J
U D G E S
CHAP. XIV.
The
idea which this chapter gives us of Samson is not what one might have expected
concerning one who, by the special designation of heaven, was a Nazarite to
God and a deliverer of Israel; and yet really he was both. Here is, I.
Samson's courtship of a daughter of the Philistines, and his marriage to her,
ver. 1-5, 7, 8. II. His conquest of a lion, and the prize he found in the
carcase of it, ver. 5, 6, 8, 9. III. Samson's riddle proposed to his
companions (ver. 10-14) and unriddled by the treachery of his wife, ver.
15-18. IV. The occasion this gave him to kill thirty of the Philistines (ver.
19) and to break off his new alliance, ver. 20.
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Samson
Chooses a Philistine Wife; A Lion Slain by Samson.
B. C.
1141.
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1.
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1 And Samson went down to
Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a
woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her
for me to wife. 3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is
there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my
people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And
Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD,
that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the
Philistines had dominion over Israel. 5 Then went Samson down, and
his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath:
and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 6 And the Spirit of
the LORD
came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he
had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he
had done. 7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she
pleased Samson well. 8 And after a time he returned to take her,
and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was
a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. 9 And he
took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and
mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had
taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.
Here, I. Samson, under the extraordinary guidance of Providence, seeks an
occasion of quarrelling with the Philistines, by joining in affinity with
them--a strange method, but the truth is Samson was himself a riddle, a
paradox of a man, did that which was really great and good, by that which was
seemingly weak and evil, because he was designed not to be a pattern to us
(who must walk by rule, not by example), but a type of him who, though he knew
no sin, was made sin for us, and appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh,
that he might condemn and destroy sin in the flesh, Rom. viii.
3.
1. As the negotiation of Samson's marriage was a common case, we may observe,
(1.) That is was weakly and foolishly done of him to set his affections upon a
daughter of the Philistines; the thing appeared very improper. Shall one that
is not only an Israelite, but a Nazarite, devoted to the Lord, covet to become
one with a worshipper of Dagon? Shall one marked for a patriot of his country
match among those that are its sworn enemies? He saw this woman (v. 1),
and she pleased him well, v. 3. It does not appear that he had
any reason to think her wise or virtuous, or in any way likely to be a
help-meet for him; but he saw something in her face that was very agreeable to
his fancy, and therefore nothing will serve but she must be his wife. He that
in the choice of a wife is guided only by his eye, and governed by his fancy,
must afterwards thank himself if he find a Philistine in his arms. (2.) Yet it
was wisely and well done not to proceed so much as to make his addresses to
her till he had first made his parents acquainted with the matter. He told
them, and desired them to get her for him to wife, v. 2. Herein
he is an example to all children. Conformably to the law of the fifth
commandment, children ought not to marry, nor to move towards marrying,
without the advice and consent of their parents; those that do (as bishop Hall
here expresses it) wilfully unchild themselves, and exchange natural
affections for violent. Parents have a property in their children as parts
of themselves. In marriage this property is transferred; for such is the law
of the relation that a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave
to his wife. It is therefore not only unkind and ungrateful, but very
unjust, to alienate this property without their concurrence; whoso thus robbeth
his father or mother, stealing himself from them, who is nearer and dearer
to them than their goods, and yet saith, It is no transgression, the
same is the companion of a destroyer, Prov. xxviii. 24. (3.) His parents
did well to dissuade him from yoking himself thus unequally with unbelievers.
Let those who profess religion, but are courting an affinity with the profane
and irreligious, matching into families where they have reason to think the
fear of God is not, nor the worship of God, let them hear their reasoning, and
apply it to themselves: "Is there never a woman among the daughters of
thy brethren, or, if none of our tribe, never a one among all thy
people, never an Israelite, that pleases thee, or that thou canst think
worthy of thy affection, that thou shouldest marry a Philistine?" In the
old world the sons of God corrupted and ruined themselves, their families, and
that truly primitive church, by marrying with the daughters of men,
Gen. vi. 2. God had forbidden the people of Israel to marry with the devoted
nations, one of which the Philistines were, Deut. vii. 3. (4.) If there had
not been a special reason for it, it certainly would have been improper in him
to insist upon his choice, and in them to agree to it at last. Yet their
tender compliance with his affections may be observed as an example to parents
not to be unreasonable in crossing their children's choices, nor to deny their
consent, especially to those that have seasonably and dutifully asked it,
without some very good cause. As children must obey their parents in the
Lord, so parents must not provoke their children to wrath, lest they be
discouraged. This Nazarite, in his subjection to his parents, asking their
consent, and not proceeding till he had it, was not only an example to all
children, but a type of the holy child Jesus, who went down with his
parents to Nazareth (thence called a Nazarene) and was subject to
them, Luke ii. 51.
