Rethinking Samson

In 2016, Sight & Sound Theatre put on a production on the story of Samson. In case you didn’t see, but you still want to buy the DVD and watch it, I won’t spoil anything. (Well, I won’t spoil how they did it. You can spoil the story for yourself by reading Judges 13-16). All I will say is it was awesome, and it was excellent. As I grow older, I find myself appreciating Sight & Sight more and more. When I was a younger boy, I appreciated Sight & Sound because it held true to its motto. It really brought the Bible to life. Now I have gone from a young boy to a young man, who has gone through 4 years of Bible college and 7 years of seminary, I now appreciate Sight and Sound even more because it tells a good story, yet it does not sacrifice the Biblical or theological truths in order to do so.

Yes, I am that guy. I am that guy who sees the Bible portrayed on the big movie screen or the small television, and I’m the one yelling, “That’s not in the Bible! That’s not what the Bible says!” I do so for a few reasons, some more obvious for the others. First of all, when we see movies or television change the Bible story, we know that means that the screenwriter, the director or the produces questions the historical accuracy of the Bible, even possibly believing the Bible is all fiction. Second, to change the Bible story to make it more action-packed is really insulting to the Bible. Remember that back then is not like today, where every child goes to school to learn to read and write. Only the smartest kids (and sometimes the richest kids) got to go to school to learn to read and write. Therefore, reading and writing became a skilled trade. To them, reading and writing was both an art and a science. So when you read in Deuteronomy 6 God commanding the Israelites via Moses to teach their children the stories of the Israel, don’t put in your mind this mental image of the children all sitting around their father, while the father pulls out a scroll and begins the story (for even if the father could read, he probably couldn’t afford a scroll, which were expensive to make). No, the mental image you should put in your head is the children sitting around their father, listening to their father recite the stories from memory. So how do you make a story easy to remember? You make it exciting, you make it fun, you make it interesting. These Bible stories are meant to be exciting, fun and interesting already. To change it to make it even more exciting, fun and interesting is really insulting to the Bible, for you are claiming it isn’t. Third, as I said before, when the Bible story gets changes and rearranged, Biblical and theological truths get lost, or worse, the story teaches a lesson quite the opposite of what the Bible intended.

To be fair, movies and television aren’t the only one guilty of this. I will confess on behalf of preachers and teachers alike (because I will confess that eve I myself, as both a preacher and teacher, am guilty!) that sometimes Bible teachers and preachers can get so caught up in telling a Bible story, they forget to teach the Biblical truth about God, or worse, teach a lesson contrary to what the Bible teaches. I find this happens most often in the book of Judges, especially when it comes to the story of Samson. Today, I invite you to look again at the story of Samson, rethink the Bible intends the reader to learn from his story, and I promise you, you’ll find stronger applications for Samson than you ever have before.

Now if you know me, you know I’m really big into context. After all, my blog is called “The Contextual Literalist.” Historical, geographical and cultural context all play a big part in the book of Judges, but the biggest role goes to literary context. Literary context can be broken into three parts. First, there’s the immediate context, which asks, “How do the sentences/verses come together to form the story of the judge?” Second, there’s the near context, which asks, “How do the stories of the judges come together form the book of Judges?” Third, there’s the far context, which asks, “How does the book of Judges contribute to Bible and our theology about God?”

First, let’s explore that immediate context, or how the sentences/verses come together to form the story about the judge. Fortunately for the reader, the book of Judges comes with an outline for each story of each major judge. (The book of Judges has 12 judges: 6 major and 6 minor. The difference between a major judge and a minor judge is that a major judge has a whole story, whereas the minor judge has only 1 verse.) This outline can be found in Judges 2:11-18. Most Bible commentators refer to this as the “Judges Cycle,” for the outline repeats itself with every judge in a cyclical manner. This paradigm happens in 5 stages. First, Israel does evil in the eyes of the Lord, which is most often falling to the sin of idolatry. Second, the Lord hands punishes Israel for its sin, most often by allowing a foreign nation to invade Israel’s promised land and oppress Israel. Every time this happens, the book of Judges demonstrates how just are God is. Most often, the Lord hands the Israelites over to the foreign people whose idols Israel has begun worshipping. If the Israelites begin worshipping Baal, the god of the Canaanites, the Lord hands Israel over to the Canaanites. If the Israelites start worshipping Dagon, the god of the Philistines, God hands Israel over to the Philistines. It is as if God is saying, “If you worship their gods, then you will become like their people, and thus you will serve them. So if you begin to worship Baal, you will begin to act like the Canaanites, and so you will serve the Canaanites. If you start worshiping Dagon, you will start acting like Philistines, and thus you will serve the Philistines. Once Israel finally realizes how much distress their idol worship has put them under, Israel cries out to the Lord for help, which is the third stage of the cycle. Then, fourth, the Lord sends a שָׁפַט (šāpaṭ). Traditionally, this word has been translated “judge,” but modern-day scholarship believes that “deliverer” or “savior” would be a better translation. It makes if you think about. These people don’t make decisions about the laws of the land, like Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown. These people save the Israelites by delivering them from the hand of their oppressive enemies. Since most people are more familiar with the tradition translation of “judge,” however, we will stick to that word. That judge would save Israel from its current enemy and deliver it from any future threat. As long as the judge lived, Israel experienced the fifth and final stage, shalom and Shabbat, or peace and rest. This would last all the way to judge’s death, when Israel would fall back into the sin of idolatry, and the cycle repeated.

