In chapter 14, Samson spotted a Philistine girl who he wanted to marry. He disrespectfully demanded his parents to negotiate a marriage contract for her. Samson's parents objected to this because the girl was not Hebrew. No Hebrew (let alone a Nazirite) should ever consider marrying a pagan Philistine. Samson's father gave in and did as Samson demanded.
A seven-day long Philistine-style wedding ceremony ensued. The events occurred around a banquet. Thirty Philistine men were invited as "companions: of the groom. This was likely due to no Israelite would accompany Samson into Philistine territory in order for him to marry a Philistine girl. At the ceremony, it was Samson's duty to entertain the guest. One of the popular means of entertainment was to challenge the guests to a riddle. Samson spiced up the game by attaching a wager and a handsome prize to those who guessed the answer correctly. But this game also came with a hook: if the guests lost the wager, they would owe Samson a large sum of very valuable clothing.
The riddle concerned the lion which Samson had secretly killed on the journey to Timnah when his parents first met Samson's future bride. Then, on the next trip for the actual occasion for the wedding, Samson stopped out of curiosity to view his handiwork. He found to his delight that some bees has set up a hive and had produced honey inside the carcass of the dead lion.
Since Samson was alone on both occasions with the lion, the riddle he offered (with the lion being the answer) was unsolvable, meaning it was quite unfair and insulting to his guests. The wager, which involved expensive clothing, made the matter all the more delicate. The guests sensing they had been duped went to Samson's bride and demanded she use her womanly wiles to get the answer to the riddle from Samson and then divulge it to them. (The men, being her fellow country men, felt entitled to the information. Moreover, they threatened to kill Samson's bride and her father.) After several days of crying and whining to Samson, Samson finally caves in. He tells her the answer to the riddle. She immediately goes to the wedding guests and tells them the solution.
Samson felt betrayed. Before the seven-day wedding ceremony was concluded, he stormed off. He walked about 30 miles to the Philistine city of Ashkelon. There, he murdered thirty men for their clothing in order to pay off the wager for the riddle. These thirty Philistine men were killed at random. They had no part in the wedding. They were innocent victims.
Since Samson did not complete the marriage ceremony, he was never actually married. We find the humiliated father of the girl giving her to Samson's best man (a Philistine) since Samson had never returned to claim his bride.
SAMSON AGAINST THE PHILISTINES
A. Retaliation back and forth
1. (Judges 15:1-3) Samson's rage at discovering his wife is given to another man
But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat, and said, "I will go in to my wife in her room." But her father did not let him enter. Her father said, "I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I gave her to your companion. Is not her youngest sister more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours instead. Samson then said to them, "This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm."
But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest: Some undefined amount of time passed, and the wheat season arrived. This means, it was around late May or early June, a holy time in which Shavuot (Pentecost) was celebrated. Samson's anger had finally subsided enough. He decided to go back to Timnah to see his wife. The word used for wife in Hebrew is ishsheh, which can mean woman or wife depending on the context. It is hard to know the exact relationship Samson had with this girl. Was he married or not? He must have felt some ownership claim over the girl otherwise he would not have expected to visit this girl in her personal chambers. The girl's father explained the situation to Samson. They had no idea what to make of Samson abruptly leaving the wedding ceremony, but since he did not come back, and so much time had elapsed, they could only assume Samson did not want her anymore. The father gave the girl to another man.
Samson visited his wife with a young goat: The answer to what was actually happening here might be in the young goat Samson was bringing with him. Why would he be bringing a gift? And why would it have been considered important enough to include the gifting of the goat in the narrative? It is usually taught the young goat was a present of reconciliation. While it is possible, it is hard to imagine that such a common and rather inexpensive item would have been suitable to apologize for the tremendous insult and boorish behavior Samson had displayed some time earlier at his own wedding.
Instead, there is another, and much more likely possibility. There is an ancient Middle Eastern custom (still practiced today in some Middle Eastern culture) called sadika. It was (and still is) followed by men who have no permanent habitation. Thus, their wife is allowed to remain with her parents on a more or less indefinite basis. It is also recognized as a marriage of lesser status than the more typical one in which a husband and wife set up their own household together. Sadika is probably an evolution of the concubine relationship whereby a man takes a woman to live in his household, but she is not given a marriage certificate or married under the chuppah (i.e., she is not given a wedding ceremony). Yet, she does have many rights of a wife.
In modern times, the husband in this kind of marriage is called a joz musarrib which means a visiting husband. In this system, it is the husband's duty to bring the wife a gift each time he comes to visit her. It does not have to be a valuable gift, but it cannot be so small as to be insulting. A kid goat would fit this bill just about right for their period in time. Thus, in our case with Samson, he says in verse one, "I will go in to my ishsheh in her room." No man would be allowed to enter a single woman's private chambers, nor could a married woman have a male visitor other than her father of husband in her own room. Such a thing just was not done. It could easily bring the death penalty for parties involved. Samson seems as though he thought he had some kind of marital relationship with this girl (probably of the sadika kind), but the father thought otherwise.
Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she: Seeing Samson was surprised and upset, the father offered the girl's younger sister to him. The father tells Samson, the younger sister is even prettier. Why not take such a nice trade? While that may seem uncivilized to us, it was usual in those days for such a transaction to occur. The father was making a sincere attempt to make things as right as he could under the circumstances. Samson did not want the girl's younger sister. Another rage overcame Samson.
This time I should be blameless in regard to the Philistines: Samson determines he is going to take revenge for this perceived offense against him. It was going to be against the Philistines in general. It is self evident Samson seems to lump all Philistines together. If one Philistine insults him, then all Philistines are open to blame and are fair game. This is so strange. Samson seemed to hang out regularly in Philistine territory and had a hunger for Philistine women. Yet, he seems to have some deep-seated burning hatred towards the Philistines as a group.
I think it might be fair to say he was rather bigoted towards them. After all, you could take any race of people and decide the actions of one equal the actions of them all. It is hard to not see this as a kind of bigotry. Of course, the Philistines ruled over Israel at this time. So the Philistines were hardly the good guys. But, any soldier who has fought on foreign soil will tell you that it is a dilemma to mentally separate the innocent civilians from the military troops who are trying to kill you. Yet, most soldiers instinctively know there is a difference, and they must conduct themselves in that knowledge.
It can be also argued that since God was in the middle of all this with Samson, perhaps Samson was responding to a righteous kind of impulse within him to destroy the Philistines. But Samson's other actions indicate Samson did not seem to care much about what God thought or what God's laws and ordinances entailed. Samson operated primarily in a self-centered manner, by doing what was right in his own eyes. He had very little self-control or wisdom.
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