Judges 14:1-20
“Going Down?”
- Intro.
- Vs. 1-4 Get her…she pleases me
- Vs. 5-9 Forbidden sweetness
- Vs. 10-20 From a honey to heifer
Intro
This appeared in a Florida news paper a while back: “Garbage Mary,” as she was dubbed by the media (a 48 year old woman though she looked twice her age), was picked up by the police in a shopping mall in Delray Beach, Florida. She was a filthy mess – and so were her car and her two-bedroom apartment. Neighbors told of her scrounging through garbage cans in search for food, which she took back to her apartment. Police found the garbage everywhere: in the refrigerator, in the stove, in the sink, in the cabinets – even in the bathtub. But they found other things as well. They found Mobil Oil stock worth more than $400,000. They found documents indicating she owned oil fields in Kansas, stock certificates from prominent firms, and passbooks from eight large bank accounts. Police discovered that Garbage Mary was the daughter of a well-to-do lawyer and bank director from Illinois, who had died several years earlier leaving her a tidy sum. What was the cause of her living this way? After finding her brother he told her story as a woman who had gone through two unhappy marriages which caused her in his opinion to become unhinged. She became a woman with vast resources but had fallen into a rut by which nothing excited her or motivated her to live. Garbage Mary was a millionaire, but she lived like a pauper. Great wealth was at her fingertips, but she spent her life sifting through garbage and trash. While her money collected interest, she collected garbage! Folks, too many Christians waste their lives rummaging through the rubbish of this world instead enjoying the riches of their Father’s inheritance.
Samson was like this he had at his fingertips great resources, yet he squandered them and ended up blinded by his own passions. Samson’s failure was that he never learned “self-discipline” and the reason for that was he never learned to be “separate to the Lord”. In the NLT Proverbs 16:32 says, “It is better to be patient than powerful; it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city.” Samson could capture a city but refused to discipline his own life and as a result he is remembered as the strongest week man that ever lived.
Vs. 1-4 Get her…she pleases me
Vs. 1 The key to this chapter lies in the phrase that is repeated for us five times: “went down”. Though this is a geographical phrase in the case of Samson it has spiritual implications. He was called to be a deliverer while he was still in the womb but these chapters reveal a man who is always “going down” the wrong path in life. Samson is living in a time described in Judges 17:6 “when ..everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Vs. 2-3 The city of “Timnah” (which means “image”), was a border town only six miles from Samson’s village of Zorah (wasp). There is no mention of why Samson went there in the first place only that once there, he was window shopping and came back home wanting a “woman from Timnah”. Over the life of Samson we will see that he had weakness towards foreign women; a man living by sight not by faith going after the things that pleased his flesh not the life of faith; a “he-man” with a “she-weakness”!
The first recorded words of Samson are “I have seen a woman!” Apart from the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him Samson never makes a right decision, he sees a woman and knows nothing about her and tells his parents “Get her…she pleases me!” She is only an object whose sole purpose is to please him. In the bible we see that the creation of a woman was in Genesis 2:18 where the Lord said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him.” I can imagine what Manoah and his wife said upon hearing this, “Son that’s wonderful, so who is the girl the Lord has found for you do we know her family?” “She’s a Philistine and man is she ever pretty!” They had given Samson a godly heritage and loved their only son wanting the best for him. Oh how their heart must have stopped as they recalled the Lord’s words about their son being a deliver and how he was to live a separate life unto the Lord and now the most important decision he can make and he is “going down” the wrong road away from the clear teaching of the Lord not to marry a unbeliever. Listen to Dad’s response in verse 3 “Isn’t there one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry? Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?” But Samson’s reply was “She pleases me well” literally, “she is right in my eyes.” He sounds like people today, “If it feels good do it!” Not a man “out of control”, but a man “controlled by lust”! Folks, a life that lacks self-discipline well be a life that lacks the power of the Holy Spirit! Samson’s problem was not that he was attracted to beautiful women it was that he didn’t take that attraction to the Lord’s control.
Vs. 4 It amazes me what “good” can come from a “bad” situation as long as God is on the throne and in this case God uses Samson to kill many Philistines and keep them off balance and preoccupied in their oppression of the Israelites. That being true this never justifies the sinful actions of the person who chooses to disobey God, it just means that God is greater even than our sinful disobedience. God allowed Samson to do what he wanted to do, though the act itself was sinful and in so doing God accomplished His purposes both in Samson’s life and the nations. Saints, since God can make “good things” out of our “bad decisions” think of how much more “good things” He can accomplish is our lives if we make “good decisions”.
