What happensPermalink
Samson takes a Philistine wife. During the feast, he sets her people a riddle they cannot solve; she pesters him into giving her the answer and betrays him. He murders thirty Philistines for their cloaks to pay off his debt; while he is doing so, his bride is given to his best man.
Why it mattersPermalink
Samson disobeys God repeatedly, especially regarding his strict Nazirite vow: he desires a foreign wife; he touches a dead animal; he drinks alcohol at the feast; he murders thirty men. Yet God planned before he was born to use him for God’s purposes.
Key versePermalink
His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.