Samson
The story of Samson is a short story (only four chapters long) but dense with biblical truth and life application. But how could that be? It is the truncated story of the strongest man to make it into the biblical canon. It combines long-forgotten history with hyperbole and chronicles a superhero of sorts, a man with amazing strength who doesn’t quite live up to his calling. Is Samson a hero or merely a normal guy who doesn’t understand his incredible God-given power? Is he strong or weak?And most importantly, what is God trying to tell us in this small Old Testament story?
When we study the bible, we must understand that everything included in scripture has a unique purpose in the global story of God and His people. The story of Samson is no different. We’re going to take it from the beginning, study it piece by piece, and ultimately answer the deeper questions that could perplex someone who reads the story, as opposed to someone who studies the deeper layers of it.
But, as with any story, we must start with the history.
The story of Samson is found in the Old Testament, in the Book of Judges, and begins in chapter 13. Judges is the seventh book of the Old Testament, right after the Book of Joshua and before the Book of Ruth. It is a chronicle of 300 years of successes and failures of the Israelites in the Promised Land. In this book God calls “Judges” into action to rescue Israel from oppression. The Judges (there are twelve of them) rise up, align Israel with God once more, and for the balance of their lifetime lead Israel into peace. But why? Why does God allow Israel to fall into apostasy and recover? Mercy. The same God of the New Testament is also here, showing an abundance of mercy to his people. But to truly understand this time of the Judges, we have to go back in time, to the Exodus, to understand fully how Israel came to the Promised Land. This is essential in understand the time Samson lived in, and why he was called to lead.
History
Jacob
Prior to 1876 BC, a man named Jacob was instructed, by God, to move his family from Canaan (Israel before Israel was formerly designated), to Egypt. There were two reasons for this: first, there was a famine in the land. Second, and more important, God promised to make a great nation out of the people who followed his instructions (trusted). So Jacob packed his bags and brought seventy people with him to Egypt. There, Jacob met up with Joseph, his long lost son, who is now second in command to Pharaoh himself! Joseph arranges for Jacob and his family to live in Egypt (Goshen), and are provided for by Egypt. (Gen. 46)
The Exodus
Years pass. The timeline is not precise, but enough years pass so that the Israelites are fruitful and multiply exceedingly, so much so that they get the attention of the new Pharaoh, a man generations removed from Joseph and his Pharaoh. This Pharaoh (most likely Amunhotep I), saw a great and looming threat from the “Hebrews”: “‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them of they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” (Ex. 1:9-10)
So the Pharaoh puts the Israelites into slavery, and this slavery lasts for 430 years. They cry out to God and God hears them. He sends a savior, a man who will lead them into freedom. This man is Moses.
Moses
Moses is a reluctant leader. He in a Hebrew who has been raised in the Pharaoh’s palace for his entire life. He is well educated. He has everything going for him in his path to comfort and riches in Egypt. But he witnesses a Hebrew slave’s beating, interjects, and ends up killing the Egyptian slavemaster in the scuffle. This is a bad move, because Moses knows that the Pharaoh of the time (most likely Thutmoses II) has a zero tolerance policy for murder. So Moses flees, all the way down to Midian (modern day Saudi Arabia) and ends up tending sheep on his father-in-law’s land for 40 years.
In that time Moses is visited by God in a burning bush (Ex.3). In a nutshell, the command from God is for Moses to go to Egypt, present himself as a representative of God, and require that the Pharaoh (now Thutmoses III), let the Israelites go. Moses is then to take the Israelites through the desert and to the Promised Land, a land of Milk and Honey. (Ex.3:16-17)
Moses doesn’t want to do it, but God brings Moses’ brother Aaron into the mix and they go back to Egypt, confront the Pharaoh, but the Pharaoh does not budge. You see, the Pharaoh has a great stake in keeping the Israelites: they are his primary workforce. So God has to ratchet up the stakes. He sets Israel through nine nasty plagues, each one building on the last. This presses Egypt and shows the Egyptians that their gods are not powerful. In fact, they are fiction. There is only one true God, and the Pharaoh is up against him.
Flight from Egypt
But it isn’t until the last plague that Pharaoh gets the point- at least for awhile. This is the Death of the Firstborn plague. God instructed the Israelites to slaughter a lamb and smear its blood upon the threshold of their homes. In this, they were promised that the Angel of Death would “Pass Over” their homes and spare them the deaths that was sure to visit the Egyptians. The first born children of Egypt die and the Pharaoh lets the Israelites go.
But it is short-lived, for after Moses and his people get out of Egypt and head for the desert, the Pharaoh realizes he has let his entire workforce go! He gets his army and chariots and speeds after them. But one of God’s most famous miracles is about to shut them down. The parting of the Red Sea provides safe passage for the Israelites and swallows the Egyptians up in one giant gulp and the Israelites, without their main oppressor, are free.
Freedom in the desert
The Israelites are free. They are led by a “pillar of light” through the desolate wilderness. They don’t take the easy way across the desert ( an 11-day journey along the road of the Philistines) but go south. Why? Number one, they weren’t ready for war. Although there were a lot of them (some estimates have them at 2 million), they weren’t trained to go up agains the battle-hardened Philistines. The road of the Philistines was dotted with fortifications. Second, they weren’t spiritually ready. God’s chosen people needed training, both militarily and spiritually, so that when they did arrive at the Promised Land, they could drive the people out and replace them with people completely attuned to God. This was an important distinction and it the reason they were given census’ and fortified into tribes (military training) and obsessively trained on how to respect, sacrifice, and take care of what was God’s (the moving tabernacle/tent of meeting).
The Promised Land
Ultimately the Israelites came to the border of the Promised Land and twelve spies go into the country to verify what God has promised and to see what they were up against. When they returned, ten of the spies said the land was indeed fruitful but there was no way they could ever take it. This “Bad Report” infected the entire company of people. But two spies, Joshua and Caleb, had a much different take on it. They knew that God was with them, and even though the fortifications were ominous, and even though the Anak were there (Giants), they believed in the promise. Because of Israel’s disbelief in God’s promise, no one from that generation, besides Joshua and Caleb, would enter the Promised Land. So the Israelites were forced to wander until the generation died out.
Clearing of the Promised Land
General Joshua took charge and for seven years cleared out the Promised Land. Along with Caleb, these two tough the Anak and the Canaanites for purchase of the land. But in time both men grew old, and as we get into the Book of Judges, Joshua is 110 years old and dies. The Israelites have been hanging outside the border for about fifty years. That is when God calls the tribes in to finish the job.
We have to remember God’s directive in clearing the Promised Land (Deut 7:1-5). You are to utterly destroy them. Do not make pacts with them. Do not intermarry with them. Don’t make them slaves. In other words, God does not want the Israelites around the Canaanites at all. But why? Shouldn’t we all strive to live in harmony with one another? First, you have to understand a little about the Canaanites. For over 400 years, the Canaanites, worshippers of Baal and a host of other gods, had walked completely away from God. They had turned God’s land into a morally-relative playground, where sexual practices had worked their way into their worship, where child sacrifice was acceptable, whee the society had broken down to “everyone did as they pleased.” The conquest of Canaan was both a deliverance for the Jews and a judgment for the Canaanites.
