The Riddle That Stumps a Life Without Faith

September 29, 2013

Judges 13:24-14:14 And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion. So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.




Samson posed a riddle around the picture of the situation in which he saw God intervene and provide him with a miracle.

He created this riddle in order to get some articles from them that he wanted.

Samson held a feast for his espousal to a woman of Philistia, and as part of the entertainment he thought of posing a riddle where someone forfeited a prize if they lost the challenge.

He would give the riddle and would win if the people could not guess the answer.

This sort of riddle is different than what we're familiar with.

It was a mysterious description which the hearers would solve by describing the situation that it represented.
Samson had to use words that would stump the others so they would never guess the answer in order for them to give him 30 sheets and 30 garments.
The sheets were likely wrapping robes worn at the time.


The riddle was an enigma.

An example of the sort of riddle Samson gave is this ancient one:


“Who gives, and does not give? 
Who has not, and yet has?”

This is actually about someone who gives a riddle and about the person who hears it.

The riddler gives the riddle, but the words he uses hide the actual picture so that he has not really given anything.
The hearer has the riddle in his mind but does not have the solution because it was so obscured by the other that he cannot solve the picture.


The riddle was created around the picture of Samson slaying a man-eating lion in the supernatural power of God in order to defeat the Philistines.

God wanted to use him to overcome the Philistines who oppressed the Israelites.
And an obstruction came between Samson and his goal in the form of that lion.
When God used him to kill it, he later saw that bees formed a nest in the carcass and Samson took honey from it for food.
So the eater is the LION.
The MEAT from the eater is the HONEY.
The STRONG is the lion as well, and the SWEETNESS is the HONEY.


He used words that were opposite.

EATER to provide FOOD.
THE STRONG to provide SWEETNESS.
The terms sounded contradictory, which made the riddle effective.
And while the words were so contradictory, they really did correctly represent an actual situation.


Samson tried to think of something that people would not be able to solve, because they would not be able to think of such a situation.

His success would be in the fact that most people cannot imagine a man slaying a lion since such situations are normally impossible.
Most people have little faith.
Most people cannot answer a riddle that can only be solved by considering the miraculous.
He was using a miracle that God performed through him.
Since MIRACLES were so rare, he figured the solution was safe from being given by the people.


The truth is that MIRACLES should not be so rare by people who are supposed to know the supernatural God of the Bible.

These people were Israelites.
Their ancestors saw The Lord open the Red Sea and lead them in a desert by a monstrous pillar of fire.
They saw miracles like manna in the morning where there was no natural food for them to eat.
They knew all about the miracles Moses performed by God's power.
And when someone was about to see victory over the oppressive enemy Philistines, and a lion threatened him on his way, and God's power came on the man to slay the lion with his bare hands and later find honey in its carcass to take and eat, these people were so unaccustomed to seeing the miraculous that they would never think of such an answer to the riddle.
When the enemy stands to threaten most believers, most believers look at it as sure defeat and problems to mount on top of their other problems that the enemy sent.
They never call on God to see God step in and empower them to overcome these enemies, so they never think of such a victorious outcome ever being possible.
To them, an EATER come to threaten them could never be turned into a source of food for a person!
To them, something STRONG as a lion would never be the source of SWEETNESS to someone who overcame its strength in faith since that requires a miracle, and they cannot believe they can see God intervene with a miracle.
So Samson felt his riddle would win.


People full of unbelief are so limited in their concept of what God can do in their lives, that overcoming a lion in God's power is the furthest thing from anything in their kind of worlds.

This makes life an impossible riddle to solve for most people.

Only someone who knows what it is like to call upon God when the devil comes as a roaring lion, would be familiar enough with the concept of overcoming any EATER that threatens them to be able to answer a riddle that describes a 
situation that only a supernatural anointing from God can overcome. 

Believers are so full of unbelief today, that they never think to call upon God in faith to see victory over an impossible situation.

Since they never call on God, they never give God the chance to perform wonders through their lives.
They never see the miraculous in everyday situations where troubles rise up to threaten us .
These people are prime prey for riddles that can only be answered with the awareness that God empowers us to overcome impossible situations.


Such riddles should be easy to solve!

If people have faith that God makes a way where there is no way, then these riddles would be child's play!


When a person never has faith to call on God and see Him step in and anoint them, their worlds are worlds of defeat.

They could no more think of God turning an impossible situation that seeks to threaten us from victory on its ear than they could think of a mere man slaying a lion and finding honey from its dead body to feed from.
They do not know what it is like to see situations where the devils seeks to devour us, but we end up taking food from him instead, because we know a God
Whom we can call upon to give us victory instead!


