Lessons from the life of Samson

The following hub contains a full Bible Study that includes unattenuated and unexpurgated material from the Book of Judges which, although containing no obscenity or bad language, does make reference to adult themes of graphic violence and matters of a sexual nature that may disturb those of a politically correct disposition, those easily offended, and others whose short attention span is more used to being spoon-fed Scripture pre-digested and sifted of all controversy.

The book of Judges contains some of the most colourful stories and best known characters in the whole Bible. Situated between the books of Joshua and Ruth, it covers the two-hundred-year period from the death of Moses’ protégé Joshua until the ministry of the prophet Samuel, around 1250 BC to 1050 BC. Indeed, Samuel was the last of the Judges of Israel and there is some evidence to suppose he might have written both Judges and Ruth, the Davidic ancestress whose story takes place during this era.

It derives its English title from the Hebrew Sophetim, which can mean not only a magistrate in the judicial sense but also a ruler, saviour or deliverer. The days of the Judges was an epic epoch of heroes whose names we still remember, like Gideon and Deborah, but thanks in large part to Hollywood, among them all Samson probably remains the best known of all the Judges of Israel.

In more Biblically literate times (not so very long ago) were you to ask almost any schoolchild to name the strongest man who ever lived they would have answered ‘Samson’ without the least hesitation. And certainly, Samson was a mighty leader of his people who performed astonishing feats of strength, but he is also remembered for his romantic assignations with the Philistine Delilah - whose name can equally be rendered as ‘flirtatious’ and ‘devotee’, suggesting her involvement in pagan ritual prostitution - albeit in the role of a high-class courtesan as opposed to a common harlot.

However, Judges was not written to entertain and when we sweep aside the hype and sensationalism there is much more to Samson’s story than might be supposed from the likes of the 1949 epic ‘Samson and Delilah’, starring the photogenically muscular Victor Mature and the languorously luscious Hedy Lamarr. And what we find when we read the original Biblical account, as opposed to the heavily redacted Hollywood version, is a much more complex man who lived in a considerably more sophisticated society than is generally appreciated by those whose theology owes more to celluloid representation than Biblical reality.

In particular, I find few Christians as familiar with the Samson of the Bible as are acquainted with the media myth or the abbreviated Sunday school adventure. This is unfortunate because the story of Samson not only contains many timeless themes that still speak to us across three millennia, but contains many important lessons specifically relevant to where today’s church finds itself, on the verge of the Great Tribulation.

This article is written to answer that disparity and provide a more accurate picture of a Judge of Israel who, although flawed, deserves to be remembered as more than just a man of strong flesh but weak character - who is in fact, a hero that the New Testament listed among the heroes of the faith, in Hebrews 11:32.

To better understand Samson it is useful to first comprehend the society and family to which he belonged, which in Samson’s case was the Clan of Dan.

I use the term Clan rather than the more familiar Tribe because, although descended from the patriarch Dan who was one of the twelve sons of Jacob and therefore one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, by Samson’s day Dan had very much dwindled in greatness, largely because of the way they had embraced pagan idolatry, which they then proceeded to promulgate throughout the rest of Israel.

You can read the account of this apostasy in Judges chapters 17 and 18, which often comes as a surprise to many readers who presume that the events described in this account actually follow the story of Samson found in chapters 13 to 16. However, this is not the case, which is explained by the nature of the book of Judges which is not a chronological narrative but a theological one, the upshot of which is that the events of chapters 17 and 18 actually precede those of chapters 13 to 16. This is because the writer, who was quite probably the Prophet Samuel, had very different priorities from a modern historian and wanted to end the book on a low, as it were, which it does with an account of Dan’s apostasy followed by one of the greatest travesties in Israel’s long history - sometimes known as the Gibeah Outrage.

To summarise both: The apostasy began with an Ephraimite called Micah (not one of the prophets, so named) who made idols of silver to worship as gods. These in turn were stolen by the Danites who installed them in the captured city of Laish, whose population they massacred and displaced before renaming it Dan. The Gibeah Outrage is a sickening account of the gang rape and murder of a Levite’s concubine by some men of Benjamin. When the news of this scandal reached the other tribes, all Israel rose against the Tribe of Benjamin who refused to give up the guilty individuals, resulting in bloody war which almost wiped Benjamin out entirely.

