Scripture Daily

Context No. 192 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 14:1-11: in context

1Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 2He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as my wife.” 3Then his father and his mother said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among your brothers’ daughters, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” 4But his father and his mother didn’t know that it was of the LORD; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. 5Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and his mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion roared at him. 6The LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat with his bare hands, but he didn’t tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7He went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well. 8After a while he returned to take her, and he went over to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9He took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. He came to his father and mother and gave to them, and they ate, but he didn’t tell them that he had taken the honey out of the lion’s body. 10His father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men used to do so. 11When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Samson was born to childless parents after an angel announced he would be a Nazirite from the womb, set apart to God, and begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. This passage is the first thing he does as an adult.

He goes down to Timnah, sees a Philistine woman, comes home and tells his parents: get her for me as my wife. They object, asking whether there is no woman among his own people. He repeats himself: get her for me, for she pleases me. Then the narrator adds a note that unsettles the whole scene: his father and mother did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion against the Philistines.

On the way down he tears a lion apart with his bare hands and tells no one, and later takes honey out of the carcass and eats it, and gives some to his parents without saying where it came from. For a Nazirite, touching a corpse was forbidden. He is set apart, effective, secretive about his violations, and driven by what he sees. The text says God was using it, and never says the behavior was good. What is working out in my life that I should not mistake for approval of how I am doing it?

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