THE MEANING OF CUSH BY THE RIVER.

Genesis 2:13: "And the name of the 2nd river is Gih'On, the same name is it that encompasses the whole land of Ethiopia."
Ethiopia is a well known kingdom, and a country in which one of the sources of the Nile River lies. The Blue Nile rises in the Ethiopian mountains.
All Scriptural dictionaries agree that the name "Ethiopia" is "Cush" in the Hebrew language. The name, also spelled as Kush, is derived from Cush the eldest son of Ham, who was a son of Noah. He was the brother of Canaan (land of Canaan), Mizraim (Egypt) and Phut (Libya), and the father of Nimrod, the first one called king. He reigned in Babylonia. (Genesis 10; 1 Chronicles 1))
To the Hebrew mind the name is next after the individual who originally bore it, for the descendants. The names in Hebrew language are essentially race-names and attached to the people rather than the place, and applicable whosoever the ethnic group may move, settle, migrate again and re-settle.
If an ethnic group split, and became two groups in different places, each could still bare the original name. The descendants of Cush may have split, one part remaining in Asia, the other migrating to Africa to become the Ethiopia we still know to  this day.
The name Cush have cropped up in many places. There is today a "Hindu Cush" in Afganistan and on the border of Pakistan by the Russia. With a name which appears to have moved about so much, it is better to locate "Cush," at the time when Genesis was written, by the river, rather than try to locate the river by the wandering name "Cush."
Cush is traditionally considered the ancestor of the people of the "land of Cush,"an ancient territory that is believed to have been located on either side or both sides of the Red Sea. As such, it is alternately identified in Scripture with the Kingdom of Cush, ancient Sudan, and/or the Arabian Peninsula.
The Book of Numbers 12:1 calls the wife of Moses "an Ethiopian woman," whereas Moses' wife named Zip'Porah is usually described as hailing from Midian. Ezekiel the Poet, a Jewish dramatist who wrote in Alexandria around the 3rd BC, has Zip'Porah describing herself as a stranger in Midian, and proceeds to describe the inhabitants of her ancestral lands in North Africa: "Stranger, this land is called Libya. It is inhabited by tribes of various peoples, Ethiopians, dark men. One man is the ruler of the land; he is both king and general. He rules the state, judges the people, and is priest. This man is my father and theirs."
Another person named Cush in the Hebrew Scripture is a Benjamite who is mentioned only in Psalm 7 and is believed to be a follower of Saul. The tribe of Benjamin is significant in biblical narratives as a source of various leaders including the first Israelite king, Saul, as well as earlier tribal leaders in the period of Judges. According to Genesis, Benjamin was the result of a painful birth in which Rachel his mother died, naming him Ben-Oni, "the son of my pain,"immediately before her death. Instead, Jacob, his father, preferred to call him Benjamin meaning "son of my right hand."

THE SACRED VOWS OF A MARRIAGE.