As it is, however, Dan’s sin had the more far-reaching effect to the extent that they were eventually removed from Israel altogether by the End Times, as we see from the record of Revelation 7:4-8.

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

Notice the absence of any mention of Dan.

That’s why Judges 13:2 introduces us to Samson‘s parents, thus:

And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah. And his wife was barren, and had not borne.

Manoah means ‘rest’ and is the nounal form of the verb Noah - the Ark-builder of Genesis 6.

Like all of us, Samson’s life began before he was born, and in Judges 13:3 we meet his parents before he has even been conceived, where we learn of his mother's barrenness. This is significant because the subsequent children of formerly childless parents are sometimes over-indulged, although in Samson’s case this was tempered by an additional factor.

And the Angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have not borne. But you shall conceive and bear a son.”

No wonder in verse 14 we read:

And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the youth grew, and Yahweh blessed him.

Samson means ‘Sunshine’, but Samson was more than just a blessing to his parents, he was already woven into God’s tapestry because in verses 4-7 the messenger continues:

“And now take heed, and please do not drink wine or fermented drink; and do not eat any unclean thing. For, behold, you are pregnant and bearing a son. And a razor shall not go on his head, for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

And the woman came and spoke to her husband, saying, “A man of God has come to me, and he was seen as the appearance of the Angel of God, very terrifying. And I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. And he said to me, ‘Behold, you are pregnant and will bear a son. And now do not drink wine or fermented drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, until the day of his death.’”

The word Angel is traditionally capitalised here because although it literally means messenger, the context makes very clear that this particular messenger is divine - God himself who in this passage consecrates Manoah’s wife and their offspring by proclaiming her son a Nazarite (also spelt Nazirite) - from the root nazir, meaning ‘separate’.

As I discuss further in my article ‘Is it ok for Christians to drink?’ this is a very specific consecration and not a general prohibition on alcohol, as is obvious from the wider stipulations that she should not cut his hair, nor should he eat any unclean thing. That latter point may seem a redundant reminder to an Israelite, but remember that Dan was a backslidden Clan, who had grown slack concerning the observance of Torah.

What happens next, in verses 8-22, verges on the comical:

Then Manoah prayed to Yahweh, and said, “O my Lord, the man of God whom you sent, please let him come again to us and direct us what we shall do to the boy being born.” And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman. And she was sitting in a field; and her husband Manoah was not with her.

And the woman hurried and ran, and told her husband, and said to him, “Behold, he has appeared to me, the man who came to me that day.” And Manoah rose up and went after his wife, and came to the man. And he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am”.

And Manoah said, “Then let your words come about. What shall be the way of the boy, and his undertaking?” And the Angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Let her take heed of all that I said to the woman; she shall not eat of anything that came forth from the grapevine; and she shall not drink wine or fermented drink; and she shall not eat any unclean thing. She shall be careful of all that I commanded her.”

And Manoah said to the Angel of Yahweh, “Please let us keep you, and prepare before you a kid of the goats.” And the Angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “If you keep me, I will not eat of your bread. And if you prepare a burnt offering, you shall offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that he was the Angel of Yahweh.

And Manoah said to the Angel of Yahweh, “What is your name? When your words come about, then we shall honour you.” And the Angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask this about my name? Yea, it is Wonderful.”

And Manoah took the kid of the goats, and the food offering, and offered on the rock to Yahweh. And he did wonderfully, and Manoah and his wife were watching. And it happened as the flame from off the altar was going up to the heavens, that the Angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife were watching. And they fell on their faces to the ground.

And the Angel of Yahweh did not appear any more to Manoah, or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the Angel of Yahweh. And Manoah said to his wife, “Dying we shall die, because we have seen God”.

Here, for the first time it occurs to Manoah’s razor-sharp intellect that the messenger he’s just been talking to is God - ‘Aw shucks! We’re gonna die!’

