His wife had “pressed him hard” for the answer. That is, she was continually pressing him. Finally, at the “eleventh hour” on the seventh day, he relents and gives in. This points up that while he was physically strong before men, he was spiritually weak before women.
17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people.