SAMSON MARRIES A WOMAN OF THE GENTILES Samson insisted on marrying a Gentile woman, despite the displeasure of his parents at the beginning. A wedding banquet was held for seven days, during which he posed a riddle which was recognized by the Philisyines through his wife. The episode of his marriage bore deep spiritual symbols. 1- Samson’s marriage to a woman of the Gentiles 1 - 4 2- Samson tears a young lion apart 5 - 9 3- Samson poses a riddle to his companions 10 - 20 1- SAMSOM MARRIES A WOMAN OF THE GENTILES: “Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, https://coptic-treasures.com/ “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife. Then his father and mother said to him, ‘Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?’ And Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me, for she pleases me well’, But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines” For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel (1 – 4). Timnah, a Hebrew word, meaning (a specific portion), is a city at the border of the land of ‘Judah’, then was given to ‘Dan’ (Joshua 19: 42); where the Philistines dwelt. Nowadays known as ‘Tibnah’, on a plateau of 740 feet above sea level. It is therefore of less altitude than ‘Zorah’ the city of Samson, of altitude of 1500 feet above sea level; Hence it is said: “Samson went down”; It is three miles South-west of Beth-Shams. Contrary to the law that disapproves of marrying a Gentile woman (Exodus 34: 16), giving your daughter to their son, or taking their daughter for your son (Deuteronomy 7: 3, 4), Samson went down to Timnah to marry a Philistine woman, described by St. Augustine as a harlot; if not physically, she was a harlot spiritually by her idol-worship. Against his parents initial refusal, Samson insisted on marrying that Gentile woman; and hearing him say “she pleases me well”, they consented, “not knowing that it was of the Lord” (4); who turned Samson’s wish to marry a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines, to a cause for their perdition. https://coptic-treasures.com/ That work bore a symbol of the work of the Lord Christ; who went down, not to Timnah, namely to (a specific portion), but went down to the earth, to be betrothed from among the Gentiles to a bride – His church, that extends from one corner of the earth to its end. He went down to be betrothed spiritually to humanity; something that was not approved by His own (the Jews); who did not know that it was a divine command from heaven itself. 2- TEARING A YOUNG LION APART: “So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. 9 He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his https://coptic-treasures.com/ father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion” (5 – 9). What is the vineyard of Timnah, but that of the Lord Himself, to which the divine Word Himself went down to get betrothed to His bride the holy church. Before Samson met his bride, he was with his parents when a young lion came roaring against him. He was as though the Lord Christ, who was with His own, the Jews, before He encounters His bride of Gentile origin; when He encountered the devil, who, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom it may devour (1 Peter 5: 8). He then tore him apart by His hands, He stretched on the cross. And as Samson did not tell his father or his mother what he has done, So it was with the Jews – Christ’s own – who could not recognize the secret of the cross, or the secret of the conquest of Christ over the devil. When he returned to get the woman he has betrothed, “he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, the carcass of the lion that quickly dried up to accommodate a swarm of bees that produced honey. He took some of it in his hands and went along eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate, but he did not tell them that he has taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion” (9), because he had in mind to pose it as a riddle to his friends; Or he probably feared that his parents would refrain of eating it on account of that it is taken from a dead carcass; Or still, he probably feared that they would probably be offended that, being a Nazirite, it was unbefitting of him to touch a carcass, so as not to get unclean. …………..Anyway, if, by the cross, the lion, namely the devil, truly died, and came to be a dead carcass, he presented to us, believers; the honey of the secrets of the exalted love of God, to enjoy through the hands of the true Samson – Jesus Christ -- From it, his father and mother, namely the Jews, His own; ate, for among them came to be many believers in Him. https://coptic-treasures.com/ That episode which was a part of history, being a symbol of the salvation work of the Lord Christ, has drawn the interest of many fathers of the church, to talk about its spiritual concept. The following are quotations of their writings: + Samson was born by a divine promise, and the Spirit of the Lord began to move him (13: 25) ………… Once he was shadowed by the secret to come, he sought a wife from among the Gentiles; and, as it is written “his father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord” (14: 4)………….. On account of that he was moved by the Spirit of the Lord, Samson seemed stronger than his peers, and fought the adversaries on his own; And some other time he tore up a vicious lion by his bare hands in an exalted way. ………..But I wish he kept the grace by the same power he confronted the wild beast. “ The Gentile people who believed, came to have the honey………… The people who were before in bondage , came to be now the people of Christ. (St. Ambrose) + What a divine secret!......... What an obvious secret! ……. We fled from the killer, and overcame the strong. …………We came to have the food of life, at the same site where we were to be devoured............ The dangers turned into peace, the bitterness into sweetness; and the grace came instead of disobedience, the strength instead of weakness, and life instead of death, + As a Jew, when Samson killed that lion, he found honey inside it; as a symbol of the inheritance that saves. https://coptic-treasures.com/ (St. Ambrose) + According to some fathers, the lion refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, which is very befitting, as in His mouth, after His death , we find the taste of honey; For, what could be sweeter than the Word of God?! The lion could also be interpreted as the Gentiles who believed; ho were previously a vain body, then came to be the body of Christ, in which the apostles – as bees – stored the honey of wisdom, they have gathered from the dew of heaven, and from the flowers of the divine grace; to have therefore, food from the mouth of Him who died. For, after being wild like lions, having received the Word of God by godly hearts, the Gentiles produced the fruition of salvation. + Samson might symbolize the Jewish people who killed Christ, when He sought the long desired unity with the church. Surely, there was no unity of the church with Christ, before the lion who came from the tribe of Judah dies. Our Lord is the Lion, who was overcome, then prevailed: ………was overcome, when He was killed by the Jews; but prevailed through His conquest over the devil, by his death on the cross. + Let us then be food for God (honey in the carcass of a lion); lest we would be food for the serpent. …………Let us, as honey, be eaten by Christ, lest we would be eaten by the devil (and become dust). (St. Augustine) + The honey in the carcass of the lion, could be understood as the teachings of Christ; For we read: “How sweet are Your words (Your https://coptic-treasures.com/ promises) to my taste; sweeter than honey in my mouth” (Psalm 119: 103). ………… The congregation of Christians hasten to the teachings of Christ, as though to the cell of sweet honey. (St. Augustine) 3- SAMSON POSES A RIDDLE TO HIS COMPANIONS: “ So his father went down to the woman. And Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so. And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. Then Samson said to them, “Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” And they said to him, “Pose your riddle, that we may hear it. So he said to them: ‘Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet’. https://coptic-treasures.com/ Now for three days they could not explain the riddle. But it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson’s wife, ‘Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?’