“And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.” Judges 14:20

In Old Testament times, marriage ceremonies were very different. There was a week of feasting, and then the bride was given to the bridegroom as his wife. In yesterday’s blog post, we read that Samson stormed out of the feast, leaving his bride behind. As it was a wedding ceremony, the bride was given to Samson’s best man to be his wife.

In chapter 15 we read that after his temper cooled down, Samson decided to visit his wife to consummate the marriage, totally unaware that she was now married to someone else. When he found out, his anger boiled over again, and he used his great strength to catch 300 foxes, tied torches to their tails and released them into the Philistine fields and burnt their crops. When the Philistines found out who did this, they took his wife and her father and burned them both to death. Later in this chapter we read that he singlehandedly killed 1,000 Philistine men with only the jawbone of a donkey as a weapon.

The Bible records these events, not because God approved of them, but to show life as it really is. God did not ordain Samson to sin. Samson made poor choices in spite of his calling, and he suffered the consequences of those choices, and so did his poor wife. In chapter 16, Samson’s attraction to pagan women led to his next display of strength, where he lifted the city gates, posts and all, and carried them to the top of a hill. The Philistines had planned to ambush him within the city, but their plan failed.

His third encounter with a Philistine woman lead to his downfall and the revealing of the true Superhero of this story.