Vs. 5-9 Forbidden sweetness
Vs. 5 Apparently under duress Samson’s parents agree to the union and once again we see Samson “going down” the wrong road to Timnah. Somewhere along the way he separates from his parents and finds himself in a vineyard and with being a Nazirite you would have thought that this might have been a sign to him but it wasn’t. He is a man that was struggling being separate from the world because he had not ever been separate to the Lord. He is linking himself with the world in seeking a bride from among the Philistines and disobeying his parents. As a Nazirite Samson was to stay away from grapes but we find him walking in the vineyard. Ah but as he is doing this a young lion comes out! Now I’m reminded of 1 Peter 5:8 where we read that our “adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Samson is in a place where he shouldn’t be heading to be near a gal he shouldn’t be around and a lion comes out to devour him. His consecration was from certain things without having communion with the Lord; with Samson “image was everything”.
Vs. 6-7 Samson handles the lion the only way you and I can handle the devil when he comes and that is in the “Spirit of the Lord”. Dear ones even when you are heading into a situation that you shouldn’t be in, walking in a vineyard you should stay out of the Spirit of the Lord will enable you to defeat the enemy. Samson’s problem was he went back through that same vineyard! People struggle with how God can use imperfect people and the truth is He has always worked through imperfect people. Friends never forget that God sends His Holy Spirit upon our lives for far more than ripping apart lions, He sends His Spirit so that we can live powerfully for the LION of the Tribe of Judah!
Vs. 8 This will be a parable of Samson’s life as he will continually reach into that which is forbidden for whatever temporary sweetness he can gain. Proverbs 9:17-18 says “Stolen water is refreshing; food eaten in secret tastes the best!” But the men don’t realize that her former guests are now in the grave.” He lost his vow of separation when he went down to Timnah to make arrangements for marriage taking a detour through the forbidden vineyards and God sent a lion to tell him he was heading the wrong way. God gave him the Spirit to show the power he would have if he chose to walk the way of faith. When Samson returned to claim his bride he again turned aside to the vineyard to look at his trophy. What began with the lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes ends in the pride of life, (1 John 2:16).
Vs. 9 Though Samson doesn’t mention his victory over the lion to his parents or anyone else he can’t help but visit the scene. And once again Samson violates his vow by not only touching the dead lion but taking honey from the carcass and eating it and making his parents ritually unclean as well. Samson believes that he is the exception and not bound to the rule and by this he is the perfect example of the people as well.
Vs. 10-20 From a honey to heifer
Vs. 10-15 Once again we see Samson toying with the vows he made to God this time at his wedding party as he throws a 7 day drinking vest. He is a loaner as there is no Israelite friends so the Philistines provides him with 30 who are willing to kill his fiancée and her family if they aren’t given the answer to the riddle Samson posed. When all are good and drunk Samson seems quite confident that he will enjoy the party favors instead of shelling them out. He lost control of his tongue and created a riddle out of the breaking of his vow, thus making a joke out of his. With only six cryptic words Samson was convinced that there was no way he could lose. But what Samson hadn’t predicted was the length that the Philistines would go to win a bet.
Vs. 16-18 This is the honeymoon and things aren’t going well, and she wept before him seven days! This fellow needed a premarital class and men take note this is not what you call your bride! And ladies take note: she first enticed him then she controlled him finally she betrayed him. He could kill a young lion with his bare hands but was overcome by the manipulative tears of a woman he lusted after. In the words where he calls his bride a heifer it is interesting as heifers were never used for plowing thus he is saying to them you broke the rules.
Vs. 19-20 The only positive thing with regards to Samson’s character is that he paid the wager albeit by traveling 20 miles to another Philistine town and killing 30 innocent men and taking their blood-stained clothes. Amazingly whatever we may think of Samson’s immoral and ruthless acts the Spirit of the Lord was going to use this to begin to free the enemies hold upon the nation’s heart. Samson becomes a runaway groom never completing the union and his bride becomes his best man’s wife. Samson’s “hurt feelings” gave God the opportunity to move against the Philistines to deliver the nation as he paid off the bet, at the expense of the Philistines. He won the battle, but lost the war as his wife left him and went to his best man. According to Hebrews 11:32 Samson is listed in the “Hall of Faith” but he certainly wasn’t always a faithful man clearly God’s basis of induction is different than ours.
This is a placeholder. Notes will be added