Judges 15:2 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And her father said, "I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead."

NIV: "I was so sure you hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead."

NASB: Her father said, 'I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I gave her to your companion. Is her younger sister not more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours instead.'

CSB: "I was sure you hated her," her father said, "so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?"

NLT: I truly thought you must hate her,' her father explained, 'so I gave her in marriage to your best man. But look, her younger sister is even more beautiful than she is. Marry her instead.'

KJV: And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.

NKJV: Her father said, “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.”

One role of a father during this time was to negotiate advantageous marriages for the family. That included ensuring his daughter's interests were protected as that marriage began. In some cases, it was common for a daughter to continue to live at home for several months after the wedding while moving preparations were made. The groom would visit periodically, and the family would hope to see the daughter become pregnant during this time.

Samson left from his own wedding feast in a horrific rage (Judges 14:16–19). He apparently did not communicate whether he would return. His wife had betrayed his trust, though it's unclear if Samson knew she did so under threats to her life. In the aftermath of Samson's departure, the woman's father was in a tricky position. If Samson was not coming back, his daughter might soon become an abandoned woman, unworthy of marriage in the eyes of that society. To prevent her from suffering that fate, her father married her to one of the local men of Timnah (Judges 14:20). In fact, this man was one of the thirty who threatened to kill her and her family if she did not give them Samson's secret (Judges 14:15). How soon he made this choice is not explained, but there was likely not much delay.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Samson has returned. He believes he is still legally married to the woman and plans to sleep with his wife. Details of the story don't make it clear if he had already consummated the marriage, or if that was meant to follow the seven day feast he'd abandoned. Her father explains that he thought Samson hated her after she betrayed him, so he gave Samson's wife to someone else.

Hoping to quickly make things right with Samson and marry off another daughter, the father offers the bride's younger sister to Samson as a wife. He claims the younger one is even more beautiful than her sister. Samson will not even respond to this offer.

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).