For Every Action... - Judges 15

Most of us have had an experience where someone hurt us deeply. Maybe it was a physical wound someone inflicted upon you. Maybe it was a loss that someone else caused you. It may be something untrue that someone said about you that left deep wounds. It could be the betrayal of a confidence, or some other wound that left emotional scars long after the event. The truth is most of us have felt like we have been treated unfairly at times. Those times are difficult because we feel like we didn’t deserve the hurt dealt to us at the hands of someone else.

Different people respond to those kinds of hurts in different ways. Some internalize it, absorb it, and never speak of it again. Some people try to address the hurt and bring understanding and healing. Still others lash out in an attempt to hurt the other person as well—often under the guise of “seeking justice,” “righting a wrong,” or “standing up for yourself.” Whether you fall into that last category or not, the fact is every one of us sometimes dreams of getting vengeance. We dream about ways we can inflict a similar hurt on others, or about the things we could say that would make us feel better. The truth is, revenge is a natural response to being hurt by someone else. But just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s right. In our text this morning we will be reminded that seeking revenge doesn’t solve the problem—most of the time it actually makes it worse.

We are continuing in our study of the life of Samson this morning. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks looking at the early parts of his life, and when we left off last week we had just seen Samson leave his bride because of what he perceived to be an injustice with her and the guests at his bachelor party. He stormed off, leaving her all alone. This morning we pick up where we left off—with Samson returning to retrieve his bride…but it doesn’t go the way he had envisioned it.

Samson’s Return

After leaving his bride in a fit of anger at the end of chapter 14, Samson now returns, having calmed down and wanting to see her in chapter 15.

Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a present to his wife. He said, “I’m going into my wife’s room to sleep with her,” but her father wouldn’t let him in.

2“I truly thought you must hate her,” her father explained, “so I gave her in marriage to your best man. But look, her younger sister is even more beautiful than she is. Marry her instead.” (Judges 15:1-2, NLT)

Samson returned to his wife’s house with a gift in hand as a way of appeasing her for his abandonment. But even here, we see that Samson was likely being selfish. He does not show any remorse or contrition for what he has done, but rather comes wanting to satisfy his own desires. He tells his would-be father-in-law that he has returned to sleep with his wife. But the father-in-law stood up to Samson, telling him that he simply assumed he didn’t want to go through with the marriage, so he had given her away to another man (Samson’s best man), and so he could not have her. I suspect the father feared Samson to some degree, so he offered Samson his younger daughter in marriage as a compromise. But that wasn’t what Samson wanted, so he flew into a rage. This rage sets off a chain reaction that flows through the rest of chapter 15. We’ll examine each step in the chain and then try to draw some application from it.

Retaliation for His Wife

After being denied access to his wife, Samson exacts his revenge.

3Samson said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.” 4Then he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs, and he fastened a torch to each pair of tails. 5Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves. (Judges 15:3-5, NLT)

Samson’s response was one that took considerable time, effort, and planning. He went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them in pairs by their tails. So he now had 150 pairs of angry foxes that would fight against each other. With each pair he fastened a burning torch to their tails and then set the foxes loose in the grain fields of the Philistines. As you can imagine, foxes tied together by the tail would run erratically and quickly through the fields as they tried to get free—and in the process they would set fire to a large swath of land. We are told that Samson’s actions burned all their grain, their vineyards, and their olive groves to the ground.

This was a significant action—it was guerrilla warfare. One might even go so far as to call it terrorism. For a society that lived off of what it grew each year—a society that was completely dependent on its yearly crops—this would have been utterly devastating. Understandably, the Philistines were furious.

It is interesting to note a very important phrase Samson utters before beginning this act of vengeance. He said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.” In other words, Samson found a way to rationalize his own actions and to blame the Philistines for what he was going to do—after all, he had no other choice!

This is one of the great dangers of engaging in vengeance—we are very good at rationalizing our actions, even when they are sinful. Samson excused his actions, saying the Philistines had brought this upon themselves. They deserved what Samson was about to do, so he felt no remorse for it.

The problem is that Samson’s actions were not just. There is no way that destroying the fields of an entire region is the appropriate response to the actions of his father-in-law (which we might actually argue were justified!) Revenge almost always results in an overreaction. And when we convince ourselves that our overreaction is justified, we begin to walk down a very dangerous path. That’s what Samson did here.

