Judges 15-16: Samson the Lonely Warrior

Samson was a lonely warrior. He instilled fear into the heart of his enemy, the Philistines, but was not welcomed by his people Israel. However imperfect and flawed he was, God still used him as an instrument to fight for Israel’s identity by breaking them apart from the Philistines. Perhaps, for that reason, Samson was still considered a man of faith in the book of Hebrews (Hebrews 11:32)

Summary of Judges 15-16

Some time later, Samson came to get his wife in Timnah, only to find out she was given to another man. In his anger, he caught 300 foxes and sent them out with torches to cause immense property damage to the Philistines in Timnah. In response, the Philistines burned the wife and the father. Samson became more angry and struck down people in that town. After that, he went to dwell in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

The Philistines mobilized their men to capture Samson. To appease the tension, 3,000 men of Judah found Samson and handed over to the Philistines to mitigate their anger. The spirit of the LORD came to Samson, and using a fresh jawbone, Samson killed 1,000 Philistines. The LORD also provided water for Samson so that he would not die of thirst.

Samson went down to Gaza, one of the major cities of the Philistines. There, he went into a harlot and later pulled out a city gate of Gaza and walked many miles uphill to place it on top of the mountain across Hebron. Then, Samson fell in love with Delilah. Delilah enticed him to reveal the secret of his power. His head was shaved and the LORD departed him. Having lost his power, Samson was captured by the Philistines back to Gaza.

His hair began to grow, and Samson, in his last prayer, used all of his might to push the pillars to destroy the temple of Dagon. Along with many Philistines, he died.

Fallen Judah

Noticeable in these chapters was the precipitous fall of the Judah tribe. The Judah tribe was blessed abundantly by Jacob (Genesis 49). Judah had been the forefront leader for all Israel. When the Israelites still faced remaining territories in the land of Canaan under Joshua’s time, Caleb, the leader of Judah, declared that he would conquer the most difficult area (Joshua 14). Following Caleb, Othniel from Judah was the first judge who delivered Israel from Cushan king of Mesopotamia (Judges 2). But, notice how far the tribe of Judah had fallen from a leadership position! Judah became subservient to a foreign nation, acknowledging the Philistines as their ruler (Judges 15:16). Judah mustered 3,000 men to hand over Samson, their fellow Israelites from the Dan tribe, to the Philistines, a foreign enemy.

Signs of the Pulled Gaza Gate

Why did Samson pull out the gate of Gaza and walk many miles uphill (distance from Gaza to Hebron is about 35 miles) to place it on top of the mountain across Hebron? Although the exact reason was unknown, it may imply one message with two distinct audiences – one for the Philistines, and the other for the Judah tribe.

First, a message to the Philistines, who were serving false gods, was that there is a true God the LORD, who is mightier than all of their gods. I don’t think Samson pulled out the gate of Gaza with this godly intention, yet, God used this incident to send a message to the Philistine rulers and residents in Gaza. The missing gate could have been the news of that year, and the young, the old, men and women, and all would have wondered why their gate was missing. And behold! They were seeing their city gate many miles away placed on top of the mountain in Israel! This event was likely to have instilled some dose of awe and fear of God into the Gaza residents.

Second, on the flip side, this was a warning message to the tribe of Judah as the Gaza gate was placed on top of the mountain in land Judah inherited, most likely in reference to the failure of the Judah tribe as a leader and the men of Judah handing over Samson over to the Philistines (Judges 15:11). Embedded in the warning message to Judah was very similar to that given to the Philistines: There is a true God whose name is the LORD and who is mightier than all of the false gods. Perhaps, God was calling Judah to wake up to their senses and recover their lion-side warrior spirit (Gen 49:8-10) and fight for their and Israel’s identity as the people of God.

Samson: No Place to Dwell

After this gate event, Samson loved a woman called Delilah in the valley of Sorek. This was one of the main questions during the Bible study: Why did Samson continue to stay with Delilah despite her overt attempts to harm Samson? Other than the obvious answer that Samson fell in love with Delilah, or blinded by love (or lust), I wanted to pinpoint two potential reasons (national and personal level) that Samson stayed with her.

