A RIDDLE — something deliberately stated in a form that has to be worked out, not something merely obscure. In Numbers 12:8 (already on these pages) it names what Moses does NOT get: God speaks with him mouth to mouth and in plain sight, ‘and not in chidot’ — riddles being the ordinary channel, and directness the exception granted to one man. ⚠ The Greek Old Testament renders it ainigma, the word English took as ‘enigma’, and that is the word Paul reaches for at 1 Corinthians 13:12 (already on these pages) — we see now ‘in a riddle’. What Numbers holds up as the mark of Moses’ exceptional access, Paul restores as everyone else’s ordinary condition. See the Greek-side entry ainigma. The same noun elsewhere names Samson’s wedding puzzle and the Queen of Sheba’s hard questions (neither yet on these pages) — in ordinary use it is a contest word, not a mystical one. → first discussed at Num 12:8