Heaps Upon Heaps

Introduction

Devil Anse Hatfield and Old Randal McCoy

Dvil Anse didn’t believe in God

No one can say what really started the feud

Asa McCoy was murdered by some Hatfields for fighting on the Union side of Civil War

But they say Asa went after Devil Anse and shot his friend Mose Christian Cline during the war

Some say this sparked the feud, others say it was standalone

Some say feud began when Perry Cline - lawyer married to a McCoy - tried to swindle Devil Anse for land

Devil Anse Hatfield sued and won - taking 5,000 acres

He wanted revenge, but I’ll come back to that

Others say it began with a hog

Randal visited Floyd Hatfield’s farm and saw a pig with a McCoy family ear mark

They went to court, and the Hatfield judge ruled in favor of the Hatfields

There were 6 Hatfield/6 McCoy jurors

But the star witness was a McCoy (married to a Hatfield) who testified for the Hatfields

That witness was later killed by two McCoys who were acquitted on self-defense

Things got worse when Devil’s Anse’s son Johnse Hatfield got Randal’s daughter Roseanna McCoy pregnant

She lived with him for awhile, but later went home

Johnse went to see her, but was arrested by the McCoys on bootlegging warrants

Roseanna warned Devil Anse who sent a rescue party to free him

Randal McCoy then disowned his daughter

Johnse then fell for Roseanna’s cousin Nancy McCoy - later divorced for cheating

Roseanna’s baby Sarah died at 8 months old - and Roseanna died of a broken heart at 30

Months later, Devil Anse’s brothers got into a fight with Randal McCoy’s sons on election day

McCoys stabbed Ellison Hatfield and shot him in the back

Hatfield’s retaliated by tying the McCoys to a tree and shot them 50 times

The Hatfields got away, and used political connections to drop charges

However, Perry Cline (the McCoy lawyer who lost land) had the charges reinstated w/ reward

Now on the run, Hatfield’s needed drastic plan

Figured, if they killed the McCoys their problems would end

Set fire to Randal McCoy’s cabin and shot everyone who exited

Killed Randal’s son and daughter, and beat his wife - fractured skull and permanently disabled

But Randal got away

After this, bounty hunter Bad Frank Phillips (used to ride with Jesse James) took up case

Killed 1 Hatfield and arrested 8 more

Randal McCoy saw him as a hero, and he married Johnse’s estranged wife Nancy McCoy

Then the States got involved!

The Hatfields lived in W. Virginia, the McCoys in Kentucky

W. Virginia sued Kentucky, saying Bad Frank’s arrest was illegal

The States brawl got so bad, the governors both activated their national guard troops

The case was went all the way to the Supreme Court!

Ultimately, Kentucky won and the trials commenced

Eliison mounts confessed, the rest got life in prison

Mentally handicapped and some say encouraged to confess because the jury would be lenient

He was sentenced to hang - his last words, “The Hatfields made me do it.”

At that point, no one had been hanged in Pikeville in 40 years, and no one has been since

After all that, Randal McCoy and Devil Anse Hatfield lost too much

In 1891, Devil Anse’s son wrote in the local paper: “The war spirit in me has abated… a general amnesty has been declared in the famous Hatfield and McCoy feud.”

However, as late as 1911, 2 of Devil Anse’s sons were killed in a gunfight over liquor rights

Violence for the Hatfield’s and McCoys was just a way of life

Back Story

This is very similar to Samson’s story...

Last week recap

Samson threw a bachelor party with Philistines

Tricked them into making a bet

His wife nagged and cried til he told her

She ratted him out, the Philistines won

Samson killed 30 men and stole their clothes

Then he got mad and left his wife

Last week I realized I misspoke

Samson left his wife, but he did not give her to his best man

Actually, her father gave her to Samson’s best man

It wasn’t Samson’s choice - let’s see what happens

Judges 15:1–2 ESV

1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”

Samson left his wife, was gone for days, and comes back like, “Yeah, I’m going to go hook up with my wife.”

That’s not a healthy way for a man to approach his wife ever!

Samson just takes, and takes, and takes...

And then gets angry when he doesn’t get what he wants

Preventing a feud

You can’t always get what you want

In marriage, women are taught in Scripture to submit...