Marriage is an institution that accords with the dictates of nature and the laws of divine inspiration. It is an integral ingredient in the happiness of the couple and act as an integral part of any society.
Jesus threw a distinctive holiness and grandeur around this particular relationship of a man and a woman. It is manifested as a blessed state, and so Jesus clothed it with honor and sublimity.  Jesus ratified the contract; he guarded the obligations; he expounded the laws; and he graced the celebration of it with his presence.
The first sign that Jesus' hands performed was at a bridal festival where he turned the water into wine for the joyous celebration of marriage to be continued. Jesus' apostles presented it as a type of the substantial, invisible and everlasting union existing between Christ and his bride, the church. It involves the most tender, close, and lasting ties that can unite human beings together, and it influences the destiny of many others. The triumph of Truth depends on the preservation of God's institution of marriage.
From the very beginning people have attempted to change God's institution of marriage to suit their own fleshy desires. The human race of today have embraced every form of profane activity within the marriage that the divine laws of God governing it are broken at every turn. Because of this treacherous behavior, the spiritual life and worship to the true God has fallen to the point of breaking His Covenant without even realizing how or when it happened.
We find no better description of this violation and its pain in the Scripture than in Malachi 2.
Each passage comes from a particular set of circumstances or a particular question. Malachi was dealing with a situation where a good number of men got rid of their Hebrew wives and married pagan woman. The prophet describes it as a treachery to God and His Covenant as well as to the wives. The prophet wants everyone to realize that the failure was sin, and that to go ahead in life with God they first had to acknowledged that, and if reconciliation was possible, it was to be pursued. If reconciliation was not possible, then the people had to accept the responsibility for their acts, find a way of forgiveness in order to heal and embrace the healing that God provided for them and get on with their lives.
What we find in the Scripture is a number of God's messages that are part of His divine revelation and timeless in their relevance, to an antagonistic audience, much like today in these matters. In the earlier days when people heard the Word of God they trembled and listened; but in Malachi's day when they heard the Word they challenged it; and in our day people changes the Word as they please.
Malachi alone focuses on the pain all this causes and on the fact that God hates it. He presents the wrong actions as a defilement of the holiness of God and His Laws.
Anyone who annul the distinction between God's chosen people and the heathen, by this very action he annihilates the distinction between the God of Israel and the idols of the heathen.
The sin is introduced as a treachery, which was paralleled with the word "abomination," before the sin is defined. The word "treachery" means a willful betrayal of confidence, trust or truth. One who is treacherous is a traitor, unreliable, and disloyal person. The term in Hebrew is "bah-gad," related to "garment."
The sin as an act, has greater implications over the spiritual background of the person committing the sin. It starts by becoming unfaithful to God, a traitor to His Covenant, and then followed by acts of violence, faithlessly reactions, and rebellion towards divine authority. The identity of guiltiness is mentioned in this order: Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. Israel is the name of the covenant people; Judah and Jerusalem are the center of the kingdom, and Jerusalem itself is the core or religious center of the nation. It wasn't a marginal problem arising among people who had no Scriptural training; instead it was located in the very center of the religious and political community. They brought idolatry into the family of Israel.
The very reason that God loathed the sin was that it "defiled the holiness" of God. The words "defile" and "profane" and "holiness" are cleverly put together -they are antonyms. "Holiness" means "distinct, set apart, separate" to God. "Defile" means "common, profane, separated from sanctuary" or from God.
