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Judges 14:18-20
The men answer the riddle, Samson responds with accusation, kills men for payment, leaves in anger, and his wife is reassigned.
Meaning in context
The men present the riddle’s solution on the seventh day before sunset, meeting the agreed time limit. Samson’s reply attributes their success to leveraging his wife—expressed with an agricultural metaphor—shifting the focus from cleverness to breach of trust.
The account links Samson’s next action to sudden enablement and movement: he goes down to Ashkelon, kills thirty men, takes their clothing as spoil, and uses those garments to pay the wager to the riddle-solvers.
Samson withdraws in anger to his father’s house. The marriage arrangement collapses socially when his wife is given to his companion, closing the episode with relational rupture.
Section 6 of 6
Riddle Solved, Violence, and Separation
The men answer the riddle, Samson responds with accusation, kills men for payment, leaves in anger, and his wife is reassigned.
Movement
Life before Israel had a king
Artifact
Cycles of rebellion and deliverance
Biblical Timeline
Exodus & Settlement
Judges context: 1500 BC - 1000 BC
Biblical Timeline
Exodus & Settlement
Judges context
Exodus & Settlement / 1500 BC - 1000 BC
Judges context is set in the exodus and settlement period, where Moses, the exodus, wilderness, covenant instruction, conquest, and judges.
Scripture Text
Thesis
The men answer the riddle, Samson responds with accusation, kills men for payment, leaves in anger, and his wife is reassigned.
Plain Meaning
The men present the riddle’s solution on the seventh day before sunset, meeting the agreed time limit. Samson’s reply attributes their success to leveraging his wife—expressed with an agricultural metaphor—shifting the focus from cleverness to breach of trust.
The account links Samson’s next action to sudden enablement and movement: he goes down to Ashkelon, kills thirty men, takes their clothing as spoil, and uses those garments to pay the wager to the riddle-solvers.
Samson withdraws in anger to his father’s house. The marriage arrangement collapses socially when his wife is given to his companion, closing the episode with relational rupture.
Literary Context
This unit concludes the wedding-feast wager episode that began with Samson posing a riddle and staking thirty sets of garments. The narrative pivots from a public contest to escalating retaliation and broken social ties, setting up the next cycle of conflict in the Samson story.
Historical Context
Judges portrays a period without centralized Israelite monarchy, with disputes managed through kinship networks and local power. Philistine coastal cities (including Ashkelon) represented organized urban centers, while Israelite groups in the highlands were more decentralized. Public feasts, honor contests, and high-value garments could intensify rivalry and provoke violence across community lines.
Theological Significance
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said (way·yō·mer)