Riddle

Riddle (חַידָה, chidah'; lit. complication, Jg 14; Eze 17:2; Sept. αἴνιγμα, πρόβλημα; Vulg. problema, propositio; A.V. elsewhere "dark saying," dark speech," "dark sentence," "hard question;" once [Hab 2:6] "proverb"). The Hebrew word is derived from a root cognate to an Arabic one meaning "to bend off," "to twist," and is used for artifice (Da 8:23), a proverb (Pr 1:6), a song (Ps 49:4; Ps 78:2), an oracle (Nu 12:8), a parable (Eze 17:2), and in general any wise or intricate sentence (Ps 94:4; Hab 2:6, etc.), as well as a riddle in our sense of the word (Jg 14:12-19). In these senses we may compare the phrases στροφὴ λόγων, στροφαὶ παραβολῶν (Wisd. 8, 8; Ecclesiastes 39:2), and περιπλοκὴ λόγων (Eurip. Phacn. 497), and the Latin scirpus, which appears to have been similarly used (Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. 12, 6). Augustine defines an enigma to be any "obscura allegoria" (De Trin. 15, 9), and points out, as an instance, the passage about the daughter of the horseleech in Pr 30:15, which has been elaborately explained by Bellermann in a monograph on the subject (AEnigmata Hebraica [Erf. 1798]). Many passages, although not definitely propounded as riddles, may be regarded as such — e.g. Pr 26:10, a verse in the rendering of which every version differs from all others. The riddles which the queen of Sheba came to ask of Solomon (1Ki 10:1; 2Ch 9:1) were rather "hard questions" referring to profound inquiries. Solomon is said, however, to have been very fond of the riddle proper, for Josephus (Ant. 8, 5, 3) quotes two profane historians (Menander of Ephesus, and Dius) to authenticate a story that Solomon proposed numerous riddles to Hiram, for the non- solution of which Hiram was obliged to pay a large fine, until he summoned to his assistance a Tyrian named Abdemon, who not only solved the riddles, but propounded others which Solomon was himself unable to answer, and consequently in his turn incurred the penalty. The word αἴνιγμα occurs only once in the New Test. (1Co 13:12, "darkly," ἐν αἰνίγματι; comp. Nu 12:8; Wettstein, N.T. 2, 158); but, in the wider meaning of the word, many instances of it occur in our Lord's discourses. Thus Erasmus applies the term to Mt 12:43-45. In the Apocrypha we find (Wisd. 47, 15) παραβολαῖς αἰνιγμάτων. The object of such implicated meanings is obvious, and is well explained by Augustine: "Manifestis pascimur, obscuris exercenmur" (De Doct. Christ. 2, 6). The word αἴνιγμα, taken in the extensive meaning of its root, αινος, certainly applies to an immense portion of the sacred writings — viz. as a narrative or tale, having an application to present circumstances; Odyss. (14, 508), a fable, bearing moral instruction; Hesiod, Oper. (p. 202), which nearly approaches to the nature of a parable, see PARABLE; a pointed sentence, saying, or proverb (Theocritus, 14, 13). See PROPHECY; see PROVERB. According to Lennep, the word αἴνιγμα, taken substantively, means "anything obscure." We know that all ancient nations, especially Orientals, have been fond of riddles (Rosenmüller, Morgenl. 3, 68). We find traces of the custom among the Arabs (Koran, 25, 35), and, indeed, several Arabic books of riddles exist — as Ketab el-Algaz in 1469, and a book of riddles solved, called Akd el-Themin. But these are rather emblems and devices than what we call riddles, although they are very ingenious. The Persians call them

Algaz and Maamma (D'Herbelot, s.v. "Algaz"). They were also known to the ancient Egyptians (Jablonski, Pantheon AEgypt. p. 48). They were especially used in banquets both by Greeks and Romans (Müller, Dor. 2, 392; Athen. 10, 457; Pollux, 6, 107; Gell. 18, 2), and the kind of witticisms adopted may be seen in the literary dinners described by Plato, Xenophon, Athenseus, Plutarch, and Macrobius (see Zorn, De Enigmatibus Nuptialibus [Lips. 1724]). Some have groundlessly supposed that the proverbs of Solomon, Lemuel, and Agur were propounded at feasts, like the parables spoken by our Lord on similar occasions (Lu 14:7, etc.).

Riddles were generally proposed in verse, like the celebrated riddle of Samson, which, however, was properly (as Voss points out, Instt. Oratt. 4, 11) no riddle at all, because the Philistines did not possess the only clue on which the solution could depend. For this reason Samson had carefully concealed the fact, even from his parents (Jg 14:14, etc.). Other ancient riddles in verse are that of the Sphinx, and that which is said to have caused the death of Homer by his mortification at being unable to solve it (Plutarch, Vit. Hom.).