The treacherous people made common that which was to be distinct.
God loves Zion and prohibits idolatry from the sanctuary. He called Israel "a holy nation" and "His sanctuary. God made them one nation and He loves His nation Israel. God established the marriage laws for the people He loves in order that they might be distinct to Him and to the rest of the world.

ORIGEN OF AFRICAN RACE.

T Sahara runs from East to West across the widest part of Africa, a vast desert dividing the continent into 2 main regions. North Africa consists of the Mediterranean coast from Morocco to Egypt and includes the Valley of Nile River as far as South as Ethiopia. South of the Sahara is the region inhabited by black Africans. They, in the past, had relatively little contact with the rest of the world.
Myths and legends developed in Africa, South of the Sahara, over thousands of years. About 7,000 years ago, the ancestors of Hot'Tent'Ot and the Bush'Men (hunter-gatherers), began moving from the Sahara toward Southern Africa. These people were part of the Khoi'San group (San, Khwe, Sho, Bush'Men, Bas'Ar'Wa) and are related to the traditionally pastoral Khoi'Khoi.
A broad study of African genetic diversity completed in 2009 found the San people were among the 5 populations with the highest measured level of genetic diversity among 121 distinct African populations sampled. The San are one of 14 known extant "ancestral population clusters" from which all known modern humans evolved. Their blood contains some of the oldest genetic markers, in a relatively pure form, found on Earth. All humankind can be traced back to the African continent. More recent analysis suggests that the San may have been isolated from other original ancestral groups for as much as 100,000 years and then rejoined at a later date, re-integrating the human gene pool.
The Bush'Men's Y-chromosomal DNA haplo-group (type A) is one of the oldest, splitting off around 70,000 years ago from those found in the rest of humanity (type BT)
The most important thing in the lives of the San people is water. Droughts can last for many months and water-holes may dry up. When this happens, they use sip wells. To get water this way, a San will scrape a deep hole where the sand is damp. Into this hole will be put a long hollow grass stem. An empty ostrich egg is used to collect the water. Water is sucked into the straw from the sand, into the mouth, and then travels down another straw into the ostrich egg. Villagers move constantly in search of budding greens to formalize rings, and in dry season they congregate around permanent water-holes.
Historically evidence shows that certain Bush'Men communities have always lived in the desert regions of the Kalah'Ari. Parallels between hunter-gatherers in Southern Africa and the Americas shows that healers, or ritual specialists, deliberately force themselves into a trance in which they travel to the spirit world. The visions they experienced on these journeys are very complex and the activity itself was taken and still is for the good of the community. They reason they go to the spirit world is to entreat with their guardian entities for the lives of the sick, to make rain, and control the movements of the game animals.
All humans have the capacity to see geometric shapes, because they are hardwired in the brain. As the trance deepens, and the subject tries to make sense of the shapes, they change into things which are governed by the particular culture in which that healer works. Coupled with this are experiences such as changing into animals. Going into deep ancient caves is likened to going into a deep trance. Some contain images of figures which are half human and half animal. The images likely derived from visions they had experienced at special ceremonies.
The people of Africa did not use written language until modern times. Instead, they possessed rich and complex oral traditions, passing myths, legends, and history from generation to generation in spoken form. Written accounts of African mythology began to appear in the early 1800s, and present-day scholars labor to record the continent's myths and legends before they are lost to time and cultural change.

