Judges 14:2

And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Get her for me to wife.—These arrangements were always left to parents, who paid the marriage dower (Genesis 34:4-12). (Comp. Judges 12:9; Nehemiah 10:30, &c.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:1-4 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 God to leave Samson to follow his own inclinations, intending to bring out good from his conduct; and his parents consented, because he was bent upon it. However, his example is not recorded for us to do likewise.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Get her for me - namely, by Paying the requisite dowry (see marginal references) and gifts to relations. Hence, the frequent mention of parents taking wives for their sons Exodus 34:16; Nehemiah 10:30, because the parents of the bridegroom conducted the negotiation, and paid the dower to the parents of the bride.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 14

Jud 14:1-5. Samson Desires a Wife of the Philistines.

1, 2. Timnath—now Tibna, about three miles from Zorah, his birthplace.

saw a woman … of the Philistines; and told his father and his mother, and said, … get her for me to wife—In the East parents did, and do in many cases still, negotiate the marriage alliances for their sons. During their period of ascendency, the Philistine invaders had settled in the towns; and the intercourse between them and the Israelites was often of such a friendly and familiar character as to issue in matrimonial relations. Moreover, the Philistines were not in the number of the seven devoted nations of Canaan [De 7:1-3]—with whom the law forbade them to marry.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he came up, and told his father and his mother,.... Of his passion of love, being desirous of having their approbation and consent, in which he acted a dutiful part, and what became him; and may be an example to children to advise with their parents, and have their opinion and consent before they engage in such an enterprise, even before courtship: and said:

I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines; whom he had a good liking of, and a strong affection for; he is very open and ingenuous in his account, does not go about to hide anything from his parents, or colour things over, or conceal her descent, but frankly tells them she was a Philistine woman, which he knew would at once furnish out an objection against her:

now therefore get her for me to wife: for it seems it was the custom then, when a young man had found a woman he liked, that it was left to his parents to entreat with the woman and her friends about the marriage of her to him.

Geneva Study Bible

And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Samson at first behaves as a dutiful son, and consults both parents about his marriage. It is hardly necessary to strike out the reference to his mother.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Get her, etc. Rather, take her. It is the technical phrase

(1) for a man taking a wife for himself, as Genesis 4:19; Genesis 6:2; 1 Samuel 25:39, 43, and vers. 3, 8 of this chapter;

(2) for a man's parents taking a wife for him, as Exodus 34:16; Nehemiah 10:30. The parents of the bridegroom paid the dowry agreed upon (see Genesis 34:12; 1 Samuel 18:25). Judges 14:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Samson's First Transactions with the Philistines. - Judges 14:1-9. At Tibnath, the present Tibne, an hour's journey to the south-west of Sur'a (see at Joshua 15:10), to which Samson had gone down from Zorea or Mahaneh-dan, he saw a daughter of the Philistines who pleased him; and on his return he asked his parents to take her for him as a wife (לקח, to take, as in Exodus 21:9).