Judges 14-15

"The Wedding of the Deliverer"



Samson is the most gifted judge in the whole book.

He is called from the womb,

and empowered with extraordinary gifts by the LORD,

but he accomplishes less than any other judge in the book.

He has a few magnificent individual victories,

but he never finishes the job.

He "begins" to defeat the Philistines, but never leads Israel to triumph.



Judges 14-15 tells one story (concluded in 15:20)

The key to the whole story is 14:4

"His father and mother did not know that was from the LORD,

for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines."

This is rooted in verse 25 of chapter 13-

the Spirit of the LORD is stirring in Samson-even though it takes a rather odd form.



1. "Go Down" Samson (13:25-14:20)

For one in whom the Spirit of the LORD is stirring,

Samson does not appear to be a very good role model.

He sees this Philistine gal, and tells his parents, "get her for me as my wife."

Manoah and his wife could not have been too pleased.

Their response in verse 3 makes it clear that they don't think much of his choice.

Especially for a Nazirite-this is not going to be very conducive to his keeping his vows.

But his response is blunt: "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes."

(Only two chapters from now we will begin to hear the refrain,

"In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes"

Samson is setting the tone)

There is no indication that Samson is aware of the Spirit's moving.

His interactions with the Philistines (at least at the beginning)

appear to be entirely selfish.

But God's purposes are different.

Israel is living at ease under Philistine oppression-

the seed of the woman is willing to yield authority to the seed of the serpent,

and refuses to live as the Son of God.

God will use this comfortable status quo in order to upset the status quo.



Samson, this selfish young man-intent on his own pleasures-

will unwittingly become the agent of God's judgment





So Samson and his parents go down to Timnah to meet the woman.

This phrase "go down" is used five times in this chapter,

four times to refer to Samson or his father "going down" to Timnah,

and once to refer to Samson "going down" to Ashkelon.

Apparently Samson and his parents were separated,

because he is alone when a lion came roaring towards him.

Where was he?

The vineyards of Timnah-and Samson was a Nazirite who was forbidden

to eat any product of the grape.

But it is here that the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him-

not just "came" but "rushed"!

The Spirit of God infuses Samson with superhuman strength,

and he tore the lion in pieces as one might tear a young goat.

Then he continues his journey-perhaps thinking, "no one would believe me!"

And he spoke to the young woman, "and she was right in Samson's eyes."

So the wedding is arranged.

Some days later, he returns to marry her, and finds a honeycomb in the carcass of the lion.

Bees do not ordinarily inhabit cadavers (flies and maggots normally do).

So this is plainly another divine sign.

But Samson fails the test.

Not only does he touch the cadaver-something forbidden to a Nazarite,

but he also eats something unclean

(contact with a dead body renders anything unclean)

and offers unclean food to his parents.

They had consecrated him; now he defiles them.



So Samson prepares a feast-a seven day drinking party-(as was customary for bridegrooms).

What's the problem?

It would appear that Samson is involved in partaking of wine-

a product of the grape.

Once again our hero is set on violating all the requirements of his Nazirite vow!



But the Philistines do not appear to like Samson all that much.

They appoint 30 "companions" to be with him--

This is not likely a friendly gesture-and Samson does not take it as one.

The terms that he sets for answering his riddle are not well-designed to make friends-

clothing wasn't cheap-

and he sets them a riddle that they have no hope of solving:

"Out of the eater came something to eat.

Out of the strong came something sweet."



[all three riddles in this chapter are two-lines of three words each]



After three days of frustration they come to his wife and blackmail her:

if you don't get the answer, we'll burn you and your father's house with fire.

They even insinuate that she is in on the plot-"have you (pl) invited us here to impoverish us?"

(Literally, to "dispossess us"-this hints at God's intention in the matter:

his purpose is indeed to dispossess the Philistines and establish his people in the land)



So she begins to coax and wheedle Samson.

He puts her off, suggesting that he hasn't even told his parents the answer.

