Judges 14:12–19

Samson proposed a riddle to the thirty young men. If they solved it, he would give them thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. If they did not solve it, they must give the same to him. This was a foolish proposal, for what would he — one man — do with the clothes for thirty men? Still, the men accepted the wager.

He went down to marry one woman, he finds he has thirty Philistines as companions. What kind of companions are these for a man who is to be the bitter enemy of these people? He is linked with one, and that one has grown to thirty. There he is with a whole company of Philistines in his house, and he associated with them.

You take but one, you are just going to marry one Philistine, and find your house is full. You have got thirty, and they are companions for you, they are your friends. They are your spiritual companions. You cannot take up one unscriptural principle on its own. A whole host of others, just as unscriptural, follow with it.

Samson's victory over the lion at Timnah was not only a proof of strength. It was a secret between him and God… Even his life as a Nazarite, set apart to God, was a secret. It was a link between his own soul and Jehovah, and no one else knew of it. This link is for us communion. We meet with four secrets in this chapter. Samson had not told his parents what he meant to do, nor the part Jehovah had in these things (v. 4). He had not told them of his victory (v. 6), nor where he got the honey (v. 9), nor his riddle (v. 16). He kept all that unbroken between his soul and God. For him that was the only way to follow a path of blessing in the middle of this world.

At once the riddle is proposed. Riddles were common enough in those days, as a test of wisdom. And we have to remember that wisdom in Scripture is not simply what the world counts wisdom, but what is wisdom before God… But if they can solve it, then each one shall have a change of garments. For anyone who can see into the secrets of a life lived with God must have his "habits" changed to match it. They could not see into it. By dishonest dealing with the Philistine wife they learned it, and they were repaid with Philistine garments from Ashkelon.

Satan is the eater, the lion. "Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." The conquered lion became the source of food. In the same way, when we were captives of Satan and in his power, our blessed Lord came down and overthrew him. So Satan's mastery over us gave the very occasion for Christ to overthrow him. That occasion becomes the means of our spiritual food, the richest food of heaven, honey out of the carcass. Surely from the cross of Christ all sweetness and all food has come.

The Philistines who came to the wedding feast were only outwardly attached to Samson. They did not taste the honey from the lion's carcass, and the whole matter was nothing more than a riddle to them. These Philistines stand for people who have accepted the form of Christianity without its power. To all such, the truth of God is only so many doctrines to be discussed and riddles to be solved. For "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

Satan is the eater, the lion. "Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." The conquered lion became the source of food. In the same way, when we were captives of Satan and in his power, our blessed Lord came down and overthrew him. "Through death He destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil." So Satan's mastery over us gave Christ the occasion to overthrow him. That occasion becomes the means of our spiritual food, the richest food heaven has — honey out of the carcass. Surely from the cross of Christ all sweetness and all food has come.

In that image we see the enemy in great power, but God infinitely above him. He is able to use the least worthy vessel of His power, and He sees fit to do it. Out of the slain enemy He provides the sweetest refreshment. How triumphantly Christ our Lord has done this — but in how different a way! Absolutely pure Himself, He was made sin for us, so that we might become God's righteousness in Him. Out of that defeat He gave us our unfailing comfort. What a bright contrast between Samson and the Man who overthrew Satan on that cross! There He Himself reached the very lowest point of weakness. For He won by no outward strength but by suffering. He was crucified in weakness, but rose in the power of God.

God's mightier power has met and subdued the power that was against us. Out of that defeated power there always comes sweetness and refreshment for the people of God. This happens because life has come in where death was, and order has risen out of the grip of corruption... The same is true, in measure, in every defeat of the enemy where the Spirit of God works in the living energy of the saint of God. The battlefield becomes a banquet hall. The table is spread not only "in the presence of our enemies," but out of what they themselves supplied.

The riddle, in its spiritual meaning, is a true test of wisdom as God counts it, and no one should imagine that a Philistine can explain it. Samson has no such thought. But if they can do it, each of them will get a change of clothing. Anyone who can see into the secrets of a life with God must have his habits changed to match. They could not see into it. They learn it by dishonest work on the Philistine wife.