Guys, this is exactly why they don’t want to

Because they’re not supposed to submit to this!

Samson has done NOTHING kind to his wife

The last time he saw her, he told her the riddle

Since then, she betrayed him, he got angry, murdered people, ran off and left her!

Now he’s like, “I’m back and I want you woman!”

Time to slow your role there brother...

It’s okay to want what you want

But you have to worry about what she wants too

Ephesians 5:28–29 (ESV)

28 ...husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church...

Does that sound like what Samson is doing? Nope...

Take care of your responsibilities

Guys, it is your responsibility to learn about your wife’s needs and strive to take care of them

Put yourself second

Now Samson walks in all hot blooded, and her dad stops her

Everything Samson did before told her dad that Samson was not interested

Somehow Samson doesn’t get this

You walked away angry on your wedding night, you know our cultural rules, we haven’t seen you for days

Why would anyone think Samson was in this

The dad says, “I really thought that you utterly hated her.”

Show grace to those who have wronged you

Then he says, “But hey! Here’s my other daughter!”

This set Samson off!

Watch how he responds:

Judges 15:3 ESV

3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.”

This is why feuds happen, wars happen, murders happen...

This ignorant one sided perspective on things

All Samson wants is revenge - it fuels everything in this story

Josh Billings: “There is not revenge so complete as forgiveness.”

Samson is here 1,000% because of his stupid choices

He has tricked, disrespected, abused, murdered and stolen from these people

Then when it costs him something - something thats seems to be an honest misunderstanding

It all goes out the window - NOW I’ll be innocent!

Romans 12:17 ESV

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Sorry Samson, you don’t get to just ignore all your past deeds and be like, “I’m just looking at this one.”

But this is SO COMMON!

Recognize your own faults

Let’s say, you’re out late:

At the bar, drinking and driving, broken headlight, tailgating the person in front, looking at their cell phone...

Car in front slows down to make a turn and they forget their turn signal - bam! Rear ended!

That guy gets out - that was YOUR FAULT because you didn’t signal!

Yes, that person made a mistake, but you can’t nullify everything you have done in the situation

But we do that kind of thing all the time - we only see the one mistake others make

But expect grace and understanding for everything we’ve done

Samson is trying to isolate the situation with his wife as one thing

But actually, EVERYTHING he has done has led them all to this point

Samson doesn’t see that though, he feels justified in seeking revenge

Why revenge is bad:

Watch:

Judges 15:4–5 ESV

4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.

Samson is what you might call a “fire bug!”

He built what’s known as an “incendiary device”

John Leonard Orr (Pillow Pyro) - Former arson investigator convicted of setting 80 fires - suspected in 2,000

He would rubber band matches to a cigarette wrapped in yellow paper

Cigarette would burn slowly, ignite matches and then the paper

He would hide these in dry brush, piles of foam, or pillows - where he got his nickname

Arsonists build these time-delayed devices to set a fire, get away, and spread it quickly when it starts

That’s essentially what Samson did

Tied torches to 150 pairs of foxes (actually they were probably jackals)

Tying their tales made them panic and run all over

Torches would drag across grain and light them up

I can only imagine how much damage that did to the Philistine’s food supply

And this wasn’t a burst of rage - how long do you think it would take to capture 300 jackals?

He probably enlisted help, he probably took days to do it, and he probably planned it

The amount of roid rage in Samson must be intense...

Revenge often brings collateral damage

Think about this: what did the Philistine’s do to Samson?

They cheated on the riddle by threatening his wife, but Samson was the one playing them

Otherwise the issue is between Samson, his wife and her dad!

And yet he destroys the food for an entire community to get revenge?

Husbands and wives who mistreat each other teach their kids to do the same

Christians who mistreat friends show teach the world that we are hypocrites

Bosses who mistreat employees build workplace culture that is unhealthy

Your “one incident” likely has long term effects

Samson burns the grain, and the Philistine’s respond in kind:

Judges 15:6 ESV

6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

Remember this, when someone makes you angry:

Your revenge causes their retaliation

This kind of stuff is cyclical

Feuding is not just reserved for the Hatfield’s and McCoys...

One guy tells his friend he’s interested in a girl

The other guy meets her, and they hit it off - she wasn’t his anyway

Well if you can go after my crush, I can date your ex girlfriend!

