‘And the Spirit of Yahweh came on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty men of them and took their spoil, and gave the changes of clothing to those who gave the answer to the riddle.'
Time would need to be given to him to provide the clothing for all would recognise that he would not have thirty changes of clothing with him. They would certainly have expected to wait until after the consummation of the marriage. But the matter had become too bitter, and he left the marriage feast without consummating the marriage and disappeared. No wonder the father thought that he wanted nothing further to do with his daughter. Nevertheless he paid Samson a great insult by giving his wife to someone else.
In fact Samson travelled the twenty three miles (thirty seven kilometres) to the major Philistine city of Ashkelon and sought out thirty Philistine warriors, killing them and taking their clothing. We are given no details about how this was accomplished, but it is noteworthy that no repercussions resulted. He may have killed them one by one, after personally challenging them in some recognised way, tracing them by the quality of their houses, or more likely he may have challenged them at some public festal celebration, possibly even at something like a mediaeval tournament, where such challenges were acceptable and expected. This would explain why there would appear to have been no repercussions. Or we may see this activity as similar to that of the Maquis in France during the second world war, a directed attack on an occupying enemy carried out in secret. Whatever way it was done he then returned to Timnah, (probably immediately in view of what he had done in Ashkelon), and handed the clothing over to the thirty men. Then, probably seething with fury he went to his own home without seeing his wife or father-in-law. He was hardly in a mood to want to consummate the marriage or to see his treacherous bride.
The trip to Ashkelon may have been because he thought it would be easier to cover up his activities in a large city, or because he thought that there he would not be recognised, or it may have been because he knew that there he would find men with the quality of clothing that he required, possibly at some well known local festivity, or it may have been because he knew that they would have some ‘games' there where competitive fighting took place, or it may have been because the original thirty came from Ashkelon.
But the writer saw in this an aspect of the activity of the Spirit of Yahweh. The Philistines were the enemies of Israel and this was a powerful blow in Israel's cause, for these thirty would be important as elite warriors. They were part of the elite ruling class. Samson clearly had no compunction in doing this. It was in order to somehow attack the Philistines that he had married the Philistine woman and now he saw his opportunity. Thus the action of the young men had precipitated his campaign against the Philistines. It may well, however, be that there was something in Philistine customs that could be seen as justifying his action, at least to some extent (in his state of mind he would not interpret it too particularly), especially if the young men at the previous pre-wedding feast had come from Ashkelon. Using threats to discover the answer to important riddles may have been heavily frowned on, like cheating at cards today, and they were a warlike nation to whom killing was almost a sport. So by using a personal excuse such as this, and being married to a Philistine, his behaviour would be looked on as a Philistine activity and not as rebellion by Israel. Thus he was safeguarding his people. If the original young men had come from Ashkelon it might even have been seen as a form of rough justice, or it may have been in fair competition. Ashkelon had attacked him, and he had returned the favour. Certainly the Philistines appear to have taken no action against him, just as they took no action against the men who slew his wife and her family. On the other hand perhaps they did not immediately connect Samson with what happened at Ashkelon. There may have been no witnesses.
It may be that the phrase ‘the Spirit of Yahweh came on him' is intended to refer to the whole passage up to Judges 15:8, for Judges 15:8 was certainly of the greater significance. The thirty were the firstfruits but the great slaughter was the full final result. We can compare how the phrase has always previously referred, not just to one event, but to a series of events that followed the enduing.
‘And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.'
His state of mind is made clear, and it is no wonder that he was angry. The fact that he ‘went up to his father's house' may indicate that normally he would have remained with his new family.