Judges 15:1-2
Wheat harvest was at the end of May. It was about this time Samson took a gift to his bride. In some cultures of that time, the bridegroom didn't immediately live with his bride. He would bring gifts and stay at her father's house until he was ready to take her. In some cultures, this was thought to be a probation period to see if she would get pregnant.
Samson had left in a rage, never consummating the marriage, yet he apparently thought she was still his wife. He wanted to return to her and consummate the marriage, but her father wouldn't let him. How irritating it must have been to Samson to find out one of the thirty who got the best of him had also gotten his wife.
Dad offered a sister.
Judges 15:3-5
Samson vows revenge and declares himself blameless, justifying his response. The next domino falls in this escalation. This response is not an emotional, knee-jerk action. This took planning and time showing it was premeditated. The word translated to foxes is more generic term is more likely to have been jackals. In time, these were captured, then tied together with a torch. These animals would have quickly spread fire in the fields. The shocks were mounds of stalks that were already cut. They were burned along with the uncut grain in fields. The vineyards and olive groves were also affected. This would have caused many to lose their source of food.
However, these are the Philistines that were oppressing Israel and had been for years. While Samson's anger over his wife leads to a response that is completely out of balance, the Lord's use of Samson to deliver His people is in view.
Judges 15:6-10
The next domino falls when the Philistines respond to the loss of all their food supply. They respond first by burning Samson's intended bride and her father's house. They may have been holding him accountable for invited this Israelite to marry his daughter.
The next domino of escalation falls when Samson responds to this. He attacked them 'hip and high' with a great slaughter. The idiom of hip and thigh is literally 'he struck them thigh upon loin'. He gave them a violent beating, resulting in a great slaughter.
The Philistine response that they 'went up' is an interesting contrast to Samson's repeated descents. They went to Lehi, a place in Judah. Lehi means jawbone. Some consider it to be a small city a few miles from Zorah. They went to arrest Samson and end the escalation with one final escalation.
Judges 15:11-17
- The men of Judah went down – v.11
The Israelites who lived under the oppression of the Philistines seemed to live in fear. Yet, they found courage to form an army to hunt down Samson. Delivering Samson to their oppressors would sustain the peace under their oppression. Three thousand men assembled to approach Samson. Their weakness and attitude of defeat is obvious in declaring the Philistines as their ruler and being angry with Samson for not recognizing that. Samson's response is the response of one who is tired of the oppression and bent on delivering Israel; it is rather the immature defense of a child who was caught in an offense.
The three thousand asked nice, in essence asking if it would be okay if they arrested him. They don't appear to have the backbone to do it the hard way. Samson agreed as long as they didn't harm him. It appears he doesn't want to harm his own countrymen. They bound him with new ropes, less brittle and more likely to hold up. They took him to Lehi.
The Spirit of the Lord came on Samson when the Philistines came against him. There is no indication Samson was a big and strong man. The source of his great strength was a mystery indicating there was no physical reason to think he was strong. The ropes broke away under the power of the Spirit. Samson picked up a fresh jawbone. The fresh bone would be like green wood, less likely to break. The teeth would still be intact. This was a deadly weapon in the hands of Samson empowered by the Spirit. Samson killed a thousand Philistine oppressors that day. This single act would have become legendary among the Philistines and the Israelites.
The pun may have been to indicate that Samson made donkeys out of them. There's a wordplay between 'heaps' and 'donkey'. The words have identical consonants – it may be to present the Philistine heaps as donkeys. The Lord may have created his own irony in this story. Samson had proven to be a donkey of a man; self-willed, prideful, impulsive just going where the wind takes him. Samson credited himself with the victory. When you are the hero of your own stories, there might be a problem. The place became known as the hill of the jawbone.
Judges 15:18-20
Samson was empowered supernaturally but still reminded he was human. He was reminded of his frailty through his thirst and that God alone could provide for him. Suddenly, for seemingly the first time in his life, he cried out to the Lord. This appears to be the first prayer of this Nazirite set apart for God. Samson feared falling into the hands of the Philistines.
The Lord provided water for him. En Hakkore is the 'spring of the caller'. Samson judged Israel for twenty years.
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In the midst of sin and the consequences of that sin, God's calling is still purposed in the life of Samson. He was reckless in his life and calling. We can only imagine what a difference it would have made had this man submitted to God and in faithfulness judged Israel as a leader.
- Samson 'went down' instead of looking up.
- The descent started when he insisted on the Philistine woman because she was right in his own eyes.
- Pride ruled instead of submission and humility toward God.
- His motivations are no different than those of the Philistines. This is what plagued Israel.
- A life set apart for God was being wasted, yet God used him anyway.
When God isn't permitted to rule in our lives, He overrules and works out His will in spite of our decisions. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1994). Be available (p. 111). Victor Books.)
- It's never too late to cry out to the Lord.
- Samson seems to be the Lord's 'jawbone of a donkey'; a foolish, prideful man used by God in spite of who he was and what he'd done.
- He is called a man of faith in Hebrews 11:32 – listed between Barak and Jephthah, in the same sentence with David and Samuel.
Warning. The passage is a warning to us concerning what characteristics we should not want in our lives. In Samson, Israel has a judge who determines what is right and wrong purely based on his senses. Today we are encouraged to live life in this way. We are persuaded by commercials to "just do it," that if we like something to go for it. Ads are directed to our senses—appearance is everything. If you don't have the right stuff, you're nothing. Sex is used to sell everything from cars to ice cream, even "rice"! Samson lived in a fashion that our culture would endorse—at least in his willingness to gratify every inclination of his heart. (Younger, K. L., Jr. (2002). Judges and Ruth (p. 310). Zondervan.)
"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending." (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
"The end of a matter is better than its beginning" (Ecc. 7:8, NIV).
© 2015, 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
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