F. After Samson's anger over the betrayal of his wife to the thirty Philistine men of his wedding party, he went to her house in Timnath intending to be treated as her husband: Judges 15:1-2.

1. After she told the thirty Philistines Samson's riddle, he had been so incensed that he did not go to her as husband; but instead returned to his father's house, Judges 14:1 Taking Samson's action as insult and desertion, the father of his wife gave her to Samson's best man, Judges 14:2 . (John 3.29 is another instance where the friend of the bridegroom is seen to be the best man.)

2. From the text it does not appear that it was too long from the marriage feast before Samson went to his wife in Timnath. Paul Enns in his Commentary on Judges says customarily Philistine weddings occurred in spring. Samson went to Timnath in the time of wheat harvest," which would have been the end of May or early June.

With him, Samson took 'a kid" (young goat) for his wife. In this type marriage where the wife continued to live with her parents and the husband dropped by occasionally as a "lover," (an arrangement not uncommon in the Arab world), the custom was that the husband bring a gift at each arrival. (See Enns, page 107.)

3. When Samson attempted to enter his wife's bedroom, her father restrained him, Judges 15:1. It was then that Samson learned his wife had been given to his best man, Verse 2. Her father said he thought Samson "hated" her.

It appears that his wife's father realized some injustice in his action and perceived the insult to Samson, for he offered the younger sister of the wife to Samson, Verse 2

G. This insult to Samson proved to be a disastrous mistake to the Philistines, initiating a chain of events which brought them an ever increasing devastation: Judges 15:3-20.

1. Samson wouldn't tolerate this type treatment. Since his wife and her father were Philistines, he felt perfectly justified in taking vengeance on the Philistines as a whole, Verse 3. He held all the Philistines accountable for this action and said, "Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure."

So, with the intention of punishing the Philistines, Samson caught 300 foxes (Hebrew "su-al" also translating "jackals"), tied their tails together with fire-brands in between, and released them in the standing cornfields of the Philistines, Verses 4-5.

2. The devastation to the Philistines was immense. The firebrands along with the bushy tails of the foxes would burn as the foxes, afraid of fire and in severe pain, ran wildly in every direction. It was May or June, the dry season in Israel. In the dry country with low humidity, the fire would spread rapidly. It spread from the standing corn into the shocks (or piles of corn), and on into the vineyards and olive plantations of the Philistines. For agricultural people, their very livelihood was being wiped out. The dire consequences were immense.

3. In spite of Samson's impetuous, selfish, hotheaded, and revengeful ways, God was accomplishing His purpose. What a testimonial to the fact that God accomplishes His purposes one way or another. If we cooperate with Him, He'll use our favorable efforts to do His work, and bless us immensely in the process. If we fight and rebel and violate laws of righteous conduct, He'll turn even our violations into tools for His purpose. By Samson's anger and revenge, the level of hostility between Israel and the Philistines was increased dramatically. A seemingly endless cycle of blow for blow was now established. An act of violence on one side was to be met by a more severe act of violence in retaliation by the other side. The point would soon be made to the Israelis that these Philistines were true enemies; and an increasing spirit of resistance would grow until ultimately under David, the Philistine yoke would be totally broken. And, it was Samson who unwittingly initiated the cycle which ultimately liberated Israel.

4. Samson's action with the foxes brought an immediate Philistine response. Judges 15:6. says the Philistines inquired as to who had burned their crops. The answer was not hard to find. Samson made no effort to be secretive. His was a deliberate act against the Philistines, and he wanted them to know it. So, the Philistine leadership soon learned that Samson burned their crops because the Philistine father of Samson's wife gave her to his best man. Because of the trouble this father's action brought the Philistines as a whole, and to show their spite toward Samson, the Philistine leaders went to Timnath and burned Samson's wife and her father.

