This post is Day 9 in a series of studies about “Samson”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

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Samson – Day 9

It seems that the people of this town where his wife lived were the ones to choose the entourage for this wedding celebration! That is a strange thought for us. The people we invite to our own wedding would be our family and friends, not people we do not know!

Judges 14:11-13

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.”

The Thought

The more we read of this story, the stranger it becomes. It seems that the people of this town where his wife lived were the ones to choose Samson’s entourage for his wedding celebration! That is a strange thought for us. The people we invite to our own wedding would be our family and friends, not people we do not know!

It seems that if the thirty men chosen could give the answer to his riddle Samson would present them with their wedding clothes! If not, it would be them who provided his future wardrobe!

There was to be a week of celebration for this wedding, and the first few days the chosen men spent much time thinking about and discussing what the answer might be, until one of them had the bright idea of asking Samson’s future wife. (This was not Delilah who came into Samson’s life later!) These men threatened to kill her if she didn’t get the answer for them. Terrified, she pleaded with him in tears, until on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people (v17).

Action

Ask yourself today if you like riddles and puzzles. Do you spend holidays or long journeys doing puzzle books?

Think about the customs around weddings in the area where you live. Are there any strange ones?

Read Proverbs 1 today where riddles are mentioned in verse 6.

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