2. But this treaty of marriage is expressly said to be of the Lord, v.
4. Not only that God afterwards overruled it to serve his designs against the
Philistines, but that he put it into Samson's heart to make this choice, that
he might have occasion against the Philistine. It was not a thing evil
in itself for him to marry a Philistine. It was forbidden because of the
danger of receiving hurt by idolaters; where there was not only no danger of
that kind, but an opportunity hoped for of doing that hurt to them which would
be good service to Israel, the law might well be dispense with. It was said (ch.
xiii. 25) that the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times, and
we have reason to think he himself perceived that Spirit to move him at this
time, when he made this choice, and that otherwise he would have yielded to
his parents' dissuasives, nor would they have consented at last if he had not
satisfied them it was of the Lord. This would bring him into
acquaintance and converse with the Philistines, by which he might have such
opportunities of galling them as otherwise he could not have. It should seem,
the way in which the Philistines oppressed Israel was, not by great armies,
but by the clandestine incursions of their giants and small parties of their
plunderers. In the same way therefore Samson must deal with them; let him but
by this marriage get among them, and he would be a thorn in their sides.
Jesus Christ, having to deliver us from this present evil world, and to cast
out the prince of it, did himself visit it, though full of pollution and
enmity, and, by assuming a body, did in some sense join in affinity with it,
that he might destroy our spiritual enemies, and his own arm might work the
salvation.
II. Samson, by a special providence, is animated and encouraged to attack the
Philistines. That being the service for which he was designed, God, when he
called him to it, prepared him for it by two occurrences:--
1. By enabling him, in one journey to Timnath, to kill a lion, v.
5, 6. Many decline doing the service they might do because they know not
their own strength. God let Samson know what he could do in the strength
of the Spirit of the Lord, that he might never be afraid to look the
greatest difficulties in the face. David, who was to complete the destruction
of the Philistines, must try his hand first upon a lion and a bear,
that thence he might infer, as we may suppose Samson did, that the
uncircumcised Philistine should be as one of them, 1 Sam. xvii. 36. (1.)
Samson's encounter with the lion was hazardous. It was a young lion, one of
the fiercest sort, that set upon him, roaring for his prey, and setting his
eye particularly upon him; he roared in meeting him, so the word is. He
was all alone in the vineyards, whither he had rambled from his father and
mother (who kept the high road), probably to eat grapes. Children consider not
how they expose themselves to the roaring lion that seeks to devour when, out
of a foolish fondness for liberty, they wander from under the eye and wing of
their prudent pious parents. Nor do young people consider what lions lurk in
the vineyards, the vineyards of red wines, as dangerous as snakes under the
green grass. Had Samson met with this lion in the way, he might have had more
reason to expect help both from God and man than here in the solitary
vineyards, out of his road. But there was a special providence in it, and the
more hazardous the encounter was, (2.) The victory was so much the more
illustrious. It was obtained without any difficulty: he strangled the lion,
and tore his throat as easily as he would have strangled a kid, yet without
any instrument, not only no sword nor bow, but not so much as a staff or
knife; he had nothing in his hand. Christ engaged the roaring lion, and
conquered him in the beginning of his public work (Matt. iv. 1, &c.), and
afterwards spoiled principalities and powers, triumphing over them in
himself, as some read it, not by any instrument. He was exalted in his
own strength. That which added much to the glory of Samson's triumph over
the lion was that when he had done this great exploit he did not boast of it,
did not so much as tell his father nor mother that which many a one
would soon have published through the whole country. Modesty and humility make
up the brightest crown of great performances.
