Judges Chapters 13,14,15,16 Commentary

JUDGES Chapters 13-16 “The life of Samson is a study in contrasts. There was the godliness and sensitiveness of his parents. In contrast to this was the arrogance and selfsufficiency of Samson. Samson was a man of great gifts, and yet a man who failed to utilize them to the greatest degree in bringing glory to his God. While Samson was able to defeat the strongest of men, he was defeated and humiliated by the weakest of women. The life of Samson is both a lesson and a warning. The believer needs to be diligent concerning the gifts that God has given to him. Nothing can be taken for granted. At every point Satan will attempt to rob the believer of his very source of strength” (Davis pp. 141-142).

The New Testament will praise Samson for his faith (Hebrews 11:32), but I think we can agree that this is in praise of the faith we see at the end of his life. There are many truths to be learned from the life of Samson. 1.

The God’s gifts can be wasted. Samson was not the last man who wasted his enthusiasm, energy, and intellect on sinful things. 2. God will allow us to squander our talents. 3. God would give Samson the Holy Spirit—but Samson would often remain carnal in his thinking. 4. As long as there is life it’s never too late to humble ourselves and change. A lifetime of wasted opportunities can be recovered by a complete dedication to God—even if it is at the very end of our lives.

Chapter 13 13:1 The unfaithfulness on the part of the Israelites is starting to sound like a broken record.

The Philistines The Philistines had lived in Palestine since the time of Abraham (Genesis 21:32-34; 226:1-6), but since about 1200 B.C., they had settled along the coast in increasing numbers. Shamgar had won a great victory over them (3:31), which halted their advance at least temporarily. “When Ramses III turned back the invasion of sea peoples in 1194 B.C., this caused many Philistines to settle the coast lands of southwest Palestine. They joined earlier Minoan settlers and became a significant military force in the years that followed” (Davis p. 132). By the time of Samson the Philistines had established themselves in five main cities along the southern sea coast of Palestine—Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath. “What makes the Philistines especially important is the method they used. They had a great military strength because they had learned how to smelt iron. With their iron weapons, they could have overrun Israel by direct attack…If the Israelites wanted a plow or an ax, they had to go to the Philistines to get one (1 Samuel 13:19-21). If they wanted to marry their sons or daughters, the Philistines had no objection. In both those ways, the Philistines were gaining a stranglehold on the Israelites, slowly choking them to death by compromise and assimilation. Israel was not being enslaved by military dominance but by spiritual and cultural seduction” (Inrig p. 206).

13:2 The city of Zorah (ZOE rah), was located in the western foothills about fifteen miles west of Jerusalem, and on the northern edge of the valley of Sorek. It was a border city between Dan and Judah and the expression, “of the family of the Danites”, might imply that the bulk of the tribe of Dan had already made the move northward to the Huleh Valley (chapter 18), so that only a clan or two remained in their original tribal inheritance. The name “Manoah” (muh NOH uh) means “quiet”. 13:3-5 Unlike the Nazarite vow recorded in Numbers chapter 6, which was a temporary vow, Samson would be a Nazarite for his entire life. The term “Nazarite” means “dedicated” or “consecrated”, and there were three special restrictions for such a person: 1. He was to totally abstain from any product of the grape. 2. He could not have his hair cut. 3. He was not to come near a corpse. Remember, the Nazarite vow never included the idea of celibacy. Samson’s mother was also commanded to observe the vow (4) at least during the course of her pregnancy, for Samson would be a Nazarite from the womb (5).

13:5 The statement, “he shall begin to deliver Israel”, infers that Samson would not completely deliver Israel. In contrast to the previous oppressions, during the Philistine domination, we never find Israel crying out to God for deliverance. In fact, we also find the opposite, that is, the

Israelites are angry with Samson because he is getting the Philistines mad (15:11). “Because there was no national repentance, there was no national deliverer” (Inrig p. 207). “Israel not only does not cry out in repentance from sin but also does not even cry out for relief from misery.

They have, apparently, grown accustomed to servitude; in fact, in the Samson cycle, they are content with it, are surprised should anyone suggest otherwise” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 160).

13:6-8 Manoah seems overwhelmed by the responsibility in raising such an unusual child, he cries out to God for further information. Are we moved to pray when we contemplate the awesome task which is given to us as parents? (Ephesians 6:4). 13:9-14 I am impressed that God listened to Manoah’s prayer! “When God listens to the voice of Manoah, or to our voice, we must never respond with a yawn” (Dale Ralph Davis p.

