Judges 15:1 - Printer Friendly

ESV: After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, "I will go in to my wife in the chamber." But her father would not allow him to go in.

NIV: Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I’m going to my wife’s room." But her father would not let him go in.

NASB: But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat, and said, 'I will go in to my wife in her room.' But her father did not let him enter.

CSB: Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. "I want to go to my wife in her room," he said. But her father would not let him enter.

NLT: Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a present to his wife. He said, 'I’m going into my wife’s room to sleep with her,' but her father wouldn’t let him in.

KJV: But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

NKJV: After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a young goat. And he said, “Let me go in to my wife, into her room.” But her father would not permit him to go in.

Samson's wedding and the other events of chapter 14 likely took place in the early springtime. The wedding feast ended with his bride's betrayal of his secret (Judges 14:17–18). Samson may or may not have known that she did so after being threatened by the thirty Philistine wedding "companions." They said they would kill her and her family if she did not get the answer to Samson's unfair challenge (Judges 14:15).

After losing what he thought was a sure bet, Samson returned to his parents' home in a hot fury. This was after brutalizing other Philistines to get the clothes he owed for payment (Judges 14:19). Despite this, he apparently still thought of himself as being married to his Philistine bride. It's possible Samson's marriage to the young woman followed a custom of the time in which the bride would continue to live in her father's house for several months after the wedding. The groom would visit regularly, perhaps bringing a gift with him each time. However, Samson left in anger, and suddenly, which would explain why her father assumed she was being abandoned (Judges 14:20).

We're not told how much time has passed, but the wheat harvest in this region usually occurred in May. Samson arrives and announces his intent to take advantage of his marital rights with the Philistine woman. Her father stops him, delivering the hard news to Samson in the following verse (Judges 15:2).

Judges 15:1–8 follows some unspecified time after the scandalous events of the previous chapter. After Samson stormed out of his wedding feast, the bride's father gave her to someone else. Samson responds to this news by torching Philistine crops. They respond by burning his former bride and her father alive. Samson viciously retaliates, then hides. This leads to another confrontation between Israel and the Philistines.

Samson returns to Timnah to visit his bride, after leaving in a rage when she spoiled his unfair riddle. Her father thought Samson had abandoned her, so she was given to another man. Samson responds by tying animals to torches and setting them loose in Philistine wheat fields. He also burns the harvested crops and olive orchards. The Philistines kill Samson's former bride and father-in-law in retaliation. Samson's vengeance ensues. When the men of Judah turn Samson over to a Philistine army the Lord's Spirit empowers him. Samson slaughters the enemy soldiers with the jawbone of a donkey, and God rescues him from thirst with a miraculous spring of water.

Judges 15 describes a cycle of retribution which continues to spiral from the events of the previous chapter. This results in a Philistine army attempting to capture and kill Samson. Instead, God empowers him to kill masses of the enemy with only a donkey's jawbone. This furthers the Lord's intent to disrupt Philistine control over Israel (Judges 13:5). It does not seem to alter Samson's carnal nature, as his weakness for women continues in the following chapter.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).