Judges 15
-After a while from his dysfunctional wedding and the giving
away of his wife by his father-in-law, Samson decided to make a visit to his
wife with a young goat in the time of wheat harvest. He basically wanted to
have sex with her, but her father would not let him enter. He said to Samson, “I
really thought that you hated her intensely; so I gave her to your companion.”
He did offer his younger daughter to him boasting that she was more beautiful
than the older sister, but Samson wasn’t going for it. He proclaimed, “This
time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.”
Then he went out and caught 300 foxes taking torches to their tails in pairs,
tail to tail having the torches right in the middle of them. He set fire to the
torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines
destroying their crops, along with their vineyards and groves (Judges 15:1-5).
-When the Philistines realized what damage had been done,
they asked, “Who did this?” It was determined that indeed it had been the vengeful
Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, “because he took his wife and gave her
to his companion.” Therefore, the Philistines came up and burned Samson’s wife
and her father with fire. This brought Samson’s wrath, but he promised to quit
after a great slaughter so long as they left him alone. He did cause a great
slaughter ruthlessly, and then he hightailed it down to the rock of Etam and lived
there in a cleft of the rock. Not leaving well enough alone and probably
looking to solidify power in the region, the Philistines went up and camped in
Judah spreading out in Lehi, which was south and east of Zorah more towards
Jerusalem. The men of Judah wanted to know why they had come up against them, and
the Philistines related what Samson had done and what they intended to do with
him. They wanted to bind him in order to do to him as he had done to them. This
prompted 3,000 men of Judah to go down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and
approach Samson on the subject at hand. They told Samson of their plight under
the dominion of the Philistines, who currently ruled over them. They feared
what was about to happen. But, Samson maintained his cause, “As they did to me,
so I have done to them.” Nonetheless, the men of Judah wanted to bind him and
give him over to the Philistines. Samson simply made them swear that they would
not kill him, and he allowed them to bind his hands with two new ropes. They
brought him up from the rock and took him to Lehi, where the Philistines greeted
him with a shout. As this happened, the Spirit of the LORD came upon him
mightily so that the ropes on his arms became as flax that had been burned with
fire (very weak and fragile). In other words, he easily snapped out of his bonds.
He found a handy weapon nearby, which was definitely providential. It was the
jawbone of a donkey that he reached out and grabbed killing 1,000 men with it. Then
Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone
of a donkey I have killed a thousand men.” He named this place now “Ramath-lehi
(the high place of the jawbone).” At this point of near exhaustion, he became
very thirsty and called to the LORD for help. He uttered, “You have given this
great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst
and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” However, God provided for him a
miracle. He split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out as a
spring. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. Thus this
place got the name, “En-hakkore (the spring of him who called).” To sum up,
Samson judged Israel for 20 years in the days of the Philistines (Judges
15:6-20).
-*Application* Samson, at this point was at least fulfilling
the vows his family had committed to when the angel of the LORD approached
them. He was not drinking strong drink or wine, and his hair remained uncut as
to the covenant of the Nazirites (Numbers 6:2-5, Judges 13:5). He ate no
unclean thing, and God was giving him incredible strength and fortune to
deliver His people. God’s Spirit was upon this fallible individual. He still
had a weakness for being with women, and his rage seemed insurmountable at
times. He would fly off the handle in vengeance. But, God was using him in a
special way, and Samson did acknowledge Him as his deliverer and strength. He
called himself a “servant” of the LORD (Judges 15:18). From this we see again
in Scripture that God understands our imperfections and works with a contrite
and broken heart (Psalm 51:17, Isaiah 66:2). Even when we mess up, He can
straighten out our paths and still get glory for His Kingdom. This is the
lesson of Samson. Let us apply it to our lives when we still have faults and
failures.
Verse to Memorize:
Judges 15:15
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