“He came up and told his father and mother, ‘I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the P’lishtim. Now get her for me to be my wife.’ His father and mother replied, ‘Isn’t there any woman from the daughters of your kinsmen or among all my people? Must you go to the uncircumcised P’lishtim to find a wife?’ Shimshon said to his father, ‘Get her for me. I like her.’“-Judges 14:2-3
So Samson was relaxing in Timnah when he set his eyes upon an attractive Philistine girl who he instantly fell in lust with.
Now there’s a lot more to the simple phrase he “saw a woman” than meets the eye.
It doesn’t mean he just noticed her and his jaw dropped.
It means he saw her uncovered face.
Remember we’re dealing with the ancient Middle East here.
Your average woman would have had her face covered regardless of the weather conditions.
The fact that her face was unveiled signals to us she was an immodest girl of loose morals.
However, that didn’t seem to bother Samson…
Because soon after he went to his parents and asked them to get her for him.
Alright, I know that behavior probably baffles modern readers.
But here again we’re encountering another typical Middle Eastern custom.
In those days, the parents normally negotiated the marriage of their children among each other.
But in this case, Samson’s parents were absolutely shocked.
Their response says it all:
“Isn’t there any woman from the daughters
of your kinsmen or among all my people?
Must you go to the uncircumcised
P’lishtim to find a wife?”
Samson’s parents had a good point…
Because it is indeed a major Torah violation for a Hebrew to marry outside of his or her race.
This would be the equivalent of an Israeli marrying a Palestinian in our day.
And remember, the word “Palestinian” is simply the Greek word for “Philistine”.
Not only had Samson picked a Philistine to be his wife but he chose a loose girl at that.
What was Samson response to his parent’s outrage?
The Complete Jewish Bible says…
“Get her for me.
I like her.”
Other versions will say…
“Get her.
I want her”.
Or…
“Get her.
She pleases me well”.
But what the original text literally says is…
“Get her,
she is right in my eyes“
Compare and contrast that with what the Lord says about Israel at the beginning of each new Judge cycle:
“Israel was evil in my eyes“.
Samson is saying that from HIS perspective this girl is the right choice and who are you to judge what I’ve decided is good for me?
Now right here, I could transition into a lesson about how we shouldn’t let temptation get the better of us…
And how our perspective is never superior to the Lord’s perspective…
And normally I would…
But there’s one small problem.
Check out the next verse.
“His father and mother didn’t know that all this came from Adonai, who was seeking grounds for a quarrel with the P’lishtim. (At that time the P’lishtim were ruling Israel.)”-Judges 14:4
Did you catch that folks?
The Scripture clearly says all this came from the Lord Himself.
It was God who was instigating this quarrel from behind the scenes.
Now some folks will engage in fruitless arguments about whether it was Samson or the Lord who sought a way to start trouble with the Philistines.
My answer?
Who cares?
It was God Himself who planted the desire in Samson to lust after this heathen girl to make him his wife.
Either way you slice this theological tomato, Samson’s impulses were in lockstep with God’s divine plans to start a fight with the Philistines.
I know a lot of theologians (especially those of the Christian ilk) have a problem with this.
It’s because their belief system is all lopsided where they’ll say God’s commands to drive out the Philistines has been replaced by love and mercy under the New Covenant.
They’ll really take this theology to bizarre levels where they say it’s not even necessary to obey God’s commands.
All we have to do is just hold a strong feeling of love in our hearts towards each other and that fulfills the Law in their eyes.
In response to that ridiculousness, let me make it clear.
God does NOT want peace between His people and the Philistines.
Why?
Because the Philistines don’t belong inside of the land that God set apart for His people.
The Lord gave specific instructions to Moses and then later Joshua to either drive out or kill the native inhabitants from the land of Canaan.
But instead, the Israelites chose not to fight and decided to to travel down the politically correct path of “peace” and “compromise” against the Lord’s explicit commands.
That’s we have a Middle East crisis today.
And that’s why when Y’shua returns, he’s going to finish the job the first Y’shua failed to do.
Over and out.
True