Judges 14:1-16:22, Luke 1:1-25

Thought from Today’s Old Testament Passage: How could Samson’s marriage be “from the lord,” as Judges 14:4 says, if it was wrong to marry unbelievers? Judges 14:3 makes it plain that Samson was doing the wrong thing by marrying the Philistine woman from Timnah, for his parents remonstrated with him about marrying out of the faith. Yet the headstrong young man insisted, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me.” Then v. 4, indicating how God was intending to use Samson as an aggressive champion against the Philistines in the years to come, says, “However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines.” It would be a mistake to conclude from this statement that God was pleased with Samson’s violation of the Mosaic Law, which strictly forbade mixed marriages of this sort. But it does mean that God intended to use Samson as a champion in the deliverance of his people from the galling tyranny of the ungodly Philistines. Since up until that time Samson had enjoyed friendly relations with them, he was not likely to do anything to liberate Israel from the yoke of its heathen overlords. He needed to have a falling out with them before he would enter on his career as a champion for his country. The aftermath of this unhappy marriage, which was never really consummated, brought about the right conditions for Samson to raise a standard against Philistia. (Gleason L. Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982), p. 166)