Pulpit Commentary - Judges 14:1 - 14:9

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Pulpit Commentary - Judges 14:1 - 14:9


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



EXPOSITION

Jdg_14:1

Timnath, or, more correctly, Thimnathah, as in Jos_19:43, a town in the tribe of Dan, the name of which survives in the modern Tibneh, about three miles south-west of Zorah (Jdg_13:2, note). It may or may not be identical with Timnath in Gen_38:12-14, and with Timnah in Jos_15:10. It appears to have been in the possession of the Philistines at this time.

Jdg_14:2

Get her, etc. Rather, take her. It is the technical phrase

(1) for a man taking a wife for himself, as Gen_4:19; Gen_6:2; 1Sa_25:39, 1Sa_25:43, and 1Sa_25:3, 1Sa_25:8 of this chapter;

(2) for a man's parents taking a wife for him, as Exo_34:16; Neh_10:30. The parents of the bridegroom paid the dowry agreed upon (see Gen_34:12; 1Sa_18:25).

Jdg_14:3

Uncircumcised. Cf. Gen_34:14. A term of reproach here added to deter Samson from the marriage. It is particularly applied to the Philistines (see Jdg_15:18; - 1Sa_17:26, 1Sa_17:36; 1Sa_18:29; 1Sa_31:4; 2Sa_1:20, etc.).

Jdg_14:4

It was of or from the Lord. It was the method decreed by God's providence for bringing about a rupture with the Philistines. That he sought. Rather, because he sought. The writer explains the purpose of the providence. It is doubtful whether "he" refers to Samson or to the Lord. Most commentators refer it to Samson; but it is contrary to the whole tenor of Samson's impetuous course, and to all probability, that he should have asked for the Timnathite damsel merely for the sake of quarreling with the Philistines; whereas the statement that Samson s obstinate determination to take a Philistine wife was the means which God's secret purpose had fixed upon for bringing about the eventual overthrow of the Philistine dominion is in exact accordance with other declarations of Holy Scripture (cf. e.g. Exo_7:3, Exo_7:4; Jos_11:20; 1Sa_2:25; 1Ki_12:15; 2Ch_10:15; 2Ch_22:7; 2Ch_25:20). An occasion. The noun only occurs here; but the verb, in its several conjugations, means, to happen at the right time; to bring a person or thing at the right time (Exo_21:13, deliver, A.V.); to be brought at the right time (Pro_12:21, happen, A.V.); to seek the right time for injuring any one (2Ki_5:7, seeketh a quarrel, A.V. ).

Jdg_14:5

Went down, showing that Timnath was on lower ground than Zorah; it was in fact in the Shephelah. The vineyards of Timnath. The valley of Sorek (Jdg_16:4), so famous for its vines (Isa_5:2; Jer_2:21), from which it derived its name (Sorek, translated in the above passages the choicest vine, and a noble vine), is thought to have been in the immediate neighbourhood. Probably the whole district under the hills was a succession of vineyards, like the country round Bordeaux. Samson had left the road along which his father and mother were walking, at a pace, perhaps, too slow for his youthful energy, and had plunged into the vineyards. Of a sudden a young lion,—a term designating a lion between the age of a cub and a full-grown lion,—brought there, perhaps, in pursuit of the foxes or jackals, which often had their holes in vineyards (So Jdg_2:15), roared against him.

Jdg_14:6

The Spirit of the Lord, etc.—as a spirit of dauntless courage and irresistible strength of body. Came mightily. Hebrew, fell upon him, or passed over upon him, as in Jdg_14:19; Jdg_15:14; 1Sa_10:6, 1Sa_10:10; 1Sa_18:10, etc. He rent him, etc. He "had nothing in his hand," no weapon or knife, nor even a stick; but he rent him with as much ease as the kid is rent. The Hebrew has the kid, with the definite article, which is not prefixed unless some particular kid is meant, as in Gen_38:23. Perhaps the kid means the one about to be served, which the cook rends open either before or after it is cooked. Unless some such operation is alluded to, it is not easy to understand what the rending of the kid means. He told not his father, etc. This is mentioned to. explain Gen_38:16; but it shows that Samson had wandered some distance from his parents among the vineyards (see note to Gen_38:5).

Jdg_14:7

Went down, as in Jdg_14:1, where see note.

