Samson's Riddle

Do you like riddles?  Try this one from the Book of Judges, Ch. 14, vs. 14:
   "Out of the eater came something to eat.
    Out of the strong came something sweet."
What is it?
Samson, who thought this one up, is remembered as a pillar of astounding physical strength, beset with equally astonishing physical weaknesses.  His proverbial strength met its match in the proverbial charms of the prostitute Delilah, and it cost him his life to redeem this reckless behavior. 
To begin the story, however, the period of the Judges was a time of spiritual compromise, when the children of Israel were neglecting the law of God, and being overwhelmed by their enemies as a result.  To compound matters, Samson, as a youth,  had fallen in love with a young woman of these neighboring Philistines, and demanded of his parents that they approve the match.
 In a contest of wedding one-upmanship, Samson proposed this riddle:  What is both strong and sweet, which when eaten, will make the consumer sweet?
The answer, inspired by a honeycomb that had appeared inside the carcass of a dead lion, lies in Israel's greatest possession, the Law of God.  This neglected treasure, alone, is stronger than the sun shining in full strength, and "sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb," as Psalm 19 declares.
According to the Law, even the strong and the wicked, like the lion Samson had killed with his bare hands, yield food and nourishment for the people of God.  As Lorne Cunningham, a former President of Youth With a Mission, observed, in God's economy "the wicked store it up for the righteous."
Its a lesson that God's children, and His enemies, need to hear.
Knock, knock . . .