"I was so sure you hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your companion. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead." – Judges 15:2

Today's Scripture Reading (March 26, 2022): Judges 15

Before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, it appeared that the citizens of both countries took their relationship for granted. Vladimir Putin argues that Ukrainians were Russians; therefore, Ukraine should be part of Russia. And with that belief in his back pocket, he began his invasion of a sovereign country. And in some ways, he was right. The repeated refrain from Ukrainians was that the Russians were their friends and family. And they never expected their neighbors to treat them this way. Families divided in Eastern Europe over the legitimacy of Putin's action. All of this despite Western warnings to the Ukrainian people that Russia was planning an invasion.

It is a situation that I understand. I am Canadian, and it is impossible to tell a Canadian apart from our American cousins from a first glance. I have relatives and friends that live on both sides of the border. How would I feel if the United States invaded my country, saying that Canadians were nothing more than Americans living under a different name? I also know that if you talk to a Canadian and an American, you will find that their attitudes are very different. And that is why Canadians are sometimes accepted in places where Americans are held in distain and why some Americans put Canadian Flags on their stuff when they travel.

But the truth about the American-Canadian relationship, and I suspect about the Russian-Ukrainian relationship, is that we often take that relationship for granted. I often feel that my American friends assume that the friendship between our nations is automatic because of our close proximity, and no work needs to be done to keep the relationship fresh. There is also a tendency to believe that because one party has great power (i.e., the United States or Russia), the other party (Canada or Ukraine) has no say in what happens in the relationship. It is a result of this belief that allowed Russia to invade the land of their friends and family.

Samson comes home to see his wife. It seems evident that Samson assumed something that was not true; that his neglected wife was simply going to be there for him. But Samson's prolonged absence and neglect of the woman he had married told a different story to those watching. It appeared to those outside of the marriage that Samson held no affection for his wife; in fact, he seemed to hate her. Neglect often sends that message. And so, his father-in-law had given Samson's wife to a companion of the strong man, maybe in the hopes that he would treat her properly. What seems perplexing to the contemporary mind is that the father was willing to give his younger daughter to Samson, possibly opening her up for the same kind of neglect that had plagued her older sister. Maybe he hoped that Samson would learn his lesson, but all that any of this did was fuel Samson's anger.

Samson would take this situation as proof of the evil that existed in the Philistines. But the truth was that evil resided in the heart of Samson. Evil had prompted him to make bad decisions and then blame the results on someone else. Evil had allowed him to take the people close to him for granted and to think that his bad decision-making was really the problem of those around him.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 16