Today I read Judges 15 which continues the story of Sampson. In this chapter Sampson tries to go visit his wife and when he arrives at the house of her father, he finds that his father in law has given her to another man because he thought he hated her. This is another instance where I hope we only have the cliff notes of what happened because I really hope there is more to the story than this. I mean, what a crazy thing to do without even consulting the husband. Did people not communicate at all back then?
It's a good thing that Sampson was an instrument in the hands of God, because he had one wild temper. In response he catches 300 foxes and ties a torch to their tails and sets them lose in the corn fields of the Philistines. I have to admit that my first thought when I read this was to wonder how long it would take to catch 300 foxes, and then tie a torch onto their tails. But this act causes the Philistines to kill his father in law and his wife which only angers Sampson more.
This is part of the reason that Jesus Christ wants us to forgive one another. Anger breeds more anger and only causes more hatred. If Sampson had forgiven his father in law that would have been the end of it. However because he did not, he caused hundreds of people to go hungry, set off a chain of events that killed his father in law and wife and ultimately led to killing one thousand men with the jaw bone of a donkey. The age old law of an eye for an eye never solves anything, it only makes people more angry because they never see their own pain as justified for the injuries they have caused others. It is much better to forgive and forget as hard as that may be to do. But just imagine if everyone could forgive, really forgive, each other their trespasses? What a wonderful world that would be! Until tomorrow.
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