Only a certain kind of person can answer a riddle like Samson's.

To most people, an EATER sent by the devil is simply going to eat what he came to eat.

We can only answer riddles that are supposed to describe a reality that can actually exist in our worlds.
And if we never reach out in faith to God in troubles, our worlds do not include the miraculous over threatening enemies.


If we were accustomed to actually calling on God in faith in times of trouble, then we'd be familiar enough with that kind of situation that a riddle like this would be more easily solved by us.

We'd be able to think of overcoming a man-eating lion and getting sweet honey from its dead body if we were familiar with God moving in on impossible situations and turning them around for us.

THESE THINGS OUGHT NOT BE DIFFICULT RIDDLES TO SOLVE!
But they are because of PEOPLE'S UNBELIEF and failure to believe God enough to actually ask trust Him to help and stand back and walking into the naturally impossible situation to overcome and overcome it!


It's like someone without faith who contemplates sickness.

The laws of physics simply don't allow for the situation of someone being miraculously HEALED, because PHYSICS is restricted to what is NATURAL and anything beyond that is SUPERNATURAL.
So the supernatural cannot occur.
God made the universe with the law of Physics that it exists in, and God can ALTER that law of Physics or bypass it any time he wishes!


Maybe a child come to threaten us could be considered an EATER in his own mind  who is turned on its ear to gain SWEETNESS from him instead of being his prey.

BUT A LION?
Lions are greater than men!
You would not be able to get honey from a dead lion's carcass to begin with, if there was no lion slain by a mere man for bees to find and later build a nest
in and make honey for the man to take for food.
And since the common person cannot conceive enough faith to believe God for a man slaying a lion in His power, then such a riddle would be impossible to solve for such people.


It never came to Israel's minds that they could take the promised land since God was with them, because giants and well walled cities were there.

The only way the people were able to get the answer was for them to use the girl Samson would marry to urge Samson to tell her the answer so she could inform 
them of it.

In other words, they had so much unbelief, which is why the Philistines were successful to begin with in conquering them and tormenting them, that they could not know the answer through simply relying on their wits.
Their wits could not conceive of such faith to think of God empowering us in our times of troubles.
After all, they did not seek God when the Philistines came to conquer them.


Do you know the answer to such a riddle?

Have you called out to God and waited in faith instead of fearing in unbelief to see God bless you with power from on high to conquer your threatening enemy and take something sweet home with you?


Read how the bible described the times hen God’s Spirit moved upon Samson.

Judges 13:25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.



The name Zorah means “hornet”.

Eshtaol means “Entreaty”, or “an asking for help.”
And DAN means “a judge”.


Isn’t it interesting that between a “hornet” and “the asking of God for help,” stood someone who was of the tribe of Dan — someone who is a “judge.”


Timnath, where this woman dwelt, means "APPOINTED".

We will come into situations where we stand between two choices.

We are on our way towards what is appointed by the Lord for us.

God’s will is what is appointed for us.
And this fork of decision confronts us and will determine if we get what God has for us or not.
And we will have to judge (DAN) which choice to make.
Either get stung by the hornet, or reach out to God and ask for help.
You’re the judge of your own situations.
You must decide what to do when you are in such a fork in the road.
Each of you will have many "Timnaths" where God has something appointed for you to obtain.
Whether you obtain what He appoints for you is up to your choice.


PHILISTINES literally means "IMMIGRANTS"

The enemy, the devil, has moved into our territory and dwells there like immigrants now.
The earth is give to the sons of men, not to lying devils.
God moved upon Samson when he was in the midst of these choices.
Samson chose to lean upon God for help.
It is just such a time that we are given in this story when Samson proceeded to do the will of God, and He chose to reach out and depend upon God for help.


We need to stir ourselves up and step out in faith, believing God to empower us to overcome that which threatens us.

So we can be familiar enough with trusting God to empower us to overcome otherwise impossible situations against us and see victory instead!
Something like overcoming a threatening lion ought not be that alien to us that one could use it as a riddle we cannot solve.


Threats sent by the devil are usually successful to those with little faith.

Such people could never answer this kind of riddle without cheating!

Judges 14:15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so?


IN THREE DAYS THEY COULD NOT EXPOUND THE RIDDLE.

Three days speaks of the duration of Christ's time in death after the cross before He resurrected.
It represents the work of the cross.
Those who cannot see God step in and supernaturally resurrect Christ from the dead in three days, and understand that they were raised up with Christ by God, are people who cannot see themselves strong enough in Christ to trust God to empower them to overcome impossible situations!

SERMONS