Jdg_14:8

He returned to take her. All the preliminaries being settled between the parents, he returned to Timnath to take his bride by the same road which he and his parents had travelled by before, and, remembering his feat in killing the lion, very naturally turned aside to see what had become of the carcase. And, behold, there was a swarm of bees, etc. This has been objected to as improbable, because bees are very dainty, and would not approach a putrefying body. But as a considerable time had elapsed, it is very possible that either the mere skeleton was left, or that the heat of the sun had dried up the body and reduced it to the state of a mummy without decomposition, as is said to happen often in the desert of Arabia.

Jdg_14:9

And … he went on eating, etc. Compare the account of Jonathan finding and eating the wild honey (1Sa_14:25, and following verses).

HOMILETICS

Jdg_14:1-9

The link of the chain.

A swarm of bees light one day in the carcase of a lion which had been killed in the vineyards of Thimnathah. They construct their hive there, and make their honey. It was no doubt an unusual circumstance that the bees should form their hive in such a place rather than in a hollow tree, or the cleft of a rock, but beyond its interest as a fact in natural history nobody would have attached any importance to it. But this action of the bees was linked to curious antecedents, and to peculiar consequences. The lion had been slain by Samson, that mysterious person of gigantic strength, whose life is such a remarkable episode in the history of Israel; and Samson had been led to the spot where the lion was by his ill-regulated love for a daughter of the Philistines, who were the masters and oppressors of his country. And as to what happened after the swarming of these bees, the marriage of Samson to his Philistine bride took place after an interval just sufficient for the bees to have filled their hive with honey, and Samson on his way to the wedding, impelled by a natural curiosity to see the lion which he had killed, had turned aside from his path, and had eaten the honey which was strangely found there. It was the custom of the time and of those people to beguile the long hours of the idle wedding.feasts with curious questions and strange riddles. In the gambling spirit which is such a frequent accompaniment of insufficient occupation, whether among the lazaronis of Naples or the wealthy nobles of modern society, such riddles were made the occasion of wagers, and such wagers often led to deadly quarrels. In the present instance Samson's double adventure with the lion suggested to him the riddle, "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." Baffled in their attempts to guess the riddle by fair means, they set on Samson's wife to worm the secret out of him and divulge it to them. Samson at once perceived the treachery, broke with his wife, slew thirty Philistines, and took their spoil wherewith to pay the lost wager, and followed up the feud by successive slaughters of his enemies, thus preparing the way for the eventual overthrow of the Philistine domination. The point for our special remark is that a swarm of bees lighting on a particular spot was an important link in the chain of providence by which the destinies of a great people were guided to independence; and the observation is not only a curious one, but has an important bearing upon the difficult subject (see Homiletics, Jdg_3:12-21) of the use made of men, and of men's actions, in the providential government of the world. Samson in slaying the lion, and the bees in swarming in its carcase, did things which were links in the chain of events which God foresaw, or fore-ordained, as he did also the effects of Samson's marriage with the Philistine. But just as the bees only followed their instinct in building their hive, so Samson, in fixing his affections on the Timnathite, and in attacking the lion, and in eating the honey, and in propounding the riddle, and in avenging himself for his wife's treachery, was merely following the bent of his own inclinations and the leading of his own will, though in so doing he was bringing about God's purpose for the deliverance of Israel. What, however, we have here to notice is the wonderful way in which God brings about his own purpose, and also the infinite foreknowledge of God. We look back, and we can trace the successive steps of causation, as one follows the other, like wave upon wave. But God looks forward from the beginning, foresees the effect of each cause in endless succession, and so orders them as to accomplish his own will. The most trivial events may be necessary links in the great chain; and while men are blindly following their own inclinations, with little thought and no knowledge of what will come of them, God is making use of them with unerring wisdom to work out his own eternal purposes, for the good of his people and for the glory of his own great name.

HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR

Jdg_14:1-4

Human desire overruled for Divine ends.

