So last week we learned that Samson married a wife who was disloyal to him. She explained his riddle to the crowd and betrayed him, making him lose an expensive bet. Samson used this as an excuse to murder 30 Philistines and take their clothing to give to his wedding attendants who had answered the riddle his wife had given the answer to.
After distributing the clothing; Samson went home to cool off.
He left his bride behind with her people.
When the time for the harvest of the wheat harvest came; Samson went to see his new wife. He took along a young goat.
Upon arrival he told her father to let him enter her room to see her. The father blocked his entry though because he had thought Samson was not coming back for her. He let one of Samson’s wedding attendants take her as a wife.
Upon hearing this news Samson became angry again.
The woman’s father suggested that Samson might like his bride’s sister.
Does anything about this story remind you of the story of Jacob and Rachel?
Without him realizing what was happening; God used Samson’s anger to help destroy more of the Philistines. Samson said “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines; if I harm them.
So Samson went out and caught 300 foxes.
He tied their tails together, then put a torch between their tails and set fire to the torch.
After being set on fire the foxes were turned loose in the fields of grain, the olive groves and the vineyards of the Philistines which were ripe for harvesting. Their full harvests were burned to the ground.
The Philistines came to investigate the matter.
They asked who would have done such a thing. Someone there told them that Samson, the son-in-law of the Teminite was mad because his father-in-law gave his wife to his companion; so he set the foxes on fire in the fields.
As punishment for this crime the Philistines burned the land of Samson’s father-in-law; burning up his bride and her father in the process.
Now Samson had yet another reason to confront the Philistines.
He vowed to take his revenge.
Samson attacked the Philistines and slaughtered them.
Now he had no family and friends in the land to turn to; so Samson went to dwell like a fugitive in the entrance of a cave.
The Philistines went up to the camp in Judah and the men there asked them why they had come. They replied that they had come to arrest Samson for killing the Philistines.
So; 3,000 men from Judah went down to talk to Samson. Their comments were to remind Samson that the Philistines ruled over them and to say that he had put them into harm’s way. Samson replied that he was only returning to the Philistines what they had done to him.
This did not sway the men of Judah who were more afraid of intimidating their enemies than using the strength of Samson against them. They announced to Samson that they were going to arrest him and take him to the Philistines.
Samson agreed to come peacefully with them if they would swear not to kill him. They vowed not to kill him and they bound his hands and took him down from the rocks and on to turn in to the Philistines.
As they reached Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting, wanting to take Samson.
The Spirit of the LORD came over Samson. The ropes that bound him burst loose. He picked up the jawbone of donkey and killed 1,000 of the Philistines.
After doing this Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps. With the jawbone of donkey I have slain 1,000 men.”
Then Samson threw down the jawbone and called the place where this slaughter happened Ramath Lehi. Translators say this means “Jawbone Hill.”
At this point Samson became very thirsty. He called out to God saying: “I have done your will and delivered the people from these Philistines. Will I now fall victim to them because of thirst?”
It was then that God split the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of the rock and Samson drank. Does this remind you of any other familiar stories that you might know?
The above is yet another strange story about Samson which should mean more to us than what we first hear.
Our next lesson will go into more of the details of this adventure of Samson.
In the meantime ponder these things. Ask God to show you why they have been written down in the scriptures for our gain. So often the words of the Old Testament reveal things that we need to know in our current culture.