Samson makes a puzzle at the wedding table by Rembrandt Harmens Van Rhine

Samson makes a puzzle at the wedding table by Rembrandt Harmens Van Rhine

Samson loved to roam the country and once came to the city of Timnah. There he fell in love with a stately Philistine woman and wished to marry her. He rushed home and asked his parents to woo his beloved. The old men clutched at their heads in horror: the son had already caused them a lot of grief, and now, in addition to everything, he decided to marry a foreign woman, the daughter of a Philistine. Samson, however, stood his ground. Parents had nothing to do – sighing heavily, they submitted to the whims of the flighty son.

Samson became the bridegroom, and since then he often visited the bride’s parents. Once, when Samson walked briskly along the path between the vineyards, he was blocked by a young roaring lion. Strongman tore the lion to shreds and, as if nothing had happened, went to Timnaf, without telling anyone about his adventure. Returning home, he was surprised to see that a swarm of bees was nesting in the mouth of a dead lion and had already accumulated a lot of honey. Samson brought honeycombs to his parents, without saying a word where he took them.

In Timnafe matchmaking went well, there was a big feast, everyone congratulated the bride and the groom, they set the wedding day. According to the Philistine custom, the wedding celebration lasts seven days. At the feast, the bride’s parents, fearing the extraordinary power of Samson, put thirty young strong Philistines in the role of marriage buddies. Samson, with a grin looking at the “guards”, asked them to solve the riddle. It was necessary to solve it by the end of the wedding, on the seventh day. The riddle sounded like this: “From the eater came out the poison, and out of the strong came the sweet.” Of course, no one could solve this riddle, because no one knew that we were talking about bees eating nectar, honey and a strong lion.

At the same time, Samson set the conditions: if she is guessed, they will receive 30 shirts as much of the top dress, and if not, they will pay him off the same way. The startled Philistines thought for three days over this strange mystery. Desperate, they went to his young wife and threatened that if she did not find out the answer to her husband, they would burn both themselves and her father’s house. I really didn’t want the Philistines to pay Samson a big sum.

With cunning and caressing, the wife discovered the answer to the riddle from her husband, and the next day the Philistines gave the right answer. The angry Samson had nothing to do, how to give the agreed debt, and his parents were very poor. Then he killed 30 Philistines and gave their clothes as a debt. Samson himself, realizing that his wife betrayed him, slammed the door and went back to his parents.

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