Boys and girls are all fond of riddles, and I am sure you will be
surprised to know that there is one of the best riddles of all in the
Bible, one that is very hard to guess, and yet one that has a fine
lesson in it when I tell you the answer.
This riddle was told by Samson on his wedding-day, and nobody would ever
have guessed it if his wife had not let the secret out.
But first I must tell where Samson got his riddle. Well, one day with
his father and mother he was walking down the road to the land where the
Philistines lived. And according to the story, a young lion rushed out
at him from behind some bushes, and Samson, being a very strong man,
broke its jaws and killed it, and left its carcass behind some bushes by
the roadside.
Some time afterward he was going down that road again, and he turned
aside to see what had become of the carcass. And what do you think he
found there? This: a swarm of wild bees had made their nest in that
carcass. Now, Samson was fond of honey, and he took the comb of honey
with him and ate it as he walked along the road. And as he walked he
made up this riddle: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the
strong came forth sweetness." That means that out of this lion which
would have eaten him up he got something to eat, and out of this strong
beast he got something sweet.
I suppose you will wonder what sort of lesson for boys and girls anyone
can draw from that. You say you will never meet a lion on the roadside.
I am not so sure of that. I think boys and girls meet things every day
that are very much like lions. Of course, in these days we call them
temptations. But, then, they jump out at you very suddenly and
unexpectedly sometimes. And they would devour your souls just as this
lion would have eaten up Samson had he not killed it. And when you kill
a temptation by not giving way to it you can make a riddle just like
Samson, and you can say, too, "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out
of the strong came forth sweetness." For just like Samson, every time
you come to the place where you have overcome a temptation,--it may be
to say unkind things, or to be quick-tempered, or to be hateful,--you
will find that you will be stronger to overcome it next time. And the
remembrance of how you were able to overcome your feelings will be
sweet, just as that honey was to Samson. God says that if we trust Him,
"the young lion shall ye trample under foot."