Manoah realises who he’d been conversing with for two reasons:

First and most obviously, is the Angel’s spectacular mode of departure, and the fact that he received an offering made to God;

Secondly, when Manoah asks, “What is your name?”…the Angel replies: “…Yea, it is Wonderful”; essentially the same Hebrew word as that used in Isaiah 9:6,

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The Angel’s appearance to Manoah and his wife is one of several Old Testament visitations by the One who would later become known as Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate form, which is something theologians call a theophany. What makes it funny is Manoah’s rather obtuse response - now fearing that God will strike them dead, whereas his wife shows considerably more common sense:

“If Yahweh desired to put us to death, he would not have received a burnt offering and a food offering from our hands, nor made us see all these things; nor would he now have caused us to hear things like these.” (v 23)

In others words: ‘Get real, Manoah. How can God give us the son he promised if he kills us?’

Not until verse 24 is little Sunshine born, of whom we read in the next verse:

And the Spirit of Yahweh began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

And such is the Bible’s brevity that the next time we meet Samson he is looking for a wife. However, although we are told nothing directly about Samson’s upbringing in the interim, the text provides enough clues from which we may deduce that he was somewhat spoilt, as already suggested.

Firstly, he was a Nazarite he was brought up quite differently from his peers; and being different can be a hurtful experience for any child. His long womanly hair, strict diet and separation from the dead and unclean marked Samson out in a community where vineyards were commonplace and idol worship the norm.

Secondly, as the cherished son of formerly childless parents, he may have been unduly indulged, as appears to be corroborated by the brusque manner with which he addressed them.

Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, "I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife."

But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes." (Judges 14:1-3)

There is no evidence that Manoah was anything but a good father to Samson, but it does appear that it was Samson’s mother, with her greater maturity and discernment, who was the dominant spouse. And there does sometimes seem to a be a tendency for a son of a dominant mother to veer towards the feminine role model in one of two ways. One way is to over-identify with her and become effeminate. The other is to subconsciously overcompensate for his father and become sexually promiscuous. Samson, seems to have taken the latter course and become what we euphemistically describe as a ladies’ man. He had a roving eye for the ladies.

Other evidence of this is that apart from his desire for this particular Philistine, he later formed an attachment to Delilah who was almost certainly a Philistine courtesan, and we also know that Samson was no stranger to the boudoirs of common prostitutes. His attitude to women is succinctly encapsulated in his own words: "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes."

But it is no secret that Samson was a flawed hero of the Bible - a man as famous for his weakness of character as his physical prowess. However, Judges 14:4 reveals a very startling and overlooked truth in all of this:

His father and mother did not know that it was from Yahweh, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

In the community of Israel marrying a Gentile was a no-no, a shame that remains a social transgression to this day referred to by many Jews as ‘marrying out’. Even among the backslidden Danite clan of Samson’s day this ancient taboo still resonated. And as we have seen, Samson's curriculum vitae amply portrays a man’s man; a philanderer and a womaniser to whom any women was merely a toy. Hardly a fitting candidate for a Judge of Israel you might suppose; especially so for a Nazarite on whose shoulders God’s peculiar call and destiny rested. And we saw how disrespectfully Samson could speak to his parents. Hardly a man fit for ministry.

Yet, what does the Bible have to say about God’s attitude to Samson’s character and proclivities? Nowhere does it suggest that God approved of Samson’s conduct, but neither is God stupid or wasteful, and he nevertheless chose to work around Samson’s weaknesses - even to the extent that his desire to marry out was God’s idea. But don’t look at me in that tone of voice: it’s the Bible that reveals his parents ‘… did not know that it was from Yahweh.’

We human beings are often perplexed when confronted by the intricate convolutions of infinite wisdom, but God does not need to justify himself. Suffice to say he was able to work out his purposes despite Samson’s proclivities - and without subverting his freewill. God was able to take the weaknesses in Samson’s character and mould them to his purpose.

This is a common theme throughout the Bible but one that’s often overlooked because too many people seem to have difficultly in distinguishing the often very different ways in which God relates to nations and how he interacts with individuals. Samson could have made some very different life choices and lived a very different life as a result. But irrespective of the choices he made, the Lord was not willing to let Samson relinquish his part in God’s purposes for his people.

We see this even today with great ministries led by men who are subsequently exposed as deficient in character. And we see it in the constant opprobrium heaped on Israel by an international community that is quite blind to the plans and purposes of God.