Also, we must remember the charge of the Israelites. They were trained to be God’s people, to enter the Promised Land and be nothing like the people there. They were to project God through them, be a holy people unto themselves, so the world could see how different they were. It isn’t genocide or racism, as detractors of scripture would have you believe, but God’s Plan to have Israel reflect all that God is. They couldn’t live up to it.
The subsequent tribes who came into the land had many pitfalls. Some made bargains. Others enslaved the Canaanites. Some couldn’t push them out and just lived with them. What happened over time was that these little compromises had long-reaching effects on the people. They began to intermarry. They began to chase after other gods. They forgot their worship and became a people who were maligned. Thus they began a cycle of what I like to call the “Sin cycle.”
This cycle is predominant in the Book of Judges. It goes like this:
Israel is doing right by God. They have remembered that God rescued them from Egypt and He is the only God. They are following God fully
Israel wanders away, begins chasing after other gods (Idols)
Israel is oppressed by an outside force
In their oppression, Israel calls out to God
God sends them a savior (Judge)
The Judge brings Israel back into alignment with God
Israel is delivered and can once again follow God fully
This cycle is very important to remember, for in the Book of Judges, there is a familiar phrase that opens every introduction to a Judge: “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and were oppressed by _____ for ___years.” This is the cycle that Israel is under at the time of Samson’s birth.
Judges 13
The Birth of Samson
The story of Samson takes place in three main spots: Zorah (where Samson is born), the land of the Philistines, and Judah. Zorah is in the tribe country of Dan.
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
(This is the phrase that opens the story of Samson and shows us that the cycle of sin is again at play. The Israelites have fallen away again, and in doing so they have been oppressed by the Philistines for the longest amount of time in the entire Book of Judges, 40 years)
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean.
(When we see “Angel of the Lord,” we have understand it appears in scripture in two different contexts. When we hear “an Angel of the Lord appeared,” this is to alert us that this is truly a messenger of God, like Gabriel. Also, in those instances, the Angel has to often say, “Don’t be afraid,” because the appearance is something strikingly different from an ordinary man. “The Angel of the Lord” is God, a Christphany or Theophany. As in this story, you’ll notice that Manoah’s wife is awestruck but not afraid. This is because he appears as a man, although she knows that this is no mere man.
5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
(God can do the impossible. We’ve seen it before in the story of Abraham and Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah. But we see something a little different here, but for a very specific reason. He will “take the lead” in delivering Israel. More on that as we continue. Samson is also to be a Nazarite from birth. We need to learn a little about the Nazarite Vow.
The Nazarite Vow is a temporary vow given by an individual to the Lord for a specific amount of time (Numbers 6:1-21). Here is a rundown of what the vow includes:
1. Dedication to God
2. Can be a man or woman
3. Specific Time frame
4. Specific Requirements/Restrictions
A. No wine or fermented drink
B. No grapes/seeds/skins
C. No Haircuts
D. Cannot touch a dead body
5. Sacrifice offered at conclusion
The Nazarite Vow as taken by those who wanted to show a special dedication for God. In that time the requirements had to be obeyed or the vow was dissolved and they would have to start over, meaning the head would be shaved and then they would repeat. But what about the specifics of the vow?
1. Grapes: wine, fermented drink, even the building blocks of wine could not be allowed. This was because grapes, in this culture, was foundational. Like a person who fasts deprives themselves of food, deprivation of a fundamental aspect of life was a way to grow int he spirit (inside appearance)
2. Hair: Hair was grown to show those around them they were taking this vow. It would help people understand not to tempt him, respect the vow, and also to show people he was seriously following (outside appearance)
3. Dead body (Touching a dead body in this culture made one ceremonially unclean. If you recall, people were often ousted from the Israelite camp in the desert for doing this. (Num 19:11)
Each of these speak to the person taking the vow as a person serious about holiness. They must practice spiritual cleanliness (inside), an outward appearance (others must see he is serious), and be in a constant state of ceremonial readiness.
At the conclusion of the vow, a sacrifice would be offered. The hair would be cut and placed on the altar with the sacrifice, and once burned, the vow would end.
6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
(You’ll notice that Manoah’s wife regards the angel with awe, not fear. That tells us that she is connected with God. But you will also notice that she has a large part in this too. She must be faithful to the Nazarite Vow as well.
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
9 God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!”
11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?”
“I am,” he said.
12 So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?”
13 The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”
(Did you catch the faith of the parents? This is striking and important. Manoah never doubts. He doesn’t ask for verification. He simply asks for him to come again so they can understand how to bring their child up properly for God. In verse 12, Manoah says, “When your words…” as opposed to “If your words…” Manoah has a deep faith.)
5 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.”
16 The angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.)
(Even without the parenthetical we can understand a great truth as to the identity of The Angel of the Lord: he accepts a sacrifice. Angels don’t do that. God does.)
17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?”
18 He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.[a]” 19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”
(Again we can tell that Manoah is a good man of God. He wants to show his gratitude at being a part in God’s Plan. He wants to offer a sacrifice. And when it dawns on him that this is truly God, he hits the floor and thinks he’s doomed. Why? Exodus 33:20. Manoah obviously knows the scriptures.)
24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
(This is noteworthy because we see the spirit moving in Samson at an early age. This tells us that Samson is aware of God and is important in the story moving forward.
Chapter 14
Samson’s Marriage
(This chapter marks the beginning of the Samson story and introduces us to the namesake of the story. When we last left Samson, the spirit of God began to stir in him when he was a young boy, implying that throughout his formative years, the spirit of God was present. It is also fair to say that his parents brought him up in the ways of God, taught him to follow his Nazarite Vow, and use his strength of character over his physical strength.)
1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
(Although impetuous, this request isn’t out of bounds in the culture. In the Jewish culture of the time, a man would request the marriage of a woman. It was his duty to go the parents, who would in turn meet with the woman’s parents. They would “Negotiate” over the couple and arrive at an arrangement that suited them both. This would result in the father of the husband essentially buying the bride (Mohar).
(The part that should be concerning isn’t about Samson’s request, but the reason behind it. First off, where is Samson? Timnah is in the land of the Philistines, a place where Samson shouldn’t be! Furthermore, he has seen a woman (just seen her), and wants her for himself. He is in a land h shouldn’t be in, lusting after a woman he shouldn’t be. This is the beginning of Samson’s problem with temptation, as instead of fleeing from temptation, he is inviting it.)
3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”
(This is another example of the steadfast and faithful nature of his parents. They offer wise counsel to their son. Deuteronomy 7:3-4 explains that Israelites should not marry outside their race. This isn’t a racial intolerance on God’s part, but a truth: when you shackle yourself to those who are not of God, you run the risk of becoming like them. It is the same problem the Israelites had when they came into the Promised Land. They didn’t completely listen to God (they were supposed to utterly destroy the people of the land), the compromised themselves by living with them (weren’t supposed to live with them, intermarry, make slaves or agreements with them). But they did and for 300 years (span of the book of Judges), they were in restless turmoil. Samson is poised to do the same thing.
