Judges 14: Samson’s Philistine wife.

At the time of Samson, the Philistines were fiercely oppressing Israel. The Philistines lived on the coast, and they may well have come from overseas. They lived in the region for about 600 years, and the Old Testament refers to many later conflicts with the Philistines.

One day, Samson saw a young Philistine woman in Timnath, and he asked his parents to get her for his wife. They asked why he did not choose an Israelite woman, but he insisted on marrying the woman he saw in Timnath, so they all went to meet her. On the way, Samson was attacked by a lion, and he tore it apart with his bare hands. After some time, when he passed by the same place, there was a swarm of bees and honey inside the lion’s carcass. He ate some of the honey, and even brought some of it to his parents, but he did not tell them where it came from.

The woman pleased Samson, and he arranged a feast to which thirty companions were invited. At the feast, Samson told them a riddle: “Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet.” He said that if they solved the riddle in the seven days of the feast, he would give them thirty linen sheets and thirty changes of clothing. If not, they were to give him the same. They could not solve the riddle for three days, so they convinced Samson’s wife to beg him for the answer. At the end of seven days, the men answered Samson’s riddle, and he was furious.

Then the Lord’s spirit came upon Samson, and he killed thirty Philistine men from Ashkelon, took their garments, and gave these to the thirty men at the feast. His wife was given to his companion.

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The spiritual meaning of the powerful Philistines is believing faith is all-important, and does not require charity or good works in life — a fundamental spiritual error. This way of thinking is called ‘faith alone’ spirituality, and it can take many forms. The proximity of the Philistines to Israel is also significant, as it suggests that the temptation to prefer faith without considering charity is never far away (see Swedenborg’s work, True Christian Religion 200[3]).

The pursuit of a Philistine wife reflects the alluring nature of faith without charity, an easy, complacent spirituality. The young lion represents the force of faith alone to hold us in its grip. The honey stands for the spiritual sweetness following regeneration, as we use our faith to expand our hearts and minds (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 5620[1]).

Samson’s riddle stands for the puzzling nature of the Word’s teachings to those living by faith alone. The number thirty stands for what is whole, in this instance, the completely opposing nature of faith alone and true spiritual living. The linen sheets and changes of clothing mean taking up a genuine spiritual life which involves repentance, living the by the Word, and acknowledging the Lord. Linen is the material of a priest’s robes, and stands for the highest spiritual truths (Arcana Caelestia 5319[7]).

This end of this story shows us that faith alone doubles back on itself, and leads to a completely external understanding of the Lord. This is seen in taking garments from the thirty dead Philistines and giving them to the Philistines from the feast. Samson’s wife, who was given to his Philistine companion, stands for the complete divide between faith alone and love for the Lord. Samson’s apparent anger is really the zeal of protecting the nature of true spiritual life, which comes from the Lord (see Swedenborg’s work, Apocalypse Revealed 365).

4419. There was a spirit present with me who, when he lived in the world, had been very knowledgeable and on that account had believed that he was wiser than everyone else. This belief had led him to become infected with the evil of wishing, wherever he was, to take control of everything. He had been sent to me from a certain community to serve as their subordinate, that is, for the purpose of communication, 4403, and also to get rid of him because he proved to be a nuisance on account of his wanting to rule them by the use of his own intelligence. When he was with me I was allowed to talk to him about self-derived intelligence. I said that in the Christian world that kind of intelligence prevails to such an extent that all intelligence is believed by people to be self-derived, so that there is none which comes from God. They believe this even though they declare, when they speak from the doctrinal teachings of faith, that everything good and true comes from heaven and so from the Divine, including all intelligence since this involves understanding what is true and good. But when that spirit refused to pay any attention to these matters I said that it would be better if he went away as the sphere of his own intelligence was making me very uncomfortable. But because he was convinced that he was more intelligent than anybody else, he was unwilling to go.

[2] At that point he was shown by angels the nature of self-derived intelligence and the nature of intelligence derived from the Divine. Different kinds of light were used to do this, for matters like these are presented visually in the next life in wonderful ways by means of variegations of light. Self-derived intelligence was demonstrated by means of an inferior light which resembled a will-o'-the-wisp that had a band of darkness around it, and that spread only a little way from its centre. He was shown in addition that it was extinguished in an instant when some angelic community looked at it, just as a will-o'-the-wisp is extinguished on the arrival of the light of the sun or daylight. After this he was shown the nature of intelligence derived from the Divine, again by means of light. This time the light was brighter and more luminous than that of the sun at midday, spreading far and wide, and ending in the way sunlight does out in space. He was also told that intelligence and wisdom enter in from every side into the sphere of that light and cause truth and good to be perceived with an insight virtually unlimited. But this depends on the nature of the truth stemming from good.