“Her father said, ‘I really thought you hated her altogether, so I gave her to your best man. But her younger sister — isn’t she even prettier? Why not take her instead?’ Shimshon said to them, ‘This time I’m through with the P’lishtim! I’m going to do something terrible to them!'”-Judges 14:2-3
Samson was a strange man.
He loved to hang out in Philistine territory…
And he loved Philistine women…
Yet, he hated the Philistines as a group.
The father of the girl who Samson never finished marrying tells Samson he gave her to another man…
So Samson concludes he’s going to take revenge on all the Philistines.
If one Philistine insulted him, then all of them did…was his way of thinking.
This is the purest definition of bigotry…
To think that the actions of one is the actions of them all…
Don’t get me wrong.
The Philistines were ruling over Israel at this time and they were the enemy.
But to hold all of the Philistines responsible for the perceived insulted received from one man is quite a stretch I would say.
Any soldier fighting a war in enemy territory knows he has to make a distinction between civilians and enemy soldiers.
But again, I remind you…
In spite of Samson’s bigotry, self-centered behavior and his total lack of concern for keeping God’s commands, the Lord was using all this to achieve His purposes.
Samson did what was right in his own eyes…
But the Lord was controlling the situation so everything would turn out right in HIS own eyes.
This is one of those great paradoxes of Scripture…
How God uses even our own free wills to bring about His Will.
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