At the national level, Samson had no place to go. The LORD used him to drive a wedge between the Israelites and the Philistines. Samson became a stench to the Philistines. However, that did not mean that Samson was welcome by his fellow Israelites. He had no place to put his head and rest as his own people also rejected Samsom because they wanted to continue to maintain this cozy peace with the Philistines, seemingly satisfied being subject to their rule. At least it seemed that Delilah provided some kind of resting place for Samson.

At the personal level, even knowing Delilah’s intention to harm him, Samson stayed with Delilah because he had confidence in his fleshly strength. He knew that his strength was supernatural, as he carried the gate of Gaza, which would have weighed more than a ton, many miles, and as he was able to defeat superiorly armed 1,000 Philistines with an inferior weapon of fresh jawbone. As he became too confident, he failed to recognize that the source of his strength was from the LORD His God. As he became too prideful, he believed that he could still wield his supernatural strength even without the presence of God.

Unfortunately, for these two reasons, he stayed with Delilah to eventually reveal the secret of his strength. When God left him (Judges 16:20) as his head was shaved, his strength departed as well. After that, he was captured and blinded, and the Philistines brought him back to Gaza.

Two Ironical Results

Because Samson lost his strength, he came to Gaza in the weakest state of his life. This was a dramatic turn around. Before, he was in Gaza with his mighty strength, which enabled him to pull out the city gate. With God’s departure, he came back to Gaza chained, without his strength and vision – and above all, without the presence of his God.

Samson’s defeat gave a major reason for the Philistines to give praise to their god, Dagon, a god of half man and half fish (in other words, an ugly mermaid). This also was ironic. The Israelites with Samson should have been victorious against the Philistines to give honor and praise the LORD the true God. Instead, praise and honor were given to a half man, half fish (Judges 16:24-25)

God’s Mercy

Samson’s hair began to grow again. Samson made his last, perhaps the first, sincere prayer to God to restore his strength. Although Samson’s prayer was still based on his personal revenge for his eyes more than his desire to honor God (Judges 16:28), God still granted Samson’s request. By pushing the two pillars of the Dagon temple, Samson killed more than those whom he killed during his lifetime.

Although it was sad to see that Samson’s last prayer was still based on his personal vengeance, we see a merciful God who listened and restored Samson’s strength.

Conclusion

In some aspects, this was a sad chapter. Samson, full of God’s blessings and gifts, miserably failed to live up to his full potential. However, I hope that we are more encouraged than discouraged by focusing on God’s mercy and grace to Samson’s last prayer over Samson’s failures.

Our LORD God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindenss (Psalm 103:8)

Judges 1: Diverging Paths and Deteriorating Heart

Joshua passed away. The path between Judah and the rest of the tribes began to diverge. Judah fought, conquered, utterly destroyed the inhabitants of Canaan. Judah led and partnered with the weak and demonstrated meek leadership. On the other hand, the other Israel tribes were not very “successful” as they did not drive out the inhabitants. The chapter describes the falling condition of the heart of the Israelites not long after Joshua passed away.

Judah Fights, Fights and Fights

The Judah tribe (Judah) was very active. As Caleb, the leader of Judah, showed his insatiable desire to fulfill the LORD’s promise before Joshua (Joshua 14:12), Judah was zealous to actively inherit the land that the LORD promised. Unlike other tribes of Israel, Judah actively fought against many nations in Canaan.

Judah fought against the Canaanites and Perizzites, defeating ten thousand men at Bezek (Judges 1:4). Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured the city (Judges 1:8). Judah defeated the Canaanites in the hill country, in the Negev, and in the lowland (Judges 1:9). Judah went against the Cannaanites in Hebron (Judges 1:10) and against the inhabitants of Debir (1:11). Judah struck down the Canaanites in Zephath (1:17). Judah drove out three sons of Anak from Hebron (1:20).

Judah Partners

We see that Judah partnered with Simeon twice in fighting against the Cannaanites. First, Judah went with Simeon against the Cannaanites and the Perizzites and defeated Adoni-Bezek (1:4-5). Also, when fighting against the Canaanites in Zephath, Judah partnered with Simeon.

This partnership was not that necessary from Judah’s point of view because Judah was already the largest and the strongest tribe with 76,500 people. On the other hand, Simeon was the weakest and the smallest with 22,200 people. Judah demonstrated leadership by partnering with the weakest tribe so that Simeon can inherit their allotted land. This is “meek” leadership – the strong used its power to help the weak.

