1. Judges 14:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What does the repetition of the verb “to see” in Judges 14:1–2 show?

Judges 14:2 (ESV)

2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”

The repetition of to see in the first two verses of chapter 15, in reference to Samson, reveals that Samson is driven by what he sees rather than by a concern for the greater good.1 And his eyes are not on just any woman; he wants an unbelieving woman, one of the daughters of the Philistines. He does not go after her with an ulterior motive of getting at the Philistines. Rather, he is looking for love, not war.