The unexpected ways of God (Judg 13:24-14:4)

Today’s passage makes for uncomfortable reading and our understanding hinges on the phrase that Samson’s marriage plans were ‘from the Lord’ (Judg 14:4). Does this mean God’s approval? How can it, though, when God elsewhere condemns intermarriage (Deut 7:3-4; Judg 3:5-6)? If the Lord Himself bends His own rules here, then does it not make Him arbitrary and immoral? And what exactly is His involvement in this? Does He overrule Samson’s will or influence him and if so, can Samson be held responsible? This is ultimately the question of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility that confronts us most forcefully in the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart but is present also elsewhere (1 Sam 2:25; 1 Kings 12:15).

Samson troubled

To untangle the threads of this question, we need to look for clues the narrator gives us about how to evaluate the events. God’s Spirit ‘troubles’ or ‘disturbs’ Samson (NASB ‘stirs up’; Judg 13:25), an unusual word that is only used in the active form here in the Bible.[1] Elsewhere, the passive indicates some kind of struggle, tension or turmoil (e.g. Ps 77:4; Gen 41:8; Dan 2:3). Although we cannot draw far-reaching conclusions from such a rare word, it certainly fits the turbulence of Samson’s life overall. He does not strike the reader as a man who simply awakens to his God-given task and humbly submits to it. God, however, is beginning to nudge him in a particular direction that creates discomfort. Just as Israel will be resistant to having conflict with the Philistines later (Judg 15:11), so Samson seems more intent on blending in and forging friendships with them than standing apart.

Samson goes down

Even if his mother never fully revealed God’s purposes for him, Samson’s Nazirite status points towards dedication to God and being separate. It is striking then, that in response to God’s ‘stirring’, he goes to Timnah, crossing the border from Israel into Philistine territory. Like Jonah who does the very opposite that God calls him to, so does Samson. Like Jonah moreover, Samson goes down indicating not only a geographic descent, but a spiritual one too (Judg 14:1; Jon 1:3, 5).[2]

In Samson’s exchange with his parents, a careful reader may also note the repetition of seeing and wanting to take (Judg 14:1-2 ‘saw’; Judg 14:2-3 ‘take’, NASB ‘get her’). This is a pattern that goes as far back as the Fall (Gen 3:6) and it is always justified by what looks good and desirable to the person. Although Samson’s ‘she looks good to me’ (literally ‘she is right in my eyes’; v.3) is not identical to the phrase in Genesis, it is nevertheless evocative. It also has an ominous ring to those who know the end of Judges where the repeated expression ‘everyone did what was right in their own eyes’ is a damning assessment of Israel’s spiritual and moral failure (Judg 17:6, 21:25). Samson acted freely; his will was not overwhelmed by God and he was responsible for his actions. Headstrong, ordering his parents around, he is driven by his own desires to mingle with the enemy.

God’s purposes – despite all

And yet… this is where God’s purposes come in. Despite the distraught parents’ and Samson’s own lack of awareness, God is at work, just as He was through the evil of Joseph’s brothers to save the family (Gen 45:5; 50:20). God also used the pagan king Cyrus as His Messiah (‘anointed’) to bring the Jews back from exile, though he did not know the Lord (Isa 45:1-4). Even idolatrous and cruel nations like Assyria and Babylon served God’s purpose though they acted on their own initiative and were held responsible for their wickedness (Isa 10:5-12; 47:6, 10-11; Hab 1:1-17).[3] What is remarkable in Samson’s story is God’s saving intention. As Chisholm so aptly puts it, ‘God began to deliver a people who did not seek deliverance through a deliverer who failed to see himself as such.’[4] As in the dark times of the judges, God is still seeking out the lost who do not look for Him and in Jesus Christ, He has made a way for a humanity that did not care for Him. Amazingly and unexpectedly, He can use even the sinful actions of others and the tragedies of life to bring us back to Himself.

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[1] The usual word for stirring up someone’s spirit means to awaken, arouse (e.g. Ezra 1:1, 5).

[2] This may seem like reading too much into the passage, but Hebrew narratives are rather economical with words and opinions, so a small detail such as this can be significant. Hebrew has a neutral word for ‘to go’, so the narrator could easily have used that one. In the end, it is not one point that matters but the cumulative effect these observations create in building up the overall picture.

[3] The argument in Habakkuk needs a little background. The prophet appeals to God about the injustices in Judah, among his own people (note the reference to the law in Hab 1:4). God’s answer is that He will send the Babylonians (Chaldeans) to chastise Judah. The description is of a pagan people that are a law unto themselves and that rely on their own strength (Hab 1:6-7, 11). Habakkuk then questions how God could allow the wicked (the Babylonians) to swallow up those more righteous than they (the people of Judah; Hab 1:13). God’s response in Habakkuk 2 describes His judgement. Although it is not specified who is being judged, the point is that God deals with wickedness in the end, whether pagan or Israelite.

[4] Robert B. Chisholm Jr., A Commentary on Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2013), 388-89.

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