Judges
chapter 14 demonstrates that ignoring God’s Word can create complex
problems in our lives. Remember that God told Samson’s parents to
raise him under the “vow of the Nazirite”. The 3-part vow of the
Nazirite include a prohibition against touching anything that is
dead, eating the fruit of the vine (grapes, wine, and raisins) and
cutting one’s hair. Samson does not appear to honor his parents at
any point. He reacts like a spoiled brat. I do not believe in
blaming the parents for every bad choice a child makes, but it seems
Samson may have been raised to believe he was “special”, perhaps
above the law. He appears to break two of the three parts of the
vows with little regard. Interesting to me, the only vow Samson
seems to keep is the one that involves outward
appearance.
As parents we must be careful to teach our children the entire Word
of God in balance. Obedience to God begins with learning obedience
to our parents. True beauty flows from the inside out!
The
chapter begins with Samson demanding of his parents, “I
have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for my wife“.
God forbid the Israelites from intermarrying with the pagans in the
land, but Samson insists, “Get
her for me“.
2 Corinthians 6:14, similarly warns Christians, “Not
to be unequally yoked to an unbeliever“.
The picture is one of two unlike animals being joined to work
together. The naturally different size and gate and strength create
more stress on both animals. And thus it is when believers marry
unbelievers. In a Christian marriage, both must submit to the same
Lord. The story continues, “As
they approached the vineyards of Timnah”
(I have to wonder if the vineyards are what brought Samson to Timnah
in the first place?) “A
young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit if the Lord came upon
him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands“.
The text notes, he did not tell his parents. Reading God’s Word
together also creates family unity.
Next
we read, “Some
time later when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at
the lion’s carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey,
which he scooped out with his bare hands”
(Clearly breaking one of the vows). When Samson and his father
arrived in Timnah, he was given thirty companions while his father
made arrangements with the family. “And
Samson made a feast there as was customary for bridegrooms“.
This “bachelor’s party” almost certainly included wine.
Samson tells his Philistines friends a riddle boasting of his
encounter with the lion and bet 30 garments of clothes that they
could not solve it. But these “friends” force Samson’s bride
to get the answer by threatening to burn her and her father’s
household to death. “She
cried the whole seven days of the feast, so on the seventh day he
finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn,
explained the riddle to her people“.
It
seems that Samson now has distain for his wife. “If
you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my
riddle“.
Again Samson reacts without seeking any counsel. “The
Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power… struck down thirty of
their men and stripped them of their belongings… gave their clothes
to those that solved the riddle“.
The chapter ends with a sense of frustration, loss and emptiness.
“Burning
with anger he went to his father’s house and Samson’s wife was
given to another.”
If you find yourself asking “How did I end up in this place?”
perhaps it is time to trust the wisdom in God’s Word?