Judges 14

Judges 14:1-9

Here is, 1. Samson’s courtship and marriage to a daughter of the Philistines, ver. 1—5, 7, 8. 2. His conquest of a lion, ver. 5, 6, 8, 9. 3. His riddle propelled, ver. 10—14, and persuaded by the treachery of his wife, ver. 15—18. 4. The occasion this year him to sail thirty of the Philistines, ver. 19, and to break off his new alliance, ver. 20.

1. AND Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. 2. And he came up and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath, of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 3. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcribed Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me, for the pleaseth me well. 4. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. 5. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and behold, a young lion roared against him. 6. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but Vol. I.

he told not his father or his mother what he had done. 7. And he went down, and talked with the woman, and the pleased Samson well. 8. ¶ And after a time, he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcafe of the lion: and behold, there was a swarm of bees, and honey in the carcafe of the lion. 9. And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcafe of the lion.

Samson is no sooner grown a man, than occasion offers to fall on the Philistines.

1. In his visits to Timnath, a place in the tribe of Judah, but now under the power of the Philistines, he saw a woman who pleased his fancy, and relatives, with his father’s consent, to make her his wife. His father justly remonstrates against to the President and unbecoming a match; but being him much for upon it, at last confesses. His father could not conceive any good from such an alliance, and perhaps Samson meant only to please himself, and did not see what God designed to do in over-rolling his position for the beginning of his people’s deliverance. Note, (1.) It is a dangerous thing in the chance of a wife, to be guided by the eye alone. The face of an angel may conceal the violent Spirit of a Philistine. (2.) Conflicting parents in the disposal of our persons is not only to confide our own advantage, but a matter of absolute duty, by the sixth commandment. (3.) A godly parent will object to nothing so urgently, as to their children’s choking a profane or religious partner. (4.) Nothing so likely to emerge him is an irony God, as such unequal marriages. (5.) Though parents do well to dissuade or reason, yet, when they see their children’s choice is strongly fixed, it were wholly better to comply with an unreasonable request, than exasperate them by an unrelenting severity. (6.) God knows how to over-ride even our imprudencies and perverses, and bring to himself glory, and to us good out of the evil.

2. Having confessed to the match, his father and mother go down with him to see his intended bride; and as they went the first time, Samson being at a distance from them in the vineyards, out of the common path, a roaring lion met him, which, under a powerful impression of God’s spirit, he strangled as easily as a kid, though entirely unarmed and disloyal. He soon rejoined his parents after this exploit, and modestly withholds the mention of his own prowess. Some time after, on a second visit with his parents, when the nuptials were to be solemnized, he turned aside to see what was become of the lion, when, by this time the flesh having been consumed, and the skeleton only remaining, a swarm of bees, which abounded in that country, had taken up their abode in it, and filled it with combs and honey. Of these he took and eat himself, and gave unto them, but said nothing where he got it, perhaps meditating now on the riddle, which afterwards he designed to propose. Note, (1.) Humility is the crown of great exploits. (2.) They who wander out of the Strait way into the vineyards of worldly enjoyment, will put their souls in imminent danger, though they may escape destruction. (3.) A good child will be happy to share with his parents every worldly comfort. (4.) They who are dead to God themselves, may possess gifts which may be useful to others; and, though in a lion’s carcafe, the honey is good. (5.) We have here a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil is this roaring lion, whom our divine Samson hath destroyed; and from his victory confessions are brought to the believer’s soul, sweeter than honey and the honey-comb.

3. ¶ So his father went down unto the woman, and Samson made there a feast: for so used the young men to do. 11. And it came to pass when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12. ¶ And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: If you can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments. 13. But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle that we may hear it. 14. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth beerself. And they could not in three days expound the riddle. 15. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson’s wife, ‘Easter thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not it? 16. And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, ‘Thou doest but hate me, and loveest

Z z z Sylvan’s Church 1155. Heb. To riddle a riddle. Mat. 1:5. 16. Exch. 1:10. Gen. 2:10. 17. Or 3:10. Heb. Eating went forth from the water. Mat. 2:10. 18. John vi. 1:10. Job ii. 9. Mat. 3:10.