Now that’s the immediate context, or how the sentences/verses come together to make the story. Next, let’s look at the near context, or how the stories come together to create the book of Judges. I’m going to teach a new way that you can read through the Old Testament history books. First, make a graph (I’m hoping math class didn’t scare you away from making graphs). The horizontal line (in math terms, this is the x-axis) represents the progression of the book. You can make marks for each one of the chapters, or you can just wing it. The vertical line (in math terms, this is the y-axis) represents Israel’s relationship with the Lord. On the top, put a happy smiley face, and on the bottom, put a sad frowny face. If Israel is seeking God’s will and obeying God’s commands (in essence, making God happy), we’ll mark it off at the top of the graph. If Israel is seeking their own will in front of God’s, and/or they are disobeying God’s commands (in essence, making God sad), we’ll mark them at the bottom of graph. We’ll only do this for the 6 major judges that fit the Judges cycle. By the time we get to Samson, you’ll notice a pattern, and you’ll be able to tell where Samson will end up.

 

 

The first judge we run into is Othniel, found in Judges 3:7-11. Othniel’s story is the shortest of the major judges, for his story fits the cycle perfectly. Israel begins worshipping the gods of the Mesopotamia, and so Israel soon finds themselves in bondage to the king of Mesopotamia. Israel cries out for help, and the Lord raises up Othniel to be their first judge. Othniel is supposed to remind you of Joshua, for many reasons. First, Othniel’s story comes first in the book of Judges, right next to the end of the book of Joshua. Second, Judges 3:9 informs the reader that Othniel is the nephew of Caleb. If you remember from the book of Numbers, Joshua and Caleb were the only 2 spies who gave a good report because they trusted God for victory against their enemies in the promised. Therefore, Othniel is very much like Joshua in the way he goes to war with the king of Mesopotamia. He trusts in the Lord, seeks the Lord’s will, gathers an army, faces the king of Mesopotamia and his army face-to-face, and with God’s power and presence, Othniel comes out victorious. Obviously, without a doubt, Othniel goes on the top of the graph, for he does everything right. He seeks God’s will, he obeys God’s commands, and God blesses him with the victory.

 

 

The second judge, Ehud, appears in the same chapter, Judges 3:11-20, and let me tell you, this story is meant to be funny!. This is the second shortest judge story because it follows the judges cycle for the most part, but not exactly the way one would expect, or hope. Israel starts worshipping the idols of Moabites, and the Lord allows Eglon, king of Moab, to oppress the Israelites. Not only does Eglon enslave the Israelites, he forces them to pay a tribute, or a tax. And guess who is responsible for delivering this tribute? It’s Ehud, the guy the Lord raises up to be the next judge! On a certain day, as Ehud wraps delivering the tribute, he speaks up, “Oh by the way, I have a דְּבַר־סֵתֶר  (seter devar) for you.” This phrase is a double entendre. The Hebrew word seter can mean “secret” or “hidden” (after all, a secret is hidden from public knowledge). The Hebrew word devar can mean “thing” or “word” (as in a saying, as in, “May I have a word with you?” or “I have a few words for him.”). So what’s Ehud saying? He’s saying, “I have hidden thing for you,” referring to the 18-inch blade strapped to his thigh. But that’s not what King Eglon hears! He hears, “I have a secret message.” Eglon gets so excited about this secret message, he sends all his armed guards out of the building! When finally alone, Ehud says further, “This seter devar is from God.” Funny thing about this double entendre is that it works both ways. Ehud gets so excited, he stands up for it. He might have been like, “Oooh, please give it to me, give to me now!” “Ok,” Ehud says as he slides the 18-inch blade into Eglon’s stomach. Previously in the story, Eglon is described as fat man, symbolizing his power and strength. The text now informs the reader that Eglon was so fat, the fat consumed the blade, and it smelled, so bad that the armed guards outside thought that he was pooping. (Because the armed guards think this, some scholars believe that the toilet is somewhere in the second-story room, and therefore it is quite possible that Ehud escaped through the toilet hole.) When the armed guards finally realize Eglon is taking too long to relieve himself on the toilet, they walk in to find their king dead! Now put yourself in the mind of Moabites. Here they are living in a strange land. They have been depending on their big, strong, powerful king for defense and support. Now, all of a sudden, their king is dead, and the murderer and terrorist is on the loose, nowhere to be seen. Their first thought must have been, “These people are crazy! Let’s get out of here!” So they began retreating for the border to head back into Moab. What’s Ehud and his buddies doing? They are killing all the Moabites as they retreat!

