turn in your Bibles to Judges chapter 14 as we continue our study in this book. Specifically, we're in the Samson cycle. Remember that God raises up men to deliver Israel from their oppressors. This is the main section of the book of Judges.
It starts in chapter 3 at verse 7 and continues to chapter 16, verse 31. So Samson is the last of the Judges referred to or written of. in this particular book. The last few chapters are appendices, basically to illustrate how wicked life was during the time of the judges. Remember here in Judges 14, or last week in Judges 13, we saw the birth of Samson, his supernatural birth.
The angel of the Lord comes to his mother, who was barren, and promises a son. And then she does bring forth a son They call his name Samson. According to chapter 13, verse 24, the child grew and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahana Dan, between Zorah and Eshter.
And then in chapters 14 and 15, the narrative takes place, or the activity takes place in Timna. And then in chapter 16, it takes place in Gaza. Remember that the pressing agent is the Philistines. And tonight, as we study chapter 14, we'll see the beginning of God's deliverance from the oppression of the Philistines.
So beginning in chapter 14 at verse 1. Now Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore, get her for me as a wife.
Then his father and mother said to him, is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, get her for me, for she pleases me well. But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, that he was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him, and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.
After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. He took some of it in his hands and went along eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate.
But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. So his father went down to the woman, and Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so. And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought 30 companions to be with him. Then Samson said to them, let me pose a riddle to you.
If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing. And they said to him, pose your riddle that we may hear it. So he said to them, out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.
Now for three days they could not explain the riddle. But it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson's wife, entice your husband that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?
Then Samson's wife wept on him and said, you only hate me. You do not love me. You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me. And he said to her, look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother.
So should I explain it to you? Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people.
So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, what is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, if you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle.
So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his best man. Amen. I just love this guy.
Samson's great.
Introduction and Outline
So basically what we have in this particular section, as I said, it's set in Timnah. We have first the divine design behind Samson's marriage, verses 1 to 4. Secondly, the spiritual empowerment of God's deliverer in verses 5 to 9. And then the small beginnings of God's deliverance in verses 10 to 20.
So the main plot, of course, is Samson's marriage to the Timnite. Subplot, or a secondary plot, is this incident with the lion. Of course, the lion incident provides much, or provides explanation for the riddle and the things that go on in the actual marriage, or time of his marriage. to this particular woman. So we'll look at this under those three headings and try and make some observations or some practical lessons along the way.
Divine Design Behind Samson's Marriage
Note first, with reference to the divine design behind Samson's marriage, verses 1 to 4, Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines." This is common in this particular chapter. He went down. Verses 1, 5, 7, 10, and 19. The very end it says, then he went up to his father's house.
And so the narrative seems to have this sort of a structure to it. It's his movement, it's his action, it's what he thinks, it's what he says. Notice that he sees a woman. He has a desire for a particular woman.
He saw one woman of Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now, therefore, get her for me as a wife. Now, the prohibition in Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy 7 was against marriage specifically to the Canaanites.
But the principal reason was because when they married the Canaanites, they would be led astray to worship the Canaanites' gods. And so the same principle is at play here. The Philistines worship Dagon, and so what he is doing here is outside of the boundary. He ought not to be pursuing this wife, at least in terms of his parents' concern for him.
Now we know, as we read through specifically in verse 4, that this is of the Lord. Notice in chapter 13, verse 25, the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him. And then in chapter 14, 4, but his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord. We see God's sovereignty working through this man's desires for a particular woman in Timnah.
We need to understand that God's sovereignty overrules every aspect of life. And in fact, in this particular chapter, it's almost like a soap opera in Timnah, if it wasn't the fact that God the Lord was present and overruling all these things. We have marriage, we have a nagging wife, We have a bitter father-in-law. We have a lion.
We have all kinds of things that make for a very intriguing story about life in Timna if we didn't have the reality that a sovereign God is working through all of these events to orchestrate his particular plan to bring deliverance to the children of Israel from the oppression that is brought to them via the Philistines. So he sees the woman, he wants the woman, and he's reproved then by his parents in verse 3. Then his father and mother said to him, is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren? Isn't there a nice Hebrew girl that you'd like to settle down with?
