1. A love affair first brought Samson into active opposition to the Philistines. Attracted by a Philistine woman at Timnath, he insisted on his parents obtaining her as his wife. They expostulated, but the wayward son would not be thwarted, and, as is the way in the East, the marriage was arranged by the parents. A higher hand was guiding events; a reference even in Samson's mind indicated that “it was of the Lord,” that, through the wedding, occasion against the dominant Philistines would be found. It was found in a train of consequences from one incident.
2. On the way to Timnath, Samson's supernatural strength was shown. A young lion in the vineyards of Timnath “roared against him.” Samson, without a weapon, “rent him as he would have rent a kid,” and left the carcase in the way. On a later visit he found a swarm of bees had taken possession of the carcase. The honey, which he took and ate, suggested the famous riddle which he propounded to the Philistines at his marriage, giving them seven days to answer it, and promising as a prize thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments;-
“Out of the eater came forth meat,
Out of the strong came forth sweetness.”
The riddle proved impossible, but the Philistine guests with threats persuaded the bride to extract the answer from her husband. Samson could not withstand the feminine argument of tears, and told the answer, which was promptly passed on to the guests. So on the seventh day the triumphant rejoinder came-
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
Samson knew that his wife had been false to him and that the story of his adventure was out. Then with a daring quite as notable as that with which he had killed the lion, he hurried to Ashkelon, another Philistine city, and soon returned with the garments of thirty men whom he had slain, with which he redeemed his pledge.
3. The story reads at first like mere rude jesting and bloody sport. It is clear, however, that under cover of his riddle Samson meant to intimate to his foes themselves the defiance that was already burning within him. In the honey from the carcase of the lion which he had slain he had seen a Divine omen of the blessing that was to come even out of the oppressor of Israel, and with the recklessness which was part of his character he intimated vaguely, even to the wedding guests, what they and their countrymen might expect from him. He was going to tear this Philistine lion in pieces and gather from its slain carcase honey for his people Israel; and the thirty men, lying dead at Ashkelon, were but the beginning of the slaughter which would befall her foes.
4. Samson came back to Timnath to find his wife given to another, and he revenged himself by the fantastic malice of turning three hundred foxes with fire-brands tied to their tails among the standing corn of the Philistines. The Philistines executed a sort of wild justice upon the intended wife of Samson and her father by burning them both with fire, hoping perhaps that this would stop further reprisals. But Samson retaliated by smiting them, “hip and thigh,” with a great slaughter. He then retired to a natural stronghold, the rock of Etam, in Judah.
The Philistines “spread themselves in Lehi,” and demanded the surrender of the fugitive; and to their demand the men of Judah pusillanimously consented. Instead of putting themselves under Samson's leadership, they only urged weakly, “Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us?” Samson consented to be given up to the Philistines, bound with two new cords. But the exultant shout of his enemies at receiving the captive was soon turned to the groans of the dying, for “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire.” Seizing as an impromptu weapon the jawbone of an ass, the champion, in a religious frenzy, rushed upon the astonished captors, and slew “heaps upon heaps” of them. The place bore afterwards the name Ramath-lehi (“hill of the jaw-bone”). Overcome with thirst, he prayed for refreshment, and God “clave an hollow place that was in Lehi, and there came water thereout.” The name En-hakkore (“well of him that called”) preserved the memory of his deliverance.
It is immediately after the events thus related that the words, “He judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years,” are inserted. We may infer from this notice that the effects of the exploit at Lehi was such that the Philistine power, though still dominant, was held in check, that relief from the pressure hitherto felt was realized, and that a measure of authority was conceded to Samson.
In Watts's picture, the young knight of God sits down on a rock after his terrible encounter with the Philistines, whose dead bodies lie in heaps around him. The jawbone with which he has slain them lies white and polished at his feet, its bloodstains having been cleansed by the stream that flows from it to quench his burning thirst. He is weary and worn-out with his stupendous exertions. The Spirit of the Lord that had come upon him and given him the prowess of a thousand men has departed, and he suffers the sad reaction of such high excitement. He feels the weakness of his will to hold his strong passions in leash. He feels that though he could wrestle with and rend asunder the young lion, with no weapon but his naked hand, he cannot wrestle with and subdue his own wild, ungoverned desires. The chains of his own easily besetting lusts bind his spirit stronger far than the withes and cords of the Philistines round his mighty thews.1 [Note: H. Macmillan, The Life-Work of G. F. Watts, 160.]