THE ANCIENT JERICHO.

Jericho started as a popular camping ground for the hunter-gatherers dating to 10,000 BC. It wasn't until the cold and drought caused by the last Ice Age came to an end around 9,600 BC that year-round habitation and permanent settlements began in the Jordan Valley (the area also contain the Dead Sea).
Jericho is the lowest city in the world, at 258m/846ft below sea level (the lowest place on Earth is the Dead Sea, the surface of which is over 400m/1300ft below sea level). Jericho also is the oldest and continuously inhabited city in the world.
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho, the first of which dates back 11,000 years (9,000BC). The town, which was about 6 acres (2.5 hectares) in size, preceded the wall by about 500 years. It is situated on the Ein As-Sultan spring (later called Elisha's Spring) supplying it with water. By about 9,400 BC the settlement grew to include more than 70 homes. These round mud-brick houses measured 5m/16ft in diameter, yet no street planning.
Archaeological evidence reveals that by 8,000 BC, the site grew to 40,000 square meters / 430,000 square feet and was surrounded by a stone wall 3.6m/11,8ft high and 1,8m/5.9ft wide at the base. Inside the wall was a stone tower 8.5m/28ft high and 9m/30ft wide at the base. The tower had an internal staircase with 22 steps.
After a few centuries, the first settlement was abandoned. Around 7,000BC, a second settlement was established by an invading people that absorbed the original inhabitants into their culture. Buildings were rectilinear structures made also of mud-bricks. Each building consisted on several rooms situated around a central courtyard. The greatest distinction of this culture was that they kept the heads of deceased relatives by plastering the skulls and painting the features of the person on it. These skulls were kept in the home and the rest of the body was buried. This settlement lasted until about 6,000BC. There is then little evidence of occupation at Jericho for at least 1,000 years.
At the end of the 4th millennium BC evidence shows that the walls have been rebuilt many times. The largest of these settlements was constructed in 2,600 BC by the Amorites. It was taken over by the Canaanites in 1,900 BC and reached it greatest prominence between 1700 BC and 1,550BC. The rise of the aristocracy caused a greater urbanization in the surrounding area, including Jericho. By this time, there were two walls around the city in a double enclosure made of mud-brick. The outside wall rested on top of a stone base. Though they were impressive in size, they were not stable. It fell in the 16th century around 1573 BC by an earthquake. Then it remained unoccupied until the late 10th century when it was rebuilt.
According to the Scriptural story, at around 1,400 BC, Jericho was the first city attacked by the Israelites after they crossed the Jordan River and entered Canaan. Joshua 6: "Now Jericho was shut up from within and from without because of the people of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have given into your hand Jericho, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for 6 days. And 7 priests shall bear 7 trumpets of rams' horns before the Ark; and on the 7th day you shall march around the city 7 times, the priests blowing the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him.' "
When the city was destroyed, a curse was pronounced upon its rebuilding, to the effect that the man who should do so would lay Foundation in his oldest son and set up the Gates in his youngest son (Joshua 6). 1 Kings 16 reveals that Joshua's curse did come true during the time of King Ahab: "Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abi'Ram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to then Word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua son of Nun."
Modern-day Jericho is an important historical, cultural, and political center located North West of the Dead Sea. Located in the disputed West Bank region of Israel, it has been ceded to Palestinian control as part of recent treaty agreements.

