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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J U D G E S
CHAP. XIV.
The idea which this chapter gives us of Samson is not what one might
have expected concerning one who, by the special designation of heaven,
was a Nazarite to God and a deliverer of Israel; and yet really he was
both. Here is,
I. Samson’s courtship of a daughter of the Philistines, and his
marriage to her,
II. His conquest of a lion, and the prize he found in the carcase of it,
III. Samson’s riddle proposed to his companions
and unriddled by the treachery of his wife,
IV. The occasion this gave him to kill thirty of the Philistines
(ver. 19)
and to break off his new alliance,
| Samson Chooses a Philistine Wife; A Lion Slain by Samson. | B. C. 1141. |
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1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath
of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said,
I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the
Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there
never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all
my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised
Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for
she pleaseth me well.
4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the
LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at
that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to
Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a
young lion roared against him.
6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he
rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his
hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased
Samson well.
8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside
to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm
of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and
came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did
eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the
carcase of the lion.
Here,
I. Samson, under the extraordinary guidance of Providence, seeks an
occasion of quarrelling with the Philistines, by joining in affinity
with them–a strange method, but the truth is Samson was himself a
riddle, a paradox of a man, did that which was really great and good,
by that which was seemingly weak and evil, because he was designed not
to be a pattern to us (who must walk by rule, not by example), but a
type of him who, though he knew no sin, was made sin for us, and
appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he might
condemn and destroy sin in the flesh,
Rom. viii. 3.
1. As the negotiation of Samson’s marriage was a common case, we may
observe,
(1.) That is was weakly and foolishly done of him to set his affections
upon a daughter of the Philistines; the thing appeared very improper.
Shall one that is not only an Israelite, but a Nazarite, devoted to the
Lord, covet to become one with a worshipper of Dagon? Shall one marked
for a patriot of his country match among those that are its sworn
enemies? He saw this woman
(v. 1),
and she pleased him well,
v. 3.
It does not appear that he had any reason to think her wise or
virtuous, or in any way likely to be a help-meet for him; but he saw
something in her face that was very agreeable to his fancy, and
therefore nothing will serve but she must be his wife. He that in the
choice of a wife is guided only by his eye, and governed by his fancy,
must afterwards thank himself if he find a Philistine in his arms.
(2.) Yet it was wisely and well done not to proceed so much as to make
his addresses to her till he had first made his parents acquainted with
the matter. He told them, and desired them to get her for him to
wife,
v. 2.
Herein he is an example to all children. Conformably to the law of the
fifth commandment, children ought not to marry, nor to move towards
marrying, without the advice and consent of their parents; those that
do (as bishop Hall here expresses it) wilfully unchild themselves,
and exchange natural affections for violent. parents have a
property in their children as parts of themselves. In marriage this
property is transferred; for such is the law of the relation that a
man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife.
It is therefore not only unkind and ungrateful, but very unjust, to
alienate this property without their concurrence; whoso thus robbeth
his father or mother, stealing himself from them, who is nearer and
dearer to them than their goods, and yet saith, It is no
transgression, the same is the companion of a destroyer,
Prov. xxviii. 24.
(3.) His parents did well to dissuade him from yoking himself thus
unequally with unbelievers. Let those who profess religion, but are
courting an affinity with the profane and irreligious, matching into
families where they have reason to think the fear of God is not, nor
the worship of God, let them hear their reasoning, and apply it to
themselves: “Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy
brethren, or, if none of our tribe, never a one among all thy
people, never an Israelite, that pleases thee, or that thou canst
think worthy of thy affection, that thou shouldest marry a Philistine?”
In the old world the sons of God corrupted and ruined themselves, their
families, and that truly primitive church, by marrying with the
daughters of men,
Gen. vi. 2.
God had forbidden the people of Israel to marry with the devoted
nations, one of which the Philistines were,
(4.) If there had not been a special reason for it, it certainly would
have been improper in him to insist upon his choice, and in them to
agree to it at last. Yet their tender compliance with his affections
may be observed as an example to parents not to be unreasonable in
crossing their children’s choices, nor to deny their consent,
especially to those that have seasonably and dutifully asked it,
without some very good cause. As children must obey their parents in
the Lord, so parents must not provoke their children to wrath,
lest they be discouraged. This Nazarite, in his subjection to his
parents, asking their consent, and not proceeding till he had it, was
not only an example to all children, but a type of the holy child
Jesus, who went down with his parents to Nazareth (thence called
a Nazarene) and was subject to them,
2. But this treaty of marriage is expressly said to be of the
Lord,
v. 4.