2. By providing him, the next journey, with honey in the carcase of this lion,
v. 8, 9. When he came down the next time to solemnize his nuptials, and
his parents with him, he had the curiosity to turn aside into the vineyard
where he had killed the lion, perhaps that with the sight of the place he
might affect himself with the mercy of that great deliverance, and might there
solemnly give thanks to God for it. It is good thus to remind ourselves
of God's former favours to us. There he found the carcase of the lion; the
birds or beasts of prey, it is likely, had eaten the flesh, and in the
skeleton a swarm of bees had knit, and made a hive of it, and had not been
idle, but had there laid up a good stock of honey, which was one of the staple
commodities of Canaan; such plenty there was of it that the land is said to flow
with milk and honey. Samson, having a better title than any man to the
hive, seizes the honey with his hands. This supposes an encounter with the
bees; but he that dreaded not lion's paws had no reason to fear their
stings. As by his victory over the lion he was emboldened to encounter the
Philistine-giants, if there should be occasion, notwithstanding their strength
and fierceness, so by dislodging the bees he was taught not to fear the
multitude of the Philistines; though they compassed him about like bees,
yet in the name of the Lord he should destroy them, Ps. cxviii. 12. Of the
honey he here found, (1.) He ate himself, asking no questions for conscience'
sake; for the dead bones of an unclean beast had not that ceremonial pollution
in them that the bones of a man had. John Baptist, that Nazarite of the New
Testament, lived upon wild honey. (2.) He gave to his parents, and they did
eat; he did not eat all himself. Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is
sufficient for thee, and no more, Prov. xxv. 16. He let his parents share
with him. Children should be grateful to their parents with the fruits of
their own industry, and so show piety at home, 1 Tim. v. 4. Let those
that by the grace of God have found sweetness in religion themselves
communicate their experience to their friends and relations, and invite them
to come and share with them. He told not his parents whence he had it, lest
they should scruple eating it. Bishop Hall observes here that those are
less wise and more scrupulous than Samson that decline the use of God's gifts
because they find them in ill vessels. Honey is hone still, though in a
dead lion. Our Lord Jesus having conquered Satan, that roaring lion, believers
find honey in the carcase, abundant strength and satisfaction, enough for
themselves and for all their friends, from that victory.
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Samson's
Riddle; Slaughter of the Philistines.
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B.
C. 1141.
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10 So his father went
down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men
to do. 11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they
brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said unto
them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it
me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will
give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: 13 But if ye
cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty
change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may
hear it. 14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth
meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three
days expound the riddle. 15 And it came to pass on the seventh
day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may
declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with
fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so?
16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and
lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people,
and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it
my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? 17 And
she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to
pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and
she told the riddle to the children of her people. 18 And the men
of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is
sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto
them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my
riddle. 19 And the Spirit of the LORD
came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and
took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the
riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.
20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as
his friend.
We have here an account of Samson's wedding feast and the occasion it gave him
to fall foul upon the Philistines.
I. Samson conformed to the custom of the country in making a festival of his
nuptial solemnities, which continued seven days, v. 10. Though he was a
Nazarite, he did not affect, in a thing of this nature, to be singular, but
did as the young men used to do upon such occasions. It is no part of
religion to go contrary to the innocent usages of the places where we live:
nay, it is a reproach to religion when those who profess it give just occasion
to others to call them covetous, sneaking, and morose. A good man should
strive to make himself, in the best sense, a good companion.
II. His wife's relations paid him the accustomed respect of the place upon
that occasion, and brought him thirty young men to keep him company during the
solemnity, and to attend him as his grooms-men (v. 11): When they
saw him, what a comely man he was, and what an ingenuous graceful look he
had, they brought him these to do him honour, and to improve by his
conversation while he staid among them. Or, rather, when they saw him, what a
strong stout man he was, they brought these, seemingly to be his companions,
but really to be a guard upon him, or spies to observe him. Jealous enough
they were of him, but would have been more so had they known of his victory
over the lion, which therefore he had industriously concealed. The favours of
Philistines have often some mischief or other designed in them.
III. Samson, to entertain the company, propounds a riddle to them, and lays a
wager with them that they cannot find it out in seven days, v. 12-14.
The usage, it seems, was very ancient upon such occasions, when friends were
together, to be innocently merry, not to spend all the time in dull eating and
drinking, as bishop Patrick expresses it, or in other gratifications of sense,
as music, dancing, or shows, but to propose questions, by which their learning
and ingenuity might be tried and improved. This becomes men, wise men, that
value themselves by their reason; but very unlike to it are the infamous and
worse than brutish entertainments of this degenerate age, which send nothing
round but the glass and the health, till reason is drowned, and wisdom sunk.
Now, 1. Samson's riddle was his own invention, for it was his own achievement
that gave occasion for it: Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the
strong came forth sweetness. Read my riddle, what is this? Beasts of prey
do not yield meat for man, yet food came from the devourer; and those
creatures that are strong when they are alive commonly smell strong and are
every way offensive when they are dead, as horses, and yet out of the
strong, or out of the bitter, so the Syriac and Arabic read it, came
sweetness. If they had but so much sense as to consider what eater is most
strong, and what meat is most sweet, they would have found out the riddle, and
neither lions nor honey were such strangers to their country that the thoughts
of them needed to be out of the way; and the solving of the riddle would have
given him occasion to tell them the entertaining story on which it was
founded. This riddle is applicable to many of the methods of divine providence
and grace. When God, by an over-ruling providence, brings good out of evil to
his church and people,--when that which threatened their ruin turns to their
advantage,--when their enemies are made serviceable to them, and the wrath of
men turns to God's praise,--then comes meat out of the eater and sweetness
out of the strong. See Phil. i. 12. 2. His water was more considerable to
him than to them, because he was one against thirty partners. It was not a
wager laid upon God's providence, or upon the chance of a die or a card, but
upon their ingenuity, and amounted to no more than an honorary recompence of
wit and a disgrace upon stupidity.
