The End and the Means
The End and the Means
Judges 14:19-20
And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house. And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
At first glance the two correlating clauses that make up the opening sentence of Judges 14:19 don’t seem compatible theologically. They seem to imply that the adage, “Two wrongs don’t make a right, but they make it even,” is a standard of justice that God Himself employs, which is emphatically not true. So, what do we make here of the Holy Spirit empowering Samson to murder thirty Philistines in cold blood, steal their clothes, and run back home in hot anger? Well, the answer isn’t a comfortable one for our finite minds, but it’s one we’ll grapple with over and over again throughout the biblical drama: namely, that Almighty God often brings about a righteous end through unrighteous men. “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good,” declared Joseph to his brothers during that unforgettable family reunion in Genesis 50:20, and therein lies the mysterious collaboration of God’s providence and man’s free will.
Even though we can’t quite discern with our reason the perfect form of this paradox in all its dimensionality, God has given us the ability by faith to recognize its outline. We perceive that these two seemingly contrary motions are moving in tandem here in Judges 14:9; that God uses Samson as a punitive agent against thirty lawless Philistines, and that Samson is simultaneously driven by a personal vendetta that needs reconciling. This reminds me of Habakkuk’s plight before the LORD, when he questioned how God could raise up such a foul group of Chaldeans to be the instruments of judgment against Israel, and God answered by reminding Habakkuk of the Chaldean’ imminent demise. In other words, God’s motives for destroying these Philistines and Samson’s motives for killing these Philistines are very different—God’s are just, and Samson’s are not—but God uses Samson as the agent, nonetheless.
Friend, remember: just because God can make something beautiful from our messes doesn’t mean that our sin is good. Oh no—the scars on our Savior’s hands and feet paint the fuller picture.