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
(One of the main points of the story of Samson is that God’s Will is done regardless of our actions. Whether we choose to be sinful or obedient, God’s Will is done. We can see that Samson is obviously in violation of God, but due to Samson’s free will, he is allowed to continue in his sinfulness. One of the tragedies of this story is that Samson has every opportunity afforded to do God’s Will, but chooses not to. In essence, he was given the Spirit of God from birth, afforded massive strength, but used it for his own pleasures. As we continue, we will see how he accomplishes this.)
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
(Samson’s family make the trek to Timnah where the parents are to meet up and discuss the impending wedding. But something happens along the way. We find Samson, alone near a vineyard when a lion attacks. God saves him, and here we have one of the most iconic bible stories ever. Samson uses God’s strength to destroy a fierce lion. But when we look a little closer, we see something quite different:
1. Samson is alone and near a vineyard. Samson shouldn’t be there. If we look back at the Nazarite Vow, which is supposed to uphold for his entire life, we find that he shouldn’t be near grapes, let alone a vineyard. Again, we see Samson stepping into a situation he shouldn’t be in. He is flirting with temptation, and is almost destroyed because of it. In Samson’s mind, perhaps he believes that his strength is enough, instead of realizing that his strength is not sourced in himself, but from God.)
2. He tells neither his father nor mother. We see his parents as a source of wisdom and power. They are faithful followers of God. But Samson does not tell them of this great victory. Why? Because he knows being at the vineyard is wrong. He knows his parents would be taken aback. So he keeps it quiet.
3. He talks to the girl and he liked her. Here is further evidence that his original proclamation about marrying her was on sight. He had never even talked with her. His entire motive was based on attraction, impulse, desire. This will get him in bigger trouble later.
8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9 He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.
(At first glance, this may seem like a very nice thing to do. He shared the honey with his parents. He is a good kid after all, right? Well, not exactly. The key to understanding this verse is in the fact that he again didn’t tell his parents. Is it because he is back at the vineyard? Partly. The bigger issue is that he has violated another part of the Nazarite Vow: he has touched a dead body. In incremental ways Samson is showing that he has little regard for the vow he is supposed to uphold.
10 Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. 11 When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.
(This is indeed customary. Before the wedding a 7-day feast is held by the groom. This is typically a 7-day drinking fest, bachelor party so to speak. Of course, it easy to see the pattern continue. Samson may not have even drank a drop at the feast, but he again puts himself into a position where he could be tempted. The Nazarite Vow is really a vow of cleanliness and Holiness.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13 If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”
14 He replied,
“Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.”
For three days they could not give the answer.
(Samson’s riddle is really a taunt. He knows that no one can solve it, because it based on the killing of the lion and the subsequent honey he found. He is the only one who knows about it. It is the reason he bets so high, because he knows he can’t lose. We’ll see this confidence once again displayed in the story of Delilah. And we will also see that Samson’s overconfidence in himself ultimately contributed to his downfall.)
15 On the fourth[a] day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”
(We have to remember who we are dealing with. These are the Philistines, the Godless people who worship Dagon, god of fish/grain, who are oppressing Israel during Samson’s time. Yet Samson is in league with them, marrying one of them and taunting the others.)
16 Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”
“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” 17 She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.
(We can see something very important here: there is no foundation of their relationship. Samson shows little love for her, and her convictions aren’t squarely with Samson. It seems they are deeper set with her people. She sides with them over Samson.
18 Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
Samson said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle.”
(Samson does not see the root cause of the problem: first his sinful behavior, then his taunt of the impossible riddle. His confidence turns into hurt pride. It won’t be the first time he deals with this. But more astonishingly, he doesn’t accept the blame. He puts the blame on the Philistines and his wife, not on the fact that he set it all in motion in the first place).
19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.
(We see that Samson is purely in anger/vengeance mode here. But the Spirit of the Lord comes on him in this moment. Why would God sanction murder? If we remember back in Judges 14:4, God was looking for a way to move against the Philistines. Samson’s vengeful behavior made that happen. His murder of 30 Philistines will have dire consequences as the story moves on. You will note, however, that once he kills these men and gives the suits to the Philistine men, he doesn’t go to the wife but back to his father’s house. His anger causes his to run away, and perhaps assume that he is married. But the father gives the woman to a different man in his absence.
Chapter 15
Samson’s vengeance on the Philistines
1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.
2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”
(We see that some time has passed. It is now time for the wheat harvest. In this culture, it is customary for the husband to bring a goat to the wife. So Samson, assuming all is good with his marriage, comes to visit his bride. Instead, he realizes that she has been given to another. Again, Samson’s pride is hurt. But the deeper message here is of relationship. He didn’t pour anything into this relationship. He just assumed he had it. This is the same mistake he makes with God. He has the power of God, which shows up when enacting God’s Will, but he doesn’t have the relationship. To this point in the story, has Samson called out to God at all?)
3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.”
(Is it really the fault of the Philistines? Remember, the only reason this situation came about was because Samson was in a place he shouldn’t have been, lusting after a woman he shouldn’t be involved with. He breaks his vow twice and proposes a bet that backfires on him. But the blame is not on him but the Philistines.)
4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
(Whether this really happened or hyperbole, the deeper message is this: Samson systematically, brutally and cruelly set to work attacking the Philistines by buying the fields. Did you catch which fields he burned? Grain, vineyards and olive groves. These are the building blocks of societies at this time. For a hurt ego, Samson attacks the Philistines anther foundations. We see a deep anger in Samson that is not in alignment with God.
6 When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.”
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
(Samson’s vengeance has consequences. The very people he was once committed to are now the focus of revenge by his perceived enemy. We see Samson in full revenge mode here. Is he acting within the parameters of Godliness, holiness, the Nazarite Vow? Or is he acting completely by the flesh? We can get an answer by the following verses: 1 Peter 3:9, 1 Thess 5:15, Deuteronomy 32:35. You’ll see that revenge is meant for God alone.
9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”
“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”
11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?”
(The Philistines, Israel’s oppressors, have tracked Samson to the Rock of Etam, located in Judah. We see that Judah is more interested in pleasing their oppressors than harboring Samson, which tells us a little bit about how much the Israelites had tumbled under this oppression).
He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”
(Samson still sees himself as the victim, instead of the single person who started the whole problem).
12 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”
Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
13 “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
(here we see that Samson is still mulling over revenge. He wants another chance at them.
14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
16 Then Samson said,
“With a donkey’s jawbone
I have made donkeys of them.
With a donkey’s jawbone
I have killed a thousand men.”
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
(This is one of the keystone stories in the Samson chronicles. We see Samson being walked toward the throng of Philistines. But they begin shouting (charging) and we see God’s miraculous intervention again. He is using Samson despite his sin, not because of it. Samson picks up a jawbone and kills another thousand men at Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).
