Timnah was only about four miles southwest of Zorah. The word "woman"in verse 2 is in the emphatic position in the Hebrew text. Samson described her to his parents as the ideal woman from his viewpoint. Dating was unknown in Samson's culture. The parents of young people contacted each other and arranged for their children to meet and eventually to marry.
Samson's godly parents' response to his desire was undoubtedly a mixture of brokenhearted grief and anger. Instead of opposing the Philistines he now wanted to ally with them in marriage. His intention reveals disregard for his divine calling in life (13:5). The reference to this woman as an "uncircumcised Philistine"stresses the fact that she was an unbeliever. Circumcision was the rite that identified believers in God's promises to Abraham (Gen. 17). It was inappropriate for Israel's deliverer to marry someone who did not share a common faith and purpose with God's people (2 Cor. 6:14).
"Mixed marriages were uniformly disastrous early (Gen 26:34-35) and late (Neh 13:27) in Israel's history. Moreover, the Philistines were the one nation near Israel that did not practice circumcision of any kind. In Egypt, Moab, and elsewhere, circumcision was often associated with reaching puberty or with premarital rites; but at least it was circumcision."254
Evidently the appeal of this woman was her external appearance only. Verses 2 and 3 paint Samson as a very strong-willed child.
"It is true that the only marriages expressly prohibited in Ex. xxxiv. 16 and Deut. vii. 3, 4, are marriages with Canaanite women; but the reason assigned for this prohibition was equally applicable to marriages with daughters of the Philistines."255
Samson's parents viewed his plan to marry the woman as unwise, but it was "of the Lord."This means that God permitted it though it was not a marriage that He preferred. It did not violate the Mosaic Law, and it was a situation God would use to punish the Philistines (v. 4; cf. v. 19). This fact did not mitigate Samson's guilt, but it shows how God providentially overrules human folly and brings His will to pass in spite of it (cf. Ps. 76:10).
"Judges 14:4 is not only shocking, but it is also the key to chaps. 14-15. Accordingly, although Yahweh is largely absent from the narrative, in one way or another his agenda is being achieved in Samson's life. At the same time, while Yahweh's agenda is being achieved, the course of Samson's life is all downhill, a fact reflected by the fivefold repetition of the verb yarad, to go down' (14:1, 5, 7, 19; 15:8)."256
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