Judges 15:1

Judges 15:1 says, 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.  After some time passed, during the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to his wife, bringing her a gift of a young goat.  He was going o visit her in her chamber, but her father forbid for him to do so.  It would seem that Samson had forgiven her.  We need to forgive those who have hurt us, whether they forgive us or not.  Verse two adds, 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.  Samson's father-in-law said he thought Samson would never forgive her and return, so he had given Samson's wife to his companion.  It must have been very hard to be the woman, who had been married to a man she may not have chosen, Samson, then threatened if she didn't betray him, then married off to someone else.  Samson was then offered his wife's sister as his wife.  Marriage should never be viewed with the attitude that any woman or man is just as good or better then one's spouse.  Verse three states, And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.  Samson said that he was now more blameless then the Philistines, because of how they had treated him concerning his wife, even though he was now about to do something that would displease them.  We cannot have a comparative attitude towards how we treat others, but must treat them with the love  love and compassion that comes from our relationship withJesusChrist, no matter how they treat us.  Verse four adds, And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.  Samson caught three hundred foxes, which was no easy feat, and tied their tails together in pairs, and then put a firebrand between each two tails.  This definitely could not have been easy to do.   Still, we are not told that Samson really asked God for guidance in this situation, even though God may have worked through his actions to bring about the defeat of the Philistines.  Though God can still work through what we do as followers of Christ, it is always best if we seek His guidance beforehand.  Verse five continues, And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.  After lighting the firebrands, Samson turned the foxes loose in the wheat fields of the Philistines, completely destroying their corn and their vineyards and olive orchards as well.  Verse six says, Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.  The Philistines asked who had done this, and were told that Samson did it, because his father-in-law had given his wife to his companion.  Instead of going after Samson, they burned his wife and father-in-law to death.  Again, I am not sure that the woman really had a lot to do with all that happened, other than betraying Samson when she was threatened instead of going to him and telling him what had happened.  Verse seven adds, And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.  Samson told those who did this that he would be avenged for what they had done, and after that he would cease to bother them.  We today as Christians need to leave the avenging of things that have been done to hurt us up to God.  Verse eight continues, And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.  Samson killed many of the Philistines, then went and dwelt on the top of the rock at Etam.  Matthew Henry says Samson withdraw there to see how the Philistines would react.  We are still not told that Samson sought God's guidance while he was there.  In our encounters with evil in the world, even if we are victorious, we need to withdraw to the Rock of our salvation and seek God's guidance in what we are to do next.