Judges 15

Judges 15

As we have seen already, the story of Samson can be confusing. In one sense, he is a man of God who is on a specific mission for God. He had received a high calling from God to be a Nazirite and to eventually be Israel’s next judge. Despite his calling, Samson made a series of mistakes, yet his mistakes were not always obvious. At times, his mistakes began with good intentions, but he would misspeak or make one foolish decision. Ultimately, Samson was not holding up to his end of the vow that he had made with God. As a result, he would eventually have to suffer for those consequences. God still planned on using Samson, but that did not mean that Samson would get away with his sinful actions.


In Judges 15, Samson begins to try to redeem himself. His mistakes had led to him not having his wife any longer. His father-in-law took his wife away from him and gave her to another man because he did not think that Samson truly loved her. So Samson retaliated. After all, these were the Philistines that he was dealing with, the very people God was going to destroy in order to liberate Israel. Samson tied 150 pairs of foxes’ tails together (300 foxes) and set a torch on fire that was also tied to their tales. The foxes rushed into the city and destroyed it. When the people found out Samson had done this, they killed his wife and father-in-law, and Samson promised revenge.

Maybe Samson had made a mistake in his marriage at times, but ultimately his mistakes got him back on track. He was reminded of his mission and purpose, and his mind was once again set on destroying the Philistines. Many of us know what God has planned for us, but there are those times in which we get distracted from that mission. It is at those times in which we sometimes need something to grab our attention. We should learn from Samson that the most important place to be in life is at the center of God’s will. Life will be miserable when we are not. So when we find ourselves in places we know we should not be, we must get back into the Word, back into prayer, and back on mission for God.

Even when we are back where we should be, that does not mean that life will be easy. For Samson, once had he refocused on the mission he was called to, tragedy struck. His own people tied him up as an offering to the Philistines. The Israelites feared that the Philistines would punish them because of what Samson had done. So they were trying to get rid of Samson while they could. But once they had brought him to the Philistines, God worked through Samson again, giving him the strength to kill 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey. Samson was willing to let God use him again, and as a result, he was able to accomplish great things for God, even in the midst of the troubles of his life. This set Samson up as the next judge of Israel, and he did so for 20 years.

Matt