163). Let us always remember that prayer is an undeserved gift! It involves the gracious condescension of the King of glory, who stoops down to listen to us! All the information needed had already been given (15). When God tells us to do something, He always gives us all the information that we need (2 Timothy 3:15-16).

13:15-23 “Manoah wants to honor the Visitor with an elaborate meal, and the offer is declined. If, however, Manoah wants to offer a burnt offering, he must offer it to Yahweh” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 163). The angel says to Manoah that his name is “wonderful” (18). This may mean, it was beyond Manoah’s understanding, compare with Genesis 32:29. “The Angel of Yahweh is saying, ‘My character, and my nature is “too much”; it is beyond you—you simply can’t take it all in” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 164).

Verse 16 makes it clear that angels are not always recognizable. This Visitor did not have any wings. Like Gideon, Manoah was very fearful when he realized who the Visitor had been (apparently he believed that he had been dealing with a mere human being, such as a prophet). But Manoah’s wife quickly reasons that God would have never revealed to them such information (the birth of a child), if He had intended to kill them.

“We must wipe those patronizing smiles off our faces. Christians sometimes have a tendency to read passages like this with their condescending, silent commentary: ‘Well, of course, Manoah was only an Old Testament believer and didn’t understand.’ On the contrary, Manoah understood perfectly---and trembled. We must allow Manoah to be our teacher. We must not pooh-pooh his reaction as understandably naïve….Manoah may have been wrong in his inference, but he was right in his instinct, for where did we ever get the idea that the presence of God is not dangerous? Have we really bought Santa Claus theology?

Has God somehow become safe because we live in A.D.?…Side by side with the fear expressed by Manoah stands the comfort declared by his wife in her ‘faith-full’ reasoning…..Surely then, his wife reasons, Yahweh does not mean to consume but to preserve us. Manoah had the reverence but not the comfort, the fear but not the joy. We need a properly balanced response to the presence of God; saints easily err to extremes in this matter” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 165).

13:24-25 As in the case of Jesus, the early childhood of Samson is passed over quickly. The name “Samson” is formed from the word for “sun”, “perhaps to signify that God, like the sun, had brought new light into their lives” (Gaebelein p. 464). The town of “Eshtaol” (ESH tuh ole) was about a mile and a half northeast of Zorah. “Contrasted with Jephthah, Samson had every advantage as a boy. His birth was predicted by an angel; he had godly parents who loved him greatly; he was uniquely dedicated to God as a Nazarite; and he experienced the power of God’s Spirit as a young man. Despite all these favorable factors, Samson’s life as it unfolds in the next three chapters is marked by tragedy” (Gaebelein p. 465).

Chapter 14 14:1-3 The city of “Timnah”(TIM nuh) was located about four miles southwest of Zorah. There Samson fell in love with a woman who was a Philistine. Understandably, Samson’s parents were upset (14:3). “Father and mother were shattered. They had lived in the hope of his birth and now this. You can imagine the scene. ‘But she’s a Philistine’, Manoah half-pleaded, half-roared. Surely the Angel of Yahweh hadn’t had this in mind. ‘Get her as my wife’, Samson persisted. Father and mother explode: ‘Isn’t there any girl in all Israel who could please you…Samson, that girl’s a pagan!’ Samson looks Manoah in the eye, his words come out deliberately through clenched teeth: ‘Get her for me’” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 170). 14:4 I believe that the translators of the NASV are right, when they translated the “He” in this verse as referring to God and not Samson. God is the nearest and most natural grammatical antecedent for “He” in the sentence. Secondly, Samson is not driven by spiritual considerations, rather in the previous verses, his grand argument to legitimize such a marriage was, ‘for she looks good to me’. “Samson is a typical Judges man (17:6; 21:25), high on doing his own thing” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 171).

Samson’s parents were not wrong for objecting to this marriage, for the Law was on their side (Deuteronomy 7:1ff). Neither does the above text mean that Samson’s desires on this occasion were virtuous. “It means that neither Samson’s foolishness nor his stubbornness is going to prevent Yahweh from accomplishing His design. Yahweh can and will use the sinfulness or stupidity of his servants as a camouflage for bringing His secret will to pass” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 171). God is not pleased with Samson’s attitude or his choice, but if this is what Samson is determined to do, then God can use it as an occasion to inflict damage on the Philistines.

14:5 A young lion would be a lion in his prime. “He tore the lion apart with his bare hands, probably in the manner Near-Easterners rend a young goat, pulling it in half by the hind legs” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 405).

14:6-9 Samson had said nothing to his parents. “While the Nazirite law strictly prohibited contact with a dead person, the purpose of this was to avoid ceremonial uncleanness (Numbers 6:3-9). Since touching the carcass of even a clean animal made a person ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 11:39-40), probably Samson’s scooping the honey from the lion’s carcass was a violation of the Nazirite vow” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p.

