Samson’s Descent - Judges 15:1-8

Introduction

Last week we saw Samson’s wedding feast turn into the Samson show as he sought to entertain thugs with a dangerous bet that would ultimately hurt him and his family. We saw Samson disregard sacred things such as:

Family

Sin

His Wife

Life

He put his and other families in danger, he joked about his sin and breaking another part of his covenant with God, he insulted his new wife, and he killed 30 random men and robbed them.

Is this Israel’s savior? Is this truly the light to their people? How could God work through the actions of such a sinful man?

Today we see Samson’s descent further into sin and foolishness. We see his actions cause greater conflict, as is a part of God’s plan. After all, we will see the Lord working through this flawed man and flickering light.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 15

Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

2 “I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”

3 Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless when I harm the Philistines.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned the piles of grain and the standing grain as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

6 Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

They were told, “It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because he took Samson’s wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.

7 Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.” 8 He tore them limb from limb and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

Family Reunion? v.1

This first verse raises a few questions that I want to try and answer:

Did Samson leave his wife?

Note the beginning of the first verse:

Judges 15:1 (CSB)

Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

The writer of Judges seems to want to make it known that Samson did not return to his bride immediately. One commentator speculates he didn’t return to her for a few weeks. But this leads to a second question:

2. Is Samson actually married to this woman?

Remember the end of last week’s chapter:

Judges 14:19–20 (CSB)

In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

So was the marriage not legitimate? Did they never truly get married because Samson was too caught up in this bet?

There are a few different views of this.

The Negligent Husband View

This view would say that Samson was truly married to this woman, yet ran away for a couple weeks after whole mess with the bet. Then he came back later with a gift for her when he wanted to sleep with her.

The Philistine Tradition View

This view states that it was Philistine tradition for the wife to remain in her family’s household and the husband to merely visit every now and then. In this case, what Samson is doing is completely normal.

The Clueless Samson View

In this view, Samson was not truly married to this woman, but he thought he was. This would make sense because Samson left before the end of the wedding, when it would be consummated. So Samson leaves, comes back later to sleep with this woman who he thinks is his wife but isn’t, and then realizes they aren’t actually married.

The only issue with this view is that the Philistines and the writer of Judges continue to refer to her as his wife and her dad as his father-in-law.

I think Samson was being a totally negligent husband.

But when Samson does come back, he brings a goat as a gift and states his intentions clearly: I want to go to my wife in her room. Why is Samson there? He wants to sleep with his wife. Under the Philistine Tradition view, this is very normal. Under the Negligent Husband view, this is pretty messed up.

For the record, even if it was the Philistine Tradition view, this is not how sex within marriage should be. If this was their tradition, it emphasized the spouse as an object for the other’s pleasure, but in a real godly marriage, your spouse is the flesh of your flesh. You are one with that person, not just a sex object. Godly marriages are not only about sex like Samson seems to make it seem his is.

Sin On Top of Sin v.2-5

How does this woman’s father respond to Samson’s gross behavior? Well first he explains himself. He says I was sure you hated her. Now why would he think that? Probably because Samson ruined their wedding, called his new bride a cow and ran off. Because of this, her father seemed to think Samson was abandoning his daughter and so he gave her to another man, likely one of the 30 who were betting with him.

Sinful Father’s and Disregarded Daughters & Sons

Him offering his other daughter, as she is apparently prettier than his older, is unfortunately very common. We see this happen a few times in the Bible other than here when a father offers his daughter to crazed men:

Genesis 19 in Sodom and Gomorrah

Here in this passage with Samson and the Philistine Father

Judges 19 in Benjamin

In all three of these instances, the one who seeks to give his daughter(s) away is pagan-esque and does not seek God.

In Sodom it was Lot, Abraham’s nephew who looked more like the pagans and didn’t seek God.

Here it is a Philistine, a pagan, man

In Judges 19, it is a Jewish Priest who is so far away from God that he does not know him or seek him anymore.

This is a wicked thing. In their culture, yes, it was very common to give daughters away as peace offerings and gifts for an alliance etc. But this does not mean it was right. Remember, this was in the time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. In all three instances I listed, the men giving their daughter(s) away were saving their own tail, or another man’s. They cared very little for their daughters, but only cared for themselves.

Girls, this is not what a godly father should do. Nor is it what he will do. There are some daughters today who are still treated this way: like objects. They are seen as less than human, essentially. And then, because you cannot get your own dad’s attention, you seek attention from other guys in your life. You dress immodestly maybe or are just always dating someone. You do crazy things hoping that your dad will just talk to you, even to scold you.