How dare you betray me! Then I can hook up with your new GF! I liked her first anyway!

She cheated on me with you? Then I’m going to key your car!

What? Then I’ll set your garage on fire!

Okay, then I guess I’ll poison your coffee!

Jeremy Taylor: “Revenge... is like a rolling stone, which, when a man hath forced up a hill, will return upon him with a greater violence, and break those bones whose sinews gave it motion.”

But this could totally go a different way with one simple trick:

Proverbs 17:9 ESV

9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

See how this goes? On and on, worse and worse…

When actually, a little grace goes a long way!

Letting the small stuff goes, prevents the big stuff

Let’s see what Samson chooses to do:

Judges 15:7–8 ESV

7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

Samson just wants to do one more thing to get his revenge

But we should know better...

Revenge is never the last word

Someone has to be the last person to be wronged in conflict

Conflict is always one of two things

An opportunity for restoration and reconciliation

A contest where no one wins

This is important in marriage

When you argue, you’re not trying to win

You’re trying to let the other person be heard so you can find a solution

If you try to win, be prepared to sleep alone

For Samson, he attacked “hip and thigh”

An expression that meant he slaughtered them mercilessly

Then, he lived in a cave all alone - good thing he got his revenge… but it’s not over

Judges 15:9–11 ESV

9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”

Again, the revenge continues

Philistines: We’re going to do to Samson what he did to us

Samson: I did to them what they did to me

This is the problem with revenge

The process goes on so long no one even remembers why it started anymore

Both sides think the other side started it

Now the Israelites (people who had nothing to do with this at all)

(AND in fact, God’s law should have preventing all this in the first place)

These people are being threatened - collateral damage again

What are they to do? they’re in an unfair position...

Judges 15:12–13 ESV

12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

At least Samson has stopped blaming other people

He knows he got himself (and the Israelites) into this mess

So he voluntarily faces the music

So the Israelites tie up Samson and deliver him to the Philistines

Judges 15:14–17 ESV

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. 16 And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.

Somehow, some way, Samson manages to kill 1,000 men

I don’t know what this looked like

Maybe like a Rambo movie where all the enemies wait in line to fight one on one

Maybe there was a tight pass and they all couldn’t get to him at once

Maybe the mob to get him was 5-10 guys, and then he went through a camp while they were sleeping

Maybe God worked a miracle and swords and spears just bounced off of him

I don’t know, but I believe this really happened

A preacher once noted that this jawbone was novel, convenient, simple, ridiculous and successful

Which is also true of the gospel - maybe that’s why Samson did it that way...

No matter what, this was remarkable!

Romans 12:19 ESV

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

This is something Samson needed, but so do we

Revenge should only belong to God

In the end, Samson wrote a poem about it

“With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps

Doesn’t sound real poetic in English, but in Hebrew it’s very nice

One effort for translation is, “With the jawbone of an ass, I have piled them in a mass!”

He did this to recognize his amazing feat

Then the place was named Ramath Lehi - or “Jawbone Hill”

But we should know that all that work almost killed Samson

Judges 15:18–20 ESV

18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Samson was victorious, but it seems God needed to remind him of his weakness

We should remember that our victory comes from God too

When we believe we are the source of our strength, we will find ourselves malnourished

And really, we need to know this:

Revenge is simply exhausting

Here’s the thing, God grants victory...

But the next challenge is often already on it’s way

Remember your source of strength, and don’t lean on your own

If you do, you’re asking for a lit of pain and struggle

Conclusion

In September of 1911, a 71 year old man was at his sons funeral

He had a long and rough life - he was a violent man

He had never believed in God up until that point

But at the death of his sons, he walked up to his uncle and said, “I’m ready to come to church.”

He then went up to a revival meeting and saw Rev. Dyke Garrett

He gave his life to Christ right there, and then he was baptized

That man’s name? Devil Anse Hatfield

Most photos before finding Christ showed him with a gun in hand

No photos afterwards showed him with a gun - he gave up the violent life

He built a Church of Christ in W. Virginia

He was remembered as “a kind gentleman” and “the peaceful neighbor one could want”

And his sons and nephews became lawyers, pastors, and even a governor of W. Virginia