that much of Book of Proverbs, Proverbs was ...

has argued that possible solutions to the riddle include "vomit" and "semen", which would both connect with the circumstances of the wedding feast. In support of the "semen" interpretation, Crenshaw cites several other passages in biblical writing in which eating and drinking are used as metaphors for sexual intercourse. Other potential solutions suggested by modern scholarship include "venom", "love", "death" and "knowledge". One Christian interpretation holds that the riddle discloses "the entire divine logic governing Samson's life". Samson's strength, throughout his story, is employed towards violent ends, but "something sweet" ultimately emerges from his actions; that is, the destruction of the enemies of Israel.

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