Isn't there somebody a little bit closer to home that you'd like to marry and raise children with? We want to make sure that our grandchildren are not half uncircumcised Philistines. We want to make sure that they have the seal and the approval of the God of heaven and earth, the God of Israel. That is essentially what they are saying here.
Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren or among all my people that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines." So they're pleading with him. They reprove him. They're rebuking him. They want him to keep within the Hebrew nation or the Israelite nation and marry one of those particular girls.
But he was determined to have this particular woman. Notice 3b. Samson said to his father, get her for me, for she pleases me well. As we pointed out last week, look at your marginal reading if you've got the New King James.
She is right in my eyes. That will come up later twice in the Book of Judges. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. They did what was pleasing to them.
And so Samson does not listen to his parents at this particular juncture, But what we find in verse 4 is the reality that this situation was of the Lord. Again, I think there's comfort here. I'll read a quote in just a moment. Sometimes our children may do things that we have not told them to do.
Sometimes they may depart from the way that is well-pleasing in our sight. Sometimes they make decisions that we would consider to be very ignorant, very foolish, and very wrong. Samson's parents were not wrong to intervene in this particular juncture. They were not wrong to suggest to Samson that he find a girl among the people of Israel.
But we see that there is a larger scheme going on. There is a larger plan behind all of this. Remember that Israel was content with Philistine oppression. Israel had gotten to the place where they didn't cry out about the oppression of the Philistines.
We see in chapter 15 that the people from Judah themselves are willing to deliver the deliverer over into the hands of the Philistines because they don't want to rock the boat. They don't want to mess with the status quo. And so what God does is he tries, or he doesn't try, he purposes to bring friction between Israel and the Philistines. And that's what verse 4 tells us.
It says, but his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord. This whole idea that Samson wanted this woman from Timnah. And note specifically that he, God, was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
And again, we have to marvel at the mysterious ways and the purposes of our God. He doesn't just send Samson in against the Philistines with guns blazing. He sends Samson in there and gives him a hankering for this particular woman to marry her and then to start this series of events. What we find here in chapter 14 culminates in chapter 15 at verses 19 and 20.
The first down payment is only 30 men at the end of chapter 14 from Ashkelon, but then the destruction of Philistines extends out from that. So you see, God starts with very small beginnings. as a marriage to a Philistine woman ends with Samson being the deliverer over Israel, crushing Philistine oppression and opposition. So his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord that God was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. The children of Israel were at peace with the Philistines.
The Lord would stir things up to break that oppression. The marriage of Samson to the Timnite woman was the occasion for God to move against the Philistines. And we see, of course, the Lord's sovereignty working through things that, at least on a surface level, appear to be very mundane, things that appear to be very garden variety. Here we see a Samson, and he desires this woman.
And Samson gets a great deal of bad press. I think he gets close to some situations, but I'm not sure that we can condemn him with all the sorts of things that commentators have heaped upon him over the years. He really isn't that bad of a guy. He is an imperfect man because there's only one perfect deliverer, and Samson points forward to him.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. But it says his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord. doesn't say that Samson didn't know that it was of the Lord. Samson is God's man doing God's bidding for God's purpose to stir up friction and tension with the Philistines so that God the Lord can bring these people under subjection to the Israelites. But just based on what the parents are observing.
As I mentioned, there's a wonderful lesson here, and I think Davis captures this well. He says, many Christian parents have stood in the sandals of Manoah and his wife. Sure, we could say all Christian parents. We've all told our kids good things that they should do.
You should do this. And then they go out and do just the opposite. You shouldn't do this. And they go out and do precisely that.
We've all given a laundry list of counsel to all of our children, and many times they have just thrown it to the wind and done what was right in their own eyes, right? Similar to what Samson's doing in this instance. Again, from the vantage point of Minoa and Missus. So he says, many Christian parents have stood in the sandals of Manoah and his wife.
