Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go in.
"I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead."
Samson said to them, "This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them." So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
When the Philistines asked, "Who did this?" they were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend."
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. Samson said to them, "Since you've acted like this, I won't stop until I get my revenge on you." He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. The men of Judah asked, "Why have you come to fight us?"
"We have come to take Samson prisoner," they answered, "to do to him as he did to us."
Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?"
He answered, "I merely did to them what they did to me."
They said to him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines."
Samson said, "Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves."
"Agreed," they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
Then Samson said,
"With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men."
When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.
Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Judges 15
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Chapter 15 opens, Samson is on his way to make amends with his wife who he angrily left at the end of the last chapter after discovering that she had tricked him into giving her the answer to his riddle which she passed onto the 30 Philistine companions. Her actions cost Samson his bet with the 30 men and he ended up striking down 30 Philistines in Askelon and stealing their clothes to pay off his obligation. Through his actions, we saw a Samson who was vindictive and treacherous. He continued those ways in Chapter 15.
For when he gets to his wife’s home and tells her father he was going to her room, the father stopped Samson and told him that he had given Samson’s wife to his friend, afraid that Samson was never coming back for her. The father, realizing that Samson had legally made proper payment for his bride putting him in the wrong, tried to make amends by offering Samson his wife’s sister instead. The father attempted to entice Samson to accept by promoting his other daughter’s attractiveness but Samson would have none of it. Instead, he vowed to take his revenge out on the Philistines.
And so scripture tells us that Samson took our his revenge in a pretty unique way, catching “three hundred foxes” and tying “them tail to tail in pairs” before fastening “a torch to every pair of tails, lighting the torches and letting the foxes “loose in the standing grain of the Philistines”. As the foxes ran, the flames on their tails “burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves”. Angry and seeking vengeance…just as Samson had done…the Philistines discovered after investigation that Samson had done it “because his wife was given to his friend." And so the Philistines got even and Samson’ wife and father were burned to death.
This series of actions only shows us the fruitless nature of revenge. For typically, it only needs to tragedy and never really accomplishes anything good. Frankly, a vengeful spirit in man is not of God but only of Satan and sin. This was underscored in God’s word from Leviticus when He stated, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18) You’ll remember that Jesus would go on to use these very words when defining God’s second greatest commandment after loving the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Paul would go on to add these words in his letter to the Romans, echoing God’s word from Deuteronomy (Chapter 32, verse 35)::
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. Romans 12:19
So God and God alone was the only One who could consider vengeance…the only true Judge of all mankind. None of us have the authority but Him. Unfortunately, Samson disregarded God’s authority.
For we read that after learning of the death of his wife and father-in-law, Samson once again vows to get even. In fact, he tells the Philistines that he wouldn’t stop until he gained revenge over them and then goes on to attack them viciously, slaughtering many of them before taking up refuge in a “cave in the rock of Etam”.
So what exactly did Samson gain from all this? We don’t read that he garnered God’s favor for his actions. In fact, we never see an instance when Samson even asks God for His counsel. If he had, you can bet God would not have told him to go on a murderous rampage unless He planned on using Samson as an instrument of His own vengeance. There’s no indication that this was happening here.
While Samson holed up in his cave, the Philistines didn’t stop seeking him, wanting to close the case on him and stop his vengefulness once and for all. They camped near Judah which made the Judeans very nervous. We get the indication that they were happy and at peace just living under the rule of the Philistines, something that would not have been heard of earlier in the Book of Judges as Israel never hesitated to go into battle with the Canaanites, following God’s order to conquer all cities and drive out the Canaanite people.
When the Judean men find out that it was Samson who had brought the Philistines into their land and disrupted their lifestyle, they took “three thousand men” and “went down to the cave in the rock of Etam where Samson was. They confronted Samson saying, “Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?" In other words, your actions have placed us in danger. Why did you do this to us? Note that the Judeans had no concern for Samson himself or anything that might have happened to him. No…ironically, the Judeans displayed the same selfish attitude that Samson had shown for the better part of his life up to now. It was all about them…and not about Samson.
This was on full display as the Judeans took Samson and tied him up to hand over to the Philistines after taking a vow that they wouldn’t kill Samson themselves. They were so self-centered that they would rather hand over a fellow brother Israelite to be killed than risk any harm coming to them. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few or the one.
So the Judeans bound Samson and too him to the Philistines who began shouting as they advanced toward him. Things were not looking good for Samson as he was bound and unable to defend himself. He was destined to die.
That is…he was destined to die if that was God’s will for him. It obviously wasn’t for we read where the “Spirit of the Lord” came upon Samson “in power”, resulting in the ropes on his arms becoming like charred flax. The bindings dropped from his hands and after grabbing a “fresh jawbone of a donkey”, he “struck down a thousand men”. Samson didn’t perish although it looked certain that he would. He had experienced God’s grace and mercy first hand.
Friends, this same thing happens to us a lot. We turn from God and adopt a sinful attitude in any given circumstance. Then often when we have managed to get ourselves in a difficult situation…a situation where we faced hardship or difficulty as a result of our actions…God intervenes and rescues us from our potentially difficult circumstances…and does so because it was His will for us. Maybe you can relate to a time when God rescued you…even though you maybe didn’t deserve it.
Well, in Samson’s case, we see him finally turn to the Lord…later than he should of but he turns to Him nonetheless. We can all relate to doing the same I think.
Scripture tells us that Samson was very thirsty which led him to cry out to the Lord saying, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" Note that for the first time, Samson acknowledged God as the One who had delivered him to victory. It wasn’t his doing as much as the Lord’s. And we sense that God rewards Samson for his faithful words, opening up “the hollow place in Lehi” and making water come out of it”…water that restored Samson’s strength. He would go onto rule for another 20 years.
Friends, my prayer is that we see the destructive nature of revenge in today’s scripture and never seek to carry it out ourselves. May we ever turn to the Lord in all instances and all occasions, seeking His guidance because He will NEVER lead us wrong. Trust in that. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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