At the end of Ehud’s story, the reader learns that Ehud is an assassin and a sniper. Now I play a lot of video games, including multiplayer. In the world of multiplayer, especially online multiplayer, taking the role of an assassin or a sniper is a cheap move. Some even consider it a form of cheating. Why? Because it’s not fair. A fair fight is when two men take on each other head-on, face-to-face, in their full strength, to prove who is the strongest. When someone takes on the role of an assassin or sniper, the fight becomes unfair because the assassin or sniper is taking advantage of an opponent’s disadvantage, or he’s gaining a strength off of the opponent’s weakness. Othniel offers a fair fight to the king of Mesopotamia, but Ehud gives the king of Moab an unfair fight by taking on the role of an assassin and a sniper. This nontraditional and unconventional method of fighting leaves the questioning, “Where is Ehud’s faith?” Othniel had faith in the Lord, and so have a fair, face-to-face battle with the king of Mesopotamia was no problem for him. Since Ehud chose to became an assassin and sniper, it hints that Ehud did not have the faith Othniel had. Perhaps Ehud doubted God would provide him with a large enough army or that God would protect him from danger. Therefore, he resulted in sneaky tactics instead of a fair, face-to-face fight. On our graph, Ehud still ends up near the top of the graph, but he also ends up lower than Othniel. Yes, he gets the job done. King Eglon is dead, and the Moabites retreat back to Moab lesser in number. At the same time, Ehud does not have the faith to engage Eglon in a fair and honorable battle. He has to resort to nontraditional, unconventional methods.

 

 

If you’re still unsure about my interpretation of Ehud, pause right here and check out Shamgar, the first minor judge of the book. Shamgar’s story appears right after the story of Ehud, and it closes out Judges 3. It’s only 1 verse long, in Judges 3:31. The verse reads, “After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.” It’s only 1 compound sentence, but that sentence says a lot. You can almost imagine it. The Philistines have taken control of the Promised Land, probably due to Isarel worshipping Dagon, the Philistine god. From the 1 verse, the reader can assume Shamgar is some kind of herder, for he has an oxgoad, which is a long, pointy stick used to prod animals. One day, while Shamgar is herding his animals in the fields, he looks around, and he sees the Philistines standing all around, everywhere he looks. He starts to get mad, for he knows the Lord did not intend for the Philistines to have the land, but Israel to own the land. Out of his anger, he starts stabbing Philistines with his oxgoad! As a result, he kills 600 Philistines. The Philistines must have saw this terrorist on a murderous rampage and said, “These people are crazy! Let’s get out of here!” With that, the leave. See the similarities with Ehud’s stories? Once again, Shamgar does not raise up an army to face the Philistines head-on, but rather he chooses a nontraditional, unconventional way. Again, that nontraditional, unconventional way gets the job done. And again, it leaves the reader to question, “Where is Shamgar’s faith?” Why couldn’t Shamgar lead an army into a head-on battle? Did he not trust God to provide for him or protect him?

The third major judge we come across is Deborah & Barak. I pair the two names together, and there’s a reason for that. At the beginning of Judges 4, the reader learns that Deborah is a prophetess and a judge. This time, Deborah is a legit judge, making rulings about civil and criminal court cases. Up to this point, the Lord has been “raising up” judges. This phrase “raising up” could simply mean that the Holy Spirit provoked the person’s conscious that he needed to lead and save Israel. After Ehud and Shamgar’s nontraditional, unconventional and unfair ways, the Lord wants more of an audible voice to commission the judge. God chooses the godly prophetess Deborah to do the job. Deborah delivers the news to Barak, “Congratulations! God has chosen you to save Israel! Now go save Israel!” What’s Barak’s response? Judges 4:8 records it as, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” I wonder if this caught Deborah off guard, hearing a “no” the Lord’s calling. Deborah responds by prophesying in Judges 4:9 that Barack will not get the glory for the victory, but rather, a woman would receive the glory. I need you to step out of your 21^st American mindset and step back into the mindset of an Israelite before the time of Christ. In the 21^st American mindset, Barak is no longer the judge, but instead, Deborah takes the role of the deliverer. Therefore, to the 21^st century American, this story is about a strong woman in a leadership role. The 21^st century American wants to cheer, “Girl power! You go girl!” Sorry, but that’s not how the original audience, Israelites before the time of Christ, would have read the story. In their mind, Barak is still the judge, but he is a weak judge because he needs a woman to hold his hand and help him through everything. I know this can be hard for a 21^st century American audience to hear, so let me put in terms you might be able to better relate to. Deborah is an early example of the overworked church worker…well, the B.C. Israelite version, but you get my point. The Lord had a plan. Deborah, as prophetess, was to listen for God’s Word, and she would then communicate it to Barak. Barak, as judge, would execute God’s plan, and thus deliver Israel. Barak, however, refused the plan, desiring for Deborah to come with him. Now Deborah has two roles: as prophetess, listening for and communicating God’s Word, and as judge: executing God’s plan. Actually, Deborah now has a third role, too, which is babysitting Barak. Deborah and Barak engage Jabin, the king of Hazor, and Sisera, Jabin’s general, in a face-to-face battle (at least they got that going for them). Because Barak will not listen to God’s plan fully, the best they can do is get the opposing army to retreat. It is Jael, a Gentile woman, who kills Sisera, thus ending the war, and bringing ultimate fulfillment to Deborah’s prophecy. While Deborah & Barak still fall on the top half of our graph, it’s more like the top of the middle. Once again, they do get the job done, but at what cost? Deborah is overworked, Barak is weak and does not trust God, and because Barak’s reluctance to listen to God, the best they can do is get the army to retreat. All in all, the judge Barak does not listen to God’s plan, dropping him lower than Othniel and Ehud.