My comfort is, "You, Lord, are above it and behind it." So I can give thanks for it as one of the "all things." With a broken heart and a subdued will, I have given thanks for sorrows that cut deep into my own soul. I do not say this lightly, but as before God. You know I could not have lived through this and that. Your grace let me receive it from Your hand, and find that out of the eater came something to eat.

Honey is sweetness, and the land of Canaan is called a land flowing with milk and honey. Honey in Canaan is good... But honey in the land of the Philistines surely suggests something. "Have you found honey? Eat only enough for you." As far as God is concerned, the question of eating honey was settled with the sacrifices, where He forbade it. It stands for natural sweetness and natural attractiveness. Sweet things of a heavenly kind are, of course, the right food in a heavenly place. But to feed nature, and to enjoy the sweets of nature on enemy ground, I think is something else. Satan as a lion is put to flight and destroyed. But out of a carcass that seems able to do no harm comes that subtle honey which will draw the soul away from God.

The person who wants to tell the secret, and yet does not want to, will find that the secret comes out. Think of the person who plays with the enemies of God. He is not quite ready to open his heart to them, but he still hints at ways they might get into the secret of his spiritual life. He will find that the very principle he has taken as the partner of his life is the one that betrays him into giving up the secret he guards so jealously. That is what Samson finds. His wife's friends threaten her that they will burn her house with fire if she does not get the secret out of him somehow. Fine company for a Nazarite to keep. So, in fear of that threat, she spends what should be a very happy time in tears. She knows well that her companions are cruel enough to carry out what they say.

He put his riddle to the Philistines, rightly supposing they would understand nothing about it. Indeed, if it had not been for the feast, he would not have been in danger of betraying himself. But the enemy succeeded in robbing him of what he had so carefully hidden. The world has a subtle, damaging effect on us. It leads to the loss of our communion with God. … But did this man of God have much peace and joy during the days of the feast? On the contrary, it was a struggle with tears, worry and pressure. … Samson would never have thought that his thirty companions, helped by his wife, would set traps to plunder him. The thirty changes of clothes belonged to him by right.

A marriage attempted in such circumstances must end as it does here: she puts the Philistine cause above her own husband. Her devotion to him dissolves in fear of her own people. They threaten her with ruin unless she betrays him. If she had clung to him in true devotion, as she should have, he would certainly have saved her from the disaster she dreaded. But failing to do this, she betrays and compromises the one she should have suffered for.

They take their revenge, not on Samson, but on the woman who had betrayed him. They burn her and her father's house with fire. That was the very fate she had feared, and the threat of it had made her act unfaithfully to Samson. This teaches us that whatever we try to escape through unbelief and unrighteousness is sure to be our eventual doom. We may escape it for a moment, but our escape is, after all, the sure road to it.

He rescued failing Samson from the direct consequences of his sinful association, but He dealt out justice for treachery at the hands of their own people. … We can all understand righteousness where the ground is clearly approved by God. But is it not also strengthening to find that God knows how to give effect to His principles, even where everything was dark and faulty?

God brings about His ways not only by means of things He approves. He also makes everything work toward the result He wants — our very faults, His discipline, the opposition of Satan and of the world. Our unfaithfulness does not disturb the ways of God.

The victory of Samson over the lion of Timnath was not only a proof of strength; it was a secret between him and God. When his eyes were drawn to the Philistine woman, he told his parents about her. About his victory he told no one. Samson's life was full of secrets and at the same time full of acts of power. Even his Nazarite vow was a secret — a link between his own soul and the LORD that no one knew about. For us, that link is communion. We meet four secrets in this chapter. Samson had not told his parents what he planned, or the part the LORD had in these things (v. 4). He had not told them of his victory (v. 6), or where he got the honey (v. 9), or his riddle (v. 16). Keeping all of it unbroken between his soul and God was his only way to walk a path of blessing in the world.

So we cannot claim the secret of the Lord, the close relationship of God's people to Him, and the feelings it produces. The secret and the strength of the Lord belong to His redeemed people alone. How could Samson tell this to his Philistine wife? What weight would the special privileges of God's people carry with someone outside their number? And how can we speak of such privileges while we disown them by the very relationship we stand in? We disown them by handing over this secret. We then stop being separated and consecrated to God, and stop trusting Him as we can trust no one else.

