SAMSON’S îÎD by AZZAN YADIN University of Minnesota This study suggests a new interpretation of Judges xiv, the episode commonly known as “Samson’s riddle.” This passage has been the subject of numerous interpretations, but what follows is a generally accepted outline of the events: on the way to marry a Philistine woman Samson slays a lion with his bare hands. Some time after that he dis- covers bees hiving in the carcass of the lion and takes of the honey they produced. At his wedding feast Samson challenges his Philistine hosts to solve a riddle (úîdâ)—“Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet” ( Judg xiv 14). Unable to solve the riddle, the Philistines bully Samson’s bride into enticing the answer from him, which she does, reporting the answer to her countrymen. As the deadline nears, the Philistines triumphantly pro- vide the answer: “What is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion?” ( Judg xiv 18). Samson admits that this is the correct answer and ruefully concedes defeat: “If you had not plowed with my heifer you would not have found out my riddle” ( Judg xiv 18). In what follows I argue that previous interpreters have failed to recog- nize the relevant cultural context in which this exchange takes place and, as a result, have been unable to provide a satisfactory reading of the chapter. I will briey outline two diYculties: an inability to main- tain the narrative coherence of the passage, and the philologically dubi- ous assignment of the meanings ‘riddle’ to úîdâ, and ‘solve a riddle’ to higgîd. 1. Presentation of the problem The most common approach to Judges xiv has been to understand Samson’s úîdâ as a reference to the events recounted in Judges xiv 5-9—the slaying of the lion and the honey in its carcass. The appeal © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Vetus Testamentum LII, 3 Also available online – www.brill.nl