After lots of weeping, Samson gave in.
“She wept before him seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressured him so hard. She then she told the riddle to the sons of her people” (14:17).
She betrayed him! He must’ve been pis-erm-angry. Yeah, angry. Grr.
And he was. His wife’s father, trying to protect her, gave her to another companion instead, but when Samson returned for her and discovered that he could not have her, he set out on what we would call, a jealous rampage of rage.
I think Judges 15:3 summarises Samson’s mind-set in this moment perfectly.
“Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.””
Oh man, what is this guy going to do. Blameless! It was his riddle which started this whole thing!
“Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. When he had set fire to the torches, he released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, thus burning up both the shocks and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and groves.” (Judges 15:4-5)
There are a few lessons to be learnt here in Samson’s conduct. The desire to “get even” seemed to govern Samson’s life. He lived his life with the belief, “As they did unto me, so have I done unto them” (15:11). Yes, he was called to be the defender of Israel and Samson’s purpose was to defeat the enemy; but instead of him fighting “the battles of the Lord” we are now seeing him engage in his own private wars.
Samson saw himself as “blameless”, regarding the treatment which he had received from his father-in-law as but one of the Philistines generally towards the Israelites. As a result, he resolved to avenge the wrong which he had received from one member of the Philistines upon the whole nation.
What you’re saying is got hurt by one and said they’re all dead to him. It’s kind of like the guy in year 10 who got his heart- actually never mind.
“There is a very significant omission here. It does not say that the Spirit of God either moved him or empowered him to do this. This was not divine judgment, it was the venting of Samson’s personal resentment and anger.” (Precept Austin)
But today, we are not really able to act as reckless as Samson. Nor do we even have the means. I am not as powerful as Samson; I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to.
Let us take a step back and reflect. Samson’s problem is not caused by his ability but rather by his mindset. He perceived his personal vengeance as justified, according to his calling. As Christians, we need to beware of hiding selfish motives under the cloak of religious zeal. We need to be careful if we are only looking to correct, or should I say judge, people when it benefits us. They say there is a very fine line between righteous indignation and a “religious temper tantrum”, and I would have to agree.
Continuing, when the Philistines saw their grain and vineyards burning up, they asked who started the fires. Once they discovered that Samson had targeted them out of anger for his Philistine wife, the Philistines turned against their own people and burned both Samson’s wife and her father.
Violence breeds violence, what an ending to this arc.
Actually, it doesn’t end there.
Oh no, what did he do?
This, of course, made Samson even angrier.
“Samson said to them, “Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will quit.” He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.” (Judges 15:7-8)
Okay, so he killed them, and went to go live in a cave? To do what? Watch the sun rise on a grateful universe? Giving me strong Thanos vibes here. This must be its rightful end.
Well, after a number of events, we find Samson bound with two new ropes (may I say, willingly) and offered to the Philistines, almost as a peace offering, and then this happens…
“When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it.” (Judges 15:14-15)
I know this is a lot of detail about the earlier part of his life, but while reading it, I couldn’t ignore it and jump straight into the Delilah stuff.
Anyways, we will end this arc with what I would like to call, Samson’s Championship Speech:
Then Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men.” (Judges 15:16)
The next 20 year of Samson’s life are not recorded for us in the Bible, but personally, I would not be surprised if it was more or less consistent with what we’ve seen so far of his character, and hence there was no need to further push the point. Despite not seeing much of his years, we do know that Samson fulfilled his role as judge over Israel, just as he had been created to do.
“So, he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.” (Judges 15:20)
When we pick up with Samson again, some 20 or so years later, we find him up to his same old routine, engaging in conversation with a woman, a Harlot.
My Sunday Skl 