18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.
(This is the first time we hear Samson calling out to God. We can note two things here. 1. Samson does have faith in God. He believes God is there and that this battle was something God helped him to accomplish. 2. God is at Samson’s beck and call. Samson hasn’t had a need to call out to God anywhere else in the story. Here he realizes he is mortal and needs God and God therefore helps him, based on mercy and the fact that Samson is still needed.
20 Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Chapter 16
Samson and Delilah
1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”
3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
(Where is Samson? Gaza! Gaza is one of the major Philistine cities in the Philistine country. It almost seems like Samson hasn’t learned from his mistakes. He is once again somewhere he shouldn’t be, doing things he shouldn’t be doing. We can see that the Philistines are ready to end him, but can’t quite catch up to him. Samson, however, knows how to taunt. He rips out the gate of their city and brings it toward Hebron (Judah).
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”
(Where is Samson? The Valley of Sorek is east of Ekron, another major city of the Philistines, and he is shacking up with another Philistine woman. This one, however, is hooked up with the Philistine leaders. They are concerned with the source of his strength, which tells us something very interesting about Samson: perhaps his strength isn’t evident. Perhaps he isn’t bursting with muscle. They can’t understand where this strength comes from and are prepared to pay handsomely for it. Delilah’s payment is massive: 1100 shekels from the rulers of the five major Philistine cities (Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, Ashkelon and Gath. The payment roughly equals 140 pounds of silver and is equivalent to the purchase of 275 slaves. In other words, this amount of money will set Delilah up for life.
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
(We see Delilah’s first attempt at learning about Samson’s great strength. But we also see something about Samson’s greatest relationship problem: he doesn’t trust the woman he supposedly loves enough to be truthful. This could be because he isn’t really in love with her. This relationship could again be based on beauty, which was the downfall of the first relationship with the Philistine woman from Timnah.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
Samson isn’t only being deceitful, but he is also playing with Delilah. After her treachery of the first botched attempt, he should have been out of there. But Samson doesn’t flee, he stays in the relationship and toys with her. This is a classic example of Samson relying on his own strength. In the wedding feast story (Judges 14:12-14), Samson relies on his own cunning to tell a riddle that he knows is impossible to solve. Here he is doing the same thing. He knows the riddle is impossible to solve; he’s the only one with the answer. Instead of running away from he situation, returning to Israel and learning from his mistakes, Samson continues to play with fire, remaining in the relationship and in the land of the Philistines.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and[b] tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
Samson goes a step further. He leaves the rope idea and moves to the vicinity of the truth. He is now at the hair, but is still playing. You see how Samson is slipping into sinning, right? By relying on his own strength, Samson perilously keeps testing the waters. Again, Samson should have been out of there after the first time Delilah tricked him, but he has not fled.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
Delilah cuts to the quick. She knows Samson has some feelings for her. So she attacks him there, at his weakest point, his heart, and continues to stab him there until he gives up. You’ll notice that Samson essentially falls into the same trap twice. He fell into the Philisitine woman from Timnah’s constant questioning the same way he falls to Delilah: he gets tired of the nagging. Keep in mind, though, that Samson started both of these situations and stayed in them far too long, until the situation blew up on him.
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
Delilah wastes no time in getting her job done. We can easily see that Delilah shows no love or kindness to Samson. She is there simply for the paycheck. He manipulates him, waits until he is asleep, then takes care of the hair.
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
It is important to note that Samson awakes and realizes it is time to break free. Samson has had the Lord within from his youth. He has understood the Nazarite Vow through his parents. He has had the Spirit of the Lord come upon him powerful, giving him great strength. He expects it to continue. But the hair is gone now. The Lord had departed. But is it simply because of the hair?
Samson’s power isn’t in his hair, but in his relationship with the Lord. By Samson’s hair being cut, he has broken the final part of his vow. We can see, through the entire story, that Samson has been working against God. He broke the vow of grapes (by being around a vineyard and at the wedding feast), and touching a dead body (lion carcass). Here his adverse relationship is complete. You see, Samson expected God to show up at times he was in need. But Samson never sought the holiness the vow required. By the breaking of the final vow, The Spirit of the Lord leaves, not because God is in the hair, but in the relationship.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
A few important things happen here. Since the Spirit of the Lord left him, Samson is reduced to an ordinary man. But that is not all:
1. Eyes gouged out-Samson’s sight got him in trouble int he first place. It was what he saw (The Philistine Woman) that first began all the trouble.
2. Bronze shackles- Samson wanted the freedom to stroll through the land of the Philistines without issue. Now his freedom is gone.
3. Grinding Grain- Samson has to contribute to the very thing destroyed (Judges 15:3-15)
All of his strength and freedom, the very things that Samson chose to set his foundation on, were taken away in one swoop. Because Samson didn’t flee from temptation and operate with his own source of strength, it was eventually obliterated. But this is not without hope: his hair begins to grow back. We can see this as foreshadowing or God’s future grace, but we can also see this in the context of the Nazarite Vow. If a person takes the vow and partway through is guilty of breaking one of the vows, the head is shaved and he is reset at the beginning. This is evidence of restoration for Samson, another chance to fulfills vow fully with God at the center.
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
“Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain.”
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
Notice that the rulers of the Philistines, most likely from all five cities, have assembled to see Samson. Samson has been a thorn in the side of the Philistines for twenty years and there have been attempts to bring him down. But he was able to do as he played in their land, kill its people, take its women. Finally they have captured him, this fine trophy, and they give thanks to their god Dagon, the great fish/grain god of the Philistines.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
In this final part of the story, Samson has lost everything. His eyes, freedom, strength are all gone. he cannot rely on himself any longer, but must turn his attention, once again, back to God. His plea isn’t one of complete understanding, but he does have faith in God in this moment. He is still after revenge, but his reliance on God for this works towards God’s Will toward the Philistines. God provides him this last request, and in one cataclysmic feat he brings down the temple and destroys the hierarchy of the Philistines. This doesn’t mean that the Philistines are gone, though. Moving forward in time, the Philistines are very much in the mix until David finally defeats them. But Samson’s job wasn’t to destroy the Philistines, but to “Lead the way” in destroying the Philistines.
Samson’s story is a tragic one. He could have been used in a much more vital way, but chose his own way over God’s. In this, God still used Samson, despite his sin, not because of it. If Samson had lived up to his vow and followed God, there’s no telling what greater blessing he could have been to his people.
31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led[d] Israel twenty years.
Samson’s body is recovered and buried in his father’s tomb. Israel showed him the respect for what he did rather than leave him in disgrace.
IMPORTANT THEMES
One way we can effectively battle temptation is to avoid putting ourselves in a position where we could fall. In Samson’s case, he continually put himself in compromising positions, and each one of these situations he put himself in had an erosion on him. Things got worse. If he had avoided the situation altogether, then perhaps he wouldn’t have fallen into the temptation at all.