 

 

The fourth major judge is Gideon. Gideon’s story is the 2^nd most understood story, right next to Samson. This time the Midianites and the Amalekites have teamed up with other, smaller eastern people groups to take Israel’s land. Apparently, the judges do no better listening to a prophetess’s voice than the stirring of the Holy Spirit in the conscience, so this time the Lord goes a step further and sends a divine messenger, an angel, to give the new judge, Gideon, the message. The angel find Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress. Back then, they would thresh wheat by winnowing, or throwing the grain and chaff in the air, to let the wind blow away the chaff and let the grain fall to the ground. As you can imagine, this is easiest to do where there’s a lot of wind, like a mountain or a hill. Gideon is not threshing wheat on a mountain or a hill. Instead, he’s threshing in an enclosed winepress. This guy is so afraid of being spotted by the Midianites and causing him trouble that he rather cause himself more work than cause trouble with the Midianites. The angel must have took one look at this and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Nevertheless, the angel approaches Gideon and says, “Congratulations! The Lord is with you, for he has chosen you to save Israel. Now go, and save Israel!” Gideon speak back in doubt, “No, the Lord is not with us. He is with our enemies, for he has given them victory over us.” The angel reassures Gideon God is with him, and Gideon doubts again, “I think you must be have me confused with someone else. I’m the least in my family, and I am from the weakest clan.” The angel again reassures God is with him. Then Gideon says, “Prove it. Prove that you are really sent from the Lord.” The angel instructs Gideon to prepare a sacrifice, and Gideon does so. After preparing the sacrifice, all the angel has to do is touch the sacrifice with the tip of his spear, and it bursts it flames. I can imagine the angel saying, “As you can see, I am really from the Lord. Now go, and save Israel!” “Wait a minute…” Gideon speaks up. The angel wonders, “What do you mean, ‘Wait a minute.’? Did I not prove I was sent from God?” “Well yeah,” Gideon says, “but how do I really know the Lord is with me and will use me to deliver Israel? Here, I got a plan. I will put out a wool fleece outside. If the fleece is wet from the dew but the ground is dry, then I will believe that God has chosen me.” The Lord agrees, Gideon lays the fleece out overnight, and by morning, the fleece is wet and the grass is dry. The angel speaks up again, “As you can see, the fleece is wet, the grass is dry, so therefore you are chosen by God, so now go and save Israel!” “Wait a minute…” Gideon begins. “WHAT NOW?” the angel yells impatiently. “Well,” Gideon says, “it would make sense for fleece to be wet and the grass to be dry since the fleece is thicker than the grass. So tonight, I will lay out the fleece again, but let’s see the opposite results. “FINE!” the angel quickly says. Sure enough, the next day, the fleece is dry and the grass. The angel must have been like, “Now will you go save Israel?” “I guess,” Gideon mutters. I hope you don’t think I fabricated the story too much, but I’m trying to illustrate how reluctant Gideon is to take the honored role as God’s chosen judge. Israel could have been saved days ago, but due to Gideon’s doubt and reluctant, Israel’s salvation was delayed. Already, the reader can tell this will not end well.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the actual battle, for I image many of you are familiar with it. For example, we all know how the Lord brings Gideon’s army to about 1.5% of its original size. I will point one detail, though. Note how they begin the battle. Gideon’s army surrounds the Midianite camp. They blow their trumpets and uncover their torches, which causes the army to fear and flee. Then Gideon’s men chase after them. The best way I can describe this warfare is as an ambush. Just like Ehud and Shamgar, Gideon’s reluctance to face the opposing army head-one might reflect his lack of faith that God would protect and provide.

Then the reader reaches the end of Gideon’s story in Judges 8. At the beginning of Judges 8, Gideon must have thought himself, “While I have an army under my control, might as well put good use to it.” He then uses his army to chase after the Israelite men who killed his brothers and kill them. Not all of the rest of the nation approves, and they fight back. The nation is divided, and Israel plunges into civil. Gideon’s army of 300, still high off of the defeat of the Midianites and Amalekites, win yet again. You can imagine Gideon’s winning streak has made him famous and popular. I can imagine a crowd surrounding him, chanting, “GIDEON! GIDEON!” Then someone in the crowd yells, “Let’s make him king!” The crowd cheers and begins chanting, “KING GIDEON! KING GIDEON!” The reader holds his/her breath, thinking “Oh no…Come on, Gideon, do the right thing.” Gideon speaks up, “No, do not make me king, for God is your king.” The reader sighs a breath of relief, “Whew! Good! Because I thought…” “However,” Gideon speaks again, and the reader again goes, “Uh-oh.” “However,” Gideon says, “if you want to reward me, you can make me an ephod.” Ladies and gentlemen, an ephod is a crown for a priest. So Gideon pretty much said, “Don’t make a king, but make me a crown.” The people don’t question it. They go along with it. In fact, the Bible says they start whoring after it. In other words, they treat it like an idol. As for Gideon, the ephod must have gone to Gideon’s head, both literally and figuratively, for Gideon names his son Abimelech! Ladies and gentlemen, the name Abimelech means, “My father is king.” So once again, Gideon said, “Don’t make me king,” but he went and named his son, “My father is king.”

