Judges 14:15

‘ And so it was that on the seventh day they said to Samson's wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the solution to the riddle, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us so as to take what we have? Is that not so?”'

Time passed by. It passed not only a ‘three day' period but a ‘seven day' period, a longer standard period of time (compare the ‘three days' journey and the ‘seven days' journey so often found in Genesis). We must remember that the Philistines had no concept of what we know of as a week. That was an Israelite conception.

Then the men began to panic and the situation turned ugly. They could not bear the thought of losing their fine and expensive clothing to an Israelite. (Samson had succeeded in antagonising them. What he had not considered was how they would react). So they pressurised Samson's ‘wife', warning her that if she did not entice the answer out of him by the time the wedding feast was over they would burn her father's house with her inside it (compare Judges 12:1. This was clearly considered a standard punishment by powerful men offended. See also Judges 15:6). These were not pleasant men and their pride was hurt. And they were the warrior ruling class. They accused her of bringing them there with the intention of taking their fine clothes. The threat was real, compare Judges 15:6. We see here the typical Philistine male, proud, aggressive and unyielding, and with a contempt for all others.

It would appear that it was customary in a Philistine marriage for the wife to continue living in her father's house, being regularly visited by the husband who would bring a gift when he visited (see Judges 15:1 where she was still there even though she had married another and would thus have been otherwise expected to have moved in with him). This was probably because regularly the husbands would be away on army duty, and it was therefore safer for their wives to be in her family home. Alternately it may be that the husband was expected to move into the bride's house and become a part of her family. If that be so we find that later Samson, not having done this, brought a gift to rectify matters. Thus she would still be living at home when the wedding was over.