We also see that the descendents of the Kenite, Moses’s father-in-law, went up with the sons of Judah to the wilderness of Judah and lived with them (Judges 1:16). Although it is difficult to know the exact reason for the Kenite’s decision to live with Judah, yet, it was possible that the Kenite saw what Judah had (their God) and Judah was willing to take in aliens to be incorporated within its boundary as commanded by the LORD in Leviticus 19:34 (The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God)

Judah was a warrior. Yet, they took good care of the weak, such as the Simeon tribe, and the aliens, such as the Kenite.

Judah Pursues and Destroys

There is a notable word in Judges 1:6, “pursued.” When Adoni-bezek (king of Bezek) fled, Judah pursued. That Judah pursued is very important for us to note. Winning a battle is one task. Pursuing and capturing a fleeing king is even more a difficult task, which takes an enormous amount of effort and will. Judah ensured that justice was done to Adoni-bezek, and this event shows the heart of Judah to fully obey the LORD’s promise and commands regarding the enemies. In addition, Judah utterly destroyed the cities (1:8, 1:17) as commanded by the LORD through Moses (Deut 20:17).

Judah faithfully obeyed the LORD. Unfortunately, we will soon see that this was not the case by the other tribes in Israel.

Ultimate Success

Let’s acknowledge the ultimate source of the victory. Although Judah did well in actively fighting and inheriting the land, it was ultimately the LORD’s presence that enabled Judah’s success (Judges 1:19).

Failures of the Others Tribes: Condition of their Hearts

With the exception of some successes by the sons of Joseph with the presence of the LORD (1:22), the rest of the Israel tribes were not successful in contrast to Judah. They neither actively fought the Canaanites, nor utterly destroyed inhabitants. The author of the book listed failures, from minor to major ones, for the rest of the tribes (Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphthali, and Dan). The common phrase in this section was “they did not drive out the inhabitants of Canaanites” in their allotted land. Was the failure to drive out attributable to their inability or unwillingness? The phrase “did not” indicated their unwillingness, rather than inability, to drive out the inhabitants.

Why weren’t they willing to drive out the inhabitants? For some tribes, such as Zebulun, Naphtali, instead of driving out the inhabitants, they made inhabitants become forced labor for them. In other words, they made an “economic decision” to use them as forced laborers. For their well-being, this decision might have been rational. Driving them out completely and utterly destroying was not only difficult, but less economical than forcing them to work and labor.

Then, we wonder why didn’t they obey the LORD’s commands to utterly destroy the inhabitants as Judah did? Perhaps, the answer lies in the condition of their hearts. Let’s jump forward to the very last verse of the book of Judges: everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). That’s what these tribes did. They did what was right in their own eyes, according to their standards and eventually implemented their decision, not the LORD’s commands – by making inhabitants forced labor, instead of utterly destroying them.

In the rest of the chapters of Judges, because of these remaining inhabitants, Israel was oppressed militarily and influenced to worship their gods.

Tribes that were not mentioned.

Although most tribes were mentioned in the first chapter, a few of them were not even mentioned. None of the two and a half tribes on the east side of the Jordan (Reuben, Gad, and half tribe of Manasseh) were mentioned. Isacchar was the only tribes on the west side of the Jordan not be mentioned.

Although the reason for their absence in this chapter is not exactly known, their absence seems to be an ominous sign that they became no longer relevant to the story of God – in other words, they might have become not distinguishable from other nations, no longer suitable to represent the holiness of God.

Chapter 2 continues to draw out depravity of the Israelites.

Joshua 18-19: Land Division to the Rest; Judah vs. Dan

Summary

The whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh. At that place, Joshua urged the rest of the tribes to proactively take possession of the land which the LORD the God had given to them. To facilitate this process, Joshua commanded the remaining seven tribes to send three men from each tribe to survey the land for the lot. After the land survey, they came back and Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the presence of the LORD. The rest of the land was divided and given to the remaining seven tribes (Benjamine, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphthali, and Dan).

