When the HONEYMOON Goes Up In FLAMES

The world is filled with bizarre honeymoon stories. We were so poor when we married that we actually camped at a KOA as part of our first week of marriage. We used a tent that my dad gave to us. He assured us it didn’t leak. It poured rain. My dad lied. Our honeymoon was very soggy but Samson’s actually went up in flames.

In Judges 14:11, Samson is at his own wedding feast at the home of his bride with 30 other men who are all Philistines and who were obviously invited by his new bride. Samson participates in a common form of entertainment which was making a wager on the solving of a riddle. Samson makes the deal that if these 30 Philistines solved the riddle within 7-days (the length of the wedding feast), Samson would give them 30 linen garments and 30 cloaks which would have been a very hefty wager. If they did not solve the riddle they must give Samson the same. Samson’s riddle is this…“Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” It was a description of the honey he had found in the skeleton remains of the lion that he had killed earlier on his way to Timnah (14:5-9). Samson knew this riddle could not be solved because had told no one about the lion or honey, including his own parents (14:9).

These 30 Philistine men realize their inability to discover the answer so they resort to blackmailing Samson’s new bride. They accuse her of inviting them to the wedding feast only to gain their assets through this wager and they threaten to burn her house down unless she finds out the answer for them. Samson’s wife cries before her new husband, manipulating him by saying that he does not love her since he would not tell her the answer. At first he refuses, questioning why he should tell her the answer when he didn’t even tell his own parents (Samson obviously has a lot to learn about what to say and what not to say to your wife!). However, after several more honeymoon nights of his new wife doing nothing but crying (not exactly Samson’s idea of a romantic beginning) he tells her the answer and she immediately tells the 30 Philistine men. These Philistine men then give Samson the proper answer…“What is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion?” Samson immediately realizes how they got the answer and accuses them of “plowing with his heifer” (again, not the smartest “term of endearment” for his bride).

In anger, Samson goes some 20 miles south to the Philistine city of Ashkelon and kills 30 Philistines, using their garments as the payment owed. He spends much time away and finally returns to his bride with a baby goat as a peace offering (Genesis 38:15-17). Upon returning, Samson discovers that her father thought he had left for good and had given his bride as a wife to the best man at their wedding. He instead offers his youngest daughter claiming that she is more physically attractive (he obviously knew what mattered most to Samson). In an act of revenge, Samson takes 300 foxes, making 150 pairs by tying their tails together to a torch, and sends them through the Philistine wheat fields and vineyards entirely destroying this all important crop. The Philistines retaliate by murdering Samson’s former wife and father-in-law. In a state of complete anger, Samson kills many Philistines. Gee, and all it did was rain inside my tent on my honeymoon!