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Manoah and his wife did not
afterwards see the angel of the Lord; but God remembered His promise, and
very soon sent them a little son, and they called him Samson.
Samson's parents were very careful to attend to all God's commands about
him. They remembered that he was to be given to God; that he was to
be a Nazarite; to drink no wine; and not to shave his head, nor cut his
hair. Samson was wonderfully strong. God had given him great
strength, because He had much for him to do; he was to deliver Israel from
the Philistines. When
Samson was grown up, he went to Timnath with his father and mother, to
marry a young woman who was a Philistine. As he passed the vineyards
of Timnath, a lion rushed out of the woods, and began to roar against
him. Was Samson frightened? No; he was a very bold man, and he
ran to the lion, and tore it to pieces, without a stick, or sword, or
spear; with his great strength alone. Samson said nothing to his
father or mother, but went on, and came to Timnath. After
a time, Samson passed again along the place where he had killed the lion,
and he went and looked at the dead body of the animal. What did he
see there? Some wild bees had made their nest in the lion, and
Samson found much honey there; so he took it, and eat, and gave some to
his father and mother; but he did not tell them where he found it. Samson
made a feast at Timnath; and when the company were all talking merrily
together, he said, "I will give you a riddle to guess; if you guess
right, I will give you thirty sheets, and thirty garments; but if you
cannot guess, you shall give me thirty sheets and thirty
garments." Then the people said, "Tell us the riddle, and
we will try to guess it." Samson said, "Out of the eater
came forth meat; and out of the strong came forth sweetness."
The eater was the strong lion; and the meat was the sweet honey Samson
found in it: but no one knew the story of the lion, and they could
not guess the riddle. They tried six days, and then they called
their friend, Samson's wife, and said, "Ask Samson to explain the
riddle to thee, or else we will burn thee and they father's house with
fire." The woman asked her husband, and at last he explained
the riddle to her, and she went directly and told the Philistines.
Then they came to Samson, and said, "What is so strong as a lion, and
what is so sweet as honey?" But Samson said, "My wife told
you, or you could not have guessed my riddle."
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