Before the LORD

Casting lots may be considered a strange way to discern how the land would be distributed to each tribe. However, there is a key phrase that was continually repeated in these two chapters, “before the LORD” (Joshua 18:6, 18:8, 18:10, and 19:51). The LORD commanded Joshua to distribute the land by lot, and Joshua and Eleazar the priest did this before the presence of the LORD. Casting lot in itself may not be a valid method, but it being conducted before the presence of the LORD was the most important aspect.

Reset by Joshua: Bite-sized Tasks

Chapter 18 goes in tandem with Chapter 13. Back in Chapter 13, the LORD reminded Joshua of the remaining land that needed to be possessed and of the promise that the LORD had made that He would drive out the inhabitants (Joshua 13:6). In Chapter 18, Joshua himself urged the remaining seven tribes to enter to take possession and gave them a concrete mission – to select three men from each tribe to survey the land and report back to him.

A modicum of wise leadership by Joshua can be noted here. Perhaps, the seven tribes were afraid and were lost in the grand purpose of conquering the vast land area, or the thought of possessing a remaining large size land paralyzed their next actions. Therefore, Joshua broke down the task for them. First, select three men from each tribe. Second, dispatch those selected men to survey the land. Third, divide the remaining land into seven parts. By taking a few small steps, Joshua gave a digestible concrete mission for the tribes to the next step. By leading them to see and survey the land themselves, Joshua made the task more concrete for the remaining tribes. By dividing the whole land into seven areas, Joshua directed them to engage in a divide and conquer strategy to reduce their mental burden and facilitate their action.

The order of Lot Allotment

During the bible study, there was a question about how the lot order was determined. Although not explicitly stated in the text, upon some pondering, we found that the allotment order was roughly the reverse of the birth order of the seven remaining tribes – the only exception was Simeon.

Birth order for the remaining tribes	Simeon, Dan, Napthali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin
Allotment order for the remaining tribes	Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan

Benjamin was the youngest, and his tribe received the first allotment located in between Ephraim and Judah. Simeon, although he was the oldest of the seven, received next probably because Simeon tribe was the fewest in numbers of all tribes.

Although the order may not be of significant importance, if we assume that the youngest roughly equates to the weakest, this may show that God’s intricate care of the weak first.

Meek Leadership: Judah and Simeon

*Side note: Biblical definition of meekness is “power under control.”

Let’s take a closer look at the inheritance given to Simeon (Joshua 19:1-9). Inheritance given to the Simeon tribe stood out because unlike other six tribes, Simeon received thirteen cities within the Judah’s inheritance. Although the explicit reason was that Judah inheritance was more than they needed, some things may have been ongoing behind the scene.

First, we may wonder why Simeon was not given the land for themselves on the northern territory. Was it possible that the Simeon tribe was not liked by the others? The leadership in the Simeon tribe committed a huge sin at Shittim (Numbers 25), and as a result, many people, probably those in the Simeon tribe, died, reducing their size significantly. It was possible that the Simeon tribe was not looked upon favorably by the other tribes due to this incident and the three dispatched men were not able to do a proper survey of the land.

Second, perhaps, Simeon, having nowhere to settle, Judah took them in and voluntarily provided 13 cities. In Judges 1:3, we also see that Judah helped Simeon to fight together against the Canaanite and the Perizzites, defeating 10,000 men at Bezek to claim the territory allotted to Simeon. Judah was not required to help Simeon to claim his lot. However, from this episode, we see that not only Judah voluntarily provided 13 cities for Simeon, but also helped the Simeon tribe (about 22,000 men compared to 76,500 men in Judah) to claim the allotted territory.

The strongest tribe helped the weakest tribe and fought alongside with them to claim the allotted land. This is a meek leadership – using power appropriately to serve the weak.

Colossal Failure: Dan Tribe

Varying degrees of “success” across each tribe was pronounced. Most of them were not able to drive out 100% of the inhabitants in their allotted land. Even Judah was not able to drive out Jebusites and they remained in Jerusalem until King David. However, the contrast between Judah and Dan drew our attention.

The Dan tribe was a prime example of a colossal failure in inheriting the land. Although the size of the Dan tribe was second only to that of the Judah Tribe (64,400 to 76,500), they were humiliated by the Amorites (Judge 1:34). The Amorites were determined to stay in the land allotted to the Dan tribe, and Dan tribe was driven out, instead of driving out the inhabitants. As a result, the Dan tribe had to meander toward the very north of the Canaan region until they settled in Leshem, which was named Dan (Joshua 19:47).

