Fox Tales

Good morning! I felt like I heard the Lord speak to my heart this morning that we need less commotion and more devotion in our lives. I would encourage you to close your eyes for a moment and experience God in your surroundings; He’s right here with us. I believe He wants to make His presence known to each of us in a very real and personal way. Many times we hinder the presence of God. Take a moment of real devotion; block out the commotion. If you don’t experience the presence of the Lord, then there is nothing of real value that I can offer you. More than anything, I want to see people experience Him. Did you actually do it, and if you did, wasn’t that awesome?

Now that we’ve taken that opportunity to clear our hearts and minds and connect with the Lord, we’ll go ahead and look at the book of Judges. We’re going to study some “Fox Tales” this morning. No, I’m not referring to the Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. I believe that what God wants to speak to us today is pertinent to our lives. We’re going to be looking at a story about Samson that precedes the famous “Samson and Delilah” account. It is apparent that he is a man who obviously had a thing for pagan ladies. We will see that in this story.
 

1 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.”

3 Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” 4 But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord . . .

 
So even in the midst of this (Samson being drawn to a Philistine, pagan woman), God was up to something! Let this be a lesson to us that even when we’re feeling nothing and seeing nothing, God is up to something, my friend . . . and He’s up to something today! Right here, right now, and in your life! We might not be able to identify what God is doing, but He’s always at work around us.
 
Samson’s father and mother didn’t know that God was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
 
5 So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. 6 And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
 
7 Then he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. 8 After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. 9 He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. 10 So his father went down to the woman. And Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so. 11 And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 Then Samson said to them, “Let me pose a riddle to you.
 
We see here that Samson was shrewd and had some wisdom (and apparently lacked wisdom in other areas as we’ll soon notice). Does this sound familiar? We can have wisdom in some areas, but in others, well, let’s just say that we sure can do some foolish things every once in a while! Come on, somebody! I’m not the only one, am I?
 
12 If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. 13 But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” And they said to him, “Pose your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14 So he said to them:
 
“Out of the eater came something to eat,
And out of the strong came something sweet.”
 
Now for three days they could not explain the riddle. 15 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?” 16 Then Samson’s wife wept on him, and said, “You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” And he said to her, “Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?” 17 Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people. 18 So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down:
 
“What is sweeter than honey?
And what is stronger than a lion?”
 
And he said to them: “If you had not plowed with my heifer,
You would not have solved my riddle!”
 
You just have to love the terminology of the Bible! How many of you know it’s wrong to plow with another man’s heifer? It’s a big “no-no”! Let’s continue to read this account:
 
19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father’s house. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
 
15  1 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. 2 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.”
 
3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!” 4 Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
 
7 Samson said to them, “Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.”
 
Okay, we have set the stage for next week’s blog by reading the story above at length. What a cliffhanger! Next week we will look at the strategy that Samson employed by setting the Philistine’s fields on fire and how it might be pertinent to our lives today.
 
I would encourage you to continue with the practice of taking some precious moments out of your day to connect with the Lord and experience His presence. If you’re not already in that habit, you’ll soon see what a difference it will make in your daily life.
 
Grace and peace,
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