The story of Samson is a short story (only four chapters long) but dense with biblical truth and life application. But how could that be? It is the truncated story of the strongest man to make it into the biblical canon. It combines long-forgotten history with hyperbole and chronicles a superhero of sorts, a man with amazing strength who doesn’t quite live up to his calling. Is Samson a hero or merely a normal guy who doesn’t understand his incredible God-given power? Is he strong or weak?And most importantly, what is God trying to tell us in this small Old Testament story?
When we study the bible, we must understand that everything included in scripture has a unique purpose in the global story of God and His people. The story of Samson is no different. We’re going to take it from the beginning, study it piece by piece, and ultimately answer the deeper questions that could perplex someone who reads the story, as opposed to someone who studies the deeper layers of it.
But, as with any story, we must start with the history.
The story of Samson is found in the Old Testament, in the Book of Judges, and begins in chapter 13. Judges is the seventh book of the Old Testament, right after the Book of Joshua and before the Book of Ruth. It is a chronicle of 300 years of successes and failures of the Israelites in the Promised Land. In this book God calls “Judges” into action to rescue Israel from oppression. The Judges (there are twelve of them) rise up, align Israel with God once more, and for the balance of their lifetime lead Israel into peace. But why? Why does God allow Israel to fall into apostasy and recover? Mercy. The same God of the New Testament is also here, showing an abundance of mercy to his people. But to truly understand this time of the Judges, we have to go back in time, to the Exodus, to understand fully how Israel came to the Promised Land. This is essential in understand the time Samson lived in, and why he was called to lead.
History
Jacob
Prior to 1876 BC, a man named Jacob was instructed, by God, to move his family from Canaan (Israel before Israel was formerly designated), to Egypt. There were two reasons for this: first, there was a famine in the land. Second, and more important, God promised to make a great nation out of the people who followed his instructions (trusted). So Jacob packed his bags and brought seventy people with him to Egypt. There, Jacob met up with Joseph, his long lost son, who is now second in command to Pharaoh himself! Joseph arranges for Jacob and his family to live in Egypt (Goshen), and are provided for by Egypt. (Gen. 46)
The Exodus
Years pass. The timeline is not precise, but enough years pass so that the Israelites are fruitful and multiply exceedingly, so much so that they get the attention of the new Pharaoh, a man generations removed from Joseph and his Pharaoh. This Pharaoh (most likely Amunhotep I), saw a great and looming threat from the “Hebrews”: “‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them of they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” (Ex. 1:9-10)
So the Pharaoh puts the Israelites into slavery, and this slavery lasts for 430 years. They cry out to God and God hears them. He sends a savior, a man who will lead them into freedom. This man is Moses.
Moses
Moses is a reluctant leader. He in a Hebrew who has been raised in the Pharaoh’s palace for his entire life. He is well educated. He has everything going for him in his path to comfort and riches in Egypt. But he witnesses a Hebrew slave’s beating, interjects, and ends up killing the Egyptian slavemaster in the scuffle. This is a bad move, because Moses knows that the Pharaoh of the time (most likely Thutmoses II) has a zero tolerance policy for murder. So Moses flees, all the way down to Midian (modern day Saudi Arabia) and ends up tending sheep on his father-in-law’s land for 40 years.
In that time Moses is visited by God in a burning bush (Ex.3). In a nutshell, the command from God is for Moses to go to Egypt, present himself as a representative of God, and require that the Pharaoh (now Thutmoses III), let the Israelites go. Moses is then to take the Israelites through the desert and to the Promised Land, a land of Milk and Honey. (Ex.3:16-17)
Moses doesn’t want to do it, but God brings Moses’ brother Aaron into the mix and they go back to Egypt, confront the Pharaoh, but the Pharaoh does not budge. You see, the Pharaoh has a great stake in keeping the Israelites: they are his primary workforce. So God has to ratchet up the stakes. He sets Israel through nine nasty plagues, each one building on the last. This presses Egypt and shows the Egyptians that their gods are not powerful. In fact, they are fiction. There is only one true God, and the Pharaoh is up against him.
Flight from Egypt
But it isn’t until the last plague that Pharaoh gets the point- at least for awhile. This is the Death of the Firstborn plague. God instructed the Israelites to slaughter a lamb and smear its blood upon the threshold of their homes. In this, they were promised that the Angel of Death would “Pass Over” their homes and spare them the deaths that was sure to visit the Egyptians. The first born children of Egypt die and the Pharaoh lets the Israelites go.
But it is short-lived, for after Moses and his people get out of Egypt and head for the desert, the Pharaoh realizes he has let his entire workforce go! He gets his army and chariots and speeds after them. But one of God’s most famous miracles is about to shut them down. The parting of the Red Sea provides safe passage for the Israelites and swallows the Egyptians up in one giant gulp and the Israelites, without their main oppressor, are free.
Freedom in the desert
The Israelites are free. They are led by a “pillar of light” through the desolate wilderness. They don’t take the easy way across the desert ( an 11-day journey along the road of the Philistines) but go south. Why? Number one, they weren’t ready for war. Although there were a lot of them (some estimates have them at 2 million), they weren’t trained to go up agains the battle-hardened Philistines. The road of the Philistines was dotted with fortifications. Second, they weren’t spiritually ready. God’s chosen people needed training, both militarily and spiritually, so that when they did arrive at the Promised Land, they could drive the people out and replace them with people completely attuned to God. This was an important distinction and it the reason they were given census’ and fortified into tribes (military training) and obsessively trained on how to respect, sacrifice, and take care of what was God’s (the moving tabernacle/tent of meeting).
The Promised Land
Ultimately the Israelites came to the border of the Promised Land and twelve spies go into the country to verify what God has promised and to see what they were up against. When they returned, ten of the spies said the land was indeed fruitful but there was no way they could ever take it. This “Bad Report” infected the entire company of people. But two spies, Joshua and Caleb, had a much different take on it. They knew that God was with them, and even though the fortifications were ominous, and even though the Anak were there (Giants), they believed in the promise. Because of Israel’s disbelief in God’s promise, no one from that generation, besides Joshua and Caleb, would enter the Promised Land. So the Israelites were forced to wander until the generation died out.
Clearing of the Promised Land
General Joshua took charge and for seven years cleared out the Promised Land. Along with Caleb, these two tough the Anak and the Canaanites for purchase of the land. But in time both men grew old, and as we get into the Book of Judges, Joshua is 110 years old and dies. The Israelites have been hanging outside the border for about fifty years. That is when God calls the tribes in to finish the job.
We have to remember God’s directive in clearing the Promised Land (Deut 7:1-5). You are to utterly destroy them. Do not make pacts with them. Do not intermarry with them. Don’t make them slaves. In other words, God does not want the Israelites around the Canaanites at all. But why? Shouldn’t we all strive to live in harmony with one another? First, you have to understand a little about the Canaanites. For over 400 years, the Canaanites, worshippers of Baal and a host of other gods, had walked completely away from God. They had turned God’s land into a morally-relative playground, where sexual practices had worked their way into their worship, where child sacrifice was acceptable, whee the society had broken down to “everyone did as they pleased.” The conquest of Canaan was both a deliverance for the Jews and a judgment for the Canaanites.
