Judges 15:4
Bible study about the strength of Samson
"Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails."
Judges 15:4
Samson was a judge in Israel. He was blessed by God with great strength. His weakness: women. Later on in his life this would cause big problems for him. But today we take a look at his strength.
Background of the verse:
Judges 14:1: "Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman of the daughters of the Philistines."
Samson wanted to marry this woman. His father and mother did not think it was a good plan, but they did not know that it was of the LORD (Judges 14:4). His father and mother went with Samson to Timnah.
On their way, a young lion came roaring against Samson.
Judges 14:6: "And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done."
Later on, Samson married the woman. At their wedding, Samson made a deal with his 30 companions. These companions were brought to him by the Philistines. Samson posed a riddle to them. If they could solve it, Samson would give them linen garments. The men pressured his wife to get the answer for them, otherwise they would kill her. Samson was furious when he found out that they used his wife to get the answer. He went to Ashkelon and killed 30 Philistine men.
When his anger was aroused, he went to his father's house. His wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man. After a while, Samson wanted to visit his wife. Her father would not permit him to go into her room.
He used the excuse (Judges 15:2): "I really thought that you thoroughly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead." Today's verse comes in, and after this, the fields were burned by the fire of the torches.
Today's lesson: These and later actions of Samson (like carrying a city gate) show his great strength. He got this strength from God. Even though Samson made wrong choices, God was still merciful to him. And He remains the same.