This incident in the life of Samson has a universal human interest. He no sooner comes to manhood than his destiny begins to determine itself. He sees a woman of the Philistines, and at once his fancy is captivated, and the strong natural desires of the young man overleap all the traditional restraints of God's people. He manufactures a law for himself; "she pleaseth me well" may mean, "it is pleasing, or right, in my own eyes." The perplexity and distress of the parents, unaware of the meaning of this strange freak, so opposed to the future they had been led to imagine for their son. Notice—

I. THE FATALITY OF DESIRE. A sudden, unreasoning, and unreasonable passion is scarcely the augury one would expect for the career of a promised deliverer. A crisis in his moral history, a pivot upon which his whole subsequent life must turn. Sexual attachments are amongst the determining factors of human character and life, and the bases of society. Yet there are no circumstances of our life so independent of mere reason, and the power of the subjects of them. Still as a rule the outward realisation of such attachments is within the control of the individual. Recognition should be made of God's share in producing them, and the matter should be laid before him. He has been blamed for "heavily loading the dice" in this matter for his own universal ends, and for wantonly subjecting the subject of passion to misery and disadvantage. Moral and intellectual progress are thus, it is said, indefinitely hindered. If it could be written, how full of light upon the moral and intellectual history of the race would be an account of the intermarriages of nations, the mésalliances of individuals! etc.

II. THE ENTANGLEMENT AND PERPLEXITY IT OCCASIONS. Here it meant connection with the idolatrous and sensual life of the Philistines. The relatives on both sides could not be cordial. A relaxation of moral principles must ensue. Children would bring a fresh discord. How could a man so related lift up his hand against the Philistines? An instance like this throws strong light upon the traditional objection of God's chosen people to intermarriage with neighbouring tribes and nations. It is not for nothing that it is written of Noah and of one and, another beside, "And he was perfect in his generation." "The daughters of Heth" are ineligible in the eyes of the patriarch's wife for other than mere social reasons. There can be no doubt but that the same caution ought to characterise Christian parents in the alliances they encourage their children to make.

III. THE FURTHER AND HIGHER MINISTRY OF DESIRE. Behind and beyond all this sinister appearance was the Divine purpose,—"For he (Jehovah) sought an occasion from the Philistines." God's will is fulfilled in many ways, and by alternatives. When sin refuses to be put under then it can be utilised; and the end more completely served, albeit not to the immediate happiness or advantage of the guilty agent. How often "by a way they knew not" have the sons of men been led by an unseen providence to gracious ends. An ill-assorted marriage is a great calamity, but it may be the determining cause of important spiritual results, and by arranging a new relationship and set of conditions, prepare for a higher and nobler, though less immediately happy, development, of inward character. Thus the whole question of the determining force of sexual desire, which has been a matter of grief and despair to the pessimist, is capable of another interpretation. The past history of our race shows that "where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound." Let us not therefore despair before these mysterious fatalities and complications, but commit the way of ourselves and children into the hands of him "who seeth the end from the beginning," and who makes "all things work together for good" to them that love him.—M.

Jdg_14:5, Jdg_14:6

The lion in the way.

Very natural is this description. The wild beast in the vineyards, the weaponlessness of the hero, etc; are all in keeping with the character of the times. Local names still extant prove the former existence of lions in Palestine; the particular district was a border one between militant nations, and therefore likely to be less thoroughly brought under; and Israel as temporarily subdued had been deprived of arms. The young lover, full of his mistress, and not on the best terms with his parents, prefers to keep by himself, a little apart. All this is highly suggestive of parallel circumstances in the spiritual life: e.g.—

I.. YOUTH IS OFTEN SUBJECTED TO GREAT AND SUDDEN TEMPTATIONS. Our streets, the social circle, sexual relations, etc; all abound with concealed perils. These threaten the destruction of the soul.

II. THESE ARE, FROM THEIR NATURE, GENERALLY ENCOUNTERED ALONE AND IN SECRET. Bulwer Lytton says somewhere, that boys learn many things at school of great value to them through life, that were never bargained for by their parents, or represented in the school-bill. The youthful sense of growing power, and assertion of independence, creates a little world of which guardians are but dimly conscious. There is, too, the inability of age to sympathise with youth; and the natural reticence concerning matters of affection, etc. Every youth is centre of a number of invisible but potent influences that may make or mar him for life; and he ought therefore to he frequently commended to the care of his heavenly Father, and to be treated with gentleness and consideration by those in authority.

III. THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAN RENDER TIMELY AND EFFECTUAL HELP. The phrase, "came suddenly upon him," expresses opportuneness.

The fearlessness and modesty of the spiritual hero are here strikingly illustrated.

I. IF EARTHLY AFFECTION WILL MAKE MEN BRAVE GREAT DANGERS AND INCONVENIENCES, HOW MUCH MORE OUGHT THE LOVE OF GOD!

II. WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE, AND HE MAKES ALL THINGS EASY AND SIMPLE TO THEM THAT BELIEVE.