They have, though realizing their own sinful inadequacies, faithfully taught, prayed for, disciplined, and loved a son or daughter only to see that child willfully turn from the way of the Lord. He says no one can deny it is anything but devastating, yet no one should forget verse four. But his father and his mother did not realize it was from Yahweh. Davis then says what we don't know may yet prove to be our deepest comfort.
While there's breath, there's hope. We ought never to give up. On a child, we ought never to say, I've done all I can do. Now he's going off into hell.
We pray. We're faithful. We continue to implore, beseech. But who knows if we don't have a 14-4 incident in our lives.
But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, that the Lord was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel. So Manoah and his wife try and tell Samson not to take a woman from the uncircumcised Philistines. Samson says, get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.
Probably this broke their heart. Probably this discouraged them. Probably they thought, where have we gone wrong? What have we done?
How did this turn out in such a bad way and in such a bad manner? But we have the blessed prerogative of verse 4 to realize that God is sovereign, even over the whims of a young man who wants a Timnite woman. And the Lord is going to use this as an occasion to bring salvation and deliverance to his battered down people, Israel. Truly is the divine design behind Samson's marriage.
Spiritual Empowerment of God's Deliverer
Now note, secondly, the spiritual empowerment of God's deliverer, verses 5 to 9. So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Again, there's all kinds of hints in the narrative that Samson is doing wrong things, but the narrator never tells us that he's actually doing wrong things. If you're a Nazirite, the very last place that you want to be is in a vineyard.
You're not supposed to eat anything that comes off a vine. Why Samson is meandering about in a vineyard, I will never know, but this is kind of an interesting scenario. So Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timna. Now the father and mother are no longer with him.
We know this because of the way the narrative plays out. But note what happens in verse 5b. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. Of course that would be to his surprise.
This is fantastic storytelling as well, by the way. Judges has got a thrill. I mean, as you read through this, it's so vivid. The pictures are so glorious of what God is doing.
So now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. The ESV captures the Hebrew better.
The Spirit Equips Samson
The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. The Spirit of God empowers him. The Spirit of God enables him. The Spirit of God equips him.
And this is the continuing theme throughout this particular chapter. It is the Spirit of the Lord that empowers his servant in order to bring deliverance from the oppressing Philistines. This is the point. As colorful as the story is, as exciting as it may be, the bottom line is that God's Spirit is empowering this man for service to Yahweh to bring destruction to the Philistines.
So the Spirit of the Lord comes mightily upon him and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Davis again said this, the mangled lion is meant as Yahweh's sign to Samson. When you read that, you say, wow, that's kind of interesting, Samson killed a lion.
Well, what's the point? What is God telling Samson? I will be with you. I will strengthen you.
When it comes time to deal with Philistine oppression, you will be able to render destruction to them." This is a down payment, if you will, similar to what King David got as a shepherd. Remember, David's preparation for battle against Goliath was not his ability to don Saul's armor. but it was because he spent time watching over sheep. And when lions or bears or other predatory animals came to attack those sheep, David realized something of the power of God when he ripped those beasts into two. God's down payment.
He's going to equip David so that he can take down Goliath. He's going to equip Samson in this trial run against the lion in order to confirm and affirm to Samson that when strength is needed to battle against Philistines, strength will be present for him.
The Lion as Divine Confirmation
Davis again, the mangled lion is meant as Yahweh's sign to Samson. It shows him what God can and will do through him. It should show him that the God who makes him able to tear up lions can also empower him to terrorize Philistines. Here is a preview of what God can do through Samson.
And then Davis draws out a very practical application for us. Very often it's in the small things where God affirms and confirms to us that gives us the basis upon which we proceed to the bigger things. We realize that if God delivers us from the mouth of the lion, He's going to deliver us from the attack of the Philistines. If God is going to keep us in the mundane, God is going to preserve us in the threatening.
