Proclamation
“Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of
the rock Etam, and said to Samson, ‘Knowest thou not that the Philistines are
rulers over us? What is this that thou hast
done unto us?’ And he said unto them, ‘As
they did unto me, so have I done unto them.’
And they said unto him, ‘We are come down to bind thee, that we may
deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.’ …” Judges 15:11-12 (KJV)
Explanation
These are the words of God which were
written by the prophet Samuel under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.
After he had struck down the thirty men in Ashkelon, stripped them of their
clothes, and gave the clothes to the thirty Philistine wedding companions that
were chosen for him to keep his agreement with them, Samson returned to his
father’s house because he was angry with his wife for betraying him. He did not know that his wife had been given
to one of the thirty men. (Judges 14:19-20)
After a while Samson went to visit his wife at her father’s house but he
would not let him go in to her room. Her
father told him that he had given her to one of his companions because he
thought Samson hated her. Then he tried
to appease him by offering him her younger sister. (Judges 15:1-2) Wanting to get even with the Philistines,
Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes.
He tied them together in pairs by their tails and fastened a torch to each
pair of tails. Then he set the foxes
loose in the corn fields and burned the corn fields, the vineyards, and the olive
groves. (Judges 15:3-5) When the
Philistines learned what Samson had done they went and burned to death his wife
and her father. Angered by their actions
Samson attacked and slaughtered many of the Philistines then hid in a cave in
the rock of Etam. (Judges 15:6-8) The
Philistine army then camped in Judah and said they had come to take Samson
prisoner. The men of Judah then went to
the rock of Etam and told Samson they had come to tie him up and turn him over
to the Philistines who were rulers over them. He agreed to let them bind him. (Judges
15:9-13) However, as he approached the
Philistines, they came toward him shouting and The Spirit of The Lord came
mightily upon him. He grabbed the
jawbone of a donkey and struck down a thousand men. (Judges 15:14-17)
Application
Samson’s wife betrayed him to avoid being burned to death
with her father by her own people, the Philistines. The very thing that she was trying to avoid
happened to her anyway by her own people.
The Philistine army burned his wife to death and, when The Spirit of The
Lord came upon him, Samson slew the entire Philistine army. (Judges
15:14-16) God is all powerful, and He
can use or share that power as He pleases.
Bad things can happen to you when you mistreat a child of God or a man
of God. “… For it is written, ‘Vengeance
is Mine; I will repay,’ saith The Lord.” (Romans 12:19) Be very careful how you treat people of God.
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