What a warning this action is to all who would deceive, misuse the truth, and manipulate others to their advantage and to save their own skins! At the threat from her Philistine companions of being burned to death for failure to secure from Samson the answer to his riddle in Judges 14:15 this woman nagged and pressured Samson to the breaking point, Judges 14:16-17. She thought by browbeating Samson to save her own skin. Furthermore, her father had acted quite hastily and vindictively in giving his daughter to another. There was haste, deceit, and trickery in the whole affair. Wholesome honesty and wise judgment was ignored, and a sort of game in trickery and wits was played. And is so often the case in such incidents, the very fate, which Samson's wife intended to escape by extracting his secret and revealing it to her people , became the fate to befall her after all. It is obvious that it would have been far wiser for her to have simply informed Samson of the threats against her in the first place. Samson could have easily taken care of both her and her father against the thirty Philistine extortioners. Yet, through fear and intimidation she resorted to trickery and deceits. The result was a total backfire.

Gal. 6:7-8 warns, 'Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Those who sow deceit and trickery reap the same: in marriage, on jobs, in business, and with friends. Even churches and nations are not immune. There is no substitute for an honest, "up and above board," approach to life. Solomon said, "the folly of fools is deceit. Fools mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favor, " Prov. 14:8-9. And, he added in Prov. 20:17 "Bread of deceit is sweet to a man but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel. No wonder the apostle Paul wrote, Finally brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever port; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things, Phil. 4:8.

5. So, the Philistine lords burned Samson's wife and father-in law, and woe be unto them for it. That one man army named Samson would not let them get away with such an evil thing as that. So Judges 15:7-8 says. 'And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you,an after that I will cease. And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam." These verses do not say how many Philistines Samson killed in this slaughter, but it was a "great slaughter." The phrase "smote them hip and thigh seems to indicate a very savage and brutal display of strength by Samson: the idea that he actually tore them apart much as he had earlier torn the lion. These he smote were probably the Philistines in and around Timnath.

6. Realizing that a deed like this would soon become widely known and that revenge would be sought by the Philistines, Samson "went down and dwelt in the top of the rock of Etam," Verse 8. Verse 9 shows the location of this rock was in Judah. Arthur E. Cundall in his Commentary on Judges, page 170, says there was a cave in the cliffs above the Wady Isma'in, which was accessible only by' descending through a fissure in the cliff-face, wide enough for one person to pass through at a time. This stronghold lay about 2 1/2 miles southeast from Zorah. (There is an Etam about 2 1/2 miles southwest of Bethlehem in Judah. It is possible that Samson went there; although that would place him about 12-13 miles from Zorah and 10 miles from Lehi.)

7. Sure enough, the Philistines learned what Samson had done to their brethren, and assembled a military force of at least 1,000 men to deal with this one man menace, which is quite a testimonial to Samson's strength. Verse 9 says, "Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi." From the context, it is clear that they had no quarrel with the men of Judah; they were after Samson.

The men of Judah may have secretly been sympathetic to Samson, but they wanted no trouble with, the Philistines. Their pacifistic attitude of Verse 11 is to their shame. They acknowledged the dominance of the Philistines over them. They should have risen up in full support of what Samson was doing, yet they were afraid and eager to appease the Philistines and avoid any conflict. What a sad picture they are of many a believer. He's willing to risk nothing: make no ripple; and tolerate a state of bondage in his life. God forbid! Let the men of God have courage, and ever be willing to rise up, whatever the cost, against evil. God's word commands us, "Watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong," I Cor. 16:13.

Instead of standing with him, the men of Judah, alarmed at a Philistine military force of 1,000 or more and afraid Samson was going to bring reprisals on the Israelites as a whole, went to Samson at Etam and asked him to surrender to them so they could turn him over to the Philistines. Three thousand of the men of Judah came, and their action was. really shameful and cowardly. It appears they thought that by taking Samson and delivering him to the Philistines they would be allegiant to the Philistines, thus gaining them favor, and protection from any reprisals at the hands of the Philistines. They should have been with Samson. Instead they are acting as traitors to their own cause.