. Then Samson’s wife wept on him, and said, ‘You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me’. And he said to her, ‘Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?’ Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people. So the men of the city said to 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 to them ‘’If you had not plowed with my heifer, You would not have solved my riddle!’ ‘Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who https://coptic-treasures.com/ had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father’s house. And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man”. (10 – 20) That episode reveals to us the secret of what is written in the Holy Book: “For his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord; that he was seeking an occasion to move against the philistines” (4). The days of the banquet turned into mourning instead of joy; for his wife kept weeping on him, and kept asking him every day to explain to her the riddle he posed; The men, likewise, all the week long have been so confused and disturbed, that they finally had to threaten the miserable bride to burn her and her father’s house with fire. The banquet came to an end by: “On the seventh day he told her, …………. And she explained the riddle to the sons of her people” ,and “Samson’s anger was aroused, killed thirty men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. Then he went back to his father’s house, and his wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man” (20). ……..What a wedding! But we should bear in mind the Book’s confirmation that: “The child (Samson) grew and the Lord blessed him; and the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him” (13: 24, 25). When he killed the lion, it was said: “The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart” (14: 6); And when he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men, it was said: “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily” (???). If it was later said that the secret of his strength was in his long hair; it was because his hair referred to that being a Nazirite, his life was consecrated to the Lord. Yet his strength was not in his hair itself, but in being moved by the Spirit of the Lord. That was expressed by St. Augustine, saying: [The strength of Samson, beloved brethren, was from the grace of God more so than from nature; For if it was from nature, it would not have forsaken him when his hair was cut off. Where was his supernatural might, except in what the Holy https://coptic-treasures.com/ Book said: “The Spirit of the Lord moved him” (13: 25). His strength referred to the Spirit of the Lord; but Samson, himself, was no more than a vessel (that could be either empty or full; and has its own capacity). That is why the grace was commended when Paul the apostle was called “a chosen vessel” (Acts 9: 16). Commenting on Samson’s marriage to a pagan woman, setting a banquet, posing a riddle to his companions, and revealing its secret to the woman, St. Augustine says: [The woman whom Samson married is the church, who committed harlotry with the idols before recognizing the One God; with whom the Lord Christ later united. Anyway, having been enlightened, and received faith from Him, she was qualified to know the secrets of salvation, and of the heavenly hidden things. …….. As to the riddle, saying: “Out of the eater came something to eat; and out of the strong came something sweet” (14); To whom does this refer, but to the Lord Christ Himself, risen from the dead?! …………… Yes indeed, for out of the eater, namely out of death, who devoured and swallowed everything, came the food, namely Him who said:: “I am the bread which came down from heaven” (John 6: 41). The Gentiles came to faith, and received the sweetness of life from Him who carried the bitter oppression of humanity; to whom it offered bitter vinegar to drink. So, out of the dead Lion , namely out of the death of the Lord Christ, who lied down like a lion, came a swarm of bees, namely the congregation of Christians. . ………… And when Samson said: “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle” (18); this ‘heifer’ is the church, to whom the secret of our faith was proclaimed by her Man, and through the teachings and preaching of the apostles and the saintly fathers, the secrets of the Holy Trinity, the resurrection, the ultimate judgment, the kingdom of heaven, and the promise of the reward of eternal life, came to the end of the earth] And commenting on the saying of the Holy Book: “For three days they could not explain the riddle” (14); and remained as such up till the seventh day, St. Ambrose says: [It was not possible to know the secrets, except by the faith of the https://coptic-treasures.com/ church in the seventh day; the time in which the law is consummated (the figure 7 symbolizes perfection), after the passions of Christ ( namely three days after His burial). That is why, even the apostles could not understand, “Because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7: 39); they had to wait three days, during which Christ was buried, to be glorified by His cross and resurrection ……. And on the seventh day, when the perfection of the law is proclaimed through the gospel of the Truth, they would come to perceive the secret through the church. Finally, the banquet, by which the church (the woman) came to know the secrets, and declared it to the pagan world (the thirty men), to enjoy the “changes of clothing” of salvation through the water of baptism (for the figure 30 reminds us of the age at which the Lord Christ got baptized); was, itself, the secret of perdition of thirty foreigners and the confiscation of their changes of clothing. It is as though what man gets of grace and blessing through the work of the true Samson, and his banquet of salvation; are counted as perdition to the devil, and confiscation of his possessions which he had previously taken by force. After being the ‘Morning Star’, the possibilities of the devil were taken away; to make man enjoy heavenly possibilities, and to soar among the heavenly hosts. In the water of baptism, we enjoy the splendid changes of clothing; while the devil is denied his authority over us.
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