Also, we must remember the charge of the Israelites. They were trained to be God’s people, to enter the Promised Land and be nothing like the people there. They were to project God through them, be a holy people unto themselves, so the world could see how different they were. It isn’t genocide or racism, as detractors of scripture would have you believe, but God’s Plan to have Israel reflect all that God is. They couldn’t live up to it.
The subsequent tribes who came into the land had many pitfalls. Some made bargains. Others enslaved the Canaanites. Some couldn’t push them out and just lived with them. What happened over time was that these little compromises had long-reaching effects on the people. They began to intermarry. They began to chase after other gods. They forgot their worship and became a people who were maligned. Thus they began a cycle of what I like to call the “Sin cycle.”
This cycle is predominant in the Book of Judges. It goes like this:
Israel is doing right by God. They have remembered that God rescued them from Egypt and He is the only God. They are following God fully
Israel wanders away, begins chasing after other gods (Idols)
Israel is oppressed by an outside force
In their oppression, Israel calls out to God
God sends them a savior (Judge)
The Judge brings Israel back into alignment with God
Israel is delivered and can once again follow God fully
This cycle is very important to remember, for in the Book of Judges, there is a familiar phrase that opens every introduction to a Judge: “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and were oppressed by _____ for ___years.” This is the cycle that Israel is under at the time of Samson’s birth.
Judges 13
The Birth of Samson
The story of Samson takes place in three main spots: Zorah (where Samson is born), the land of the Philistines, and Judah. Zorah is in the tribe country of Dan.
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
(This is the phrase that opens the story of Samson and shows us that the cycle of sin is again at play. The Israelites have fallen away again, and in doing so they have been oppressed by the Philistines for the longest amount of time in the entire Book of Judges, 40 years)
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean.
(When we see “Angel of the Lord,” we have understand it appears in scripture in two different contexts. When we hear “an Angel of the Lord appeared,” this is to alert us that this is truly a messenger of God, like Gabriel. Also, in those instances, the Angel has to often say, “Don’t be afraid,” because the appearance is something strikingly different from an ordinary man. “The Angel of the Lord” is God, a Christphany or Theophany. As in this story, you’ll notice that Manoah’s wife is awestruck but not afraid. This is because he appears as a man, although she knows that this is no mere man.
5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
(God can do the impossible. We’ve seen it before in the story of Abraham and Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah. But we see something a little different here, but for a very specific reason. He will “take the lead” in delivering Israel. More on that as we continue. Samson is also to be a Nazarite from birth. We need to learn a little about the Nazarite Vow.
The Nazarite Vow is a temporary vow given by an individual to the Lord for a specific amount of time (Numbers 6:1-21). Here is a rundown of what the vow includes:
1. Dedication to God
2. Can be a man or woman
3. Specific Time frame
4. Specific Requirements/Restrictions
A. No wine or fermented drink
B. No grapes/seeds/skins
C. No Haircuts
D. Cannot touch a dead body
5. Sacrifice offered at conclusion
The Nazarite Vow as taken by those who wanted to show a special dedication for God. In that time the requirements had to be obeyed or the vow was dissolved and they would have to start over, meaning the head would be shaved and then they would repeat. But what about the specifics of the vow?
1. Grapes: wine, fermented drink, even the building blocks of wine could not be allowed. This was because grapes, in this culture, was foundational. Like a person who fasts deprives themselves of food, deprivation of a fundamental aspect of life was a way to grow int he spirit (inside appearance)
2. Hair: Hair was grown to show those around them they were taking this vow. It would help people understand not to tempt him, respect the vow, and also to show people he was seriously following (outside appearance)
3. Dead body (Touching a dead body in this culture made one ceremonially unclean. If you recall, people were often ousted from the Israelite camp in the desert for doing this. (Num 19:11)
Each of these speak to the person taking the vow as a person serious about holiness. They must practice spiritual cleanliness (inside), an outward appearance (others must see he is serious), and be in a constant state of ceremonial readiness.
At the conclusion of the vow, a sacrifice would be offered. The hair would be cut and placed on the altar with the sacrifice, and once burned, the vow would end.
6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
(You’ll notice that Manoah’s wife regards the angel with awe, not fear. That tells us that she is connected with God. But you will also notice that she has a large part in this too. She must be faithful to the Nazarite Vow as well.
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
9 God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!”
11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?”
“I am,” he said.
12 So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?”
13 The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”
(Did you catch the faith of the parents? This is striking and important. Manoah never doubts. He doesn’t ask for verification. He simply asks for him to come again so they can understand how to bring their child up properly for God. In verse 12, Manoah says, “When your words…” as opposed to “If your words…” Manoah has a deep faith.)
5 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.”
16 The angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.)
(Even without the parenthetical we can understand a great truth as to the identity of The Angel of the Lord: he accepts a sacrifice. Angels don’t do that. God does.)
17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?”
18 He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.[a]” 19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”
(Again we can tell that Manoah is a good man of God. He wants to show his gratitude at being a part in God’s Plan. He wants to offer a sacrifice. And when it dawns on him that this is truly God, he hits the floor and thinks he’s doomed. Why? Exodus 33:20. Manoah obviously knows the scriptures.)
24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
(This is noteworthy because we see the spirit moving in Samson at an early age. This tells us that Samson is aware of God and is important in the story moving forward.
Chapter 14
Samson’s Marriage
(This chapter marks the beginning of the Samson story and introduces us to the namesake of the story. When we last left Samson, the spirit of God began to stir in him when he was a young boy, implying that throughout his formative years, the spirit of God was present. It is also fair to say that his parents brought him up in the ways of God, taught him to follow his Nazarite Vow, and use his strength of character over his physical strength.)
1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
(Although impetuous, this request isn’t out of bounds in the culture. In the Jewish culture of the time, a man would request the marriage of a woman. It was his duty to go the parents, who would in turn meet with the woman’s parents. They would “Negotiate” over the couple and arrive at an arrangement that suited them both. This would result in the father of the husband essentially buying the bride (Mohar).
(The part that should be concerning isn’t about Samson’s request, but the reason behind it. First off, where is Samson? Timnah is in the land of the Philistines, a place where Samson shouldn’t be! Furthermore, he has seen a woman (just seen her), and wants her for himself. He is in a land h shouldn’t be in, lusting after a woman he shouldn’t be. This is the beginning of Samson’s problem with temptation, as instead of fleeing from temptation, he is inviting it.)
3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”
(This is another example of the steadfast and faithful nature of his parents. They offer wise counsel to their son. Deuteronomy 7:3-4 explains that Israelites should not marry outside their race. This isn’t a racial intolerance on God’s part, but a truth: when you shackle yourself to those who are not of God, you run the risk of becoming like them. It is the same problem the Israelites had when they came into the Promised Land. They didn’t completely listen to God (they were supposed to utterly destroy the people of the land), the compromised themselves by living with them (weren’t supposed to live with them, intermarry, make slaves or agreements with them). But they did and for 300 years (span of the book of Judges), they were in restless turmoil. Samson is poised to do the same thing.