To answer a riddle like this the men would have to read Samson's mind. Samson gave them the seven days of the feast to find the answer. On the seventh day they threatened his wife with death if she would not get the answer for them (v. 15). She did not tell Samson about the threat, as a wife ought to have done. Instead she wept and begged him for the answer to the riddle. When Samson gave in, she passed the answer to the Philistines. How clear a proof was this that her heart was not with her husband but with her native people.

Samson wants to tell his secret. Notice this: the man who wants to tell a secret, and yet does not want to, will find that it comes out. Think of the person who plays with the enemies of God. He is not quite ready to open his heart to them, yet he hints at ways they might get into the secret of his spiritual life. He will find that the very thing he took as the partner of his life is what betrays him, drawing out of him the secret he has guarded so closely.

If our hearts cling in any way to what the world offers, as Samson's did, it will not be long before we lose our communion with God. Losing communion does not mean losing strength at once. It is, however, the road that leads there… But did this man of God have much peace and joy during the days of the feast? Far from it: it was a struggle with tears, care and pressure (v. 17). The very woman he had chosen betrayed him.

Samson met his end because he told his secret. Right here at the beginning, his telling of it warns of what the end may be. He tells one secret here, and in the end he has to tell the deeper one: the secret of his whole separation to God, the secret of whatever testimony and power he has.

Samson's victory over the lion of Timnath was not only a proof of strength; it was a secret between him and God. When his eyes were drawn to the daughter of the Philistines, he told his parents about it; about his victory he told no one. Samson's life was full of secrets and at the same time full of acts of power. Even his Nazirite calling was a secret, a link between his own soul and the Lord that nobody knew about. This link is, for us, communion.

Before his marriage Samson had killed the lion and had found honey in its carcass. He had strength from God while he walked in his integrity. This is the "riddle," the secret of God's people. The lion has no strength against one who belongs to Christ. Christ has destroyed the strength of the one who had the power of death. By the might of the Spirit of Christ our warfare is victory, and honey flows from it. But this is carried on in the secret of communion with the Lord.

We cannot appeal to the secret of the Lord — the close relationship of God's people to Himself, and the feelings it produces. The secret and the strength of the Lord belong to His redeemed people alone. They are their right and their strength. How could this be told to his Philistine wife? What effect would privileges that belong only to God's people have on someone outside? How can we speak of these privileges when we disown them by the very relationship we are standing in? We disown them by handing over this secret. Then we stop being separated and consecrated to God. This experience should have kept Samson from taking a similar step later. But in many ways experience is useless in the things of God, because we need faith at the moment; it is God Himself whom we need.

But did this man of God have much peace and joy during the days of the feast? On the contrary, it was a struggle with tears, worry and pressure (v. 17). It is hard to imagine that mixing with the world would produce such bad results, but it does.

She did not tell Samson about the threat, though a wife surely ought to have. She wept as she urged him to tell her the answer to the riddle. When Samson gave in, she told the Philistines the answer. What a clear proof this was that her heart was not with her husband but with her own people.

Samson met his end because he told his secret. Right here at the beginning, his telling of a secret warns of how it may end. He tells this secret now. In the end he has to tell the deeper secret of his whole separation to God — the secret of any testimony and power he may have.

If she had only clung to him in true devotion, as she should have, he would surely have saved her from the disaster she dreaded. Instead she betrays and compromises the one she should have suffered for. Samson is betrayed by the one he trusted most, where he would least expect treachery. But the Lord turns it into blessing, and the intended union is broken off. He must give it up to pay the penalty he had brought on himself by revealing his secret to the Philistine.

To answer a riddle like this the men would have to be able to read Samson's mind... Of course no one would think of honey coming from a lion, and they knew nothing of a dead lion with honey in its carcass.

In its spiritual meaning, the riddle is a true test of wisdom before God, and no one should imagine that a Philistine can explain it. Samson does not expect them to. But if they can do it, each of them will get a change of garments. Anyone who can see into the secrets of a life with God must have his "habits" changed to match. They could not see into it. They learned it by dishonest dealing with the Philistine wife.