So why was Samson’s attraction and desire for a Philistine wife ‘from Yahweh’? Because we are told ‘[Yahweh] was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines’. And why was Yahweh ‘seeking an opportunity against the Philistines’? - Because, verse 4 continues, ‘At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel’.

Remember, the Judges ruled Israel in the age between the death of Joshua and the coronation of Saul. That period represented the Endgame of an episode begun under Joshua in which the Twelve Tribes of Israel were commanded to take possession of the land that the Lord God had given them. Of these, the last tribe to settle was Dan. At exactly the same time that the Israelites moved across the Jordan and occupied Canaan from inland, however, another people arrived by sea - the Philistines.

Whereas Israel was a desert-wandering nation of land-dwellers, the Philistines were famous seafarers and accomplished sailors who had established colonies around the Mediterranean, who were also known to history as the Phoenicians - and they were a bad lot, whose non-Semitic origin is one reason why they are repeatedly referred to in Scripture as ‘uncircumcised Philistines’.

Unfortunately, Hollywood must take its share of the blame for the misrepresentation of the Philistines because, while many envisage Samson as Victor Mature and Delilah as Hedy Lamarr, too many people’s impressions of the Philistines have been coloured by the suave and sophisticated cinema performance of the urbane George Sanders. If fiction were to be believed, the Philistines were basically a debauched bunch of pagan hedonists, who worshiped Dagon and partied a lot.

In fact, they were a rapacious military nation who lived by the conquest and enslavement of others. And, as for their religion, even the Romans were repulsed by their brutality because the Phoenicians were practitioners of child sacrifice - the burning of infants on a brazen altar to their pagan deities. We know this from the archaeological remains of the graves of sacrificed children discovered in the ruins of the Phoenicians’ chief African enclave of Carthage, which the Romans razed in their indignation at the Phoenician appetite for infanticide. And I’m talking about the same Romans who viewed gladiatorial killings as public entertainment and crucified criminals.

The Cathaginians were Phoenicians. The Philistines were Phoenicians. They got about, and they weren’t nice people. So don’t wonder that God wanted his Chosen People to rid them from his Promised Land. That was God’s purpose, and Samson was one of those installed to carry it out.

Had Samson been a man of more robust character God could have used him quite differently. His Holy Spirit could have led and guided Samson in making wise and merciful judgements in leading his people against their common enemies. As it was, Samson was a pleasure-loving philanderer whose passions led him in another direction, so God adapted his strategies accordingly and directed those passions to his own purpose, harnessing Samson’s sexual proclivities to his own end.

I don’t believe God wanted Samson to marry a Philistine but he wasn’t going to stop him either. Freewill is a gift that God doesn’t take lightly, and that being the case God was able to work around Samson’s flawed choices, which meant allowing Samson to enter into an unsuitable marriage to a Philistine wife. But how the story of that liaison unfolds is convoluted to say the least.

Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes.

 

After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion. (Judges 14:5-9)

Here we see the first recorded manifestation of Samson’s uncanny strength, when he is attacked by a young lion which he promptly rips apart with his bare hands. We also see a number of inappropriate elements at work here which demonstrated Samson‘s casual disregard for Torah.

He and his parents were travelling together to meet his bride but Samson must have stepped aside en route whereby his parents remained unaware of his encounter with the lion. Then, when he returned to the scene Samson discovered a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass and scraped out the honeycomb and ate it, later sharing some with his parents.

Why were they among vineyards at all, since the intent of the Nazarite vow extended to grapes? Also, it was forbidden for a Nazarite to come into contact with any dead body - including the carcass of an unclean animal like a lion. And to then share the honey scraped from that carcass with his parents was a blatant act of disrespect and disobedience.

 

Another thing to notice was how Samson killed the young lion in the first place. Even though he was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, for the wrong reason, on his way to accomplish a wrong purpose - ‘the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat.’

Once again Hollywood has done the Bible a disservice by depicting Samson as some kind of Ancient Hebrew Arnold Schwarzenegger. In fact, he was nothing of the kind and there is no reason to suppose that Samson had an unusually muscular physique at all. I’m not saying Samson was a wimp, but neither did he bulge like a bodybuilder. When he was attacked we are told that ‘the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him’ thus imparting the superhuman strength required at that moment.

