Shattering the Stigma

Judges 14:4 “Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel” BSB What a surprising eye-opening statement we have here in verse four which will make anyone want to put on their eyeglasses and blink a few times thinking to oneself “am I seeing correctly?” Imagine that God was working within the natural desires of Samson for a Philistine woman which was already strictly forbidden in the law of Moses. His parents were astonished that he would go there and yet they did not resist but gave in to his wish to help him obtain this woman as a wife in the customary ways. What caused them to agree to this? This is the beginning of the revelation of the complexity of the person of Samson and how God was going to use him. We have some exceptions in scripture prior to Samson for such a strange and forbidden marriage arrangement in the story of Joseph (Gen 41:45) who married the daughter of an Egyptian priest. Moses also married Zipporah a daughter of a priest of Midian – Jethro (Exodus 2:21-22). The Midianites became enemies of Israel even though they too had Abraham as their father so this one is still considered to be somewhat in the family. In Numbers 12:1 we see that Moses married an Ethiopian woman and some believe this was his second wife, a Cushite. Then there is also the story of Ruth a Moabite who married Boaz an Israelite, which took place at the time of the Judges preceding Samson, but not sure if Samson would have known about that. So, in only a very few exceptional cases, we see that Samson had some kind of unusual precedent for marrying outside of his people and into the enemy’s community, nonetheless. Could he have justified the matter this way in his mind considering his intention to be near or implanting himself within the Philistine community strategically? I mean, what are all the possible reasons that in Samson’s life story he never looked for a relationship with an Israelite woman but only with Philistine women? Were there no good-looking women of his own people anywhere (I doubt it)? Could it be that he did not trust an Israelite woman who would naturally have knowledge of the secret of his Nazirite vow and therefore put him and her and his family in jeopardy? Was it a matter of an aspect of the flesh where he felt justified to rebel since he was having to keep such strict consecrations in other areas of his life, so this was his one out or area of passive aggressive release? I also doubt this. Or might it have been an act of showing defiance and dominance and disrespect to his enemies like what Absalom did when he went into his father’s concubines in front of Israel (2 Samuel 16:19-22). Was it Samson’s intention to be with a Philistine woman as somewhat of a provocative stance to the enemies of Israel? I tend to believe that Samson’s intentions were more deliberate and strategic than simply a fleshly preference for Philistine women, especially from a man who was holding fast to his consecrations before God with the specific purpose of becoming a deliverer for his people. So, I believe his statement to his parents that she pleased him in the area of physical beauty was just an excuse that they would see it as something normal for a young man. We are not told that God spoke to him personally or through a prophet or in a dream. We are not told specifically that he was led by the Spirit to do this. But we are told that his decision and actions were “of the Lord.” So, God was in it, however that transpired in and through Samson’s decision-making process. I encourage you at this time to refresh yourself with the content of Judges 14. We have already covered how Samson’s judgeship is unique from all the other judges and that there is no other Samson, so God is doing something quite different and unique in and through this man. This means it would be difficult for his peers, parents, and us to judge him as we have the scripture telling us that it was God working with him at this point because He (God, and maybe Samson too) wanted to get at the Philistines in a way different than in other ways done before. So here is a dilemma: it seems as if God is going against His own word. How many times have we not heard it said that God will not do anything against His own word of what is already written, and yet here is a perfect example of exactly that? Hold on, before you conclude that this is a green light to do whatever your flesh feels like because God might be in it, you need to realize that God knew that Samson would not be living with this woman and having children by her and raising those children with Philistine values. God foreknew the end of this story. Read the whole story first before drawing such conclusions. God was only seeking an occasion to get at the Philistines through Samson’s marriage, and He was working with Samson’s natural desires to get him close and involved with the Philistines, much like getting a secret agent on the inside. What a setup! I put forward to you that Samson might have been going deliberately covert in this direction whether he was aware of how much God was in it or not at this point. But for a while, it really was indeed a situation where God was using this man in a way that was contrary to His stated laws (Exodus 34:12-16; Deuteronomy 7:2-3).