THE SONS OF AMMON.

Amm'On was an ancient nation occupying the East of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arn'On and Jab'Bok, in present-day Jordan. The chief city of the country was Rabb'Ah, site of the modern city of Amm'An, Jordan's capital.
According to the Scripture, Mo'Ab and Amm'On were born to Lot, Abraham's nephew, and Lot's elder and younger daughter, respectively. Lot settled in the city of Sodom. When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorr'Ah because of their wickedness, Lot and his daughters fled to the hill country on the Southern end of the Dead Sea. The daughters, thinking they were the only people left on earth, got their father drunk and had incestuous relations with him to produce children. The older daughter had a son named Mo'Ab (from father) and the younger gave birth to Ben-Ammi (son of my people). The Ammonites, descendants of Ben-Ammi, were a nomadic people who occupied the Northern Central Trans-Jordania Plateau from the latter part of the 2nd millennium BC to at least the 2nd century CE. The name of the modern capital city, Amm'An, reflects the name of those ancient inhabitants.
In the time of Moses, the fertile plains of the Jordan River valley were occupied by the Amor'Ites, Ammon'Ites and Moab'Ites. When Israel left Egypt, the Ammon'Ites refused to assist them in any way, and god punished them for their lack of support (Deuteronomy 23). Later, however, as the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God instructed them, "When you approach the territory of the people of Amm'On, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Amm'On as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession"(Deut. 2). The Israelites tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of Manas'Seh claimed the Amor'Ite territory bordering that of the Ammon'Ites.
Moloch, god of the Ammonites, a deity of perverted cruelty, was a fire-god with the face of a calf. He was also known by the names Molech, Milcom, Malcham, and for the Moab'Ites he was the god named Chemosh. Moloch was worshiped in Tophet, a city nearby Jerusalem. Moloch was honored with human sacrifices. His images had arms outstretched to receive the babies who were sacrificed to him. People would burn their children in fire as a form of sacrifice while others would let their infants pass through the fire as a form of dedication. Like their god, the sons of the Ammonites were cruel. When Nah'Ash the Ammon'Ite was asked for terms of a treaty (1Sam11) he proposed gouging out the right eye of each Israelite man. Amos 1 says that the Amon'Ites would rip open pregnant women in the territories they conquered.
God commanded the Israelites not to marry these people, because intermarriage would lead His people to worship false gods. Solomon disobeyed and married Naam'Ah (1Kings 14)and, as God had warned, he was drawn to idolatry (1Kings 11).
1 Kings 11: 5 "King Solomon followed other gods like Ash'Toreth of Sid'On and Moloch of Amm'On.
1 King 11:33 "King Solomon's kingdom torn down for worshiping other gods like Ash'Toreth of Sidon and Chemosh of Moab and Moloch of Amm'On and for disobedience with the Laws and Decrees that David, his father, had kept."
Amos 5:26 and Acts 7:43 says, "People were reminded to repent of worshiping the tabernacle of Moloch and Chiun as their persona of God, which they made to themselves."
Leviticus 20:2 "Members of the community are to stone to death any Israelites or residents of Israel who surrenders their children to Moloch."
Under King Saul's leadership, Israel defeated the Ammon'Ites and made them vassals. David continued that sovereignty over Ammon and later besieged the capital city to solidify his control. After the split of Israel and Judah, the Ammon'Ites began to ally themselves with the enemies of Israel. Ammon regained some sovereignty in the 7th BC, until Nebuchadnezz'Ar conquered them about 100 years later. By the new Testament times, Jews had settled in the area, and it was known as Perea. Sometime during Roman period, the Ammon'Ites seem to have been absorbed into Arab society.

THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE OLD TRADE CITIES.

