The Wedding of the Deliverer (Judges 14-15)

Samson is the most gifted judge in the whole book. He is called from the womb, and empowered with extraordinary gifts by the LORD, but he accomplishes less than any other judge in the book.

He has a few magnificent individual victories, but he never finishes the job. He "begins"to defeat the Philistines, but never leads Israel to triumph.

Judges 14-15 tells one story (concluded in 15:20. The key to the whole story is 14:4 - "His father and mother did not know that was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines."

This is rooted in verse 25 of chapter 13 - the Spirit of the LORD is stirring in Samson – even though it takes a rather odd form.

The theme in verses 1-20 is "going down" (since Samson lives in the hill country – and the Philistines live on the coastal plain – so you would literally go down from the hill country to Timnah)...