“Shimshon said to them, ‘Let me present you with a riddle. If you can solve it within the seven days of the banquet and tell me the solution, I will give you thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes. But if you can’t solve it, you give me thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes.’ They answered, ‘Tell us the riddle, we want to hear it.'”-Judges 14:12-14
In the ancient Middle East, it was the bridegroom’s obligation to entertain the guests who attended his wedding.
So Samson decides to fulfill his duty by offering up a riddle.
But he attaches a caveat to it.
If Samson’s 30 male guests are able to successfully solve his riddle, Samson promises to buy them “thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes”.
However, the opposite side of the coin is if the men can’t solve the riddle, they will be the ones who will have to gift Samson with thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes.
That was a lot of money either side was gonna have to cough up.
Now depending on which translation you’re using, different phrases are used to describe the clothing.
The King James Version says…
“…thirty sheets and thirty change of garments”.
The NIV says…
“…thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes”.
But let’s cut through all of the confusion by going directly to the original Hebrew as usual.
What’s usually translated as “shirts” is SEDINIM in Hebrew.
However, they’re not really shirts.
They’re fine pieces of long rectangular-shaped linen.
They were used like underwear in our day.
And I’m sure back in those days, the outer clothing one wore was scratchy as all heck.
So these SEDINIM would have been highly welcomed.
Next word, the phrase “changes of good clothes” comes from the Hebrew word CHALIPHA.
This word refers to the type of clothing normally only reserved for special and formal occasions.
Think of an upper class dinner event that requires you to wear a tuxedo.
That’s CHALIPHA.
You can imagine this type of formal clothing would cost one an arm and leg but they were necessary whenever a special occasion arose.
I mean you couldn’t just show up to a formal event wearing jeans and a T-shirt, right?
You wouldn’t even get in the door.
Again, the whole point of this story is that these were majorly expensive items.
Samson was gonna be in big trouble if he lost this bet.
However, he wasn’t planning on losing.
Because the truth of the matter is the riddle he offered up was gamed.
There was no way anyone in the world would be able to answer it without certain inside information.
The details of which we’ll get into the next time we meet.
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