Have you ever read the account of Samson's great strength and wondered: ‘What did Samson do to deserve that?’ - The answer is nothing. God is not stupid and the Holy Spirit is never deceived. God did not empower Samson to do mighty exploits because he deserved it or had somehow earned God’s favour. Far from it: Samson showed few if any of what we might recognise as Christian virtues. He was abrupt, disrespectful, lustful, selfish, greedy and vengeful - and that was on a good day - but God still ordained him a judge, appointed to deliver his people. So, there’s another lesson: Never confuse the manifestation of God’s gifts with the fruit of moral character.

 

Once at Timnah, preparations begin for Samson’s wedding and all seems to go well, until another unattractive facet of his character emerges.

His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.

As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. And Samson said to them, "Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes." And they said to him, "Put your riddle, that we may hear it."

And he said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet." And in three days they could not solve the riddle. (Judges 14:10-14)

Samson saw an opportunity here to profit personally from God’s anointing upon him by profaning it through unseemly means. He was actually gambling by wagering that they could not answer a riddle relating to the death of the lion he had killed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

What he considered an amusement, however, only rubbed the Philistines up the wrong way and provoked them to anger, demonstrating another truth that Jesus alluded to in Matthew 7:6 -

Do not give that which is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and tear you.

 

Samson’s disregard for this Godly principle was about to cost him dear as the story unfolds in verses 15 to 20:

On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?"

And Samson's wife wept over him and said, "You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is." And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?" She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard.

Then she told the riddle to her people. And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?"

And he said to them, "If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." And the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

Samson was a man of enormous pride which made him susceptible to the tears of a devious woman - albeit that she had good reason to be, having been threatened with incineration:

"Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire…"

Somewhere in his upbringing Samson had an affection deficit that he tried to compensate for by using women. But, as much as he wanted them, he also wanted to satisfy them in order to elicit more of their affection, so the barbs of his wife - implying that he really didn’t love her or he would share his secret - hurt, so he relented. Only too late did Samson discover her betrayal, and he was furious. Indeed, the expression "If you had not ploughed with my heifer…” implies that he suspected her adultery because a heifer is a young cow which has not yet calved - often implying virginity, whereas ‘ploughing another man’s heifer’ is…well, let’s just say it’s an archaic euphemism that was widely understood.

But notice once again: ‘…the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and he…struck down thirty men of the town…’ Samson was hurt. Samson was humiliated. Samson was enraged. But it was the Holy Spirit who rushed upon him, empowering him to slay thirty Philistines. Nor was that the end of it, because God’s purpose was not over yet.

And it happened afterward, in the days of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid of the goats. And he said, “I will go in to my wife, to the inner room.” And her father would not allow him to go in. And her father said, “I certainly said that hating you would hate her, and I gave her to your companion. Is not her sister, the young one, better than she? Please let her belong to you, instead of her.” (Judges 15:1-2)

We see here the extreme volatility of Samson’s temperament; that having killed thirty men over a dispute involving her, once he had cooled down he still wanted to go back and sleep with her, deciding it was time to plough his own heifer. But by now she had married his best man.

 

Samson’s anger was once again aroused, although there are a couple of noteworthy Hebraisms in the text which often confuse English readers.

The expression “…I will be blameless regarding the Philistines...” does not connote moral virtue but is a complex Hebrew construction indicating Samson’s intention to free himself of any obligation to vengeance, which might be rendered in modern vernacular as, ‘I’m going to sort this out once and for all’.

And the woman’s father’s assertion that “I certainly said that hating you would hate her…” is a widely misunderstood Hebraism also employed by Jesus, which more accurately indicates what we would express as a preference rather than a deep abhorrence.

 

And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch between the two tails, in the middle. And he kindled fire on the torches, and sent them out into the grain-stalks of the Philistines, and burned from the stacks and the grain-stalks, and to the vineyard and the oliveyard.

