Judges — Chapter 14

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1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.

2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.

3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.

4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.

6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.

8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.

9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.

10 So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.

11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

12 And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments:

13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it.

14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so?

16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee?

17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.

19 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

Abrahamic Catechism

Bible Study

Judges — Chapter 14

◈ Zohar

• Samson desiring a Philistine wife of Timnah is stated by the text to be "of the Lord" — God seeking an occasion against the Philistines. The Zohar (II, 108b) teaches that the Tzaddik who enters the domain of the Klipot with divine mandate carries a different spiritual dynamic than one who enters through sin. Samson's marriage is an infiltration mission: he enters the Klipah's territory to create a crack from within.

• The lion that attacks Samson on the road and the Spirit of the Lord that empowers him to tear it apart reveals Samson's Sefirotic channel: raw Gevurah. The Zohar (III, 78b) identifies the lion as the symbol of the Klipah of Gevurah — fierce, predatory, operating through violence. Samson defeats Gevurah's dark manifestation with Gevurah's holy manifestation. He is the divine warrior of pure strength.

• The honey found in the lion's carcass — sweetness from the strong — is the Zoharic principle of extracting holy sparks from defeated Klipot. The Zohar (I, 121b) teaches that when a Klipah is destroyed, the holy spark trapped within it is released. The bees producing honey in the dead lion's body are the agents of sweetness (Chesed) working within the remains of shattered judgment (Gevurah). The spark has been freed.

• The riddle — "Out of the eater came forth food; out of the strong came forth sweetness" — encodes the mystery of Klipot-transformation in a form the Philistines cannot decode. The Zohar (II, 163a) teaches that the mysteries of spiritual warfare are transmitted through riddles and parables because direct speech about the Sitra Achra empowers it. The riddle is a weapon disguised as entertainment.

• The Philistines solving the riddle through Samson's wife — "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" — demonstrates the Sitra Achra's primary intelligence-gathering method: exploiting intimacy. The Zohar (I, 57a) warns that the Klipot cannot decode holy mysteries through their own power; they require a human agent within the Tzaddik's inner circle. Samson's vulnerability is his openness in love — a gap the Klipot will exploit again.

✦ Talmud

• Sotah 9b teaches that Samson's desire for the Philistine woman of Timnah was divinely guided — "it was from the Lord, for He sought an occasion against the Philistines" — and the Talmud discusses the paradox of a righteous desire expressed through an apparently sinful attraction. The sages distinguish between Samson's initial marriages (divinely sanctioned as strategic operations) and his later relationship with Delilah (personal weakness).

• Sanhedrin 14a discusses Samson's killing of the lion at Timnah and the honey he later found in its carcass, noting that the Talmud reads the lion as representing the Sitra Achra's power, which yields sweetness when defeated. The sages connect the riddle — "Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet" — to the principle that evil, once overcome, can be transformed into a source of good.

• Sotah 10a records that the Spirit of the Lord first "began to move" Samson (Judges 13:25) and then empowered him to tear the lion apart. The Talmud discusses the progression from initial stirring to full empowerment, teaching that divine power grows in a person through successive encounters. Samson's strength was not a static gift but a dynamic relationship that required continued faithfulness.

• Berakhot 54b discusses the riddle and the Philistines' use of Samson's wife to extract the answer, and the Talmud reads this as the first instance of a pattern that would define Samson's career: the enemy uses intimate relationships to penetrate the deliverer's defenses. The sages teach that Samson's vulnerability through women was the specific channel the Sitra Achra exploited against him.

• Megillah 14a notes that Samson killed thirty Philistines at Ashkelon to pay the wager for his riddle, and the Talmud discusses whether this killing was justified as part of the divine mission. The sages conclude that the Spirit of the Lord directed the action, making it an act of war rather than murder. The passage establishes that Samson's violence was always channeled through prophetic impulse, not personal rage.

STFN

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