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
(One of the main points of the story of Samson is that God’s Will is done regardless of our actions. Whether we choose to be sinful or obedient, God’s Will is done. We can see that Samson is obviously in violation of God, but due to Samson’s free will, he is allowed to continue in his sinfulness. One of the tragedies of this story is that Samson has every opportunity afforded to do God’s Will, but chooses not to. In essence, he was given the Spirit of God from birth, afforded massive strength, but used it for his own pleasures. As we continue, we will see how he accomplishes this.)
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
(Samson’s family make the trek to Timnah where the parents are to meet up and discuss the impending wedding. But something happens along the way. We find Samson, alone near a vineyard when a lion attacks. God saves him, and here we have one of the most iconic bible stories ever. Samson uses God’s strength to destroy a fierce lion. But when we look a little closer, we see something quite different:
1. Samson is alone and near a vineyard. Samson shouldn’t be there. If we look back at the Nazarite Vow, which is supposed to uphold for his entire life, we find that he shouldn’t be near grapes, let alone a vineyard. Again, we see Samson stepping into a situation he shouldn’t be in. He is flirting with temptation, and is almost destroyed because of it. In Samson’s mind, perhaps he believes that his strength is enough, instead of realizing that his strength is not sourced in himself, but from God.)
2. He tells neither his father nor mother. We see his parents as a source of wisdom and power. They are faithful followers of God. But Samson does not tell them of this great victory. Why? Because he knows being at the vineyard is wrong. He knows his parents would be taken aback. So he keeps it quiet.
3. He talks to the girl and he liked her. Here is further evidence that his original proclamation about marrying her was on sight. He had never even talked with her. His entire motive was based on attraction, impulse, desire. This will get him in bigger trouble later.
8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9 He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.
(At first glance, this may seem like a very nice thing to do. He shared the honey with his parents. He is a good kid after all, right? Well, not exactly. The key to understanding this verse is in the fact that he again didn’t tell his parents. Is it because he is back at the vineyard? Partly. The bigger issue is that he has violated another part of the Nazarite Vow: he has touched a dead body. In incremental ways Samson is showing that he has little regard for the vow he is supposed to uphold.
10 Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. 11 When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.
(This is indeed customary. Before the wedding a 7-day feast is held by the groom. This is typically a 7-day drinking fest, bachelor party so to speak. Of course, it easy to see the pattern continue. Samson may not have even drank a drop at the feast, but he again puts himself into a position where he could be tempted. The Nazarite Vow is really a vow of cleanliness and Holiness.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13 If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”
14 He replied,
“Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.”
For three days they could not give the answer.
(Samson’s riddle is really a taunt. He knows that no one can solve it, because it based on the killing of the lion and the subsequent honey he found. He is the only one who knows about it. It is the reason he bets so high, because he knows he can’t lose. We’ll see this confidence once again displayed in the story of Delilah. And we will also see that Samson’s overconfidence in himself ultimately contributed to his downfall.)
15 On the fourth[a] day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”
(We have to remember who we are dealing with. These are the Philistines, the Godless people who worship Dagon, god of fish/grain, who are oppressing Israel during Samson’s time. Yet Samson is in league with them, marrying one of them and taunting the others.)
16 Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”
“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” 17 She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.
(We can see something very important here: there is no foundation of their relationship. Samson shows little love for her, and her convictions aren’t squarely with Samson. It seems they are deeper set with her people. She sides with them over Samson.
18 Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
Samson said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle.”
(Samson does not see the root cause of the problem: first his sinful behavior, then his taunt of the impossible riddle. His confidence turns into hurt pride. It won’t be the first time he deals with this. But more astonishingly, he doesn’t accept the blame. He puts the blame on the Philistines and his wife, not on the fact that he set it all in motion in the first place).
19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.
(We see that Samson is purely in anger/vengeance mode here. But the Spirit of the Lord comes on him in this moment. Why would God sanction murder? If we remember back in Judges 14:4, God was looking for a way to move against the Philistines. Samson’s vengeful behavior made that happen. His murder of 30 Philistines will have dire consequences as the story moves on. You will note, however, that once he kills these men and gives the suits to the Philistine men, he doesn’t go to the wife but back to his father’s house. His anger causes his to run away, and perhaps assume that he is married. But the father gives the woman to a different man in his absence.
Chapter 15
Samson’s vengeance on the Philistines
1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.
2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”
(We see that some time has passed. It is now time for the wheat harvest. In this culture, it is customary for the husband to bring a goat to the wife. So Samson, assuming all is good with his marriage, comes to visit his bride. Instead, he realizes that she has been given to another. Again, Samson’s pride is hurt. But the deeper message here is of relationship. He didn’t pour anything into this relationship. He just assumed he had it. This is the same mistake he makes with God. He has the power of God, which shows up when enacting God’s Will, but he doesn’t have the relationship. To this point in the story, has Samson called out to God at all?)
3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.”
(Is it really the fault of the Philistines? Remember, the only reason this situation came about was because Samson was in a place he shouldn’t have been, lusting after a woman he shouldn’t be involved with. He breaks his vow twice and proposes a bet that backfires on him. But the blame is not on him but the Philistines.)
4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
(Whether this really happened or hyperbole, the deeper message is this: Samson systematically, brutally and cruelly set to work attacking the Philistines by buying the fields. Did you catch which fields he burned? Grain, vineyards and olive groves. These are the building blocks of societies at this time. For a hurt ego, Samson attacks the Philistines anther foundations. We see a deep anger in Samson that is not in alignment with God.
6 When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.”
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
(Samson’s vengeance has consequences. The very people he was once committed to are now the focus of revenge by his perceived enemy. We see Samson in full revenge mode here. Is he acting within the parameters of Godliness, holiness, the Nazarite Vow? Or is he acting completely by the flesh? We can get an answer by the following verses: 1 Peter 3:9, 1 Thess 5:15, Deuteronomy 32:35. You’ll see that revenge is meant for God alone.
9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”
“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”
11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?”
(The Philistines, Israel’s oppressors, have tracked Samson to the Rock of Etam, located in Judah. We see that Judah is more interested in pleasing their oppressors than harboring Samson, which tells us a little bit about how much the Israelites had tumbled under this oppression).
He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”
(Samson still sees himself as the victim, instead of the single person who started the whole problem).
12 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”
Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
13 “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
(here we see that Samson is still mulling over revenge. He wants another chance at them.
14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
16 Then Samson said,
“With a donkey’s jawbone
I have made donkeys of them.
With a donkey’s jawbone
I have killed a thousand men.”
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
(This is one of the keystone stories in the Samson chronicles. We see Samson being walked toward the throng of Philistines. But they begin shouting (charging) and we see God’s miraculous intervention again. He is using Samson despite his sin, not because of it. Samson picks up a jawbone and kills another thousand men at Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).
18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.