If God is going to promise His fidelity to us through trial, through storm, He will be there in persecution as well. Again, Davis says, no, you needn't expect lions to come roaring out of vineyards. but you should notice this pattern in God's ways. He will, by some smaller episode of deliverance or provision, show you how adequate He is so that you will be encouraged to rely on Him in upcoming and possibly more demanding circumstances. In other words, Samson now functions as a man who has tried and proven his God.
When it comes to killing Philistines, he knows what the power of the Spirit of the Lord is, and he knows how it can enable. And so when Samson takes on these Philistines, he doesn't do so in fear. He doesn't do so with cowardice. He doesn't do so with any hesitation.
He realizes that the Spirit of the Lord that gave him the ability to rip apart a lion. Note what the text says. He didn't have anything in his hand. I mean, that's pretty amazing.
I've never wrestled with a lion, and I hope, under God, I never have to wrestle with a lion. But if I'm called upon to do so, I hope I have a hardy butcher knife or some other means by which I can have some advantage against that beast. But the text is very specific. He tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand.
But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Now, if Sampson was a proud man, wouldn't he have told them? I mean, did he know there was going to be this honey? Did he know there was going to be this riddle?
No. I mean, that's kind of a sign of humility. I've got to tell you, if I ripped apart a lion, I would blog about that. I would open a Facebook account just so I could put that as a status.
I would certainly Twitter it. I would tell everybody here at Bible Study. I would probably make sure I got it into a sermon. Yeah, it was like the other day when I was walking home through the vineyards.
I ripped apart a lion. I mean, come on, why else rip apart a lion if you don't get to brag about it? But Samson is conspicuously silent about it. He did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
Now notice, this may again be a hint of the imperfections of our deliverer. I think the narrator wants us to see. Not that Samson is the biggest wretch in the world, but we also ought to appreciate that he's not without sin. Notice in verses 7 to 9.
And again, seems like he comes very close, but most of the times we will understand that he actually violated the Nazirite vow. Then he went down and talked with the woman and she pleased Samson well. It's the first time he's talked to her. Notice we don't hear from her until she starts nagging him to tell the riddle.
She's a silent spectator up until the point when she's useful to the men of Timna when they want the answer to Samson's riddle. But at this point, Samson talks with the woman, and she pleased Samson well. After some time, verse 8, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. Apparently, Very hot climates, the lion carcass would have been dried out very effectively and very quickly.
The idea that it was still wet or bloody certainly would not bespeak of a hospitable environment to bees. But according to the commentator scholars, it dried quickly, and so this is what happens. He turns aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion.
He took some of it in his hands and went along eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. There's supposed to be no contact with a dead thing.
That's part and parcel of a Nazirite vow. You can't have anything that comes from the vine, you can't shave your head, and you certainly can't have contact with a dead thing. You certainly aren't supposed to scoop your hand in and pull the honey out and eat it and gobble it down. Now, the fact that he doesn't tell his parents seems to intimate that he did violate that Nazirite vow.
He wanted to protect their conscience. He hands them some honey. They lap it up. They don't say, where did it come from?
Because it was not only a Nazirite vow, but no child of Israel was supposed to touch a carcass. you are not supposed to touch a dead thing. Leviticus chapter 11 deals with this in some degree of detail. So this may be an indication that Samson was not consistent with his Nazirite vow. Most of the commentators take it that way.
So anyways, this then provides the fodder for the riddle that he will tell to these people in Timnah.
Small Beginnings of God's Deliverance
And that brings us finally to the small beginnings of God's deliverance in verses 10 to 20.
The Feast and the Companions
Note the feast. This was probably a drinking feast. Again, that Samson throws this as a Nazirite doesn't necessarily mean that he participated in drinking himself, but that is essentially what people did at the seven-day feast. They drank a lot.
They partied. It was a time of feasting. That's why it says Samson gave a feast there for the young men, or for young men used to do so. Verse 11 says, and it happened when they saw him, they probably the family of the Timnite woman, that they brought 30 companions to be with him.
