It’s actually a mistake to call the girl that Samson married his wife.
Yeah, I know that last sentence makes about as much sense as me saying “A martian ate a purple Big Mac while reading the New York Times on Sagittarius day”.
So let me explain.
The Hebrew word that’s being translated into wife here is ISHSHEH.
Now this word can mean “wife” but it can also mean a “girl” or “woman”.
It’s the context that lets us know which specific meaning we’re dealing with.
Now here’s the thing.
According to Hebrew standards, a marriage isn’t complete until the man and woman actually physically come together as one flesh.
Or to be more direct, until Samson had sex with his new bride, which wouldn’t take place until AFTER the wedding banquet, technically speaking he wasn’t yet “married” to the girl.
I’ve talked about this before but as proof that physical intercourse took place, a “marriage cloth” was given to the mother of the bride and kept in a safe place.
The cloth had a spot of blood on it as a result of the hymen being penetrated (also serving as proof of the girl’s virginity)…
And it was the equivalent of a signed marriage certificate in our day.
However, in Samson’s case, the whole marriage process was interrupted before it could be consummated…
Which means the marriage was never really finalized.
Or to be blunt, Samson and the girl were still single people…more in a state of being engaged to each other rather than married.
Therefore, it’s a mistake to translate ISHSHEH as “wife” in this case.
So why is the word translated into “wife”?
The answer to that is because of certain Rabbis who had an agenda and desire to make Samson out to be a sinless and perfect man…
Which is similar to how they like to portray the great King David.
As much as I love Judaism, I feel in some ways the ancient sages have gone too far in coming up with shall we say quite imaginative excuses and ideas as to why Samson was a perfect man.
They’ll insist that Samson and the girl properly fulfilled all the legal Torah requirements when they got married.
And they’ll even go so far as to say the girl he married here converted to Judaism before the marriage ceremony took place.
Where in the world is there even a hint of that anywhere in the Scriptures?
Absolutely nowhere.
Alright, let’s move to the takeaway and close this article.
One of the reasons why we can trust the Scriptures as being true and from God is because they don’t hold anything back when describing even their heroes.
This is so unlike other pieces of ancient literature that portray their heroes as being perfect and without flaws…which isn’t being realistic if you ask me.
However, no such thing with the Scriptures.
Whether we’re talking about Moses, Samson and yes, even the great King David, their flaws and sins have been put on full display for the whole world to see.
That’s why we can trust them…
Because the only agenda the Lord has for us is to give us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Over and out.
Leave a Reply