After the Philistines saw their fields burned to the ground they tried to find out who was responsible. When they discovered it was Samson, they took a somewhat surprising tactic. Rather than going after Samson (who was dangerous), they decided to take out their desire for revenge on a third party—Samson’s wife and Father-in-law. The Philistines decided to burn down this man’s house with he and his daughter inside.

Before we think too harshly of the Philistines for their actions, we need to recognize that we often do the same thing.

A co-worker does something that upsets us, so we begin to sabotage their work relationships by talking about them behind their backs.

We feel slighted by a business or even a church, and so we begin to slander them to others rather than dealing with whatever person we have issues with directly.

We feel as though someone injured us in some way so we look for ways to hurt them—to ensure they feel excluded by others in town, to try to discredit them, or to get them removed from a position.

We dislike a decision made by someone else, so we “throw them under the bus” by telling everyone that it was their fault that this decision was made, and we do everything we can to ensure the outcome of their decision is bad.

These are all passive-aggressive ways of seeking revenge. And if you’re like me, you are a master at these kinds of behaviors. It gives you a bit of cover—some plausible deniability, because you aren’t overtly trying to hurt the other person…you’re acting beneath the surface. This is what the Philistines did (and what Samson did as well). What we fail to understand is that when we act in this way, we are hurting many more people in the process. Revenge is a slippery slope that ultimately affects many.

Another Cycle of Retaliation

After the Philistines murdered his wife and father-in-law (who Samson seemed not to love that much anyway), he responded by attacking them and killing many of them. We aren’t told how many he killed, but Samson unleashed his rage on those he deemed responsible for the death of his wife and father-in-law.

After this round of murderous rage, Samson retreated back to his home country and stayed in a cave in Etam. But the Philistines couldn’t let Samson’s actions go. They had to respond in kind. But once again, rather than attacking Samson directly, they decided to attack those closest to him in order to get the results they desired.

9The Philistines retaliated by setting up camp in Judah and spreading out near the town of Lehi. 10The men of Judah asked the Philistines, “Why are you attacking us?” The Philistines replied, “We’ve come to capture Samson. We’ve come to pay him back for what he did to us.”

11So 3,000 men of Judah went down to get Samson at the cave in the rock of Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you realize the Philistines rule over us? What are you doing to us?” But Samson replied, “I only did to them what they did to me.”

12But the men of Judah told him, “We have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” “All right,” Samson said. “But promise that you won’t kill me yourselves.” 13“We will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines,” they replied. “We won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. (Judges 15:9-13, NLT)

So the Philistines attacked and laid siege to Judah. The Judahites then turned on Samson and decided that it was better for everyone if they simply talked him into surrendering to the Philistines and giving up. When they went to talk to him, Samson’s response was quite telling: “I only did to them what they did to me.”

This is the mantra of the person seeking vengeance. We justify our actions by declaring that we are simply responding in kind. It is the reverse of the golden rule: do unto others as they have done unto you. Of course, that’s completely at odds with what Jesus actually taught. He told us to treat others as we would like to be treated—and not to repay people evil for evil.

The Judahites promised not to kill Samson, merely to hand him over to the Philistines. They bound him with new (and therefore strong) ropes and brought him to the Philistines. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he tore through the ropes like they were nothing. Once he was free, he was able to once again seek vengeance.

Samson grabbed the jawbone of a freshly dead donkey (meaning he touched a corpse—a violation of his Nazirite vows) and used it to kill 1,000 Philistines with it. It was an immense slaughter—and a drastic overreaction.

There is a bit of humor injected into this account, however. The word used for donkey and the word use for heaps sound very similar. So Samson’s response can be understood two ways (which I think was intended).

With the jawbone of a donkey I have made donkeys of them (pun intended!)

With the jawbone of a donkey I have made heaps of them.

Samson comes to name the place Jawbone Hill, but many scholars don’t believe there was a hill there at all. Rather the hill that Samson speaks of is the heaps of dead bodies he piled up in this place.

Finally, after this great victory, Samson cried out to God (which is the first time he is recorded as doing so). But Samson’s cry to God was not one of dependence or humility…rather it was one demanding that God give him what he wanted. He, in essence, scolds God for not giving him water. When God does provide Samson with water he names the place. But the name (“Spring of the one who cried out”) does not reflect God’s action, but Samson’s. Samson has become hard-hearted and self-dependent. That is where a vengeful heart ultimately leads us.