And the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took away his wife and gave her to his companion.” And the Philistines went and burned her and her father with fire. (Judges 15:3-6)

Samson’s revenge resulted in a grim end for his Philistine bride and her family, who were burnt to death in reprisal. And the lesson here is just how lethal the unintended consequences of compromise can be. Remember verse 15 of the preceding chapter?

And it happened on the seventh day, they said to Samson's wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire…”

Nevertheless, instead of turning to Samson for protection, she gave in to fear and compromised their relationship by betraying her husband’s confidence. Result? - She suffered the very consequences she had compromised her integrity to avoid.

 

Just a reminder here that Samson was a Danite and Dan was a backslidden clan. Dan also means ’judge’, and God had chosen a man from such a background to accomplish his purposes and deliver his people. No wonder that Samson was little acquainted with a Biblical principle well explicated in James 2:13

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Samson was a man of passion and a man of hot vengeance who discovered the hard way that unattenuated revenge invariably escalates into vendetta. And that is precisely what happened.

And Samson said to them, "If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit." And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. (Judges 15:8-9)

 

Samson had outraged and affronted the Philistines with yet another slaughter, so they were beginning to learn that he was more to be feared than confronted and directed an attack on Lehi to injure his reputation without having to tackle him directly. Also, Lehi means ‘jawbone’ and so augured of things to come, but before going there, let’s consider another underlying truth that emerges from the narrative.

And the men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" They said, "We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us."

Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And he said to them, "As they did to me, so have I done to them."

And they said to him, "We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves."

They said to him, "No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. (Judges 15:10-14)

 

This is one of the most shameful episodes in all Scripture, in which Israelite betrays Israelite - in this case the Judahite betrayal of a Danite judge. And why? -

"Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us?"

In many ways Samson’s betrayal by his Philistine wife was not only understandable but predictable. But his betrayal at the hands of fellow-Israelites was different, and the lesson we see here is that sometimes the believer’s most insidious enemy is his brother. How often have we witnessed Christians who not only hasten to compromise their own faith and the Word of God to accommodate the moral and social values of the world, but are equally quick to turn on other believers who choose to take a firmer stand? How many liberal ministers and Christian commentators have you seen paraded on the media to condemn as intolerant those believers and their denominations which do not share their distain for Scripture but refuse to justify abortion or approve of the ordination of practising homosexuals?

Such people are the spiritually spineless descendants of the Jews of Lehi - cowards and compromisers who have surrendered their faith and their integrity to assuage their Philistine masters under the guise of tolerance, who then willingly turn on any fellow believers who refuse to follow suit - whom they will sell for the thirty pieces of silver of a quiet life.

Equally, there are other betrayers wiling to compromise the integrity of the Word of God to the philistinism of religious tradition, such as the proponents of Churchianity who insist that God doesn’t heal today, or that Pentecostal miracles and charismatic gifts are not for the Twenty-First Century. They would rather call God a liar than make waves, which is why I call them Christian atheists because their theology is not founded on the Word of God but erected around their own limited experience of what they have personally seen, touched or heard. Jesus spoke of such believers in Matthew 24:9-12.

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

The reason we know Jesus was referring here to Christians is his use of the phrase, ‘the love of many’ - in Greek, ‘hé agapé tón pollón’ - a term exclusive to believers.

Then there is the betrayal by legalists of those who teach grace, which the apostle Paul touches upon in Galatians 4:21-31.

Tell me, those desiring to be under Law, do you not hear the Law? For it is written: Abraham had two sons, the one out of the slave-woman, and one out of the free woman.

But, indeed, he out of the slave-woman has been born according to flesh, and he out of the free woman through the promise; which things are being allegorized; for these are the two covenants, one indeed from Mount Sinai bringing forth to slavery, which is Hagar. For Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem from above is free, who is the mother of us all. For it is written, "Rejoice, barren one not bearing; break forth and shout, you not travailing; for more are the children of the desolate than she having the husband."

But brothers, we, like Isaac, are children of promise. But then even as he born according to flesh persecuted him born according to the Spirit, so it is also now.

But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave-woman and her son; for in no way shall the son of the slave-woman inherit with the son of the free woman." Then, brothers, we are not children of a slave-woman, but of the free woman.