If all this fame didn’t go to Gideon’s head, it went to his son Abimelech’s head.  Abimelech takes his name very seriously. He concludes, “If my name means ‘my father is king,’ that must mean my father is a king, and if he’s king, once he dies, I become king!” Once Gideon does die, Abimelech sets himself up as the king of Israel. In reality, he’s more like an anti-king, for he’s the exact opposite of what God looks for in the king of Israel. Abimelech further promotes the idolatry in the land. He also sends the nation into civil war for his own persona vendetta. In the end, Abimelech becomes a worse oppressor than any of the foreign nations ever had! Things get so bad that God himself has to save Israel…from itself!

In conclusion, Gideon falls in the middle of our graph, but towards the bottom half. Once again, I agree the job gets done, but do the ends justify the means? Gideon can be seen as a bad judge from the start. Gideon is reluctant to take the honorable role as judge. Gideon doubts God, even questioning God’s holiness due to Israel’s oppression (which is really a result of Israel’s sin). Gideon puts God to test, which Deuteronomy specifically says is a sin (remember, Jesus quoted that to Satan during the temptations). Gideon is just as bad at the end of the story as he is in the beginning. He uses his power for his own personal vendetta, plunging the country into civil war. Although he credits God, he rewards himself selfishly, like a king. He does nothing to stop the idolatry to come back. In fact, he adds to it. Then he does nothing to stop his son, who will amplify all these problems in his “kingship.” After this hefty list of negatives, Gideon should find himself luck he’s closer to the middle than the bottom.

At this point, we’ve gone through two-thirds of our major judges. I pause here because we are going to notice a very important shift. The first half of our major judges were good, godly influences upon the people they led. The second half of our major judges begins with Gideon, and he starts the shift. In the beginning of the story, Gideon seems to be influencing the people positively. He destroys the Baal altars and cuts down the Asherah poles. By the end, however, the people seem to be influencing him more, so whatever influence Gideon gives, it come out negative. Thus, Gideon only further feeds into Israel’s idolatry. Our last third of the major judges are the opposite of the first half. These judges will represent the moral decline of the people. There’s good application here. At the end of the 2016 presidential election, a lot of people scratched their head and wondered, “How could we let him become president?” To prove I’m not showing partiality towards or against a certain political party, I also noticed at the end of the primaries, a common concern was “There are 300 million Americans living in the United States, and we really got it down to these two?” How could we get it down to those two, and then get it down to that one? Just look no further than the people. A lot of times, especially in a democracy, the leader represents the citizens he leads. So we can say that the leader is sick, but just as true (if not more true), we can say they the nation is sick. We’ll see that here in the book of Judges. As sick as these judges, they reflect an even sicker nation.

Here comes Jephthah, and with Jephthah, our first hiccup in the Judges cycle. The cycle starts as normal. Israel decides to worship the gods of Ammonites, and so the Ammonites take the Promised Land away from Israel. At this part of the cycle, the reader usually sees a cry for help. Israel’s cry, however, is questionable. Israel pretty much says to the Lord, “Alright, you know the drill. Come save us.” The Lord replies, “No! Despite that I saved you time after time from the foreign nations, you still worship their gods! So go cry to their gods, and let’s see if they save you!” Israel pretty much replies to God, “Listen, Yahweh, can we call you Yah for short? Yah, you know what’s the right thing to do. You just worry about doing what’s right on your end, and we’ll do what’s right on our end. Okay? Okay.” How rude! How disrespectful!

Yet God’s reaction is very interesting. See, I believe God is omniscient, meaning his knowledge and wisdom far surpasses any human knowledge and wisdom. I also believe that God loves us so much, and he desires to be in relationship with us so much, that he also desires to reveal himself to us. Put that together, and what do you get? Sometimes God will explain things in the best way humanly possible, and sometimes it can even blasphemous or heretical (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-31). This is one of those instances. When I read Judges 10:16b, I see God in conflict with himself. Sounds heretical, right? But for parents, I think it makes sense. Parents, ever tell your children not to do something because they will get hurt? Then the child does it, and sure enough, the child is hurt, bawling his eyes out. Half of you is saying to yourself, “I told him/her not to do, and look what happened! Go cry your eyes out, I’m not comforting you for your disobedience.” The other half of you is saying, “My poor baby is hurt! I must go love him and hug and kiss him and rock him in my arms!” That’s what God is feeling. God is not stupid. God know the cycle. God knows they will revert back to their idolatry. At the same time, he sees his beloved people hurting from their oppression. He loves them so much, he just wants to save them from their hurt and pain. God’s inner conflict is a conflict of justice vs. compassion and grace.