This is probably bodyguards. They were probably a bit afraid of Samson. They didn't know all the ins and outs. They certainly didn't know the prerogative of Yahweh.
But Samson probably looked like he could rip lions apart. Samson probably wasn't 90 pounds soaking wet. Samson probably was something of a formidable man. And this man comes to take one of their women, so they say, why don't we send 30 companions there to keep an eye on things, just to make sure that everything soars along the way it ought to go.
That's probably what these companions are in verse 11.
Samson's Riddle and the Nagging Wife
Now notice the riddle, verses 12 to 18. Samson challenges them. He's such a colorful guy. I mean, I wouldn't think of this.
Hey, let's have a contest. Look at what he says. Samson said to them, let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing.
This is a good thing. This is a lot of money. This is something that's very expensive. This is a big prize for this particular contest.
And again, we look at the text and what's happening. Marriage to a Tim Knight woman. a riddle, a nagging wife, a bitter father-in-law. This is God's plan to overthrow the Philistines. See, we would think God uses world wars.
God uses the big events. God uses massive movements of men to accomplish his will. God uses one deliverer named Samson, who in all of his colorfulness goes into Timnah, says, I want that particular woman. Get her for me. 30 guys are now his companions.
And he says, let's have a bet. Let's have a contest. Let's engage in some fun. Let me pose a riddle to you.
If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing. I am quite confident that Samson knew he was going to win. They didn't have the benefit of seven to nine.
They didn't know he scooped this honey out of this lion. They didn't know all the ins and outs of the previous exploits that he had undergone. Not even his parents did. That's why he's able to tell his nagging wife, not even my mother and father know the answer to this riddle.
It was between him and God. And because we're in on this, it's between him, God, and us. We know what's going on. The narrators let us in on Samson's secret.
We know the riddle. We know what's up. So they accept this particular challenge. And they said to him, pose your riddle, that we may hear it.
So he said to them, out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet. Now having the answer, it's simple, isn't it? But if you didn't have the answer and you didn't have the background of 7 to 9, is there any one of us who would figure that out? Please do not begin to say, oh yes, I think I would have gotten that.
No, you wouldn't have. This is a very difficult riddle. Samson knows he's going to become the winner. He's going to get 30 garments, he's going to get 30 linens, he's going to be the richer for this.
Now notice at the end of verse 14, now for three days they could not explain the riddle. Verse 15, it came to pass on the seventh day. There's a variant that reads the fourth day. Some of your Bibles might have four.
They say it couldn't be the seventh because we have the seventh and then the seventh. Well, probably each of the seven days, Samson's wife, in an informal way, was trying to ply him, was trying to get the answer out of him. But notice in verse 15, it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson's wife, entice your husband that he may explain the riddle to us or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire." Now, lest you forget what kind of people the Philistines are, here you go. Here's what you're dealing with.
They're going to murder this woman, they're going to murder her father, and they're going to burn the house down. Now, unfortunately, that actually transpires. The bitter father-in-law gives Samson's wife to another. Samson goes out and takes vengeance.
These men come back and burn her and her father with fire. So unfortunately, what she is threatened with actually does transpire. They say, entice your husband that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours?
Is that not so? They're applying pressure to her. Are you really in cahoots with him? Are you working now with the Israelites?
Are you trying to destroy us from within? Are you trying to sabotage your people? Are you trying to make it such that we lose a grip on these people? Notice what happens, verse 16.
Then Samson's wife wept on him and said, you only hate me. You do not love me. You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me. She is weeping on him.
She is plying him. She is pressuring him. She manipulates him with tears and rhetoric. He resists her by saying, not even my parents know.
Now notice what it says in verse 17. She had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted, and it happened on the seventh day that he told her because she pressed him so much. This is where his weakness lies. He couldn't deal with nagging women.