Paul is saying that those who promote law will always despise and persecute those who walk in grace, but not the other way around. This is a tell-tale sign well worth watching for, because such is the lure of legalism that it can cleverly masquerade as grace under the counterfeit guise of license, whose advocates invariably rail against teachers of righteousness by themselves alleging legalism and intolerance. Another legalistic twist is the insidious manner in which some Pentecostals deride other believers who do not speak in tongues.

And so it was that Samson was bound by his fellow Israelites and handed over to their ‘rulers’.

 

God’s answer to pressure to compromise is not acquiescence but confrontation, which under the New Covenant is spiritual but in Samson’s context meant violence.

When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.

And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. And Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men."

As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. And he was very thirsty, and he called upon Yahweh and said, "You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day.

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. (Judges 15:14-20)

 

Almost everyone has heard of how Samson slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, few have asked why. But there are no extraneous details in the Bible, every word in it is included for a purpose and a jawbone speaks of words while an ass represents foolishness. It’s not rocket science to rewind from the Battle of Lehi and identify the tit-for-tat vengeance vaunted by Samson and the Philistines, such as:

"We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us."

And

"As they did to me, so have I done to them."

Samson’s choice of weapon at Lehi was no accident, but a graphic reminder that foolish words lead to foolish deeds and ultimately foolish deeds lead to death.

Whilst many remember Samson’s victory at Lehi, what is almost universally overlooked is that before he could accomplish it he had to be freed from the bondage imposed by compromise, and that happened when ‘the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands’.

There he is again - the Holy Spirit. Right from the beginning of this story we find his hand behind Samson’s most powerful outbursts and violent confrontations because, as we read earlier, they were ‘from Yahweh, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines’.

God was using confrontation to back Israel’s enemies into a corner. First, he exploited Samson’s passion for women to manoeuvre him into seeking a Philistine wife. Then the Holy Spirit came upon Samson, magnifying his anger and enabling him to slay thirty Philistines. When that escalated into violent reprisal the Holy Spirit moved again, this time even exploiting the cowardice of the Jews of Lehi before empowering Samson to slay a thousand of his enemies with a jawbone.

One thing about God is that he takes no pleasure from the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11) but neither does he apologise when he deems it necessary. And there is certainly no reticence here on the part of Samson in acknowledging God’s hand in granting him victory over the Philistine host. However, in an echo of Esau, Samson soon shows his carnal colours by complaining of thirst, whereupon God graciously provides yet another miracle in splitting a hollow to provide water which gushes forth, which Samson names En-hakkore - (Fountain of the Beseecher).

Here we see God’s patience with Samson because, for all he was a Nazarite, Samson was no spiritual giant, but a carnal and vengeful soul chosen by God as his instrument to confront a carnal and vengeful people.

Another point worth noting is the miraculous manner in which Samson’s bonds fell off:

Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.

There are over two hundred distinct forms of figures of speech in the Bible, such as metaphors, similes, parables, etc. and it is tempting to regard the expression describing how Samson’s bonds ‘became as flax that has caught fire’, as one of them. However, if you’ve ever burnt string, as I have to drive away mosquitoes, you would recognise this description of disintegrating fibres turning to ash, and I suspect that is what literally happened to them.

Chapter 16 of Judges finds Samson returning to type, engaging in a liaison with a Philistine prostitute.

Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. The Gazites were told, "Samson has come here." And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, "Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him." But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

The terms - ‘he went in to her’ and ‘lay till midnight’ - are both common Biblical euphemisms for sexual intercourse, but being mindful that the Bible is written by the direct inspiration of God, such details are clearly not included for our prurient titillation. Rather, I would suggest, they are to reinforce the ongoing subtext that God’s gift of miraculous strength to Samson was entirely independent of his moral rectitude, although the writer may also have considered it further evidence of the miraculous that Samson still had the strength to uproot and remove the town gates after spending several hours strenuously consorting with a harlot.

By verse 4 however, Samson's end is in sight as he falls for yet another Philistine female, who for the first time is named: None other than the infamous Delilah. But contrary to the 1949 Cecil B. DeMille epic, there is no suggestion that she fell for or was in any way romantically inclined towards him, but their relationship was an entirely mercenary one on her part.