Not only that God afterwards overruled it to serve his designs against
the Philistines, but that he put it into Samson’s heart to make this
choice, that he might have occasion against the Philistine. It
was not a thing evil in itself for him to marry a Philistine. It was
forbidden because of the danger of receiving hurt by idolaters; where
there was not only no danger of that kind, but an opportunity hoped for
of doing that hurt to them which would be good service to Israel, the
law might well be dispense with. It was said
that the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times, and we
have reason to think he himself perceived that Spirit to move him at
this time, when he made this choice, and that otherwise he would have
yielded to his parents’ dissuasives, nor would they have consented at
last if he had not satisfied them it was of the Lord. This would
bring him into acquaintance and converse with the Philistines, by which
he might have such opportunities of galling them as otherwise he could
not have. It should seem, the way in which the Philistines oppressed
Israel was, not by great armies, but by the clandestine incursions of
their giants and small parties of their plunderers. In the same way
therefore Samson must deal with them; let him but by this marriage get
among them, and he would be a thorn in their sides. Jesus
Christ, having to deliver us from this present evil world, and to cast
out the prince of it, did himself visit it, though full of pollution
and enmity, and, by assuming a body, did in some sense join in affinity
with it, that he might destroy our spiritual enemies, and his own arm
might work the salvation.
II. Samson, by a special providence, is animated and encouraged to
attack the Philistines. That being the service for which he was
designed, God, when he called him to it, prepared him for it by two
occurrences:–
1. By enabling him, in one journey to Timnath, to kill a lion,
v. 5, 6.
Many decline doing the service they might do because they know not
their own strength. God let Samson know what he could do in the
strength of the Spirit of the Lord, that he might never be
afraid to look the greatest difficulties in the face. David, who was to
complete the destruction of the Philistines, must try his hand first
upon a lion and a bear, that thence he might infer, as we may
suppose Samson did, that the uncircumcised Philistine should be as one
of them,
(1.) Samson’s encounter with the lion was hazardous. It was a young
lion, one of the fiercest sort, that set upon him, roaring for his
prey, and setting his eye particularly upon him; he roared in
meeting him, so the word is. He was all alone in the vineyards,
whither he had rambled from his father and mother (who kept the high
road), probably to eat grapes. Children consider not how they expose
themselves to the roaring lion that seeks to devour when, out of a
foolish fondness for liberty, they wander from under the eye and wing
of their prudent pious parents. Nor do young people consider what lions
lurk in the vineyards, the vineyards of red wines, as dangerous as
snakes under the green grass. Had Samson met with this lion in the way,
he might have had more reason to expect help both from God and man than
here in the solitary vineyards, out of his road. But there was a
special providence in it, and the more hazardous the encounter was,
(2.) The victory was so much the more illustrious. It was obtained
without any difficulty: he strangled the lion, and tore his throat as
easily as he would have strangled a kid, yet without any instrument,
not only no sword nor bow, but not so much as a staff or knife; he had
nothing in his hand. Christ engaged the roaring lion, and
conquered him in the beginning of his public work
&c.), and afterwards spoiled principalities and powers, triumphing over
them in himself, as some read it, not by any instrument. He was
exalted in his own strength. That which added much to the glory
of Samson’s triumph over the lion was that when he had done this great
exploit he did not boast of it, did not so much as tell his father
nor mother that which many a one would soon have published through
the whole country. Modesty and humility make up the brightest crown of
great performances.
2. By providing him, the next journey, with honey in the carcase of
this lion,
When he came down the next time to solemnize his nuptials, and his
parents with him, he had the curiosity to turn aside into the vineyard
where he had killed the lion, perhaps that with the sight of the place
he might affect himself with the mercy of that great deliverance, and
might there solemnly give thanks to God for it. It is good thus to
remind ourselves of God’s former favours to us. There he found
the carcase of the lion; the birds or beasts of prey, it is likely, had
eaten the flesh, and in the skeleton a swarm of bees had knit, and made
a hive of it, and had not been idle, but had there laid up a good stock
of honey, which was one of the staple commodities of Canaan; such
plenty there was of it that the land is said to flow with milk and
honey. Samson, having a better title than any man to the hive,
seizes the honey with his hands. This supposes an encounter with the
bees; but he that dreaded not lion’s paws had no reason to fear
their stings. As by his victory over the lion he was emboldened
to encounter the Philistine-giants, if there should be occasion,
notwithstanding their strength and fierceness, so by dislodging the
bees he was taught not to fear the multitude of the Philistines; though
they compassed him about like bees, yet in the name of the Lord he
should destroy them,
Ps. cxviii. 12.
