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10250 North Freeway @ West Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
SURVEY OF BIBLE HISTORY
(THE JUDGES TO THE KINGS)
She Pleaseth Me Well
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson
Copyright - Lester Hutson -
1998
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express
written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
Lesson 24
Judges 14:1-20
E. Samson's first love affair serves as a good example of how the Lord used him in spite of his own selfish, sensual, fleshly desires: Judges 14:1-20.1. In this episode, he did not see the Philistines as great enemies of God's people, and he did not go forth on a campaign to liberate Israel from them. In fact the subtle penetration of the Philistines into Israeli life is clear. Timnath was just over four miles southwest of Zorah (Samson's home). Timnath and Zorah were across the Sorek Valley from each other. The editorial comment of Verse 4 that "the Philistines had dominion over Israel" shows their superior position. Yet, the fact that Samson could freely walk into this Philistine town shows how peaceably Israel had accepted this domination. Furthermore, the marriage of a Philistine girl to Jewish Samson posed no problem for the Philistines. It appears the Israelis and Philistines would have been content to have slowly melted into one.
So Samson did not cross the Sorek Valley to Timnath on a war mission. He wasn't interested in war; he was interested in girls. And the fact that these girls were off limits to him didn't matter at all. He saw one down there whose looks attracted him; and like many a modern single, that's all that really mattered to him. He didn't care whether she was spiritually qualified or not; and when his mom and dad suggested she wasn't, he cut them right off. They asked, "is there never a woman among the dauqhters of thy brethren, Qr among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?" But, Samson replied, "Get her for me: for she pleaseth me well."
Young man, young lady, you who are eligible to marry, you would do well to study very carefully the dating and marriage aspects of Samson's life. He followed the passions and desires of his flesh and gave little if any regard to what was right; and ultimately ended up broken, dishonored, blind, and grinding in the prison house of his greatest enemies before being crushed to death in a last ditch suicidal blaze of glory. I know of no road that can get you into deeper heartbreak and trouble than the wrong road in dating and marriage.
Any Philistine woman was totally off limits to Samson. Listen to Deut 7:3, "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy dauhter thou shalt not nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son." Yet Samson said "she pleaseth me well," Vs.3. The Hebrew word for "pleaseth" is "ayin" (ah-yawm') which denotes affection based on outward appearance. Samson disregarded the wise counsel of his parents by basically saying, "I like the way she looks. She is right in my eyes." Samson set himself up as the authority on who he'd marry. Why should parents tell him who to love? Whose right was it to dictate his love life? Who knew better than he what he wanted? Samson is the epitomy of the summary statement of Judges, "every man did that which was right in his own eye "Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:2 . He is also the epitomy of humanistic thinking, a philosophical concept which many a single person has adopted, even professing Christians. "She pleaseth me well." "I don't care whether it's right or not, and frankly don't want some bigot trying to interfere in my life by saying it's wrong. It's what I want and it's nobody else's business. I want the preacher and my parents to stay out of my life." This is exactly the attitude King David had when he got into trouble by marrying King Saul's daughter. I Kings 18:20 and 26 says "the thing pleased him" and the literal translation is that "it was right in his own eyes." It's the same concept Absalom had in II Samuel 17:4 when he rebelled against King David his father.
Sensuous, fleshly attractions are no basis for dating and marriage. This Philistine woman was of the uncircumcised Philistines." She is a symbol of the lost person, who is uncircumcised of heart, Col.2:13. God's word clearly tells God's people to have no romantic dealings with lost people. Read carefully II Cor. 6:14-18. Samson should have never even considered this woman in Timnath, regardless of her sensuous beauty and charm. She didn't merit even a second look. What a message to Christian single people! Don't even think about a lost person to date. They're off limits. And you who would date someone in another religion or denomination are asking for trouble. And, a person who is divorced is not spiritually available to you; and you who are divorced with a living mate don't have a godly right to date anybody. Your only right path is reconciliation to your mate. And, you who are free to date had better not let looks and charm alone be your basis of attraction. You'd better consider your potential mate's value system. If that person doesn't have the same love for God and spiritual concern you have, you'd better drop him or her like a hot potato.
2. Samson went to Timnath for the wrong reason and did the wrong thing when he got there, yet God used him anyway. I want you to note well that God didn't use Samson to do what Samson wanted. God used Samson to do what God wanted. The sad part is that in the process, Samson was ground to powder. Just like everyone is who defies-God. God went ahead and accomplished His use of Samson in creating a war climate between the Jews and Philistines, thus avoiding the Jews being swallowed out of existence by the Philistines. But because of his rebellious, sensuous ways, Samson, who could have been a mighty hero, ended up as a disgraced and defeated failure. He didn't plan to serve God; he planned to live for himself. In the process he never realized any of his dreams. Yet, while he flitted around chasing empty rainbows, God was all the while using him to stir up a spirit of conflict between the Jews and the Philistines; a factor that ultimately was the Jews salvation. No saved or lost person should ever think that even in his most rebellious and selfish moment, he is somehow out of God's control and use. No sir! God can use a person to His advantage in spite of that person's intentions and actions. Nobody plays chess with God and wins. The sad part is that as God goes ahead and accomplishes His purposes with the person involved; the rebellious, selfwilled person is ground to pieces in disgrace, whereas he could have been a great hero.