IV. His companions, when they could not expound the riddle themselves, obliged
his wife to get from him the exposition of it, v. 15. Whether they were
really of a dull capacity, or whether under a particular infatuation at this
time, it was strange that none of the thirty could in all this time stumble
upon so plain a thing as that, What is sweeter than honey and what
stronger than a lion? It should seem that in wit, as well as manners, they
were barbarous--barbarous indeed to threaten the bride that, if she would not
use means with the bridegroom to let them into the meaning of it, they would burn
her and her father's house with fire. Could any thing be more brutish? It
was base enough to turn a jest into earnest, and those were unworthy of
conversation that would grow so outrageous rather than confess their ignorance
and lose so small a wager; nor would it save their credit at all to tell the
riddle when they were told it. It was yet more villainous to engage Samson's
wife to be a traitor to her own husband, and to pretend a greater interest in
her than he had. Now that she was married she must forget her own people.
Yet most inhuman of all was it to threaten, if she could not prevail, to burn
her and all her relations with fire, and all for fear of losing each of them
the value of a shirt and a coat: Have you called us to take what we have?
Those must never lay wagers that cannot lose more tamely and easily than thus.
V. His wife, by unreasonable importunity, obtains from him a key to his
riddle. It was on the seventh day, that is, the seventh day of the week
(as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures), but the fourth day of the feast, that they
solicited her to entice her husband (v. 15), and she did it, 1. With
great art and management (v. 16), resolving not to believe he loved
her, unless he would gratify her in this thing. She knew he could not bear to
have his love questioned, and therefore, if any thing would work upon him,
that would: "Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not, if thou
deniest me;" whereas he had much more reason to say, "Thou dost but hate
me, and lovest me not, if thou insistest on it." And, that she
might not make this the test of his affection, he assures her he had not told
his own parents, notwithstanding the confidence he reposed in them. If this
prevail not, she will try the powerful eloquence of tears: she wept before
him the rest of the days of the feast, choosing rather to mar the
mirth, as the bride's tears must needs do, than not gain her point, and oblige
her countrymen, v. 17. 2. With great success. At last, being quite
wearied with her importunity, he told her what was the meaning of his riddle,
and though we may suppose she promised secresy, and that if he would but let
her know she would tell nobody, she immediately told it to the children of
her people; nor could he expect better from a Philistine, especially when
the interests of her country were ever so little concerned. See Mic. vii. 5,
6. The riddle is at length unriddled (v. 18): What is sweeter
than honey, or a better meat? Prov. xxiv. 13. What is stronger than a
lion, or a greater devourer? Samson generously owns they had won the
wager, though he had good reason to dispute it, because they had not declared
the riddle, as the bargain was (v. 12), but it had been declared to
them. But he only thought fit to tell them of it: If you had not ploughed
with my heifer, made use of your interest with my wife, you would not
have found out my riddle. Satan, in his temptations, could not do us the
mischief he does if he did not plough with the heifer of our own corrupt
nature.
VI. Samson pays his wager to these Philistines with the spoils of others of
their countrymen, v. 19. He took this occasion to quarrel with the
Philistines, went down to Ashkelon, one of their cities, where probably he
knew there was some great festival observed at this time, to which many
flocked, out of whom he picked out thirty, slew them, and took their clothes,
and gave them to those that had expounded the riddle; so that, in balancing
the account, it appeared that the Philistines were the losers, for one of the
lives they lost was worth all the suits of clothes they won: the body is more
than raiment. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, both to authorize
and to enable him to do this.
VII. This proves a good occasion of weaning Samson from his new relations. He
found how his companions had abused him and how his wife had betrayed him, and
therefore his anger was kindled, v. 19. Better be angry with
Philistines than in love with them, because, when we join ourselves to them,
we are most in danger of being ensnared by them. And, meeting with this ill
usage among them, he went up to his father's house. It were well for us
if the unkindnesses we meet with from the world, and our disappointments in
it, had but this good effect upon us, to oblige us by faith and prayer to
return to our heavenly Father's house and rest there. The inconveniences that
occur in our way should make us love home and long to be there. No sooner had
he gone than his wife was disposed of to another, v. 20. Instead of
begging his pardon for the wrong she had done him, when he justly signified
his resentment of it only by withdrawing in displeasure for a time, she
immediately marries him that was the chief of the guests, the friend of the
bridegroom, whom perhaps she loved too well, and was too willing to oblige,
when she got her husband to tell her the riddle. See how little confidence is
to be put in man, when those may prove our enemies whom we have used as our
friends.
Contents
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