Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire
Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire
Judges 15:11
Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
This might be the wildest intervention attempt of all time. You’d think Judges 15:11 would instead read, “Then Manoah and his wife went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam,” or “Then the chiefs of Israel, along with the priests, went down to confront Samson,” not 3,000 able-bodied men! And it begs the question: do this many men leave their families and their daily toil behind, travel all the way to Samson’s hideout, because they’re that afraid of a coming Philistine retribution (we’ve already seen how unrelenting the Philistine’s can be when they feel aggrieved), or because they’re that afraid of Samson? Or are they coming in such great number in order to give Samson a clearer picture of how his actions haven’t been performed in a vacuum, but rather they’ve negatively impacted the entire community? Is this their way of saying, “Samson, you can’t just hide out in a cave anymore till the storm passes—the Philistine storm is coming for all of us now!”
Notice how Samson reverts back to his characteristic shrug-of-the-shoulder ambivalence in reply. He effectively says, “An eye for an eye, guys—that’s all it was—nothing to see here—move along.” But do the math, friend. The Philistines threatened Samson’s wife and cheated him out of his prize, but he retaliated by murdering thirty of their men. Then, after losing his wife to his best man, he retaliated by burning down hundreds of acres of farmland. Then, after they murdered his wife and her household, he retaliated by slaying hundreds, maybe thousands of their people. So, is this really an eye for an eye? Are Samson’s reactions equal to the crimes? Samson’s argument here is that he’s just the victim, that he’s only punching back with equal force, but one could argue that his actions have been the aerosol that’s keeping the inferno ablaze.
Here’s a simple takeaway from this scene, friend: if you see bridges burning behind you today, and the people you love are covered in smoke, make sure you’re not the one holding the match.