He couldn't deal with the pressure of a woman. The same thing is Delilah in 1616. This man filled with the spirit of the Lord, this man mighty to rip open a lion, this man able to go in and walk down to Ashkelon and kill 30 men and take their garments and bring it to pay his debt, this man who's going to go head to head with these Philistines, not with an army, but by himself. Locke says, from the narrator's perspective, despite Samson's great physical strength and the force of his Nazirite vow, he is completely helpless when confronted with the love of women.
From Yahweh's perspective, the amorous or love desires of this man provide the occasions for the beginning of conflicts between Samson and the Philistines. So she is on him. She is pressuring him. He says, look, verse 16, I have not explained it to my father or my mother, so should I explain it to you?
Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted, and it happened on the seventh day that he told her because she pressed him so much, then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people. Verse 18, so the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, what is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion? They got it, right? Look at Samson's response.
And he said to them, if you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle. In other words, you cheated. And Bloch tells us, his reference to his wife as his heifer is as disparaging in the Hebrew as it is in the English. My cow, you had not plowed with her.
Samson is just bringing it. He's a very earthy, very down-to-earth guy. Davis says, Samson is no dummy. He knows sweet honey and strong lions come from talking heifers.
But this is the occasion upon which God is going to use him to bring judgment upon the Philistines.
Deliverance Begins at Ashkelon
And that brings us to the beginning of deliverance in verses 19 and 20. Notice. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon. This was about 20 miles southwest of Timna.
It was one of the cities of the Philistines. So he goes down to Ashkelon. He kills 30 of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father's house.
Now, we might be inclined to say, well, wait a minute. What do these Ashkelonites do? I mean, they're just minding their own business. They weren't involved in this wedding ceremony.
They don't live in Timna. They weren't part of those who had the riddle. They were Philistines. What does God the Lord promise through his servant?
He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. There's only 30 of these men. This is a beginning of Samson's beginning to deliver Israel out of the oppression of the Philistines. This is the Spirit of the Lord moving him and directing him in order to do this.
Again, Davis is very perceptive when he says this. The text then is clear. What we are dealing with is not Samson's temper, but the Spirit's power. You see, it's easy for us to look at this narrative and say, here is Samson, a man who can't govern his passions.
He goes to Timnah. He wants this wife. He's going to do whatever it takes to get her. He goes, and he kills this lion, and he has this riddle, and he takes advantage of these men.
And we have this view of Samson that he's just meandering about as a man who can't govern his own passions. Now certainly there's a hint of that. He certainly can't withstand the plying of a wife that's weeping on him and all that sort of thing. But this is not an occasion where he's not governing his passions.
This is spirit-directed combat. David says what we're dealing with is not Samson's temper, but the Spirit's power. If this seems brutal, we must simply live with it. We have already seen that when Yahweh delivers his people, he does not always dip his saving acts in Clorox and sprinkle them with perfume.
To be delivered from evil will frequently be messy. And that's what's going on in verses 19 and 20. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, he goes over to Ashkelon, he kills 30 of those men, he takes their garments, and he faithfully pays his debt to those ones that he entered the riddle contest with. But this is of God, this is the beginning of the judgment upon the Philistines that the Lord has orchestrated and that he's raised Samson up to bring this deliverance to pass.
So his anger, Samson's, was aroused and he went up to his father's house. And then notice, verse 20. And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man. So this sets the stage for further exploits against the Philistines.
Enter 15.1. Samson goes back to his wife's house, not with flowers in his hand, but with a young goat under his arm. This is the way you went to courting in those days. This is the way you paid a visit to your wife.
What happens? Daddy says, oh, by the way. I gave her to another man. What does Samson do?
Well, that's just cool and fine and dandy. No, Samson brings the judgment of God to bear upon these Philistines. We have to appreciate that God is navigating through all of these mundane details. As I said at the outset, if we didn't have any mention of Yahweh in chapter 14, this would look like a soap opera.
It would look like a reality show. It would look like life in Timna on a given day where there's a lot of weird things happening. But God is behind the scenes orchestrating all of this so that the oppression of the Philistines can be broken and so that God's people will be liberated. Samson is the deliverer that the Lord raised up to bring about his particular plan in this particular situation.
