Judges 14

The wedding feast was a grand affair lasting seven days. Samson was given thirty companions,⁶⁶ presumably by the bride’s family. The purpose of giving the bridegroom so many companions is unclear; but at least they added to the general entertainment by attempting to solve Samson’s riddle!

12–13 Samson made a bargain with his thirty companions: if they solved the riddle within seven days he’d give them thirty sets of clothes; if they didn’t, they’d have to give him thirty sets of clothes.

14 The solution to the riddle, of course, was “lion” and “honey.” Without knowing that Samson had gotten honey from the carcass of a lion, the riddle was virtually impossible to solve!

15–17 By the fourth day, Samson’s thirty “companions” had become angry; not only was Samson making sport of them but he was also “robbing” them of thirty sets of clothes. They threatened to kill Samson’s wife and her family if she didn’t find out the answer to the riddle and tell them.

Samson’s wife used one of womanhood’s greatest weapons: tears. She cried the whole seven days, and Samson finally gave in (verse 17). He told her the riddle’s answer, and she in turn told his thirty companions.

18–20 When the companions gave the correct answer, Samson was justifiably angry; he knew at once how they had found out-through his wife. He said they had plowed with [his] heifer (verse 18)that is, they had teamed up with his wife unfairly.

To keep his side of the bargain, Samson went out and, empowered by the Spirit, stripped thirty Philistines of their clothes, which he then gave to the thirty men who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger he then left his wife and went to his own home. The girl’s father, not wanting to leave his daughter abandoned and disgraced, gave her to Samson’s friend—presumably his “best man” at the wedding (verse 20).