Friday, September 4, 2015

Judges 15: Samson > 1000 Men

Samson has a reputation for being "the strongest man who ever lived."  While that claim is not expressly stated in the Bible, stories like the ones we find in Judges 15 can help us believe it!

Apparently no one told Samson that his Philistine father-in-law married his bride off to someone else.  When Samson returns to Timnah and hears it, he is enraged.  (Even his father-in-law's attempt to give Samson his sister-in-law didn't assuage his anger!)

Samson seeks out to get his revenge.  In a rather creative move, he captures 300 foxes and ties them end to end.  Setting a torch in the midst of each pair of tails, he lit the torches and set the foxes loose in the fields of the Philistines.  Much grain was lost.  In their reprisal to Samson's reprisal, the Philistines burn his wife and father-in-law.  Samson's anger will not now be quenched (vs. 7).

Because the Philistines are oppressing the Israelites, they demand that the Jews turn Samson over to them.  Three thousand of his countryman come to Samson, not to defend him, but to bind him and hand him over to the Philistines.  The joke is on the Philistines, however, because in a rush of strength, Samson breaks free from his bonds, picks up the jawbone of a donkey, and slays 1000 men.  This is regarded as one of Samson's great feats of strength.

Unfortunately, Samson's inner strength did not match his outer strength, as we will see in Judges 16.

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