As I said at the outset, Samson was a womaniser, and Delilah would be his nemesis, although the story of her prolonged seduction of Samson does suggest that he had learned something from his earlier betrayal by his Philistine wife, as he resisted sharing the secret of his phenomenal strength with her for some considerable time.

After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, "Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver."

So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you." Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man."

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

Then Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound." And he said to her, "If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man." So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

Then Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound." And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man." So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

And she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies." And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, "A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man."

When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up again, for he has told me all his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that Yahweh had left him. (Judges 16:4-20)

As already mentioned, Samson was no Victor Mature or Arnold Schwarzenegger but as he himself conceded to Delilah -

"A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man."

What Samson realised was that his hair was not the direct source of his strength at all, but rather the symbol of his Nazarite dedication to God whose Spirit was the actual source of his great power. When Samson’s head was shaved, more than his hair was lost - His relationship with God was severed, resulting in verse 20 ending with one of the most mournful laments in all Scripture:

But he did not know that Yahweh had left him.

Samson paid a terrible price for his carnal pride and pursuit of pleasure and his story nearly ends in ignominy, with the grisly account of his capture and torture at the hands of the Philistines graphically described:

And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand." And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us." And when their hearts were merry, they said, "Call Samson, that he may entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. (Judges 16:21-25)

 

However, it was God’s purpose to deliver more than his people at the hand of his servant Samson. It was also God’s desire to save Samson, which is why he allowed him to lose his sight in order that he might regain his vision.

In the end, Samson came to himself and realised that there is more to life than chasing pretty girls when he was deprived of his eyes altogether. He was also reminded that his incredible physical prowess had been dependent on God’s Holy Spirit all along. Furthermore, he discovered the extent of God’s forgiveness when we turned back to him in humility.

And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them."

Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained. Then Samson called to Yahweh and said, "O Lord Yahweh, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes." And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years. (Judges 16:26-31)

 

As so often in the book of Judges, the story ends in a minor key, yet, despite its melancholy outcome there are many lessons to be gleaned both as individual believers and as a Church from the life and death of Samson.

Individually, we learn the futility of revenge and the enormous damage it causes, as well as the way it tends to spiral out of control. We also witness the danger of pride and the seduction of lust, as well as the revelation that the gifts and calling of God emanate from his grace and not our own goodness.

We learn too, that giftedness is no substitute for moral fibre, even when that gift is from God. Indeed, we learn that so powerful are God's gifts that they can prove a menace in the hands of any man lacking in moral integrity.

Moreover, Samson was taught a lesson that many Christians would do well to note - that while God’s grace is his unearned and unmerited favour; it is not an unlimited licence to sin (Romans 6:14). God’s patience is not endless because he is described as longsuffering (Exodus 34:6) which implies a limit, and Samson discovered the hard way where that limit lies. But he also learned that God’s mercy is without limit, and that when we repent, he is quick to forgive.

As a Church we learn about betrayal, which is significant in these End Times as we see the Great Tribulation approaching, because Jesus warned his Church that betrayal would be one of its hallmarks and Samson was betrayed three times.

He was betrayed once by his wife, once by Delilah and once by his fellow Israelites, each of which has something to say to us today:

Samson’s Philistine wife exemplifies betrayal by those we consider closest to us but who remain outside the community of faith.

His betrayal by Delilah warns of the danger of betrayal by a world for whose seductions we have fallen but that has no regard or affection for us.

And perhaps the most surprising revelation in all this is that the only one who does not betray Samson is the common prostitute - the ordinary sinner.

But most tellingly, Samson’s betrayal by the men of Judah exposes the uncomfortable truth that at least a third of the persecution true believers will face during the Tribulation will come from within the Church.

That’s why God considers betrayal as the most heinous of all sins - because Lucifer betrayed Adam in a Garden; Adam betrayed God in a Garden, and Judas betrayed Jesus in a Garden. And the men of Judah betrayed Samson out of fear and a spirit of compromise, which is also why Jesus warns us in Revelation 21:8,

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.

That’s quite a list, but if you’ve ever wondered why cowards are listed at the top - now you know. Cowardice is not God’s way, nor what he promises his people.

Be strong and of a good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them. For Yahweh your God is he who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)