Of the honey he here found,
(1.) He ate himself, asking no questions for conscience’ sake; for the
dead bones of an unclean beast had not that ceremonial pollution in
them that the bones of a man had. John Baptist, that Nazarite of the
New Testament, lived upon wild honey.
(2.) He gave to his parents, and they did eat; he did not eat all
himself. Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for
thee, and no more,
He let his parents share with him. Children should be grateful to
their parents with the fruits of their own industry, and so show
piety at home,
1 Tim. v. 4.
Let those that by the grace of God have found sweetness in religion
themselves communicate their experience to their friends and relations,
and invite them to come and share with them. He told not his parents
whence he had it, lest they should scruple eating it. Bishop Hall
observes here that those are less wise and more scrupulous than
Samson that decline the use of God’s gifts because they find them in
ill vessels. Honey is hone still, though in a dead lion. Our Lord
Jesus having conquered Satan, that roaring lion, believers find honey
in the carcase, abundant strength and satisfaction, enough for
themselves and for all their friends, from that victory.
| Samson’s Riddle; Slaughter of the Philistines. | B. C. 1141. |
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10 So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made
there a feast; for so used the young men to do.
11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought
thirty companions to be with him.
12 And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle
unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days
of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty
sheets and thirty change of garments:
13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me
thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto
him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it.
14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and
out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in
three days expound the riddle.
15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto
Samson’s wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us
the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire:
have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so?
16 And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but
hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the
children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said
unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother,
and shall I tell it thee?
17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast
lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her,
because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the
children of her people.
18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day
before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what
is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not
plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.
19 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down
to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil,
and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle.
And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house.
20 But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, whom he had
used as his friend.
We have here an account of Samson’s wedding feast and the occasion it
gave him to fall foul upon the Philistines.
I. Samson conformed to the custom of the country in making a festival
of his nuptial solemnities, which continued seven days,
Though he was a Nazarite, he did not affect, in a thing of this nature,
to be singular, but did as the young men used to do upon such
occasions. It is no part of religion to go contrary to the innocent
usages of the places where we live: nay, it is a reproach to religion
when those who profess it give just occasion to others to call them
covetous, sneaking, and morose. A good man should strive to make
himself, in the best sense, a good companion.
II. His wife’s relations paid him the accustomed respect of the place
upon that occasion, and brought him thirty young men to keep him
company during the solemnity, and to attend him as his grooms-men
(v. 11):
When they saw him, what a comely man he was, and what an
ingenuous graceful look he had, they brought him these to do him
honour, and to improve by his conversation while he staid among them.
Or, rather, when they saw him, what a strong stout man he was, they
brought these, seemingly to be his companions, but really to be a guard
upon him, or spies to observe him. Jealous enough they were of him, but
would have been more so had they known of his victory over the lion,
which therefore he had industriously concealed. The favours of
Philistines have often some mischief or other designed in them.
III. Samson, to entertain the company, propounds a riddle to them, and
lays a wager with them that they cannot find it out in seven days,
The usage, it seems, was very ancient upon such occasions, when friends
were together, to be innocently merry, not to spend all the time in
dull eating and drinking, as bishop Patrick expresses it, or in other
gratifications of sense, as music, dancing, or shows, but to propose
questions, by which their learning and ingenuity might be tried and
improved. This becomes men, wise men, that value themselves by their
reason; but very unlike to it are the infamous and worse than brutish
entertainments of this degenerate age, which send nothing round but the
glass and the health, till reason is drowned, and wisdom sunk. Now,
1. Samson’s riddle was his own invention, for it was his own
achievement that gave occasion for it: Out of the eater came forth
meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. Read my riddle,
what is this? Beasts of prey do not yield meat for man, yet food
came from the devourer; and those creatures that are strong when
they are alive commonly smell strong and are every way offensive when
they are dead, as horses, and yet out of the strong, or out of
the bitter, so the Syriac and Arabic read it, came
sweetness. If they had but so much sense as to consider what eater
is most strong, and what meat is most sweet, they would have found out
the riddle, and neither lions nor honey were such strangers to their
country that the thoughts of them needed to be out of the way; and the
solving of the riddle would have given him occasion to tell them the
entertaining story on which it was founded. This riddle is applicable
to many of the methods of divine providence and grace. When God, by an
over-ruling providence, brings good out of evil to his church and
people,–when that which threatened their ruin turns to their
advantage,–when their enemies are made serviceable to them, and the
wrath of men turns to God’s praise,–then comes meat out of the
eater and sweetness out of the strong. See
2. His water was more considerable to him than to them, because he was
one against thirty partners. It was not a wager laid upon God’s
providence, or upon the chance of a die or a card, but upon their
ingenuity, and amounted to no more than an honorary recompence of wit
and a disgrace upon stupidity.