Conclusion

Like much of Samson’s life, this is a really strange series of circumstances. It makes for an interesting and colorful story, but it is somewhat disturbing. We look at Samson and we see someone who is selfish and is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. We see someone who cares far more about satisfying his own desires than he does about who he hurts in the process. But I think part of what makes Samson’s story so hard to swallow is that when we’re honest we see a lot of those same traits in ourselves. At some point you have surely lashed out at someone else, responded in vengeance, or had a disproportionate response to what someone did. At some time, we have all sought to meet our own desires without any regard for how that would affect the people around us. We are more like Samson than we are comfortable admitting.

But I think we are supposed to learn from Samson’s mistakes so we don’t repeat them. With that, I think there are several applications we can take from this account.

First, is that revenge doesn’t actually satisfy. Taking vengeance on someone else, trying to hurt them the way they hurt us feels good in the moment. There is a brief moment when we feel relief, but it is always short-lived. It doesn’t take long for us to realize that hurting someone else doesn’t take away our own hurt—it just makes the hurt larger. That’s why Jesus tells us not to seek vengeance, and not to respond to people in kind. He instead tells us to treat others the way we would like to be treated.

That means that our response to hurts should be the complete opposite of Samson’s. Instead of trying to injure others, we should instead try to understand what made the other person hurt us. Instead of trying to hurt them back, we should be looking for ways we can extend love and grace. After all, if the situation were reversed, that’s what we would hope for. Jesus says that’s the mentality we should take—not the mentality that says do unto others as they have done unto you.

Second, we have a seemingly endless capacity to rationalize our actions. This is where we must be very careful. We are very good at justifying all sorts of sinful behavior in ourselves and in others. The reason for this is because we can understand the desire for vengeance—it’s a natural response. But it is not the kind of response God calls us to have. So rather than surrounding ourselves with people who will tell us what we want to hear and encourage us to go down a sinful path, we need to look to God’s Word for guidance. All sorts of people (even people in the church) may be happy to help you justify your desire for vengeance, but God’s Word tells us that seeking revenge is not the Godly way.

Third, we must choose to trust God’s judgment and power rather than ours. Quite frankly, I think the biggest reason we struggle with seeking revenge is because we are concerned God is going to let people get away with things. When someone hurts us the last thing we want is for them to get off without paying for what they’ve done. We must exact our vengeance because we can’t be sure God will.

Or sometimes we are afraid God’s judgment will take too long, so we decide we should help Him along by using our own power, craftiness, or schemes to make sure people get what (we think) they deserve. Simply put, I think our desire for revenge has a lot to do with our lack of faith in God. Jesus tells us to forgive others not because what they did doesn’t matter, but because we can trust that God will deal fairly with their sin (just as He will do with ours). We are not giving up on justice being served, we are simply recognizing that it is not our job to serve it. It is God’s.

Finally, revenge snowballs until someone stops it. Samson and the Philistines kept lashing out at each other in bigger and bigger ways until literally thousands of people were involved. What started as a disagreement between two men ultimately ended up affecting thousands of others. We must recognize that retaliation leads to even greater retaliation. It will continue to get larger and involve more people until someone says enough is enough. Here’s the good news: you have the power to stop the cycle. You can refuse to retaliate. And if you do, the snowball can’t keep growing.

So, we see that revenge is not a biblical concept and that it doesn’t actually accomplish what we want it to accomplish. How do we begin rooting out the vengeful spirit within us? I’ve got some suggestions.

When possible, delay responding to people until you’ve had a chance to calm down. James tells us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Much of our vengeance is a result of a knee-jerk reaction. Take time to think and pray about how God wants you to respond to a situation.

Pray for those who have hurt you instead of dreaming up ways to hurt them. Jesus said to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He gives some good advice.

Surround yourself with people who will encourage you to let go of hurts rather than replaying them or encouraging retaliation. If you surround yourself with people who encourage your vengeful spirit, you’ll be vengeful. If you are around people who encourage you to let go of hurts, you’ll more likely leave vengeance to God.

Spend time remembering the gospel. Much of our desire for revenge stems from an attitude of self-righteousness—of feeling like we have the right to condemn others. The gospel is the antidote to self-righteousness. When we remember our sin, Christ’s forgiveness, and God’s justice, we will much more likely be able to leave vengeance in God’s hands instead of our own.

We like the idea of someone who “stands up for themselves” and doesn’t take guff from anyone. But though we resonate with Samson’s response, we can also see that it’s not the right way to handle things. There is a better way. People are going to hurt you, but you have a choice—you can try to hurt them like they’ve hurt you, or you can trust that the Righteous Judge knows better and will do what is right. We can either feed the cycle of vengeance, or we can get off the roller coaster and trust God to do what only He can.