(This is the first time we hear Samson calling out to God. We can note two things here. 1. Samson does have faith in God. He believes God is there and that this battle was something God helped him to accomplish. 2. God is at Samson’s beck and call. Samson hasn’t had a need to call out to God anywhere else in the story. Here he realizes he is mortal and needs God and God therefore helps him, based on mercy and the fact that Samson is still needed.
20 Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Chapter 16
Samson and Delilah
1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”
3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
(Where is Samson? Gaza! Gaza is one of the major Philistine cities in the Philistine country. It almost seems like Samson hasn’t learned from his mistakes. He is once again somewhere he shouldn’t be, doing things he shouldn’t be doing. We can see that the Philistines are ready to end him, but can’t quite catch up to him. Samson, however, knows how to taunt. He rips out the gate of their city and brings it toward Hebron (Judah).
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”
(Where is Samson? The Valley of Sorek is east of Ekron, another major city of the Philistines, and he is shacking up with another Philistine woman. This one, however, is hooked up with the Philistine leaders. They are concerned with the source of his strength, which tells us something very interesting about Samson: perhaps his strength isn’t evident. Perhaps he isn’t bursting with muscle. They can’t understand where this strength comes from and are prepared to pay handsomely for it. Delilah’s payment is massive: 1100 shekels from the rulers of the five major Philistine cities (Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, Ashkelon and Gath. The payment roughly equals 140 pounds of silver and is equivalent to the purchase of 275 slaves. In other words, this amount of money will set Delilah up for life.
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
(We see Delilah’s first attempt at learning about Samson’s great strength. But we also see something about Samson’s greatest relationship problem: he doesn’t trust the woman he supposedly loves enough to be truthful. This could be because he isn’t really in love with her. This relationship could again be based on beauty, which was the downfall of the first relationship with the Philistine woman from Timnah.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
Samson isn’t only being deceitful, but he is also playing with Delilah. After her treachery of the first botched attempt, he should have been out of there. But Samson doesn’t flee, he stays in the relationship and toys with her. This is a classic example of Samson relying on his own strength. In the wedding feast story (Judges 14:12-14), Samson relies on his own cunning to tell a riddle that he knows is impossible to solve. Here he is doing the same thing. He knows the riddle is impossible to solve; he’s the only one with the answer. Instead of running away from he situation, returning to Israel and learning from his mistakes, Samson continues to play with fire, remaining in the relationship and in the land of the Philistines.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and[b] tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
Samson goes a step further. He leaves the rope idea and moves to the vicinity of the truth. He is now at the hair, but is still playing. You see how Samson is slipping into sinning, right? By relying on his own strength, Samson perilously keeps testing the waters. Again, Samson should have been out of there after the first time Delilah tricked him, but he has not fled.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
Delilah cuts to the quick. She knows Samson has some feelings for her. So she attacks him there, at his weakest point, his heart, and continues to stab him there until he gives up. You’ll notice that Samson essentially falls into the same trap twice. He fell into the Philisitine woman from Timnah’s constant questioning the same way he falls to Delilah: he gets tired of the nagging. Keep in mind, though, that Samson started both of these situations and stayed in them far too long, until the situation blew up on him.
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
Delilah wastes no time in getting her job done. We can easily see that Delilah shows no love or kindness to Samson. She is there simply for the paycheck. He manipulates him, waits until he is asleep, then takes care of the hair.
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
It is important to note that Samson awakes and realizes it is time to break free. Samson has had the Lord within from his youth. He has understood the Nazarite Vow through his parents. He has had the Spirit of the Lord come upon him powerful, giving him great strength. He expects it to continue. But the hair is gone now. The Lord had departed. But is it simply because of the hair?
Samson’s power isn’t in his hair, but in his relationship with the Lord. By Samson’s hair being cut, he has broken the final part of his vow. We can see, through the entire story, that Samson has been working against God. He broke the vow of grapes (by being around a vineyard and at the wedding feast), and touching a dead body (lion carcass). Here his adverse relationship is complete. You see, Samson expected God to show up at times he was in need. But Samson never sought the holiness the vow required. By the breaking of the final vow, The Spirit of the Lord leaves, not because God is in the hair, but in the relationship.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
A few important things happen here. Since the Spirit of the Lord left him, Samson is reduced to an ordinary man. But that is not all:
1. Eyes gouged out-Samson’s sight got him in trouble int he first place. It was what he saw (The Philistine Woman) that first began all the trouble.
2. Bronze shackles- Samson wanted the freedom to stroll through the land of the Philistines without issue. Now his freedom is gone.
3. Grinding Grain- Samson has to contribute to the very thing destroyed (Judges 15:3-15)
All of his strength and freedom, the very things that Samson chose to set his foundation on, were taken away in one swoop. Because Samson didn’t flee from temptation and operate with his own source of strength, it was eventually obliterated. But this is not without hope: his hair begins to grow back. We can see this as foreshadowing or God’s future grace, but we can also see this in the context of the Nazarite Vow. If a person takes the vow and partway through is guilty of breaking one of the vows, the head is shaved and he is reset at the beginning. This is evidence of restoration for Samson, another chance to fulfills vow fully with God at the center.
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
“Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain.”
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
Notice that the rulers of the Philistines, most likely from all five cities, have assembled to see Samson. Samson has been a thorn in the side of the Philistines for twenty years and there have been attempts to bring him down. But he was able to do as he played in their land, kill its people, take its women. Finally they have captured him, this fine trophy, and they give thanks to their god Dagon, the great fish/grain god of the Philistines.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
In this final part of the story, Samson has lost everything. His eyes, freedom, strength are all gone. he cannot rely on himself any longer, but must turn his attention, once again, back to God. His plea isn’t one of complete understanding, but he does have faith in God in this moment. He is still after revenge, but his reliance on God for this works towards God’s Will toward the Philistines. God provides him this last request, and in one cataclysmic feat he brings down the temple and destroys the hierarchy of the Philistines. This doesn’t mean that the Philistines are gone, though. Moving forward in time, the Philistines are very much in the mix until David finally defeats them. But Samson’s job wasn’t to destroy the Philistines, but to “Lead the way” in destroying the Philistines.
Samson’s story is a tragic one. He could have been used in a much more vital way, but chose his own way over God’s. In this, God still used Samson, despite his sin, not because of it. If Samson had lived up to his vow and followed God, there’s no telling what greater blessing he could have been to his people.
31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led[d] Israel twenty years.
Samson’s body is recovered and buried in his father’s tomb. Israel showed him the respect for what he did rather than leave him in disgrace.
IMPORTANT THEMES
- Giving into temptation leads to sin
- Recognize your tendency to sin
- James 1:13-15
- We must realize that we are essentially weak
- We cannot conquer our sin alone
- Expect to be tempted daily
One way we can effectively battle temptation is to avoid putting ourselves in a position where we could fall. In Samson’s case, he continually put himself in compromising positions, and each one of these situations he put himself in had an erosion on him. Things got worse. If he had avoided the situation altogether, then perhaps he wouldn’t have fallen into the temptation at all.
- Flee from temptation
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
- We must look for escape from temptation, because God shows us a way
- Resist temptation with The Word of Truth