Welcome to this episode of Sunday Brunch. The Sunday Brunch blog posts are warm and inviting, encouraging discussion about the Bible.
This blog post was sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you like stories about faith and Christianity then you must read Loving Luke by Cecelia Dowdy. Loving Luke is about a reunion between Luke and Kim, two childhood sweethearts. It’s a Christmas novel full of love, regrets, and second chances. There’s also a bakery and plenty of delicious desserts wrapped within this amazing story. Can Luke and Kim find the courage to overcome their hang-ups and learn to love again? Loving Luke has been an Amazon bestselling novel with several 5-star reviews! Purchase today by clicking on the link at the end! Tell your friends by sharing this blog post!
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I will be reading from Judges Chapter 14. My thoughts are bolded and in brackets. Share your own thoughts, questions and insight by leaving a comment!
Samson’s Marriage
Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. [I’m somewhat confused by verses 5-6. The verse begins as if Samson and his mother and father are walking/traveling together. But, then it appears as if his father and mother are no longer with him when he’s attacked by the lion? Can you imagine, tearing a lion apart with your bare hands? I can only wonder how that may have looked. It appears that Samson was not afraid since the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and gave him strength. I also wonder why Samson did not tell his mother and father about his tearing the lion apart. Did he think that his parents would not believe him? Please share any insight you might have about verses 5 & 6] 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9 He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass. [I again wonder about Samson’s secrecy. Why does not he not tell his parents about the lion’s attack, his killing the lion, and about the honey in the carcass? I also wonder, was honey something that they didn’t have very often? Was it hard to obtain? Was the honey like a treat for them to enjoy since they could not have it every day? I assume that they may not have had beekeepers during the Old Testament. I did a little research online and found that there were honey collectors in ancient times. They would burn smoke to startle the bees and collect the honey from the beehives. I used Wikipedia for quick research.]
10 Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. 11 When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.
12 “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. 13 If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” [I found it interesting that Samson was telling a riddle. To me, it was fascinating that riddles were told in ancient times.]
“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”
14 He replied,
“Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.”
For three days they could not give the answer.
15 On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?” [All, I can say is, this is utterly horrifying. At times, I find that reading the Old Testament can be very horrifying!]
16 Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”
“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” 17 She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.
18 Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
Samson said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle.”
19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast. [It appears that Samson is angry because his wife has told her people the answer to the riddle. It’s puzzling about his giving the clothes from the stricken men to those who had explained the riddle? Since he’d been tricked, I’d imagine that he would have reneged on his agreement regarding the prize? Perhaps his giving his wife to one of his companions symbolizes his divorcing his wife due to her dishonesty.]
This blog post was sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you like stories about faith and Christianity then you must read Loving Luke by Cecelia Dowdy. Loving Luke is about a reunion between Luke and Kim, two childhood sweethearts. It’s a Christmas novel full of love, regrets, and second chances. There’s also a bakery and plenty of delicious desserts wrapped within this amazing story. Can Luke and Kim find the courage to overcome their hang-ups and learn to love again? Loving Luke has been an Amazon bestselling novel with several 5-star reviews! Purchase today by clicking on the link at the end! Tell your friends by sharing this blog post!
After recording this podcast, I figured out something. Samson probably didn’t mention the lion attack, or, from where he obtained the honey, to his parents, because he may not have thought that it was important? Or, perhaps his reasoning for not telling them is linked to the riddle? He mentioned to his Philistine wife that he had not mentioned the answer to the riddle to his parents.