Well, Israel doesn’t wait for God. If they had, from what we know with the previous judge and the next judge, God would appointed another judge by divine messenger. This time, Israel decides to go out and find the judge they like. They put up all kinds of rewards, like leadership over Gilead. From their search arises Jephthah. Jephthah is introduced in Judges 11:1, “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.” Notice the emphasis on the conjunction “but.” The author seems to discard Jephthah’s warrior skills because he is the son of a prostitute. Just like Deborah and Barak, I need to ask you kindly to remove yourself from your 21^st century worldview and think with the mindset of an Israelite before the time of Christ. In the 21^st century way of thinking, we want to cheer on Jephthah as an underdog story, overcoming cultural expectations to contribute to society. This is not how the original audience, the B.C. Israelite would have seen it. For them, this is an omen that the story will not end well.

The key word is “end,” so let’s jump ahead to the end of the story. During battle, Jephthah promises the Lord that first thing that comes out of his home he will sacrifice the Lord. With the Holy Spirit on Jephthah’s side, Jephthah is indeed victorious. On his way home, the door springs open, and his daughter come out to greet him with tambourine and dance. Now Jephthah is in quite the pickle. Jephthah knows from Leviticus 20:2 that God finds child sacrifice (his daughter was probably a young child, for Judges 11:34-40 emphasizes her virginity) as detestable and an abomination. Jephthah also knows that vows to the Lord need to be taken seriously. What does he decide? He decides he can’t break his promise to God! He sacrifices his daughter, which God finds detestable and an abomination, in the name of the Lord! That’s like someone claiming that God told them to get an abortion, or someone having an abortion in the name of the Lord! Jephthah’s sacrifice is just as disrespectful as the Israelites’ request in the beginning of the story. Because of Jephthah’s sin, while Jephthah rules over Israel for six years, he never receives the rest or peace stage of the cycle. He will have to fight off his enemies (both internally and externally) until the day he dies. Therefore, the story of Jephthah definitely ends up in the bottom half of our graph.

 

 

Finally, we’ve reached Samson. Looking at our chart, you can understand why I went through all that before getting to Samson. If we were to “connect the dots” of our graph, you’d notice a line, a straight line plummeting downward. As you can see, Israel is morally declining with each judge. Sadly, the pattern will not end with Samson. Therefore, even before we dive into Samson, we know the story of Samson will not turn out well.

The cycle for Samson starts out just like any cycle for any judge. Israel does evil the eyes of Lord, most likely worshipping the idol of Dagon, the god of the Philistines. Shortly after, the Philistine take control of the land. This is where the wheel of the Judges cycle goes flat. Typically, here, the reader sees a cry for help. While the story of Jephthah had a questionable cry, it had a cry nonetheless. In the story of Samson, there is no cry for help. In fact, later on the story, the Israelites are more than willing to acknowledge the Philistines as the power in control, so much so they will even give up Samson to the Philistines willingly (see Judges 15:11-13)! What exactly happened? Scholars and commentators debate. Did the Israelites believe they could not fight off the Philistines, so they just gave up and left? Did the economy get so bad that they welcome the Philistines, hoping they could boost their economy?  Was it a slow and gradual change over time that the Israelites did not recognize what had happened? Had the Israelites become so engulfed in the Philistine culture (including their religion) that they were happy living alongside the Philistines? Either way, it would seem that Israel didn’t want to be delivered. Only God wanted Israel delivered. To me, this reflects God’s compassion, grace and mercy. When God sees his people hurting, he helps them, even if they don’t want help, or they are unaware they need help.

Just like in the story of Gideon (and possibly in the story of Jephthah if the Israelites had waited), the Lord uses the divine means of an angel to call a judge. This story stands unique, however, in the fact that God calls the judge even before the judge’s mother births him into the word. That fact alone proves that this judge has the potential to be great. Furthemore, we read in Judges 13:2,3 that Manoah and his wife are old, married and barren. From what you’ve read in the Pentateuch (the first 5 book of the Bible), what other couples do they sound like? They sound like Abraham and Sarah before they had Isaac, Isaac and Rebekah before they had Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Rachel before they had Joseph and Benjamin. These are the great patriarchs of the faith. Manoah and his wife would have been familiar with these stories about the heroes of their faith. They themselves also would also realize their son could be the next hero of the faith.

The child comes with stipulations, though. These stipulations are important. They are repeated three times in Judges 13:4-14 alone. These stipulations are better known as the Nazarite vow, a vow used to set apart someone as special to the Lord. Other famous Bible people who have taken up the Nazarite vow are Samuel, Elijah and John the Baptist. If you want to learn more about the Nazarite vow, check out Numbers 6, where God establishes it. Judges 13:4-14 highlights three important conditions of the Nazarite vow.  First, the Nazarite cannot drink wine or any other alcoholic drink. Second, the Nazarite cannot eat any unclean food. Third, the Nazarite cannot use a razor on his head. While in most Nazarite vows, the person choose the date and time to start and stop, the reader learns from Manoah’s wife in Judges 13:7 that the son will be Nazarite from the day of birth to the day of death. Therefore, when Manoah’s wife is pregnant with their son, she too must not partake of fermented drink or unclean food. Once again, I draw your attention to those 3 stipulations of the Nazarite vow repeated 3 times in the Judges 13:4-14 alone. The author does this with good reasons, for these stipulations will roughly outline the story of Samson’s adult life.

