Manoah and his wife use this question to express disapproval and shame regarding Samson’s choice. By framing their objection as a question rather than a direct command, they appeal to Samson’s reason and cultural identity, hoping he will recognize the inappropriateness of marrying outside the covenant community. The question exposes the tension between parental wisdom rooted in God’s law and a son’s stubborn desire.

Samson responded to his parents’ rebuke by insisting, ‘Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes’ (Judges 14:3, ESV). His reply dismissed their concern entirely, asserting his personal preference as the final authority and demanding they proceed with the marriage arrangement despite their objections.

This question confronts Samson with the incongruity between his covenant identity and his romantic choice. The Hebrew construction emphasizes the parents’ astonishment: ‘Is there not even one woman?’ Their appeal to ‘the daughters of your relatives’ (literally ‘your brothers’) and ‘all my people’ stresses the abundance of appropriate options within Israel. By using a question rather than a prohibition, they invite Samson to examine his own reasoning and recognize the shame of pursuing an uncircumcised Philistine. The term ‘uncircumcised’ (עֲרֵלִים) functions as both religious judgment and cultural insult, marking the Philistines as covenant outsiders. Yet this parental wisdom clashes with divine sovereignty, for the narrator will soon reveal that God was behind Samson’s attraction, seeking an occasion against Israel’s oppressors. The question thus becomes tragically ironic: the very faithfulness that prompts the parents’ rebuke blinds them to God’s unexpected strategy.