405).

14:10-14 This feast lasted seven days (17). Many commentators argue that this feast, in which the majority of guests were Philistines would have been a drinking bout. Hence one compromise is leading to another. I must agree with Inrig when he notes concerning Samson’s wager, “It is hardly the proposal of a Spirit-controlled man” (p. 227). “In western parlance the stakes would be thirty sets of underwear and thirty new suits…If the Philistines lose, Samson will own the swankiest wardrobe in the country!” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 174). While Samson is starting the dangerous habit of living on the edge, the Philistines, “agreed to the challenge not believing that any Israelite hillbilly would outwit the sophisticated men from the plains” (Smith p. 187). 14:15 While a war of wits can be exciting for a while, the Philistines start to become frustrated, edgy, and irritable. “They don’t mind freeloading at someone’s party, but why should they be forced to subsidize this Israelite barbarian’s finery?”

(Dale Ralph Davis p. 174). 14:16 Samson’s wife is caught in the middle.

“So the waterworks and the you-don’t-love-me act begin” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 175).

14:17-19 Here Samson begins another dangerous habit, giving in, because he would rather want peace and quiet. “But Samson is no dummy; he knows sweet honey and strong lions come only from talking heifers!” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 175).

14:19-20 Samson did repay the wager, but he did so by traveling to Ashkelon, some twenty miles away, and waylaid thirty well-dressed men and robbed them of their clothes. This is God’s end of the story. Sadly, Samson did not have enough motivation on his own to attack the Philistines. God could not get Samson to move until Samson had been personally wronged. “If this seems brutal, we must simply live with it. We have already seen that when Yahweh delivers His people He does not always dip His saving acts in Clorox and sprinkle them with perfume. To be delivered from evil will frequently be messy” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 176).

Still angry at his wife, Samson avoided her for a time, but the father of the bride, not wanting his daughter to be abandoned in disgrace, gave her to Samson’s best man.

Chapter 15 15:1 The wheat harvest occurred in early June and was a time of festivity.

Some feel that the word “visited” here infers that this was the type of marriage in which the wife would stay in her father’s house and be visited periodically by her husband. The young goat in such a culture was viewed as an acceptable present for the enjoyment of marital relations.

“There stands Samson, young goat (in lieu of flowers) under his arm, a twinkle in his eye, and he’s in the mood for love” (Dale Ralph Davis p.

177). 15:1-2 The Philistines apparently did have some standards, for the father of the bride would not let Samson have relations with his daughter, seeing that she had been married to another man. The father did offer Samson his younger and more attractive daughter, but Samson would have nothing to do with the “Rachel” of this family. I wonder if Samson ever realized that God had providentially kept him out of a bad relationship?

15:4-5 The foxes in this verse might be jackals. As a result much of the Philistine harvest for the upcoming year went up in flames. “Samson’s foxy antic will insure that the Philistine Cooperative Association’s elevators will be near empty” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 179). 15:6 It is ironic that this house should be destroyed by fire, for earlier the wife of Samson attempted to save the house from such a fate by betraying the trust of Samson. 15:7 Evidently, Samson still had feelings for his former wife who had been so brutally murdered.

15:8 The expression “ruthlessly” (other translations, “hip and thigh”), simply means completely and entirely, and infers that the attack was ferocious.

Though there is a town named “Etam” (E tum) about two miles SW of Bethlehem in Judah (about 17 miles from Timnah) another possibility is to identify the site with a cleft above the Wadi Isma’in about 2 ½ miles SE of Zorah.

The Battle of Jawbone Hill 15:9-11 The city or territory of Lehi (LEE high) is unknown. Actually the name Lehi means “jawbone”, and the area was probably named after Samson’s victory. What is really said about these verses is the attitude of the Israelites, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us?

What then is this that you have done to us?”

The men of Judah had a leader who could crush the Philistines, if they would only follow. They had the secret weapon—and they were blind!

Nobody seemed to think, “You know, with Samson on our side we could get rid of these Philistines once and for all!” “Here is a people who have acquiesced to bondage, who can no longer imagine anything beyond the status quo, who see deliverance as a threat to peace, who look upon Yahweh’s enemies as their rightful lords. Israel is a people who can forsake Yahweh instantly but who would not think of being faithless to the Philistines!” (Dale Ralph Davis pp. 181-182). I think Davis is right when he further adds, “Say what you will about Samson, at least he knew who the enemy was; at least he knew Philistines were for fighting; at least he didn’t roll over and play dead in the warmth of the status quo as the mighty men of Judah did (15:11)” (p. 193). As we hear about many of our liberal brethren wanting to snuggle up with the denominational world, and as even some members in conservative churches seem to get upset when the preacher exposes denominational error, are we forgetting that Satan had used denominational error to keep people from entering the kingdom of God? 15:12-13 What irony! “Oh, no Samson, we don’t want to kill you; we only want to bind you and give you to the Philistines so they can kill you” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 182).

