The weeklong celebration began with the wedding guests whom the bride’s family
invited. At the feast, Samson sought to impress those guests. He issued a
challenge to them. Samson proposed that they solve a riddle which he would give
them. And to the one who could solve his riddle, he promised to give thirty
changes of garments including the underwear. However, if in seven days
they could not solve his riddle, they must give him similar changes of garments
in return. It appears that the guest did not think very highly of Samson. For
without hesitation they accepted his challenge. Samson then issued the riddle
based on what he had experienced while coming to arrange the marriage. He
reckoned that none would be able to solve the riddle for till now he had not
told a single person about his feat of killing the young lion. Neither did he
tell anyone that he had eaten the honey from the carcass of the lion. He
was so cocksure that none of the guests would be able to guess the riddle. So,
he said:
“Out of the eater came something to
eat,
And out of the strong came something sweet.”
By
the middle of the week, they still could not figure out the answer to Samson’s
riddle. Thus, they approached his bride on the fourth day and threatened to
burn her and her parents’ house if she did not help them to find the answer
from Samson by the deadline. They were bent on winning the challenge. They were
not willing to lose to Samson and ended up giving in to his demands. So
they pressured his wife. Thus she came to Samson with tears and accused
him of not truly loving her. In fact, she accused him of hating her and not
trusting her with the secret to the riddle which he challenged the guests to
solve. Samson’s initial response was why should he tell her the answer when he
had kept it from his parents. In his mind, he reasoned thus: why should he tell
her when he had hardly known her and he had not told even his parents whom he
had known all his life? But his wife was not ready to give up so easily. She
continued to plead with him and soon his persistence wore thin and he caved in to her pressure. And on the seventh day, he revealed the answer to her. And she
quickly relayed it to the wedding guests.
Before sunset on the seventh day of the challenge,
the guests came and answered his riddle with two questions. They asked him, “What is sweeter than honey? And what is
stronger than a lion?” Straightaway, Samson knew that his wife had given them
the answer. He stormed out of the place saying that “If you had not ploughed with
my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.” Proverbs 16:18 reminds us
that, “Pride goes before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before stumbling.” It will do us well to remember this.
Samson was too careless and he allowed arrogance and pride to mark his life. As
a result, he had to pay dearly. We must guard our life at all times. For one
unguarded moment can affect our life adversely. So, we must be watchful and circumspect
in our conduct!
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