Mari was a city-state located on the Euphrates river Western bank in Northern Mesopotamia (now Eastern Syria). The city flourished as a trade center and hegemonic state between 2,900 BC and 1,759 BC. The city's ruins are located at modern-day "Tell Hariri" in Eastern Syria.
One of the earliest known planned cities, as a purposely built city, Mari is believed to have been founded as a trade club, and copper and bronze smelting centre, between Babylonia in Southern  Mesopotamia and the resource-rich Taurus Mountains of modern Turkey.
Mari is an example of complex urban planning and is believed to have entirely planned out prior to its actual construction by another unknown but very complex society. This is evident in Mari's overall design as it was built as two concentric rings, the outer ring intended to protect the city from occasional and violent floods of the Euphrates, and the inner ring designed to defend against attackers. After digging a canal to connect two bends of the river, they used the earth from this to raise the perfectly circular area that would form the heart of this city and through which this canal passed. Fortifications were constructed and the grand capital was enclosed within the two concentric circles, a design the city would retain for its entire 1,200-year history. The city's power was related to its position in the middle of the Euphrates trade routes; this position made it as intermediary between Summer in the South and the Levant in the North.
Mari served as the major centre of Northern Mesopotamia for 1,200 years until it was destroyed by Hammu'Rabi of Babylon between 1,760 BC and 1,757 BC and gradually eroded away from memory and quite literally -today only 1/3 of the city survives with the rest washed away by the Euphrates. The ancient river was around 4-6 km from the city but has since moved further East.
Hammu'Rabi (also known as Ammu'Rapi) reigned from 1792 to 1750 BC) was the 6th king of the Ammo'Rite First Dynasty of Babylon, assumed the throne from his father, Sin-Mub'Allit, and expanded the kingdom to conquer all of ancient Mesopotamia. The kingdom of Babylon comprised only the cities of Babyl'On, Kish, Sipp'Ar, and Bor'Sipp'Ar when he came to the throne but, through a succession of military campaigns, careful alliances made and broken when necessary, and political maneuvers, he held the entire region under Babyl'Onian control by 1750 BC. He sought to improve the lives of those who lived under his rule, and came to be a model for other cultures and is thought to have influenced the laws set down by Hebrews scribes, including those from the Scriptural Book of Exodus.
Hammurabi was an able administrator and canny imperialist, patient in the achievement of his goals. Upon taking the throne, he issued a proclamation forgiving people's debts and during the first 5 years of his reign further enhanced his popularity by piously renovating the sanctuaries of the gods, especially Marduk, Babyl'On patron. With his power at home secure and his military forces primed, he began a 5 year-series of campaigns against rival states to the South and East, expanding his territory.
With the Southern part under control, Hammu'Rabi turned North and West. The Ammorite kingdom of Mari in Syria had long been an ally of Ammorite Babyl'On, and Hammu'Rabi strategically continued friendly relations with the king Zim'Ri-Lim (1761-1755 BC). Zim'Ri-Lim had led successful military campaigns through the North and, owing to the wealth generated from these victories, Mari had grown to be the envy of other cities with one of the largest and most opulent palaces in the region. Mari was an important, luxurious, and prosperous trade center on the Euphrates River and possessed great riches and water rights. Hammu'Rabi wanted to hold the city directly, instead of having to negotiate for resources. He struck swiftly at Mari in 1761BC and destroyed it instead of simply conquering it. Others cities were absorbed into the kingdom and repaired and improved upon. Hammu'Rabi wanted Babylon to be the head and the greatest of the Mesopotamian cities and Mari was a definite rival for this honor. From Mari, Hammu'Rabi marched on Ash'Ur and took the region of Assyria and finally Esh'Nun'Na (also conquered by damming up of the waters). A popular title applied to him in his lifetime "Bani Matim,"
"Builder of the Land," because of the many building projects and canals he ordered constructed throughout the region. The prologue to his famous law code begins:
"When the lofty Anu (sky god who was later viewed as the father of the gods and ruler of the heavens), King of the Annun'Aki and Bel, Lord of Heaven and Earth, he who determines the destiny of the land, committed the rule of all mankind to Marduk, when they pronounced the lofty name of Babyl'On, when they made it famous among the quarters of the world and in its midst established an everlasting kingdom whose foundations were firm as heaven and earth -at that time Anu and Bel called me, Hammu'Rabi, the exalted prince, the worshiper of gods, .... Hammu'Rabi, the governor named by Bel, am I, who brought about plenty and abundance."
The Ammon'Ite city of Mari is believed to have been constructed along with a 10 km long man-made "linking canal" that once cut through it and provided water, essential for the city's existence as the city itself was too far from the Euphrates for daily water retrieval on foot and the ground water seemed too salty for wells. The canal also gave easy access for trading ships traveling on the river. Two other substantial canals were constructed by the city's builders. One was an irrigation canal, 16 km long and 100 m wide, and the other was a 126 km long navigational canal which ran past Mari on the opposite side of the river and allowed boats to bypass the winding Euphrates in favor of a straight passage -Mari controlled the entry points and profited from tolls.
The earliest examples of certain Syro-Mesopotamian technologies were excavated by archaeologists at the ruins of the city, those include the wheel and plumbing. Mari was built so that the whole city sloped down gradually downwards, and the streets had complex drainage systems. This meant rainwater from the occasional torrential rains could be safely drained out of the city without risking the damage to the buildings which were all made from mud-brick.
Mari was unearthed in 1933CE by a local Bedouin who found a statue and informed the French government -this was a period when Syria was controlled by France. Since then, Mari has been a French-excavated site, with most of the literature on the site published in French. Excavators uncovered over 1,500 tablets, many of these concentrated in the Great Royal Palace, but many also came from private homes. These tablets helps to recreate the ancient Syrian trading world in great detail.
Since 2012CE Mari has faced extensive looting, the impact of which is not yet known.