The story of Samson can be split into 2 “acts.” What divides the acts is which woman is with Samson. The first act, found in Judges 14-15, Samson is with his Philistine wife. The second act, found in Judges 16, Samson is with Delilah. The first act, beginning in Judges 14, starts off with Samson requesting from his parents a wife from among the Philistines. Samson’s parents are appalled by the request. The know from Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:9 that God forbid the Israelites from marrying a Gentile. They try to word it nicely, asking Samson, “Isn’t there a nice Israelite girl you rather marry?” Samson insists she is right for him. Although the reader would want to side with Samson’s parents, the text assures the reader in Judges 14:4 that the Lord used this as an opportunity to confront the Philistines. On his way to meet up with his future wife, Samson encounter a lion. With his bare hands, Samson kills the lion, and he continues on his way to meet his future wife. On the return trip, Samson sees the lion carcass still on the road, but something peculiar has happened to it. Instead of flies and maggots feasting on the rotten flesh, honey bees have built a hive in it. Seeing the honey dripping from the hive, Samson scrapes the honey out and eats it. Honey made in a dead animal is unclean. Therefore, Samson has eaten uncleaned food and has broken part of his Nazarite. Still, the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. Perhaps the Lord reasoned, “OK, Samson, you’re weren’t supposed to do that. It was important that you don’t do that. But hey, two-thirds rule, right? You still are following a majority of the Nazarite vow. I’ll let that one fly, as long as you keep a majority of the vow.”

Judges 14:10-20 describes the wedding of Samson and his Philistine wife. The verses that draws the most attention to me is verse 10. Verse 10 reads, “His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.” Most Bible translations translate מִשְׁתֶּ֔ה (mishteh) as “feast,” but a more literal translation is “drinking party.” The typical Philistine wedding consisted of seven days straight of drinking. Without a doubt, Samson took part of this binge drinking, violating his Nazarite vow again. That’s strike 2. Still, as the story continues, we found out the Spirit of the Lord is still upon Samson. Maybe God reasoned, “Alright, so we’re down 2 conditions of the Nazarite. Samson, you really got to work harder on trying to keep these stipulations. It’s important to me that you keep them. But hey, you haven’t thrown them all away, so I know you haven’t given up on being a Nazarite yet. Let’s just hold on and stay strong to keeping a razor away from you head.”

Samson has already broken two-thirds of the Nazarite vow, and we haven’t even left Judges chapter 14! There’s still 2 chapters to go! Remember that Judges 14 has to do Samson’s Philistine wife during their 7-day wedding. Not only will the wedding last 7 days, so does the marriage. During the wedding, Samson makes a high wager on a riddle he created. The Philistine become quite irked they cannot solve the riddle, for they are about to lose a big wager. So the Philistines gang up on Samson’s wife, threatening to burn her and her father’s house if she does not get the solution for them. Afraid, Samson’s wife begs and begs until she gets the riddle’s answer. When the Philistines give Samson the correct answer, Samson kills 30 Philistines to pay off his wager. In hot anger, he leaves, and Samson’s wife is given to Samson’s best man.

I’m going to fast forward to Judges 16 for time’s sake (as if this isn’t already long enough). In Judges 16:4, Samson has a new girlfriend, who goes by the name Delilah. Delilah has chosen a bad time to date Samson. Samson’s antics against the Philistine had made Samson public enemy number 1 in their sight. When the Philistines find out Delilah is in an intimate relationship with Samson, they pressure Delilah into finding out the secret to Samson’s strength by bribing her with silver. At first, Samson makes up stories on how he will lose his strength, but they all get proven wrong. I can imagine the Philistine leaders are getting more and more upset with Delilah with every false tale she tells them. Delilah, upset herself that Samson will not tell her his secret, accusing him of not loving her and keeping secrets from her.

Samson’s Wife (Judges 14)	Delilah (Judges 16)
Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman (14:1-4)	Samson falls in love with Delilah (16:4)
Tension with the Philistines (14:10-14)	Tension with the Philistines (16:2-14)
Samson’s wife pressured with threats (14:15)	Delilah pressured with bribe (16:5)
Samson’s wife accuses Samson of not loving her (14:16)	Delilah accuses Samson of not loving her (16:15,16)
Samson confides in his wife the secret of the riddle (14:17a)	Samson confides in Delilah the secret of his strength (16:17)
Samson’s wife betrays Samson (14:17b,18)	Delilah betrays Samson (16:18,19)
Result: The Spirit of the Lord comes upon Samson (14:19)	Result: The Lord leaves Samson (16:20)

I’ve made a chart here to give you a visual, and I hope you are all seeing a pattern. Yes, literally the same thing that happened with Samson’s wife is happening with Delilah. The reader is just hoping that Samson too will see the pattern, too. Perhaps Samson did see the pattern. The big difference to me is that, with his wife, Samson just holds back the truth, but with Delilah, Samson lies to her to keep his secret safe. I’m leaning to believe, however, Samson did not see the pattern. He eventually gives in. Strike 3. Of course, the Lord leaves him! The Lord was probably like, “That’s it! I give up! I gave you every chance, forgiving you of every time you broke the vow! But now there’s nothing left. You disregard my requests for you, and once again, it’s for a woman you have some kind of infatuation for. Well, if you rather be with her, I’ll leave you two alone!” Samson may not have worshipped graven images, but may I suggest that the Philistine women had become his idol. Because he worshipped the Philistine women, he became like the Philistine, and as the reader sees in Judges 16:21-25, Samson would spend some time serving the Philistines.