III. HUMILITY IS THE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE SPIRITUAL HERO.—M.

Jdg_14:6

The mystery of spiritual might.

"And he had nothing in his hand." This is typical of the Christian. Christ's injunctions to the seventy. In Samson's case it was probably due to the regulation imposed by the Philistines upon a conquered people. Christians are commanded not to put their trust in earthly equipment or the arm of flesh.

I. THAT OUR CONFLICTS WITH SATAN MAY BE TRUE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES AND NOT MERELY OUTWARD TRIUMPHS.

II. THE INFLUX AND WITHDRAWAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT LIMIT THE AUTHORITY AND SECURE THE HUMILITY OF THE AGENT. HOW helpless even a Samson but for the Spirit! Temptations of our own seeking may be left to our own resources. No enterprise ought to be undertaken without the aid of the Holy Spirit, and the Divine blessing. What God brings upon us he will help us to overcome.

III. THE FAITH OF THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER AND WORKER MUST BE WHOLLY IN GOD.—M.

Jdg_14:8, Jdg_14:9

Recalling past deliverances.

In this case Samson is led to do so either by curiosity or the impulse of God's Spirit. He revisits the scene of the exploit, and meets with welcome but unexpected refreshment. There are various ways of recalling spiritual experiences of God's saving power in the past. Sometimes an accident (?) may bring up vividly some forgotten circumstance of Divine grace, and we are overwhelmed with the recollections that crowd upon the mind. Soldiers who have fought side by side in famous battles have their anniversaries of fellowship and celebration. Are there no circumstances that justify these amongst Christians? It is a spiritual education and confirmation to recall circumstances and revisit scenes of God's saving mercies.

I. THE DUTY OF THANKFUL RECOLLECTION OF DIVINE INTERPOSITIONS.

II. THE SECRET AND UNSHARED COMMUNION OF THE SUBJECT OF GRACE WITH HIS SAVIOUR.

III. ITS ADVANTAGE AND BLESSING.—M.

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY

Jdg_14:5, Jdg_14:6

Samson and the lion.

I. THE DANGER.

1. It came unsought. It is foolish for the bravest to court danger. We have only ground for meeting it bravely when we have not rashly provoked it.

2. It was unexpected. Had Samson expected to encounter the lion he would probably have chosen another path, or have armed himself against it. One of the worst features of the great dangers of life is that we can rarely foresee and provide against them.

3. It was when Samson was on a pleasurable journey. He went to seek a wife, and met a lion! The greatest trouble may spring upon us at the moment of highest elation. Earthly joy is no safeguard.

4. It was when Samson was acting in a questionable manner. He was seeking a wife among the Philistines. His parents disapproved of this course though their affection sought an excuse for it (Jdg_14:3). His conduct was contrary to the law of God (Exo_34:16). We may meet with trouble in the path of duty, bat we must expect to meet with it in the way of transgression (Jon_1:4).

II. THE TRIUMPH.

1. It was effected in the might of the Spirit of the Lord. Herein is the distinction between Samson and Hercules. The Jewish hero does not trust to his own muscular strength. Strong man as he is he can only do great things in God's strength. This is the redeeming feature of his character. It shows him as one, though amongst the lowest, of the heroes of faith. If Samson needed the strength of inspiration, how much more do we weaker men need to be clothed in the panoply of God's might before we can face the dangers of life!

2. The Spirit of God came upon Samson in especial force in his greatest need. God gives us strength according to our requirements. In our hour of weakness it seems impossible to face the future difficulty, but when this comes how wonderfully is the new strength bestowed to meet it (Deu_33:25). We must not, however, abuse this truth and neglect natural expedients. Samson would have been wrong in going unarmed if he had expected to meet the lion. We have only a right to believe that God will help us in sudden emergencies when we are not rashly and negligently increasing the danger of them.

3. The Spirit of God helped Samson by inspiring him to an extraording exercise of his natural powers. It was to Samson the strong, a spirit of strength. God works in us through our natural faculties and helps us differently according to our various gifts. Though the might is God's, the daring, the will, the effort must be ours. God gave him strength, yet Samson slew the lion with his own hands.

4. After victory, Samson modestly concealed his triumph. It is better to be more than we seem than to seem more than we are. If the source of our victory is God's strength we have no ground for boasting.—A.