HIS EARLY ADULTHOOD – FALLING AT FIRST HURDLE.
The Spirit began to stir him, perhaps to be bold and inspire him to acts of zeal and patriotism (13:25) He went to Timnath (or Timnah), land allocated to Danites near the border with the Philistines. Remember they were living defeated lives because of disobedience. This is what always happens – we compromise and allow the world part of our lives and eventually rather than us controlling it (as no doubt we intended at the start) it controls us and confines us to a restricted, defeated life. God wants us to live victorious lives – a victory already won for us by Jesus Christ at Calvary and by His glorious resurrection and ascension and soon return.
Samson (v1,2) saw a woman there (a Philistine) and he told his parents to get her for him as a wife. Remember it was and still is in some Eastern countries to have arranged marriages. If it were so here in 2024, would our taste be our children’s taste and vice versa. It is an awesome responsibility whoever does the choosing, and vital that we seek God’s will.
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU CHOOSE TO MARRY (the unequal yoke)
His parents (v3) tried to dissuade him, but he insisted. It is to their credit that they tried to dissuade him – God had forbidden the people of Israel to marry with the seven nations of Canaan, (Deuteronomy 7:3). The Philistines were not one of the seven, but still outside the people of Israel and therefore, not a very good choice. One could argue that the Philistines were not included in the list of seven but nevertheless, the prohibition must still apply because of the reasoning behind it – idolatry and departure from the One True God. One writer says that we can often trace the beginning of sins in our lives back to a poor decision we made.
Then v4 says “They did not know it was of The LORD”
I’ve struggled with this. God’s clear commands were to not intermarry with foreigners who did not worship the true God. We need to look back at chapters 2 and 3 for insight to this statement. It was all because of disobedience – 2v20-23 God was angry with Israel because they disobeyed, therefore, he said “I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations …. I will use them to test Israel. “
It is clear from ch3 that this happened, and Israel lived among all these other people and intermarried AND served their gods. (v6)
It seems that whilst it was not God’s ideal, He planned it to defeat the enemy and get His people back, through their difficulties. God knew that this marriage would not last and, in the end, would spell defeat for the Philistines. People often only turn to God when things go wrong. We have seen many examples of God bringing good out of bad. He never plans us to do evil, but He often uses it for good. Sometimes we only learn by mistakes, in fact it is often said that we only learn by our mistakes, but I would disagree that we have to learn only by doing wrong. We can avoid it and God will provide a way for us to avoid it, as we noted earlier in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Sadly we do make mistakes and hopefully we learn by them, but there is a better way of learning.
It is also true that some who did intermarry with unbelievers, the unbelievers turned to God, e.g. Ruth, though relatively few did.
IT MUST BE STRESSED that this is not a pattern to be followed. It is often God’s only way, often painful way, in His great mercy, to get us back to Him. If we go against God’s word for guidance and make our own choices in life. God can and sometimes does use it to bring glory to Himself, and good to others. But it may, and most often will, bring pain to us.
Samson is self-willed and determined to have his own way and go against the commands of God. God never forces anyone to do His will. God was going to bring good to Israel and the downfall of the Philistines despite Samson’s disobedience and through Samson. Samson would not come through unscathed
SIN PAYS WAGES – YOU DON’T WORK FOR NOTHING
Sin always pays wages. With hindsight, I’m sure Samson would not have chosen this way. I don’t believe it was God’s perfect will, and certainly not God’s best for Samson to marry an unbeliever. The same applies today. We see at the end of his life that whilst the presence of The Spirit returned to him, his sight did not (sin’s wages).
The late Dr Verna Wright said he counselled a young man who said he felt led to date a non-Christian girl. “l emphasised that wherever his guidance came from it did not come from God, who is not self-contradicting. God will bring lives into contact He is wishing to join.”
THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We must remember we live in different times. As Christians, The Holy Spirit does not come and go from us, but we are not always filled with The Spirit. As believers today we receive The Holy Spirit on conversion, not in part but in His entirety. In fact, the Bible says that if we do not have The Spirit we do not belong to Him.
