the riddle,” sc., through thee, without his noticing it, “lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire. Have ye invited us to make us poor; is it not so?” In this threat the barbarism and covetousness of the Philistines came openly to light. הלירשׁנוּ without Metheg in the י is the inf. Kal of ירשׁ, to make poor-a meaning derived from inheriting, not the Piel of ירשׁ = רוּשׁ, to be poor. הלא, nonne, strengthens the interrogative clause, and has not the signification “here” = הלם. Samson's wife, however, wept over him, i.e., urged him with tears in her eyes, and said, “Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not; thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people (my countrymen), and hast not shown it to me.” חדתּה is from חוּד. Samson replied, that he had not even shown it to his father and mother, “and shall I show it to thee?”
Verse 17
“Thus his wife wept before him the seven days of the banquet.” This statement is not at variance with that in Jdg 14:15, to the effect that it was only on the seventh day that the Philistine young men urged her with threats to entice Samson to tell the riddle, but may be explained very simply in the following manner. The woman had already come to Samson every day with her entreaties from simple curiosity; but Samson resisted them until the seventh day, when she became more urgent than ever, in consequence of this threat on the part of the Philistines. And “Samson showed it to her, because she lay sore upon him;” whereupon she immediately betrayed it to her countrymen.
Verse 18
Thus on the seventh day, before the sun went down (חרסה = חרס, Jdg 8:13; Job 9:7, with a toneless ah, a softening down of the feminine termination: see Ewald, §173, h.), the men of the city (i.e., the thirty young men who had been invited) said to Samson, “What is sweeter than honey, and what stronger than a lion?” But Samson saw through the whole thing, and replied, “If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye had not hit upon (guessed) my riddle,”-a proverbial saying, the meaning of which is perfectly clear.
Verse 19
Nevertheless he was obliged to keep his promise (Jdg 14:12). Then the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, slew thirty men of them, i.e., of the Ashkelonites, took their clothes (חליצות, exuviae: see 2Sa 2:21), and gave the changes of garments to those who had shown the riddle. This act is described as the operation of the Spirit of Jehovah which came upon Samson, because it showed to the Philistines the superior power of the servants of Jehovah. It was not carnal revenge that had impelled Samson to the deed. It was not till the deed itself was done that his anger
