Matthew Henry on Judges 14:10–end
We have here an account of Samson's wedding feast and the occasion it gave him to fall foul upon the Philistines.
I. Samson conformed to the custom of the country in making a festival of his nuptial solemnities, which continued seven days, Jdg 14:10. Though he was a Nazarite, he did not affect, in a thing of this nature, to be singular, but did as the young men used to do upon such occasions. It is no part of religion to go contrary to the innocent usages of the places where we live: nay, it is a reproach to religion when those who profess it give just occasion to others to call them covetous, sneaking, and morose. A good man should strive to make himself, in the best sense, a good companion…
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HIS MARRIAGE FEAST. (Jdg 14:10-11)
his father went down--The father is mentioned as the head and representative of Samson's relatives.
Samson made there a feast--The wedding festivity lasted a week. The men and women were probably entertained in separate apartments--the bride, with her female relatives, at her parents' house; Samson, in some place obtained for the occasion, as he was a stranger. A large number of paranymphs, or "friends of the bridegroom," furnished, no doubt, by the bride's family, attended his party, ostensibly to honor the nuptials, but really as spies on his proceedings.
John Gill on Judges 14:10
So his father went down unto the woman,.... At Timnath, whom Samson had espoused; the Targum is,"about the business of the woman;''about the consummation of the marriage with her; they all three went, the father, the mother, and the son, as appears from the preceding verse:
for Samson made a feast, for so used the young men to do; at the time of marriage; this was the nuptial feast common in all nations; but it seems the custom now and here was for the bridegroom to make it; whereas from other instances we learn, that the father of the bridegroom used to make it,, Matthew 22:2 and the Vulgate Latin version here renders it:
and he made a feast for his son Samson; the Septuagint, Syriac, and…
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