Judges 15:14–15: “When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.”

April 29th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The Philistines came against the tribe of Judah because Samson had taken revenge on the Philistines after they dealt treacherously with him concerning his wife. In order to avoid a battle, Judah found Samson, bound him, and delivered him to the Philistines. As Samson stood before the shouting Philistine army, bound in ropes, “the Spirit of the LORD” came on him. The scene that followed is worthy of the big screen. Samson’s ropes broke and he came charging down the hill like a roaring lion. As he came, he saw the “jawbone of a donkey,” scooped it up and charged into the mass of the Philistine army, swinging the jawbone like a club with all his God-given power. The Philistines must have been tripping all over themselves because it seems that they didn’t even fight back. Under the power of God, the mighty arm of this judge swung the jawbone so effectively that within a short while the army scattered and a 1000 men lay dead.

Judges 13:5 tells us that God’s purpose in Samson’s life was to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Even though in Judges 14:4 Samson disobeyed the Lord’s command by marrying a Philistine woman, God still used him to move against the Philistines. God used Samson in spite of his weaknesses and sin, putting him in the center of the fight for God’s people. We find God doing similar things throughout the Bible with other men. Jonah ran from God but the Lord still brought revival to Nineveh. David committed adultery with Bathsheba but she later bore Solomon. Peter sinned by denying the Lord, but God used that experience coupled with forgiveness to push Peter into leading the early church. He does the same with us, even though we may have been disobedient in the past, God can still use us today. The lesson here is that God can use our disobedience to accomplish His will. But how much better would it be to be in the center of God’s will, enjoying His fellowship, working with Him?

“LORD, we love to walk along with You, knowing what You are doing and being used by You. Please use us.”

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Judges 15 KJV

¹ But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. ² And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her. ³ And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. ⁴ And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.  ⁵And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards andolives. ⁶ Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. ⁷ And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. ⁸ And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. ⁹ Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. ¹⁰And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. ¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. ¹² And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. ¹³ And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock. ¹⁴ And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. ¹⁵ And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. ¹⁶ And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. ¹⁷ And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi. ¹⁸ And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? ¹⁹ But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. ²⁰ And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.