What a difference between Judah and Dan!

Conclusions

Joshua continued to demonstrate his leadership over the seven tribes who needed a nudge to take action to take possession of the land. Most importantly, however, Joshua submitted before the presence of the LORD when he cast lots for the land inheritance.

We see that the way in which the land was inherited to each tribe varied greatly. Judah not only settled well, but also used its strength to help Simeon to settle. Dan, despite having the size, was overpowered by the Amorites and was pushed out of its land to settle in the very north of Canaan area.

The contrast between Judah and Dan gives us something to think about claiming the promise of God.

Joshua 15: Manifestation of God’s Promise – Land to Judah Tribe

The book of Joshua can be broadly divided into three parts: 1) entering the land; 2) conquering the land; and 3) the distribution of the land. Starting from chapter 15 began the third part of the book. From this chapter to chapter 21, Joshua provided a detailed description of the land and cities inherited to the twelve tribes and the Levi tribe.

As a reader, one of the most difficult challenges associated with these chapters on land distribution is drawing out applicable messages. The details of geographic and cities, if you are not familiar with the Israel geographic, would be difficult to follow and to extract appropriate meanings.

Thankfully, the most important message that we, the reader, need to obtain from the land distribution chapters is nicely summarized by the last three verses in chapter 21, as summarized below:

“43 So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it.
44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them;
the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand.
45 Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.
Joshua 21:43-45 [underline added by the blog author]

Joshua 21:43-45 provides a key summary of both conquering and distribution of land chapters. God is the subject of all the accomplishments. The phrase, “the LORD gave,” is repeated three times, along with two repetitions of “He had sworn.” As the LORD loved the Israelites, He had sworn to give the land to their fathers. The LORD is the main promise keeper and enabler of all the promises.

Detailed descriptions of land, territories, and cities are a manifestation of God’s faithfulness. Faithful God is always the central message of the entire Bible. These detailed accounts of borders, territories and cities are one of the manifestations of God’s goodness and promises to the Israelites.

Now let’s go over the content of chapter 15.

Chapter Summary

Chapter 15 provides a detailed description of the land and the cities given to the tribe of Judah.

The effective first born

Let’s note that the lot allocation started with the tribe of Judah. In terms of biological order, Reueben was the first born of Jacob. In terms of the number of lots inherited, Joseph was considered the first born as he received two lots, one each for his son, Manasseh and Ephraim. In terms of land allocation order, however, the LORD seemed to have chosen Judah, biologically the fourth born, as the first born. Why was Judah the first? Perhaps, they were the most actively obedient among the twelve tribes?

Description of the border and cities (v. 1-13, v. 22-63)

The Judah tribe inherited the southern part of Canaan, the detailed conquest of which was described in chapter 10 (Joshua 10:29-43). Compared with other tribes, Judah received an expansive area of land and many cities as they were numerous and the most dedicated tribe to fulfill the promise of God with their active obedience. However, even the Judah tribe was not able to drive out the Jebusites in Jerusalem. The Jebusites were driven away much later by the second king of Israel, David (2 Samuel 5:6-10).

Caleb and Othniel (v13-21)

A more description of a military exploit by Caleb was given in these verses. Approximately 45 years ago, the descendants of Anak placed a fear into the first-generation Israelites (Numbers 13:32-33). In contrast, verse 14 pointed out that Caleb drove out three sons of Anak to emphasize the victorious aspect for Caleb, who represented all those who followed the LORD fully.

Othniel, along with his wife, Achsah (Caleb’s daughter), were introduced in verse 17. Joshua might have highlighted this event to introduce Othniel, who would be the next leader of Israel as a judge. Othniel was described as a man of God filled with the Spirit of the LORD, who delivered Israel from an adversary (Judges 3:9-10).

Lesson

Land distribution was one of the major manifestations of God’s faithfulness to the Israelites, and He provided the land and the cities abundantly. The first lot was allocated to the Judah tribe, who under the leadership of Caleb, showed a full heart to follow the LORD and fulfill His promises.

What are some manifestations of God’s faithfulness in your life?