The Hidden Purpose of God
So we see, I hope it's been clear, the hidden purpose of God. Things that we probably wouldn't have designed. I mean, if you were God, you'd say, I want you to send in an airstrike and deal with those Philistines. Just take them out once and for all.
It certainly wouldn't be through a marriage, through a lion attack. through a riddle, through a nagging wife, and through a bitter father-in-law. Those would not be the means that you and I would employ. Do you understand how that makes Bible reading enjoyable? Do you not want to read the book of Judges when you see these sorts of things?
Do you not appreciate the government of God when He takes such mundane things and works His will out through them? Isn't this what is exciting about biblical revelation? It's not just God sent an airstrike upon this people and upon that people. Some of the narrative reads that way.
When Joshua and the children of Israel are going in and conquering in the southern campaign and the northern campaign, oftentimes it's just summarized and told what land has been taken, what parcel has been separated, what people have been dashed to pieces. But here, God the Lord, through this man, the author of Judges, is weaving a tale so glorious because it speaks of such a wondrous and a sovereign God who's able to take a Samson and his parents and a bunch of people in Timnah and orchestrate the deliverance of his people.
Imperfection of God's Servants
Secondly, we see the imperfection of God's people. Samson is a rollicking character. Samson jumps off the pages of scripture. He's bouncing from place to place.
He's doing his thing. He's posing his riddles. He's saying things like, if you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle. That's funny.
That is really funny stuff. It's hard not to appreciate the wit of a Samson. But what we find in the rest of the Bible is positive affirmation that this was in fact God's man for God's purpose. Hebrews 11.32, and what more shall I say?
For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah. Also of David and Samuel and the prophets. Each of these men that we have considered in the book of Judges, Gideon, Barrett, Samson, Jephthah, if we, God willing, continue on from Judges, we're going to skip Ruth, I think, and get right into 1 Samuel. We are going to see David.
Was David without sin? Was David without blemish? Was David without imperfection? No, each of these men had their blemish.
Each of these men had their issues. Each of these men had their struggles, but God the Lord used them nevertheless. If there is a place in God's plan for a Samson, a Japheth, a Gideon, and a Barak, Certainly, the Lord can do something through us in whatever sphere of influence we find ourselves in if we seek to faithfully honor and obey and serve him.
God's Faithfulness to His Word
And then the final lesson that we ought to appreciate is the faithfulness of God to his word. We've already mentioned this in 13.5, 13.5, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. We get to 14.19, excuse me, we say, wait a minute, there's only 30 people there. Yeah, there's a beginning to the beginning.
Small steps lead to large victories. 30 here, 1,000 here, 3,000 there. You see how God the Lord works. He doesn't just make these massive impositions, but rather he takes Samson and leads him by the hand to do his bidding, to do his will. So God is faithful to his word, even though Israel did not see how bad it was to be oppressed under the Philistines, God uses Samson to bring this friction, to bring this tension, to bring this out, so that God can bring deliverance to his people because he loves them, because he's kind to them, and because he has covenanted to them that he would be their God, he would fight their battles, he would defend them, and he would bring them peace and harmony in the land.
So that's Judges 14. Why don't we pray, and if there are any questions, we can talk about that.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this exciting portion of scripture. who is such an exciting man, but even more than that, we see such a glorious God behind the scenes, orchestrating His will through His servants. We ask that You would just help us to see Your faithfulness to Your Word. Help us to see Your sovereign purposes in all things.
Help us to see, God, that You do cause all things to work for good, to those who love You, to those who are the called according to Your purpose. We bless you and we thank you for this time together. We thank you for the presence of your spirit. We ask that you would take these lessons and write them on our hearts and encourage us, God.
Encourage us as parents. Encourage us as those who witness to others, as those who have influence in other people's lives. We see people doing things that are not consistent with what your word says. Help us nevertheless to realize that you can take the crooked and make straight things from it.
God, go with us now, we pray, in Jesus' name, Amen.