{"id":55990,"date":"2019-05-22T20:50:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T17:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55990"},"modified":"2022-12-14T18:57:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T16:57:30","slug":"beguiling-riddles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/beguiling-riddles\/","title":{"rendered":"Beguiling Riddles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[367,878,808],"acf":{"old_id":"55990","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37333,"related_cahpter":"225","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Something strong can create something sweet; but power is a dangerous force unless used wisely","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow is a vibrant, happy color. A golden ray of sun. Twinkling stars in the night sky. A delicate daffodil, blooming bright yellow during a gloomy spring. Fluffy baby chicks, their blonde feathers soft as a baby blanket. A brightness that shines through even on a grey and rainy day. A glimmer of hope, of strength, of power.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sun\u2019s rays give light, but they also burn. Power is not something to be taken lightly. In the Book of Judges we meet Samson, a man of unimaginable strength \u2013 a gift which turns out to be both his power and his downfall. Samson is so strong that he slays a lion with his bare hands (14:6). And this is where the story takes a strange turn. He returns to see \u2018that a swarm of bees was in the body of the lion, with honey\u2019 (14:8). It is an odd and disturbing visual image, one that biblical historians agree seems unlikely to have ever taken place. But this literary device spurs the plot forward, showing us how Samson\u2019s superhuman power shapes his actions and behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A riddle is a mystifying question or statement that requires out of the box thinking to solve it. It is not a genre normally associated with the Hebrew Bible. Yet Samson, who married a Philistine woman against his parents\u2019 wishes, presents us with a puzzling and beguiling example. For reasons unclear from the text itself, Samson poses a riddle to thirty Philistines, perhaps guests at the wedding or relatives of his wife, wagering it on thirty items of clothing. Samson tells them that: \u2018From the eater came forth food, and from the strong came forth sweetness\u2019 (14:14). Unsurprisingly, the Philistines \u2013 who were not familiar with the lion and honey story \u2013 could not solve it. But Samson shares the solution with his wife, who explains to the Philistines: \u2018What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion\u2019 (14:18). The riddle refers to the bees in the lion\u2019s carcass: honey is the sweet food, and the lion is the strong eater.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shimshon \u2013 Hebrew for Samson \u2013 comes from the Hebrew word for sun, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shemesh<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The sun\u2019s rays can both warm and kill. Samson\u2019s superhuman power enables him to settle the bet by slaying thirty men for their clothing. The color yellow shines through this story like a sunbeam: the defenseless lion, its yellow fur the same shade as a baby chick\u2019s, the black and yellow striped bees who create golden honey after the lion\u2019s death. Something strong can create something sweet. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, like the sun\u2019s rays, Samson\u2019s story teaches that power is a dangerous force unless used wisely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Samson Slaying the Lion<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1628) by Peter Paul Rubens<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":56004,"id":56004,"title":"jud14-samson slaying the lion-rubens","filename":"jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/beguiling-riddles\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55990,"date":"2019-05-22 17:49:35","modified":"2022-05-15 13:57:46","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":674,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens-300x253.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":253,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens-768x647.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":647,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":674,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":674,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":674,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":674,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud14-samson-slaying-the-lion-rubens-499x420.jpg","home_baner-width":499,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Beguiling Riddles","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Something strong can create something sweet; 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