“It is always a dark day in the history of Yahweh’s people when they are content to allow his enemies to hold sway. Something is wrong with us when we no longer despise our true enemies. Such enmity is the gift of God. In the wake of our initial faithlessness Yahweh declared he was imposing enmity between the Serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed (Genesis 3:15). This divisiveness, this hostility came from Yahweh. He was not going to allow even his fallen creature to cuddle up in the bosom of evil. The Maker of heaven and earth refused to walk away from Eden, shrugging his shoulders and muttering, ‘You win some and you lose some’.

No, he is the stubborn God who will set all creation ablaze with holy war in order to have a seed and a people for himself. That’s why redemption is an act of violence; that’s why Jesus came on a mission of violent destruction (1 John 3:8). That’s why ‘lovers of Yahweh’ are commanded to ‘hate evil’ (Psalm 97:10) and why the compilers of the Psalms did not edit out verses 19-22 of Psalm 139 (unlike editors of responsive readings in modern hymnbooks, who, seemingly, judge the verses too brutal for refined Christian worship). Whether it is the evil and sin within us or some form of it outside use God does not call us to negotiate with sin and evil but to wage war on them, to nurse a holy hatred toward them in all their multicolored forms. We are near hopeless when we begin to adopt Judah’s slogan: it has always been this way---how can we expect to change anything?” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 183).

15:14-15 The men of Judah had a chance to follow up this victory and throw off Philistine domination, but they remained inactive. Note, according to the context, 3000 men of Judah witnessed Samson with only the jawbone of a donkey making quick work of the Philistines! The jawbone is called “fresh”, which tells us that it was strong and with all its teeth still in place. 15:16 In our English translations we miss the pun which is found in this verse. The best equivalent to the Hebrew would be something like, “With the jawbone of an ass, I have piled them in a mass!”

15:18-20 This and the above verses give us evidence of what Samson could have been. Look at what this man could do when he fully trusted in God. It took a lot of faith to be bound by two ropes, surrounded by 3000 Jews, walking right into the teeth of thousands of bloodthirsty Philistines. In addition, he realized at this point that in many ways he was completely dependent upon God, his great physical strength couldn’t provide him with such a simple commodity as water on this occasion! Samson should have learned the lesson that he wasn’t invincible! The twenty years in verse 20 basically cover the adult life of Samson until his death in the next chapter.

Chapter 16 16:1-3 The harlot in Gaza appears to be a different woman than Delilah.

The city of Gaza was perhaps the most important Philistine city, which was near the coast about 35 miles SW of his home in Zorah. This account reveals that the physical strength of Samson was unmatched except by his moral weakness. Again we are seeing the dangerous mindset of wanting to walk on the edge. 16:3 Samson proceeded to lift the entire city gate structure out of the ground, posts, doors, and assorted pieces of hardware! “Probably with a bit of a smile he grabs the doors and the side-posts of the town gate, pulls them out—bar included, and, with a slight ‘hup’ shoulders them and trudges off to deposit them on a hill near Hebron, leaving an opening in the city gate and dent in the municipal budget” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 187). Some feel that Samson only carried this gate to a hill toward or in the direction of Hebron. The city of Hebron was located 40 miles from Gaza. If, however, Samson merely dumped his burden in the vicinity of Gaza why would the writer even mention Hebron?

I tend to agree with Goslinga that the “author included the name Hebron to show that he deposited them in the center of Judah so that Israel would have tangible proof of his victory” (p. 440). In addition, if Samson had simply deposited the gates near Gaza, then the Philistines could have easily made repairs.

16:4 The valley of Sorek (SOW reck), now known as Wadi es-Surar, starts about fifteen miles west of Jerusalem and runs toward the coastal plain.

The town of Zorah, Samson’s home, was situated in this valley. 16:4 Delilah is never called a Philistine woman, but she did love their money! We already know that foreign women had a peculiar fascination for Samson (14:1; 16:1). 16:5 This was a substantial sum, it would total at least 140 pounds in weight.