IV. His companions, when they could not expound the riddle themselves,
obliged his wife to get from him the exposition of it,
Whether they were really of a dull capacity, or whether under a
particular infatuation at this time, it was strange that none of the
thirty could in all this time stumble upon so plain a thing as that,
What is sweeter than honey and what stronger than a lion?
It should seem that in wit, as well as manners, they were
barbarous–barbarous indeed to threaten the bride that, if she would
not use means with the bridegroom to let them into the meaning of it,
they would burn her and her father’s house with fire. Could any
thing be more brutish? It was base enough to turn a jest into earnest,
and those were unworthy of conversation that would grow so outrageous
rather than confess their ignorance and lose so small a wager; nor
would it save their credit at all to tell the riddle when they were
told it. It was yet more villainous to engage Samson’s wife to be a
traitor to her own husband, and to pretend a greater interest in her
than he had. Now that she was married she must forget her own
people. Yet most inhuman of all was it to threaten, if she could
not prevail, to burn her and all her relations with fire, and all for
fear of losing each of them the value of a shirt and a coat: Have
you called us to take what we have? Those must never lay wagers
that cannot lose more tamely and easily than thus.
V. His wife, by unreasonable importunity, obtains from him a key to his
riddle. It was on the seventh day, that is, the seventh day of
the week (as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures), but the fourth day of the
feast, that they solicited her to entice her husband
(v. 15),
and she did it,
1. With great art and management
(v. 16),
resolving not to believe he loved her, unless he would gratify her in
this thing. She knew he could not bear to have his love questioned, and
therefore, if any thing would work upon him, that would: “Thou dost
but hate me, and lovest me not, if thou deniest me;” whereas he had
much more reason to say, “Thou dost but hate me, and lovest
me not, if thou insistest on it.” And, that she might not make this
the test of his affection, he assures her he had not told his own
parents, notwithstanding the confidence he reposed in them. If this
prevail not, she will try the powerful eloquence of tears: she wept
before him the rest of the days of the feast, choosing
rather to mar the mirth, as the bride’s tears must needs do, than not
gain her point, and oblige her countrymen,
2. With great success. At last, being quite wearied with her
importunity, he told her what was the meaning of his riddle, and though
we may suppose she promised secresy, and that if he would but let her
know she would tell nobody, she immediately told it to the children
of her people; nor could he expect better from a Philistine,
especially when the interests of her country were ever so little
concerned. See
The riddle is at length unriddled
(v. 18):
What is sweeter than honey, or a better meat?
What is stronger than a lion, or a greater devourer? Samson
generously owns they had won the wager, though he had good reason to
dispute it, because they had not declared the riddle, as the bargain
was
(v. 12),
but it had been declared to them. But he only thought fit to tell them
of it: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, made use of your
interest with my wife, you would not have found out my riddle.
Satan, in his temptations, could not do us the mischief he does if he
did not plough with the heifer of our own corrupt nature.
VI. Samson pays his wager to these Philistines with the spoils of
others of their countrymen,
He took this occasion to quarrel with the Philistines, went down to
Ashkelon, one of their cities, where probably he knew there was some
great festival observed at this time, to which many flocked, out of
whom he picked out thirty, slew them, and took their clothes, and gave
them to those that had expounded the riddle; so that, in balancing the
account, it appeared that the Philistines were the losers, for one of
the lives they lost was worth all the suits of clothes they won: the
body is more than raiment. The Spirit of the Lord came upon
him, both to authorize and to enable him to do this.
VII. This proves a good occasion of weaning Samson from his new
relations. He found how his companions had abused him and how his wife
had betrayed him, and therefore his anger was kindled,
v. 19.
Better be angry with Philistines than in love with them, because, when
we join ourselves to them, we are most in danger of being ensnared by
them. And, meeting with this ill usage among them, he went up to his
father’s house. It were well for us if the unkindnesses we meet
with from the world, and our disappointments in it, had but this good
effect upon us, to oblige us by faith and prayer to return to our
heavenly Father’s house and rest there. The inconveniences that occur
in our way should make us love home and long to be there. No sooner had
he gone than his wife was disposed of to another,
Instead of begging his pardon for the wrong she had done him, when he
justly signified his resentment of it only by withdrawing in
displeasure for a time, she immediately marries him that was the chief
of the guests, the friend of the bridegroom, whom perhaps she loved too
well, and was too willing to oblige, when she got her husband to tell
her the riddle. See how little confidence is to be put in man, when
those may prove our enemies whom we have used as our friends.
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