Samson Samson is a prime illustration of God’s using a person for good in spite of that person’s indifference and sin. Samson was a rescuer of Israel without even trying or caring. He did not seem to care about his people, his family, or his God. All he cared about was himself. Nonetheless, God, put him in situation after situation where he brought harm to the Philistines, whom God had allowed to oppress sinful Israel. The first example of how God used Samson occurred after he told his shocked parents that he wanted to marry a Philistine girl. Israelites were commanded not to intermarry with the people of the land (Deut 7:1-4; Josh 23:12-13; cp. 2 Cor 6:14-18), but Samson persisted over his parents’ objections. As he was on his way to the wedding party, he scooped honey out of a dead lion he had earlier killed. Samson was born a Nazirite, and Nazirites were absolutely forbidden from touching a dead body (Num 6:1-21), but Samson didn’t care. He then made up a riddle about the lion (Judg 14:14) and bet thirty young Philistine men that they could not solve his riddle. The men pestered his wife into telling them the answer. As a result, Samson became so angry that he killed thirt...

The Philistines The Philistines, situated on the southeast coastal plain of the Mediterranean, were part of a larger group of maritime immigrants from the Aegean area known by the Egyptians as the “Sea Peoples.” They settled on Palestine’s lower coastal plain around 1200 BC and established the five cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath. Far from being unsophisticated, the Philistines were politically capable and technologically advanced. They were also fierce warriors. Their advances in iron technology made them an almost invincible foe (see 1 Sam 13:19-22). They were constant adversaries of the Israelites in the days of the judges (approximately 1350–1050 BC) and the early united monarchy (approximately 1050–970 BC). Saul eventually died in battle against the Philistines (1 Sam 31:1-13). David, however, vanquished them before becoming king (1 Sam 18:20-30; 19:8; 23:1-5) and continued to gain victory over them during his reign (2 Sam 5:17-25; 8:1; 21:15-22). While the Philistines never completely disappeared while Israel was a nation (2 Kgs 18:8; 2 Chr 17:11; 21:16-17; 26:6-7; 28:18), David effectively ended this menacing threat. In 1 Samuel, God used the Phili...

Social Chaos in Judges While the book of Judges celebrates divine rescue through heroes, it also chronicles the inadequacy of the status quo. A decline in individual piety throughout the period was accompanied by a rise in social dysfunction, powerfully expressed in chapter 5 (e.g., 5:6-8). Three features of the times stand out: First, the tribes had little ability to function in unison, even when faced by a common enemy (see, e.g., the Gideon and Jephthah stories; chs 8, 12). The civil strife within and between tribes reflects covenant disobedience. Second, the breakdown of civil society is also evidenced throughout the book. Abimelech’s murder of Gideon’s sons, Jephthah’s apparent sacrifice of his daughter, and Samson’s acts of revenge toward the Philistines highlight the depravity and lack of civility that characterized this period. Third, religious apostasy was widespread in those days. The “evil in the Lord’s sight” committed by the Israelites was repeatedly connected to idolatry (Judg 2:11-13; 3:7; 10:6). The altar to Baal and the Asherah pole in Gideon’s town of Ophrah (6:25-30) indicate flagrant abandonment of the Lord, as do the worship of the golden ephod made by...