Playing “The Philistines are here Again” Game 16:6-19 Samson’s carelessness and bad habits catch up to him, and his sins do find him out. “Cool and calculating, Delilah pressed the matter upon Samson over a period of time and kept urging him on until at last he cracked. And no wonder! We can imagine the scenes behind verses 1516. Delilah likely turned on the relational arguments about trust and intimacy, and about how we must all be vulnerable, and that women

really do crave men who are willing to be the latter” (Dale Ralph Davis p.

188). The “fresh cords” in verse 8 are new ropes which were still moist.

The soldiers hidden in an inner room (10), apparently didn’t rush in. Before she would let the soldiers in, Delilah wanted to be sure that Samson had told her the truth.

16:13-14 Samson is really walking the edge here, for he starts talking about his hair. 16:20-21 What a sad verse. Evidently Samson couldn’t feel that the Holy Spirit had left him. “Grinding at the mill was a woman’s job, which added to Samson’s humiliation. “Why tell Israel this story? Why did Israel need to hear this? Why did Israel need to remember …the tragedy of Samson. Because Samson was intended as a mirror for Israel.

In Samson Israel was to see herself….Samson is a paradigm of Israel: one raised up out of nothing, richly gifted, who panders around with other loves and yet, apparently, always expects to ‘have’ Yahweh. So Israel had received grace on top of grace yet persistently carries on her affairs with Baal” (Dale Ralph Davis pp. 188-189). As Christians, do we just assume that God will always be with us, regardless of what we believe or how we live? (Revelation 3:17).

The Blind Philistines God is still in control of this story. Carefully consider the last couple of chapters. Yes, we do see the faithlessness of Israel and the lusts of Samson, but did we miss the stupidity of the Philistines? “A thoughtful review of these episodes indicates that they are a biting satire against the Philistines. So they triumphantly answer Samson’s riddle (14:17-19). They win the bet and lose thirty fellow citizens. They are the winning losers!”

(Dale Ralph Davis p. 179). Samson burns up their crops, they kill his love, they are excited when he is presented to them and at their mercy, until Samson is suddenly beating sense into their heads with the jawbone of a donkey. “Every move the Philistines make, though temporarily successful, proves—due to Samson—disastrous” (Davis p. 179). In many ways the Philistines look like bungling stooges.

16:22 What in the world are the Philistines doing allowing Samson’s hair to grow back? Or were they convinced that they could manage his strength? “Perhaps desirous of using what they then thought was his ‘controllable’ strength” (Gaebelein p. 478). Or, in many ways are the Philistines just as blind as Samson?

16:23-24 “Dagon” was probably a fertility god among the Philistines.

Note the irony! The Philistines faithfully praised Dagon, a non-god, who, as the sequel shows, cannot prevent the site of his celebration from becoming a massive cemetery. 16:25 “They summon Samson into their very midst to provide entertainment, never dreaming they were simply furnishing him the props for his next act. Finally the shrine was packed with participants, including all the Philistine bureaucrats (27) hence they will lose their national leadership” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 190). 16:28-30 Yet, God is always willing to listen to a humble and repentant man. “This is the Samson who would rather play around with Delilah than protect Yahweh’s gift. This is the Samson who faithlessly bartered away Yahweh’s strength in order to court a treacherous lover” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 192). Carefully note that God didn’t abandon Samson, because Samson didn’t abandon God! In spite of his foolishness, Samson refused to wallow in selfpity, and be impressed that Samson isn’t bitter against God. He isn’t complaining or murmuring, rather, he wants to do one last act for God and Israel.

Closing Comment “Naturally we enjoy this story about how Samson brought the house down. But the Bible is not merely trying to get us to laugh but to make us angry, for this humorous literary theme is only the wrapping for the serious theological concern. Doesn’t anger mix with your laughter when you hear the Philistine brass belch out their Dagonian confession of faith….Don’t you seethe when the people sing Dagon’s praise? …But Samson’s shame has become Yahweh’s shame, for praise that belongs to Yahweh alone is being heaped at the lifeless feet of a helpless image, and because Yahweh’s servant has been humiliated Yahweh also suffers humiliation. It is crucial then that such praises be stifled…we must not allow the details of Samson’s movements, the archaeology of Dagon’s temple, or the panic of his dying worshippers to obscure what is most essential—that a false god is shown to be the cipher (zero, goose egg) he/it really is. Yet we must confess that this frequently does not interest us much. We are caught up in the humor, the drama, and the tragedy of the story, but somehow, in spite of the religious ballyhoo we sometimes place at the end of our prayers, the honor, praise, and glory of Yahweh move us very little. We don’t usually bristle that much when he doesn’t receive proper praise. Perhaps repentance should begin before we leave Dagon’s temple” (Dale Ralph Davis pp. 190-191).