Judges 14:1

_AND SAMSON WENT DOWN TO TIMNATH, AND SAW A WOMAN IN TIMNATH OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE PHILISTINES._ Timnath - now Tibna, about three miles from Zorah, his birthplace. SAW A WOMAN ... OF THE PHILISTINES....

1-4 As far as Samson's marriage was a common case, it was weak and foolish of him to set his affections upon a daughter of the Philistines. Shall one, not only an Israelite, but a Nazarite, devoted to the Lord, covet to become one with a worshipper of Dagon? It does not appear that he had any reason to think her wise or virtuous, or any way likely to be a help meet for him; but he saw something in her agreeable to his fancy. He that, in the choice of a wife, is only guided by his eye, and governed by his fancy, must afterwards thank himself if he find a Philistine in his arms. Yet it was well done not to proceed till Samson had made his parents acquainted with the matter. Children ought not to marry, nor to move towards it, without the advice and consent of their parents. Samson's parents did well to dissuade him from yoking himself unequally with unbelievers. It seems that it pleased G...

CHAPTER XIV _Samson marries a wife of the Philistines_, 1-4. _Slays a young lion at Timnath, in the carcass of which he_ _afterwards finds a swarm of bees_, 5-9. _He makes a feast; they appoint him thirty companions, to whom_ _he puts forth a riddle, which they cannot expound_, 10-14. _They entice his wife to get the interpretation from him; she_ _succeeds, informs them, and they tell the explanation_, 15-18. _He is incensed, and slays_ thirty _of the Philistines_, 19, 20. NOTES ON CHAP. XIV Verse...

TIMNATH - See Joshua 15:10 and note. It was below Zorah Judges 13:2, about three miles S. W. of it....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 14:1 TIMNATH, or, more correctly, _Thimnathah_,_ _as in Joshua 19:43, a town in the tribe of Dan, the name of which survives in the modern _Tibneh_,_ _about three miles south-west of Zorah (Judges 13:2, note). It may or may not be identical with Timnath in Genesis 38:12-1, and with _Timnah _in Joshua 15:10. It appears to have been in the possession of the Philistines at this time....

AND SAMSON WENT DOWN TO TIMNATH,.... A city which by lot fell to the tribe of Judah, but was afterwards given to the tribe of Dan, and now in the hands of the Philistines, Joshua 15:57. Judah is said to go up to it, because the place where he lived lay below it, Genesis 38:13, but Samson is said to go down to it, because he lived above it. The Jews t differ about the reconciliation of these two places; some say there were two of this name, the one is a descent, and the other is an ascent; others say there was but one, so situated, that they that came to it on one side ascended, and they that came to it on the other side descended. Bochart u approves of the former. According to Bunting w, this was twelve miles from Eshtaol, where Samson lived: and saw a woman in Timnath, of the d

CHAPTER 14 THE FIRST DEEDS OF SAMSON _ 1. The woman in Timnath (Judges 14:1)_ 2. The killing of the young lion and the honey in the carcass (Judges 14:5) 3. The marriage feast and the riddle (Judges 14:10) 4. The riddle answered (Judges 14:15) 5. Thirty Philistines slain by Samson (Judges 14:19) Samson was called of God to be a true Nazarite, but in his life which was to manifest the Nazarite character he failed. “He went down to Timnath” is a foreboding beginning. It was a step in the wrong direction. He st

SAMSON AT TIMNATH. Samson's adventures are all bound up with his relations to Philistine women one in Timnath, a second in Gaza, and a third in the valley of Sorek. The name of only one of them is given, and it has become synonymous with an evil enchantress. Judges 14:1. Timnath (p. 31) is the modern Tibnah, 3½ m. to the SW. of Zorah. Judges 14:2. The young man's parents objected to a marriage with an alien (_cf._ Genesis 24:3; Genesis 26:34 f; Genesis 27:46)....

_Timnah_ now Tibneh, about 4 m. S.W. of Zorah, on the low hills of the Shephçlah: hence _went down_is the word for reaching it from Samson's house (Judges 14:1_; Judges 14:5; Judges 14:7; Judges 14:10_), and _go up_, for the journey in the opposite direction, Judges 14:2 and 1 Samuel 29:9. According to Joshua 15:10 Timnah lay on the N. border of Judah (cf....

_SAMSON MARRIES A WIFE OF THE PHILISTINES: HE RENDS A LION IN PIECES, IN WHOSE CARCASE HE AFTERWARDS FINDS A SWARM OF BEES AND HONEY: HE PUTS FORTH A RIDDLE TO HIS COMPANIONS, THE INTERPRETATION OF WHICH HIS WIFE ENTICETH FROM HIM: HE SLAYS THIRTY PHILISTINES._ _Before Christ 1155._ _JUDGES 14:1. TIMNATH_— See on Joshua 19:43....