February 2, 2024

Samson does not play games! He returned to his father-in-law's house with a kid goat to see his wife; that's when he found out he had given her away to Samson's friend. He offered him his younger daughter, but Samson wasn't interested. But he was exceedingly angry and took it out on the Philistines by setting fire to their corn fields using three hundred foxes tied together two-by-two with a torch between them. In retaliation, the Philistines set fire to the homes of his father-in-law and his wife. Even though he was angry with them, he avenged them by fatally wounding some of the Philistines in the hips and thighs. He left there and went down to stay in the top of the rock Etam. These things brought trouble for Judah and Israel because they were still oppressing them. The Philistines came looking for Samson, so three thousand men of Judah went to get him from Etam. They bound him with two cords, but Samson made them promise not to kill him themselves, and they agreed. When they handed him over, he broke the cords like nothing and killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey! He threw the jawbone to the side and was so thirsty he thought he was going to die, but God provided him water in the hollow of that jawbone. 

As you can see, this chapter is about revenge and retaliation. Samson succeeded in bringing justice because he trusted God, so God used him as a vessel to keep the Philistines in check for the sake of Israel. If the Philistines were righteous, this wouldn't have happened to them, but because they worshipped Dagon and oppressed Israel, they brought God's vengeance upon themselves, and Samson was the guy to do it!