Hear me: your Heaven Father is not like this. He will not leave you. He will not forsake you. You do not have to beg for His presence. You do not have to sin to get His eye.

You must learn to find contentment in your Heavenly Father and stop running to these boys who do not care about you truly. If you are always looking for a relationship, stop. See that you do not need any boy’s attention, and rest in your God’s presence.

All of this can and should be applied to the boys in the same way. Your mother or father isn’t around or he treats you poorly so you act out and do anything you can to get attention. You jump girl to girl. You look at girls online fantasizing that they are interested in you. This is not how we should be living. All these things you all seek can only truly be satisfied in Christ.

Spurgeon once said something like every man walking into a brothel is looking for God. Meaning that a man seeking out pleasure in a random woman is really trying to fill their desire for a relationship with their Creator.

Students I plead with you, find your contentment in your Creator. There is nothing in this world, no person or act or drug or word or anything that can truly scratch the itch you feel. All of it will fall short leaving you empty and aimless. You need to be in communion with your Creator.

Samson’s father-in-law cared not for his daughter, nor his younger one. He feared for his life because this deranged Jewish man who just murdered 30 men is angry at him.

So how does Samson respond to this sinful man? Rage. Here we see a glimpse of Samson’s light in that he seeks to cause war with the Philistines.

Are his reasonings righteous or good? Not at all actually.

Vengeance

Samson is someone who is so prideful that when he is humiliated and his pride is hurt, he will do everything and anything in his power for revenge.

He is not the only person like this. Many of us struggle with this intense desire for revenge on those who hurt us. This desire for revenge is never righteous, but always rooted in pride. It is rooted in a desire to show that you are at the top and the one who wronged you is beneath you.

This is a wicked desire and can lead to much more sin in life. Thus is why we see the Lord boldly state:

Deuteronomy 32:35 CSB

Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

The Lord reserves all vengeance for Himself. This seems strange for us because we think “Isn’t wrong of Him to seek vengeance too?” And this is us viewing God as another sinful human. Remember, God is truly pure and righteous. He has no darkness in Him. While God is totally good, He is also totally just. This means He is the only one who can truly seek vengeance and not be sinful in doing so. In fact, we need Him to bring about justice in this world because He is the only one who can.

If you are somebody who feels that need to seek revenge in every little and big wrong against you in your life. Whether someone flicks your ear or wrecks your car, you always do all you can to get the other person, I must encourage you to be careful as you are being like Samson.

Samson took matters into his own hands and said “Vengeance is mine,” and it will lead to his death. Let the Lord take vengeance. This is why Jesus tells us to pray for those who persecute us; the Lord will deal with wrongdoers and make what is wrong right. All we need to do is our best to display Christ to even our enemies.

So repent from this mindset. When you are wronged, no matter how severe, just take it on yourself. When you are insulted, don’t insult back. When you are punched, do not punch back as much as you are able. When someone steals your wife, do not send 300 foxes into their crops with torches.

And so, Samson burned all of their grain, harvested and not. They lost money and food in this and now are very angry.

More Sin On Top of More Sin v.6-8

How does this go for Samson? Does he ride off into the sunset only to live happily ever after with no more issues? By no means. Rather, his sin breeds more sin and his wife and her family are burned to death.

Ultimately, Samson’s irresponsible bet made at his wedding feast led to this. As it turns out, your actions have consequences. You cannot just do whatever you want in life and expect nothing to happen to you. To live without taking accountability for any of your mistakes and avoiding all consequences would make you a fool who never learns.

Please remember this key piece of wisdom: your actions have consequences 100% of the time. Be careful.

The Philistines respond to Samson’s revenge act, with more revenge. And how does Samson respond? Even more revenge. This is very graphic but it says Samson tore them apart limb from limb. It does not say that the Lord empowered Samson to do this. Rather, he just does it. This may mean that Samson was actually a strong guy outside of his supernatural strength from the Lord. Either way, he unleashes his fury and makes sure that he has the last word.

Application

What can we learn from this story? We see sin following more sin following more sin. We see a spiral of Samson going further and further down into depravity.

This is why we need a Savior; without one, we are destined to be like Samson.

Your goal, as Christians, is to be like Christ. Here we see that that starts by truly looking to the Hero over your head. So do as He did. Don’t seek vengeance. Remain in communion with your Heavenly Father. Look to Him for your satisfaction. Do not live like the pagans did totally dependent on yourself, viewing yourself to be god.

And if you don’t know Jesus, I implore you to repent of your sins and give Christ your life. In Him you have life and life abundant, not just after death, but also on Earth today.