Samson and his parents went down to Timnath to prepare for the marriage (v5). We see evidence of his superhuman strength in killing a lion with his bare hands. (v6) “The Spirit of The LORD came mightily upon him” (v6) – this shows us that The Spirit came on people for specific purposes. On his way Samson kills a lion with his bare hands. He did not tell his parents. This may have been an indication to him of the power of The Spirit of God. He had no weapon, just his bare hands. He appears to come through ‘without a scratch’ as his parents knew nothing of it. He talked with the young woman and she pleased him (v7).
God could have defeated the Philistines any way He chose, without Samson, but He chose to use Samson. God could have used an army, but He chose one man to do it. I don’t believe God ever goes against His word, but I believe He works His purposes out for good despite us.
It is not worth going against God’s Word or His Will, because even though He will get the glory, we may feel pain. He gives us all a free will but provides the remedy for sin. Adam sinned; God provided the way of forgiveness. Adam suffered the pain that sin always brings and so will we if we choose to disobey. If we go against God’s Word for guidance and make our own choices, God can and does use it to bring glory to Himself and good to others, but, it may be, and most often will be, very painful to us. With hindsight I’m sure Samson would not have gone that way – unhappiness, pain and eventually shame and death. I don’t believe it was God’s perfect will for him to marry a Philistine.
It is absolute folly to say that one can have a sexual relationship with more than one person and not run the risk of disease. In 1990 we were told that the Government’s Safe Sex Campaign was not reducing AIDS. Safe sex, outside of God’s rules, is a myth.
Some 60 years ago I read in a publication that a girl who had sex with only one boy was shocked to learn that she had contracted venereal disease. The boy had only been with one other girl, but that girl had had five other men who in turn had been with a total of nineteen women, some prostitutes. The girl who thought she had limited her relationship with one had in fact had contact through him with at least ninety-two others.
The promised sexual freedom turns out to be unbearable slavery of the worst kind. What a man (or woman) sows he reaps.
Let us remember that God created sex for those married to each other. It is not a dirty word; it is private and personal and even a blessing from God.
On Samson’s next journey to see the woman in Timnath (v8,9) he turned aside to look at the carcase of the lion, perhaps to remind himself of God’s deliverance in the strength to kill it, and he finds honey in the carcase of the lion. He eats some himself and gives some to his parents not telling them where it was from.
We approach the wedding (v10). Samson gave a feast as was the custom of young men and they brought him thirty companions. Maybe this was his stag night!
SAMSON PLAYS GAMES AND IS BETRAYED.
The wedding day arrives and the festivities lasted 7 days, He sets a riddle involving the lion and the honey (v14) for the thirty companions provided for him by her father, probably to guard and to spy on him, and he made rash promises should they find the answer. He is not long into his marriage and it is clear that his Philistine wife is devious and doesn’t really love him – (v17) They have only been married 1 week, the honeymoon is not yet over, and she was thinking of her own skin more than she did of her husband. (v15) Her people pressed her into the explanation of the riddle and failing that they threatened to burn her and her father’s house. He could kill a lion but was overcome by his wife’s tears. He had set the riddle and given them seven days to find the answer and if they did, he would give them thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.
His wife who had not stopped crying for 7 days, not much married bliss, obtains the answer by ‘crocodile tears’ and she went to tell HER people (Note – the ever-present danger of the unequal yoke). They were still her people. So much for leaving and cleaving (Genesis 2:24). She cried ‘You don’t really love me’ He told her that he had not even told his parents the solution to the riddle so why tell her. However, he could stand the weeping no longer, so he told her the answer. We see that these men were liars and completely untrustworthy as we see later in chapter 15:7 that in retaliation they still burned her and her father’s house.
Samson had set the riddle and made rash promises to the young men who were guests at the wedding. Riddles were common amusements at festive occasions and entertainments. Having lost and been betrayed by his wife Samson is angry (v 19). The Spirit of The LORD came upon him and he went down to Ashkelon and there he struck thirty men and took their clothes to give to the companions.
He sulked and took his bat and ball home. The marriage was doomed to failure; it only lasted a week. Assuming that Samson has deserted his daughter, her father married her off to the best man.
The world cannot be trusted, sooner or later, it will sting you. Make allegiance with it at your peril. Don’t trust them. The devil is the father of lies. He will use you and cares nothing about you and will ‘drop you’ once you have done his bidding.
