Judges 15:7, 10-12 Samson said, Yet will I be avenged of you….To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he has done to us. Then 3000 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. And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.
Revenge is an uncontrollable monster. Each act brings another. Retaliation continues without end. The revenge cycle can be halted only by forgiveness. The story goes like this: Samson wanted to go in to his new wife, but her father wouldn’t let him in, for he gave his daughter to another. He then went and caught 300 foxes, put fire on their tails, drove them into the standing grain to burn the Philistine crops. The Philistines then burned the father and daughter with fire. Samson attacked them for it, and then they attacked Judah looking for Samson to bind him. For fear of the Philistines, the men of Judah found Samson, bound him, and handed him over. When the Philistines came for him, he broke the bonds, took the jawbone of a donkey and killed 1000 of them.
The revenge cycle causes much misery and slaughter. The “I don’t get mad I get even” attitude is harmful. Forgiveness breaks the cycle and brings peace and life. We receive forgiveness from our Father and so we forgive those who trespass against us. Revenge is never ours to give out. “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” says the Lord. Peace is lived out in our marriages, families, friends, neighbors, groups, and churches when we respond to hurt and offense through the forgiveness petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
The Spirit of God did come upon Samson to give him strength to defeat the enemy and bring a peace for twenty years. But the Spirit of God rested upon Jesus of Nazareth to give him spiritual strength to undergo suffering and death to bring forgiveness and peace to us forever. He even forgave those who were killing Him, and by doing so He got back at the real enemy.