On such occasion, the Philistines, celebrating their victory over Samson, decide to celebrate by sacrificing to their god Dagon. They bring in Samson to entertain them at this celebration. Samson asks the boy guiding him to lean him against the supporting pillars. Samson then prays in Judges 16:28, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” When I read this, I want to say to Samson, “Seriously?! Are you kidding me?! Shouldn’t your prayer be along the lines of, ‘O God, I’m sorry I disregarded my vow to you and your plan for my life. Please forgive me and give me one last chance to fulfill my purpose.’ And your biggest concern is your eyes?!” As selfish as Samson’s request may be, I don’t think God was pleased that the Philistines celebrated their victory over Samson to Dagan, for it suggested Dagan, the Philistine god, was victorious over Yahweh, Samson’s God. God must have been like, “Close enough!” The Lord grants his request. With the last of his strength, Samson literally brings the house down. The story of Samson concludes, “He had judged Israel for 20 years.” In short, Samson still served the role of judge, defeating the Philistines.

 

 

Let’s go back to our graph. Samson belongs at the bottom. Clearly, Samson is not the hero. He disregards God’s commands and the vow he has with God. He idolizes women, putting his relationship with them before God. He becomes engulfed with the sinful Philistine culture instead of resisting the temptation. He is selfish, only acting when the Philistines directly offend him. He does not care about the welfare of his people. Who then is the hero? The hero is God! God helps his people, even when they don’t want or call for help. God shows patience with Samson, providing grace and mercy for every time Samson messes up his vow. God uses Samson to save his people, even when Samson will only act selfishly, for God uses that, too.

So what do we learn about God from the story of Samson? For starters, God cannot be thwarted by any mere man. Most born again Christians don’t intend to thwart God’s plan, but sometimes, we act like we do. When we don’t do exactly as God asked us to do, we feel like we hindered God’s plan. As we learned from Samson, nothing can get in the way of God’s plan. Even when Samson conformed to the  Philistine, disregarded God’s vow to him and only acted when personally offended, God still used him to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines, and God still got the glory. Even when we mess up, God can still get the glory. God always wins. On a similar note, God will never give up on you. God had every right to give up on Samson whenever he broke the first condition of the vow. So God definitely had the right to give up on Samson we he broke every condition of the vow. Yet God did not. God still used him to bring salvation to the Israelites. We may feel like we’ve messed up so many times that God will never use us again. Let me tell you that God does not expect you to be perfect until the new heaven and new earth. He knows that you will trip and you will fall, but he will be there to pick you. A good parent doesn’t punish his or her child when the child falls learning to walk or riding a bike, nor does a good parent give up on the child. They work together until the skill is mastered. God will continue working with you, until you are mastered into that perfect creation that God intended you to be.

How should we, as Christians, respond to what we learn about God in the story of Samson? First, Christians should never become comfortable with sinful culture. Samson becomes too comfortable with sinful culture, and look what happened to him. It separated him from God, which led to his downfall. In the same way, when a Christian becomes too comfortable with sinful culture, it can be the Christian’s downfall, too, for it separates them further and further to God. Stay true to your relationship with God, seeking his will, following his commands and pursuing holiness. Second, never let your lusts replace the love of God meant for you. Let’s face it, what got Samson in trouble was that he chased after the Philistine women. If he chased after God with the same attitude, he would have been a good judge. Instead, he chased after his own selfish lusts, which lead to his downfall. Don’t let that happen to you. If you are single, remember that you are a part of the church, and as a part of church, you are the bride of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. That means you, as part of the church, are the wife of your husband Jesus. Seek Jesus as your husband, and all other relationships, from friendships to romantic relationships, will fall in place. For my married folk, don’t think that means put your relationship with Christ ahead of your relationship with your spouse. When you love your spouse as God commanded you to, you’re showing love to God.

In closing, let’s look at the far context of the story of Samson, how it contributes to the Bible and our theology. I bet some of you are wondering, “Graham, how can you speak so lowly of Samson? He’s in the Hall of Faith, the hall of fame for God’s faithful people, found in Hebrews 11!” Indeed, Samson is in the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11:32 to be exact. But look how the Hall of Faith ends in Hebrews 11:39-12:2. It reads, “³⁹ And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” When we read the story of Samson, may it also cause us to look forward to Jesus, the ultimate deliver, who will never sin, and who not deliver us through a war of flesh and blood, but by giving up his own flesh and blood to win our souls.