To their proposition Samson replied in Verse 12, "Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves." They agreed in Verse 13 and Samson in turn allowed them to bind him "with two new cords.". It should be well noted that Samson did not request that these Jewish brethren refrain from attacking him because he feared them. No. He asked them to refrain from attacking him to protect them from themselves. Had they made any attempt to harm him, they would have brought suffering upon themselves as Samson would have attacked them to protect himself. Samson was willing to do right when it suited him to do so. His quarrel was with the Philistines; not Israel. God saw to that. So Samson wa nted to do Israel no harm.

8. The 3,000 Judaites bound Samson and brought him down from the rock Etam to the Philistines at Lehi. Lehi is in the valley about four miles east of Beth-shemesh. The name Lehi means "jawbone" because the rock formation of the area looks like a giant jawbone. When the Philistines saw Samson coming to them bound in the custody of the men of Judah, they shouted with joy and triumph against him. But their shouts were premature, for the power of the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson "And the cords that we upon his arms become as flax that was burnt with fire (ashes), and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jaw bone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith," Judges 15:14 –15.

From Samson's statement in Verse 16 "heaps upon heaps,'' it appears all the 1,000 Philistines were not killed in a face to face battle. As he attacked them with the fresh jawbone which would not be brittle, they apparently fled. As he killed several of them, he piled them in a heap and pursued more. By the time he'd finished, the 1,000 Philistine corpses lay in several heaps.

9. Samson's statement in Verse 16 is a sort of Hebrew poem or couplet. Hebrew poetry as in the Psalms emphasizes meterand balance of thought rather than rhyme. "Heap" and ""ass are from the same Hebrew word "hamor." Literally Samson is saying "with the jawbone of an ass, I have made asses (heaps) out of them."

Again the disgraceful apathy and complacency of the Israelis to the Philistine occupation shows. Surely they could not have missed seeing what Samson did to the Philistines, yet not one word is mentioned that they raised so much as a finger to assist him, or join in making a full rout of their enemies. One wonders how any people could become so pacified that even an exploit of this magnitude would fail to rouse them out of their complacency.

10. Samson named that place "Ramath-lehi" meaning "lifting up the jawbone " Verse 17. This was the dry season in Israel, and Samson realized he was very thirsty. In spite of the astounding victory over the Philistines, Samson now feared he'd die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, a thought repulsive to him, Verse 18. So, the Lord caused a spring in the jawboned-like rock formation called Lehi, and Samson named the spring "En-hakkore" meaning "the well of him that called."

Judges closes with the record that Samson judged Israel for twenty years, Verse 20. The fact that his judgeship was during the time of the Philistines is a subtle reminder that during his lifetime, Israel was never free of the Philistines, in spite of his heroic exploits. Verse 20 is really a summary statement of the judgeship of Samson.

 

QUESTIONS ON "THE CHAIN REACTION OF REVENGE"

Judges 15:1-20

1. After the betrayal of his confidence by his wife to the 30 Philistines, what did Samson do?
2. Once his anger cooled, he returned to his wife at Timnath with what present?
3. When he attempted to see his wife, what did Samson learn from her father?
4. At what time of the year did most of the events of Judges 15 occur?
5. What revenge did Samson take as a result of the insult by his father-in-law?
6. How did Samson broaden the scope of the conflict in his revenge?
7. Enumerate the damage caused by the foxes.
8. Explain why Samson's action was such a devastating blow to the Philistines.
9. Explain how God was using Samson's actions to accomplish divine purposes in spite of Samson.
10. How did the Philistines attempt to get even with Samson?
11. Explain how the deceit and trickery of Samson's wife backfired on her.
12. What lesson does the destruction of Samson's wife and father teach us?
13. How did Samson respond to the death of his wife and father-in-law?
14. Explain the phrase "smote them hip and thigh".
15. Where did Samson go after his revenge on the Philistines for killing his wife?
16. When other Philistines learned what Samson had done, what did they do?
17. In response to a large Philistine military force in their land, how did the men of Judah respond?
18. Explain why and how the action of the men of Judah was to their shame.
19. Why did Samson have the men of Judah assure him that they would not attack him?
20. Describe Samson's victory over the Philistines at Lehi.