THE JUDGE NAMED SAMSON.

Samson (Shim'shon = Man of the Sun) was the last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, before the institution of the monarchy. He lived during a time of repeated conflict between Israel and Philistia. Philistia refers to the land of the Five Lords described in Joshua 13 and ! Samuel 6, comprising: Ash'Kelon, Ash'Dod, Ekr'On, Gath, and Gaza, in the South-Western Levant. They ruled major parts of Southern Canaan.
The Book of Judges covers the time between the conquest of the land described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the Books of Samuel, during which judges served as temporary leaders. The stories in the book follow a consistent pattern: the people become unfaithful to God and therefore because of losing His spiritual protection He has to deliver them into the hands of their enemies; the people repent and entreat God for mercy, which He sends in the form of a leader or champion (judge); the judge delivers the Israelites from oppression and then they prosper again, but soon they fall again into unfaithfulness and the cycle is repeated.
According to the Scripture, Man'Oah was of the tribe of Dan (Judge). They were allocated a coastal portion of the land. Dan was a son of Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Man'Oah lived in the city of Zorah (place of wasps) in the lower hill country of Judah. Zorah, situated on the crest of a hill overlooking the Valley of Sor'Ek, was the birthplace of Samson and also his burial place. Soreq is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in Judges 16 as the border between the ancient Philistines and the Tribe of Dan. Man'Oah married a woman (no name) who was barren. An angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her she would give birth a son. The child was to be dedicated from the womb as a Nazirite, which entailed restrictions on his diet, which the angel spelled out in detail. The wife believed; her husband was not there. Man'Oah prayed and the angel returned to instruct both of them. After the Angel of the Lord returned, Man'Oah asked him his name, but he said, "Why do you ask my name? it is beyond understanding."
Samson, a Nazirite, was born, and he was raised according to the provisions. When he was a young adult, he left the hills of his people to see the cities of Philistia. He fell in love with a Philistine woman from Timn"Ah, whom decided to marry, ignoring the objections of his parents. Samson was repeatedly seized by the "Spirit of the Lord," who blessed him with immense strength to aid himself against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats. When he was on his way to ask for the Philistine's woman's hand in marriage, he was attacked by a lion. Samson simply grabbed it and ripped it apart, as the Spirit of God divinely empowered him. However, Samson kept it a secret, not even mentioning the miracle to his parents. He arrived at the Philistine's house  and became bethroded to her. He returned home, then came back to Timn'Ah some time later for the wedding. On his way, Samson saw that bees had nested in the carcass of the lion and made honey. He ate a handful of the honey and gave some to his parents as they travelled with him to Timn'Ah (Philistine city in Canaan) for the wedding ceremony. The city of Timn'Ah is mentioned in Judges 14 and in connection with Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. It is strategically located in the Sorek Valley, an access point from the Coastal Plain through the Shephel'Ah and into the Central Judean Mountains. In Joshua 15, the city is mentioned as a point on the border of the Tribe of Judah. The Book of Judges refers to Timn'ah's vineyards.
At the wedding feast, Samson told a riddle to his 30 groomsmen (all Philistines). If they could solve it, he would give them 30 pieces of fine linen and garments, but if they could not solve it, they would give him 30 pieces of fine linen and garments. The riddle was a veiled account of 2 encounters with the lion, at which only he was present.
"Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet."Infuriated by the riddle the 30 groomsmen told Samson's wife that they would burn her and her father's household if she did not discover the answer and tell it to them. Samson told her the solution at her urgent and tearful imploring. She told it to the 30 groomsmen.
Before the sunset of the 7th day they said to him, "What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?" Samson said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle." Samson then traveled to Ash'Kelon where he slew 30 Philistines for their garments; he then returned and gave them to his 30 groomsmen. In a rage, Samson returned to his father's house. The family of his would-have-been bride instead gave her to one of the groomsmen as wife. Some time later Samson returned to Timn'Ah to visit his wife, unaware that she was now married to one of his former groomsmen. Her father refused to allow Samson to see her, offering to give Samson a younger sister instead. Samson went out, gathered 300 foxes and tied them together in pairs by their tales. He then attached a burning torch to each pair of foxes' tails and turned they loose in the grain fields and olive groves of the Philistines. They learned why Samson burned their crops and burned Samson's wife and father-in-law to death in retribution.
In revenge, Samson slaughtered many more Philistines, saying, 'I am done to them what they did to me' taking refuge in a cave in the rock of Etam. An army of Philistines came to the Tribe of Judah and demanded that 3,000 men of Judah deliver Samson to them. With Samson's consent, they tied him with 2 new ropes and were about to hand him over to the them when he broke free of the ropes. Using the jawbone of a donkey, Samson slew 1,000 Philistines.
Later, Samson travels to Gaza, the Philistines made it a part of their penta-polis after the Ancient Egytians had ruled it for nearly 350 years. He stays at a harlot's house. His enemies wait at the Gate of the city to ambush him, but he tears the Gate from its very hinges and frame and carries it to "the hill that is in front of Hebron (South of Jerusalem)."
Samson then falls in love with Delil'Ah in the Valley of Sorek. The Philistines approach Delil'ah and induce her with 1,100 silver coins to find the secret of Samson's strength so that they can capture their enemy, but Samson refuses to reveal the secret and teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength if he is bound with fresh bow strings. She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. She persists, and he tells her that he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. She asks again, and he says that he can be bound if his locks are woven into a weaver's loom. She weaves them into a loom, but he simply destroys the entire loom and carries it off when he wakes. Delil'Ah, however, persists and Samson finally wears down and tells Delil'Ah that God supplies His power because of his consecration to Him as a Nazirite, symbolized by the fact that a razor has never touched his head, and that if his hair is cut off he will lose his strength.
Delil'Ah then woos him to sleep "in her lap" and calls for a servant to shave his hair. Samson loses his strength and he is captured by the Philistines who blind him by gouging out his eyes. They then take him to Gaza, imprison him, and put him to work turning a large millstone and grinding corn.
One day the Philistine leaders assemble in a temple for a religious sacrifice to Dagon, one of their most important deities, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson so that people can watch him perform for them. The temple is so crowded that people are even climbing onto the roof to watch -and all rulers of the entire government of Philistia have gathered there too, some 3,000 people in all. Samson is led to into the temple, and he asks his captors to let him lean against the supporting pillars to rest. He prays for strength and God gives him strength to break the pillars, causing the temple to collapse, killing Samson and the people inside.
After his death, Samson's family recovered his body from the rubble and bury him near the tomb of his father Man'Oah. At the conclusion of Judges 16, it is said that Samson had "judged" Israel for 20 years. The Scripture does not mention the fate of Delil'Ah.