Right in My Eyes - Judes 14 and 15

Judges: In Need of a King  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  39:23
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Self-Guided Sight

Judges 14:1–3 ESV
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Chapter 13 tells this marvelous story of how God is going to raise up a deliverer who will begin to save Israel.
Prophesy given, reiterated, fulfilled....
And now the first things we learn about Samson is that the man is drawn away by his own lusts.
We’ve discussed in the past the issue of intermarrying with the Canaanites. This was not an issue about race. It was an issue of religion. If gentile women were willing to become proselytes to Jewish religion, they were to be welcomed in and there were no issues with intermarrying. Rahab and Ruth are two prime examples, who not only intermarried with Israel, but are in the line of Christ.
The issue is that these women who have no interest in the one true God and desire to maintain their own gods will lead their Israelite husbands into idolatry.
It wasn’t just that she was a Philistine. She was from the uncircumcised Philistines, signifying that they remain outside the covenant community.
But Samson insists. Because she is right in his eyes.
Samson, rather than being guided by what is right in the eyes of Yahweh, is guided by his own vision of what he wants.
We’re all prone to this, are we not?
This is a precursor to what we are going to see in the final chapters of the book. Here Samson is insisting on what is right in his eyes....soon, the testimony from the book will be that EVERYONE did what was right in their own eyes.
But here it begins with Samson. Bit of a let down for who this man was supposed to be.
Pick things up in verse 5.
Judges 14:5–7 ESV
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.
It’s not clear how it is that he went with his parents, killed the lion, but then didn’t tell them what he did. Perhaps they went on ahead, or else he stopped for reasons unknown. In any case, they were not together and he kills the lion.
He does not tell his parents, and that is an important theme through this chapter. Samson has his secrets.
The paragraph ends with the narrator restating that this woman that Samson has taken a liking to is right in his eyes.
This is an ominous beginning for the man who is supposed to be our hero.
As we continue to read we find that Samson continues to be guided by the most base instincts rather than God’s revealed will.

Self-Guided Hunger

Judges 14:8–9 ESV
8 After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.
After some days may have been as long as a year, but that is not specified. Samson returns to the spot where he was divinely strengthened by the Lord to kill the lion.
My family once owned a cabin three hours outside of Chicago we would go camp at to get away. The cabin was on a very wooded lot with pathways through

Self-Guided Vengeance

And yet. I’ve buried the lead here. I did so intentionally, because we need to see how the author has set things up. The author really wants us to see, that at this point, even the judges are thoroughly corrupt. Samson is driven by lust, physical desires, and vengeance. He does what is right in his own eyes. The people are just fine with their predicament. They aren’t looking for God’s intervention to save them. They are happy to
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