Despite what you think or I think about what's best for us, the fact is that it is what God thinks that's best, and time always proves it. So, young person, you'd better meditate on that long and hard. You'd better not say like Samson, "she pleaseth me well. You'd better say "not my will, but thine be done," Lk. 22:44. Your prayer to God should be, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done" in me, Matt. 6:10. Don't ignore your parents, pastor, or others who try to prevent you from getting the wrong mate in life. Your way to happiness in marriage is not following your own heart. No. Joy and happiness will come only as you follow the requirements, advice, and principles of God as set forth in His Bible. You won't win by doing what you want, despite what the modern humanists say. You'll only win by surrender of your will to the divine will of God as revealed in His word.
3. Despite the advice of his parents, Samson went ahead and married this Philistine girl, and she immediately became a snare and source of sorrow to him. (A sad side note on this incident is the fact that his parents, in spite of knowing, better, agreed to the marriage; and even helped with it, Vs. 5. Strange as it may seem, the phenomenon continues commonly today; and many a set of parents have reaped bitter, bitter consequences for playing the devil's partner in the ill marriage of their own child.) On the way down to Timnath to arrange this marriage, a young lion attacked Samson, Vs.5. Although with his great strength from the Lord, which God gave to enable him to stir up this spirit of conflict with the Philistines (and this incident would surely generate a healthy respect in them for him), Samson bare-handedly killed the lion, Vs. 6. A few days later he returned to view the carcass, a thing which his Nazarite vow did not allow. Num. 6:6 says he was never to approach a dead body, so here he violated his vow. To his surprise, Samson found a swarm of bees in the carcass, Vs.8. He took honey, and gave to his parents also, Vs. 9.
During the seven day marriage festival, Samson made, a riddle to thirty of the Philistine men who had beer assigned to party with him. The riddle is stated in Vs. 14 "out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." He made a gamble with the thirty Philistine companions that if they couldn't figure out the riddle in seven days, they'd give him thirty sheets and thirty changes of raiment. If they could figure it out, he was to give them each a sheet and change of clothes, Vs. 12-13 . ("Sheets" in Hebrew is "cadiyn" (saw-deen) meaning a wrapper or shirt.)
Well, the Philistine men were stumped, so they went straight to Samson's new wife to get her to extract it from him. Now believer, if you think lost people and people of a similar value system won't stick together when the situation requires it, you're pretty naive. Marry an unconverted person and he or she will not want to do what you want to do. He'll want the same old things he always wanted and to stick with the same old unconverted friends who like what he likes. And that will leave you with the heartrending proposition of either joining him, living in constant conflict, or leaving him.
When the Philistine men came to this woman, she came straight for Samson. Contrary to what he had thought, this marriage that he just had to have wasn't all just great sex partying, and fun and games. She, in classical female fashion, began to weep and say Samson didn't love her, Vs. 16. "Samson's wife wept before him, and said, thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not." Verse 1 says she kept this up for seven days. And, do not be fooled over how vicious the devil can be, and how cruel an unholy entanglement with him can be. Verse 15 says these Philistine men accused Samson's wife of causing Samson to make the riddle so he could have their wealth which would be, in turn, hers. They said they'd burn down her and her father's house with fire if she failed to get the information from Samson. Vicious? Yes, but is what all those who do what self wants and who ignore divine counsel can expect.
Samson found out what a miserable headache a nagging, crying, griping mate can be. Solomon wrote, "A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike," Prov. 27:15. He also wrote, Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.," Prov. 18:22. But, he added, "It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house," Prov. 21:9.
Under the pressure of just seven days nagging, Samson broke and told his wife the riddle, which she in turn told the thirty Philistines. In Verse 18 they said to Samson, "What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than lion?" Well, that same verse says Samson realized his wife had told them. Folks, it is pretty tough to find out your mate has double-crossed you. Samson was so hurt over this series of events that he went back to his parents home instead of staying with his wife. (They separated and broke up.) When he didn't soon show back up, his wife just married one of his companions, Verse 20. My, how many times have you seen that story. She or he leaves you, and marries one of your friends. Here are the fruits of a man who does right in his own eyes. Bitter indeed! Think about that, young man and young lady.
4. A remarkable thing is the fact that in spite of all the chaos and devastation in this story, God was able to accomplish His purpose in it all and turn it to His advantage. Samson was so mad over the treachery of the Philistines and the betrayal by his wife that he went to Ashkelon, slew thirty Philistine men, took their clothes, and gave them to the thirty men of Timnath to pay his gambling debt, Vs 19. This action just further set the stage for hostility between the Israelis and the Philistines, a condition that was vital in the prevention of the Israelis from being absorbed out of existence by the Philistines. So, with or without the cooperation of men, God prevails; but oh how much better it is for the men involved when they cooperate with Him.
QUESTIONS ON "SHE PLEASETH ME WELL"
Judges 14:1-20
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"