But if you loved me you would tell me the answer!

"You hate me; you do not love me!"

How many men could resist that for four days?!

So he finally gives in.

And so by sundown of the seventh day, Samson's riddle comes back at to haunt him:

"What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?"

While in its most straightforward sense, this is the answer to Samson's riddle,

in the light of the context, there is a double meaning:

What is sweeter than honey? -the love of a woman

What is stronger than a lion? -remember who killed the lion with his bare hands!

And yet, even Samson is but putty in the hands of a woman!



Furious, Samson responds with another two-liner of 3 words each,

if you had not plowed with my heifer,

you would not have solved my riddle!

(And no, calling your wife a heifer in Hebrew doesn't sound any better than it does in English!)

(It's the word "eglah"-remember Eglon!)

Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him,

clothing him with divine power,

and he stormed 20 miles to Ashkelon,

slaughtered 30 Philistines, gave their garments to the "companions,"

and returned in anger to his father's house.

Since Samson did not seem to be interested in the girl,

her father gave her to one of the "companions" instead.



The whole picture makes more sense if you see Samson as the representative Israelite:

Samson (Israel) is trying to arrange a mixed marriage with pagans;

Israel is trying to live at peace with the uncircumcized.

But the pagan woman has betrayed her husband,

the husband is calling his wife names,

and the father-in-law has given his daughter to another man.

God will not allow his son to become like the nations.

He will instead use the occasion to provoke war between the seed of the woman

and the seed of the serpent.



2. "Do Unto Others..." (15:1-20)



Samson's Vengeance (15:1-8)



But Samson doesn't realize yet what is to come.

He thinks that after cooling down he can come back to his wife.

He brings a young goat along as a present to soften her mood (no doubt she'll be quite upset!)

But he discovers instead that her father has given her to one of his "companions."

Hoping to placate Samson, he offers him her younger sister as "more beautiful than she!"

But no one tells Samson how to find a wife!

Enraged, he declared,

"This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm."



First, he catches 300 foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs, and set a torch between every pair of tails.

*these are probably actually jackals*

Why he would choose this method is something of a mystery,

but it is fitting with the guerilla tactics he uses throughout his life.

The result is massive destruction to the Philistines grain and olive groves.

Predictably, the Philistines were furious,

but rather than go after Samson,

they take it out on the Timnite and Samson's wife.

Recognizing that Samson was merely acting in response to his father-in-law,

they burn the Timnite and his daughter with fire-

thus bringing upon her the very fate that she thought she had avoided

by telling the answer to Samson's riddle to the thirty companions.

But this is a story of ironies upon ironies.

Because the death of his wife does not make Samson happy!

Far from it!

Enraged even more, he declares (verse 7)

After great slaughter, he flees to the cleft of the rock of Etam in Judah.



The Israelites Hide from the Philistines (15:9-13)



But even as Samson hides from the Philistines,

the Israelites-and especially here the Judahites-

are also hiding from the Philistines.

They don't want any conflict.



A greater warrior has arisen than any in their history-

but they will not follow him.

All they want is to live in peace and avoid conflict with the Philistines.



So when the Philistines come looking for Samson,

the Judahites quickly fold and promise to go find him.

They become the messengers and servants of the Philistines.

The Philistines have come "to do to him as he did to us"--

he has wreaked havoc on them, they now wish to bring similar evil upon him.

And they send 3,000 men (possibly 3 contingents of men) to get him.

Either way, it is a lot of men to capture one man-

they recognized that Samson will be a hard man to bring down.

Rather than send 3,000 men against the Philistines

(remember the 300 that defeated Midian?!)

they go to find the great Samson and hand him over to those who wish to kill him.

They will sacrifice the divinely appointed leader in order to preserve the status quo.

(Think of the priests handing over Jesus-better for one man to die, than the nation!)



They ask Samson "what have you done to us?"

(Why have you provoked the Philistines?)