It is insulting to his wife that he calls her a heifer. But what did he expect after telling the answer to his wife, who was a Philistine?

He tells the riddle to his wife. She, of course, tells it to her companions and Samson's. Then they give him the answer. He sees the treachery and says, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." Ah, if he had only turned it round: "If I had not plowed with your heifer." But he blames them, you see. He blames them for an alliance he had formed himself, and that alliance is how his secret reached them.

The life of Samson abounded with secrets and at the same time with acts of power. Even his Nazariteship was a secret, a link, unknown to any, between his own soul and Jehovah. This link is for us communion... He kept all that unbroken between his soul and God. That was the only way for him to walk a path of blessing while living in this world.

But the enemy managed to rob him of what he had hidden so carefully. The world works on us in a quiet, creeping way, and that leads to the loss of our communion with God. If our hearts cling in any way to what the world offers us, as Samson's did, we will soon lose our communion... But did this man of God have much peace and joy during the days of the feast? On the contrary, it was a struggle with tears, care and pressure (v. 17).

Samson met his end because he told his secret. Right at the start, this telling of a secret warns how it may end. Here Samson tells the riddle. In the end he has to tell the deeper secret of his whole separation to God — the secret of any testimony and power he may have.

People count honey as the sweetest thing nature gives, and Judges 14:18 shows this. Honey, like leaven, had no place in the offerings people brought to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was grace itself. But the grace of God is not natural sweetness, the kind close to human niceness, because truth as well as grace has reached us in Him.

If only she had held on to him in true devotion, as she should have, he would surely have saved her from the disaster she feared. Instead she betrays and compromises the one she should have suffered for... but the Lord turns it into blessing, and the planned union is broken off.

A third expression constantly occurs in these chapters: "The Spirit of Jehovah came upon him" (Judges 13:25; Judges 14:6, 19; Judges 15:14). When we see these words we may be sure that the conflict is entirely according to God and without mixture… Nevertheless, it is important to remark that we cannot estimate the moral worth of a man of God by the greatness of his gift. Nowhere in Scripture do we find a stronger man than Samson, nor one weaker morally… Samson was a Nazirite, upon whom the Spirit of God often came, but he was also a man whose heart had never been judged, and so his state was not in keeping with the gift he exercised.

One of the five principal cities of the Philistines. It fell to the lot of Judah, who took Ashkelon and its surrounding areas, Judges 1:18, but they did not really subdue it. It was in the hands of the Philistines when Samson came down to it.

If they can do this, they shall each have a change of garments. Anyone who can see into the secrets of a life with God must have his "habits" changed to match it. They could not penetrate it. They learn it by dealing dishonestly with the Philistine wife, and their pay is Philistine garments from Ashkelon… So the clothes suit them, and they wear their own shame. And so the necessary strife begins.

He gives them other garments like the very ones they wore — Philistine robes, not a change of clothing in the spiritual sense… A man may get the gospel secret in a way that is not God's way. He can still get a change of clothing. Plenty of people get the gospel secret in their heads, but not in their hearts… They may get a change of clothing, but it is only a new garment of the old creation. It is only turning over a new leaf, mere reformation, not the soul really set free.

The grace of God preserved Samson from the final consequences of his mistake, and delivered him from an alliance God could not approve… "And his anger was kindled" (v. 19). Samson was a very selfish man, and he acted from the sense of the wrong done to him. Yet he won the victory over the enemies of Jehovah, and kept none of their spoil for himself; it went back to the world it came from. Then he left the scene of so much unhappiness and "went up to his father's house," which he never should have left to settle among the Philistines.

God always works out His ways, and does so through a multitude of circumstances that are far from matching His thoughts. More than that, He uses these very circumstances to carry out His purposes… God brings about His ways not only by means of things He approves. He also makes our own faults, His discipline, and the opposition of Satan and of the world — in a word, everything — serve the result He wants. Our unfaithfulness does not disturb the ways of God.

Carried away by his unchecked feelings, he was mighty to act (whatever end God might turn it all to, for He always governs). But in understanding he was little more than an unconscious instrument. Yet he did propose a most instructive riddle, which set out rightly the condition of the people of God at that time.