SEV Biblia, Chapter 14:12
a los cuales Sansón dijo: Yo os propondré ahora un enigma, el cual si en los siete días del banquete vosotros me declarareis y descubriereis, yo os daré treinta sábanas y treinta mudas de vestidos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Judges 14:12
Verse 12. I will now put forth a riddle] Probably this was one part of the amusements at a marriage-feast; each in his turn proposing a riddle, to be solved by any of the rest on a particular forfeit; the proposer forfeiting, if solved, the same which the company must forfeit if they could not solve it. Thirty sheets] I have no doubt that the Arab hayk, or hake, is here meant; a dress in which the natives of the East wrap themselves, as a Scottish Highlander does in his plaid. In Asiatic countries the dress scarcely ever changes; being nearly the same now that it was 2000 years ago. Mr. Jackson, in his account of the Empire of Morocco, thus mentions the Moorish dress: "It resembles," says he, "that of the ancient patriarchs, as represented in paintings; (but the paintings are taken from Asiatic models;) that of the men consists of a red cap and turban, a (kumja) shirt, which hangs outside of the drawers, and comes down below the knee; a (caftan) coat, which buttons close before, and down to the bottom, with large open sleeves; over which, when they go out of doors, they throw carelessly, and sometimes elegantly, a hayk, or garment of white cotton, silk, or wool, five or six yards long, and five feet wide. The Arabs often dispense with the caftan, and even with the shirt, wearing nothing but the hayk." When an Arab does not choose to wrap himself in the hayk, he throws it over his left shoulder, where it hangs till the weather, &c., obliges him to wrap it round him. The hayk is either mean or elegant, according to the quality of the cloth, and of the person who wears it. I have myself seen the natives of Fez, with hayks, or hykes, both elegant and costly. By the changes of garments, it is very likely that the kumja and caftan are meant, or at least the caftan; but most likely both: for the Hebrew has µydgb twpylj chaliphoth begadim, changes or succession of garments. Samson, therefore, engaged to give or receive thirty hayks, and thirty kumjas and caftans, on the issue of the interpretation or non-interpretation of his riddle: these were complete suits.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 12. And Samson said unto them , etc.] His thirty companions, very likely on the first day of the feast: I will now put forth a riddle to you : a secret, hidden, abstruse thing, not easy to be understood; a dark saying, wrapped up in figurative terms; and this he proposed as an amusement to them, to exercise their wits, which it seems was usual to entertain guests with, and might be both pleasing and profitable: if you can certainly declare it unto me within the seven days of the feast ; for so long the nuptial feast was usually kept, (see Genesis 29:27,28). If they could find it out; and with clearness and certainty explain the riddle to him within that period of time, which was giving them time enough to do it in: then I will give you thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments : that is, every man one of each. By “sheets” he means, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, a covering of the body in the night next to the flesh, in which a man lies, and was made of linen; meaning either what we call shirts, or bed sheet, and by change of raiment, a suit of clothes worn in the daytime.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 10-20 - Samson's riddle literally meant no more than that he had got honey, for food and for pleasure, from the lion, which in its strength and fur was ready to devour him. But the victory of Christ over Satan, by mean of his humiliation, agonies, and death, and the exaltation tha followed to him, with the glory thence to the Father, and spiritual advantages to his people, seem directly alluded to. And even death that devouring monster, being robbed of his sting, and stripped of his horror, forwards the soul to the realms of bliss. In these and othe senses, out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness. Samson's companions obliged his wife to get the explanatio from him. A worldly wife, or a worldly friend, is to a godly man as a enemy in the camp, who will watch every opportunity to betray him. N union can be comfortable or lasting, where secrets cannot be intrusted without danger of being divulged. Satan, in his temptations, could no do us the mischief he does, if he did not plough with the heifer of ou corrupt nature. His chief advantage against us arises from his correspondence with our deceitful hearts and inbred lusts. This prove an occasion of weaning Samson from his new relations. It were well for us, if the unkindness we meet with from the world, and ou disappointments in it, obliged us by faith and prayer to return to ou heavenly Father's house, and to rest there. See how little confidenc is to be put in man. Whatever pretence of friendship may be made, real Philistine will soon be weary of a true Israelite __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 להם שׁמשׁון 8123 אחודה 2330 נא 4994 לכם חידה 2420 אם 518 הגד 5046 תגידו 5046 אותה 853 לי שׁבעת 7651 ימי 3117 המשׁתה 4960 ומצאתם 4672 ונתתי 5414 לכם שׁלשׁים 7970 סדינים 5466 ושׁלשׁים 7970 חלפת 2487 בגדים׃ 899
