Judges 14:1

SAMSON'S FIRST DEALINGS WITH THE PHILISTINES;

HE CHOOSES A PHILISTINE WIFE

"And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all thy 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. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of Jehovah; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel."

"Samson went down to Timnah" (Judges 14:1). "This was one of the daughter cities of the Philistine city of Ekron, located four miles west of Zorah."[1] The words "went down," and "came up" refer to the respective altitudes of the two places.

"Samson ... saw a woman" (Judges 14:1). Here was the first of many foolish mistakes this hero made. He chose a wife, contrary to the Word of God, contrary to the pleadings of his father and mother, and did so solely upon the basis of seeing a woman, with whom he had never even had a conversation!

(1) Deuteronomy 7:3-4 forbade the Israelites to intermarry with the Canaanites. "But the reasons assigned for that prohibition were equally applicable to marriage with the daughters of the Philistines."[2]

(2) Also, "The uncircumcised Philistines were despised by the Israelites."[3]

(3) It would have been impossible for Samson to have brought such a wife into his father's house, and therefore, "The marriage was of the type in which the wife resided in her father's house."[4]

(4) Such a marriage was courageously opposed by Samson's parents, but in spite of all these reasons against it, Samson had only one word - "Get her for me; she pleaseth me well."

"Get her for me, she pleaseth me well" (Judges 14:3). Thus, very early in Samson's career, his character is revealed in this single sentence. "As nothing else could, that simple sentence epitomizes the kind of man Samson was."[5] "How ironic were Samson's words to his parents that he had seen a woman that looked good to him when those very eyes would be put out because of the betrayal of another eye-pleasing woman."[6]

"His father and his mother knew not that it was of Jehovah" (Judges 14:4). This does not mean that God approved of Samson's sinful marriage, but that God overruled Samson's strong-headed determination to marry a Philistine woman and turned it into an occasion for God to show his displeasure with the Philistines.

"Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel" (Judges 14:4). The city of Timnah was once an Israelite city, or, at least it seems so from Joshua 15:10, but at this time the Philistines had control of most of Israel. "Archaeological remains point to an extended period of intercourse (social contact) and trade between the two peoples (Philistines and Israelites) from about 1150 B.C., which corresponds exactly with the date Boling determined for Judges."[7]