His answer is, "I merely did to them what they did to me."

How ironic!

The Philistines have come to "do unto Samson as he did unto them"

but Samson merely "did unto the Philistines" what they had done to him!

Where will the cycle of revenge end?



So Samson yields to the Judahites-but only on the promise that they will not kill him.

So they bind him with new ropes (the point is that these were not flimsy old ropes),

and hand him over the Philistines.



The "Great Salvation" of Samson (15:14-20)



When the Philistines see him, they come shouting,

but the Spirit of the LORD rushes upon him again.

The ropes became as flax that has caught fire,

and his bonds melted off his hands.

And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey

(The adjective "fresh" suggesting that he was once again breaking his Nazirite vow

by touching a corpse)

and with it slaughtered 1,000 men.

(Remember Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad in 3:31)

Samson's song is clever (since donkey and heap are spelled the same in Hebrew:

"hamor"),

but he does not seem to acknowledge God in his song of triumph.

Then he threw away the jawbone-and the place was called Ramath-lehi (Hill of the Jawbone).

What is Jawbone Hill?

A hill where the battle took place?

Or the heap of Philistine bodies!



And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said,

"You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant,

and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"

God will not allow Samson to remain so cocky.

By driving him to thirst, he forces Samson to acknowledge that God is the author of

"this great salvation."

Samson is replaying the part of Israel in the wilderness,

after the great redemption at the Red Sea Israel grumbles about not having water.

Jonah will be put in a similar situation-parched by the sun-

as well as Elijah in the wilderness.

But Samson plays his part perfectly,

he is focused on himself and does not appreciate the truly marvelous thing

that God has done.

Like Israel before him-and like Jonah and Elijah after him-

he grumbles and complains,

fearing that he will fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.

Of course, if all had gone according to his plans,

he would be married to a Philistine woman right now!



But God heard his voice and split open the hollow place at Lehi, and water came out from it,

and he drank and his spirit returned and he revived.

Therefore he called it "En-Hakkore" The spring of him who called.

When Hagar-the Egyptian-experienced a similar blessing, she called the spring,

"the well of the living one who sees me"

but Samson calls this well after himself-the one who called!



And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

The earlier judges delivered their people from their enemies,

and then judged Israel in peace.

But Samson never finishes the job,

and he judges Israel "in the days of the Philistines."

Conclusion

Samson does not get off to a very good start as a deliverer.

Rather than fight the Philistines, he tries to marry one!

But God uses that as the occasion to set Samson off on his course.



Samson does not set us a very good example.

He tries to "fit in" to the culture of the dominant power of the age.

Of course the Judahites of his day are no better.

They have found their own way of making peace.

They are more pious than he-but they want to live at peace with the Philistines as well.

They don't want to have anything to do with their Philistine overlords,

so they will hand over Samson to them, rather than fight.



Under King Saul Israel will begin to fight,

but only King David will finish the job.

He will cast down the cities of the Philistines and reassert the reign of God over his people.



But unwittingly, Samson points us forward to Christ.

Samson is a great hero who embodies the history of Israel.

In all sorts of flawed ways, he points forward to one who would flawlessly embody Israel.



Psalm 45 and the true wedding of the Son of God



We need a king.

But not just any old king.

We need a king who will not seek what is right in his own eyes,

but one who will seek what is right in God's eyes-

and not a king who merely does what is right alone, by himself,

but one who will lead us to do what is right in God's eyes!



Samson is a bad example of how to live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

The best example is Jesus!

Jesus-the one who was what Israel was supposed to be!

A kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

We are now that royal priesthood in Christ.

And that means that we are to mediate the blessings of Christ to those around us.

But it also means that we are to be messengers of death.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession,

and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God

among those who are being saved

and among those who are perishing,

to one a fragrance from death to death,

to the other a fragrance from life to life."

To some you will smell like life.

To others you will smell like death.

You cannot please everyone-so don't bother trying!