Tag: Samson

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 13-14: We Must Fight For Our Identities

How important is your identity? Most people would say that having an identity that sets them apart from others is very important. Likewise, the identity of the Israelites was very important – to the point in which God had to seek an occasion against the Philistines to set the Israelites apart.

Summary of Judges 13-14

Because the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD again, the LORD gave the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines. The angel of God visited Samson’s parents for a promise of a son, who was to grow up as a Nazarite for his entire life and would deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. Samson was born and was blessed by God. As he grew up, the spirit of the LORD began to stir him. 

Samson went down to Timnah, one of the cities of Philistines and selected a bride who looked good in his eye. On his way down to Timnah, he tore a young lion and scooped some honey out of its carcass. Based on this event, he made a riddle with the thirty men of the feast. However, they figured out the answer by threatening the girl who was to be Samson’s wife. In his anger, Samson went down to Ashkelon to kill thirty men and took their spoils and gave them to the thirty men of the feast at Timnah.

False Peace

There are some key differences between the period when Samson lived and all the previous periods of Judges. Similarities included the repeated evil doings of the sons of Israel in the sight of the LORD (Judges 13:1). More notable were the differences although they were subtle.

First, the absence of the oppression and outright invasions from an external enemy, Philistines in this case, was one of the main differences from the previous periods of Judges. During Samson’s time, Philistines did not seem to be oppressing as other nations did to Israel in the past. For example, the Midianites oppressed them brutally (Judges 6:6). Eglon King of Moab did (Judges 3:14-15), as well as external invasions of Cushan king of Mesopotamia (Judges 3:8-9), and many others. Perhaps, because of the lack of severe oppression, we do not see any reference that indicated that the Israelites cried out to the LORD. 

Second, related to the first difference, Israel seemed to be in a “peaceful” state with the external enemy. Although ruled by the Philistines, Israel seemed to be “content” with the situation.

National Identity Crisis

When the mother of Samson received a message from the angel of the LORD, she conveyed all the message to her husband, Manoah, except that their son would deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines (Judges 13:6-7). I believe Samson’s mother deliberately omitted this portion of the message because she did not want her son to cause an occasion against the Philistines. In addition, when 3,000 men of Judah came to capture Samson to hand him over to the Philistines, they acknowledged that the Philistines were their ruler (Judges 15:11). Instead of fighting against the Philistines, men of Judah were willing to hand over one of their fellow Israelites, Samson, to the Philistines, to maintain the status-quo of a rule-subordinate condition.

The cost of this diplomatic peace with Philistines had a slow, but colossal devastating effect on Israel – that was losing its distinct identity as the people of God. In other words, this trend indicated losing holiness and the entire purpose of its existence to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Note that when Joshua was leading the Israelites into the land of Canaan (Joshua 1-5), he had the Israelites undergo multiple identity confirmations through consecration, circumcision, and Passover, again and again in the LORD before engaging in war against external enemies. 

This was the background where the collective state of the condition of the heart of Israel was slowly disintegrating during the time of Samson. Left alone, the nation of Israel was likely to be absorbed into Philistines with no distinction of the people of God.

For this reason, God intervened to bring Samson. The LORD blessed Samson. As he grew up, the LORD began to stir him (Judges 13:25) and sought an occasion against the Philistines to break the Israelite apart from them. 

Special Birth of Samson

The birth of Samson was very special. The angel of God appeared to Samson’s mother twice to foretell his birth and special calling as a Nazarite. This event was very extraordinary –  to the point that only a few people in the Bible had the comparable detailed records of birth. Only Jesus, John the Baptist, and Moses had comparable levels of details of birth described in the Bible. 

Samson to Represent What Israel was Supposed to Be

Samson’s special birth was to set him apart. Incredible gift and calling were given for Samson to deliver Israel, and he was to live out a life of holiness that sets him apart from the Philistines. He was called to be a Nazarite for his entire life (most of the Nazarite vow was to last for a limited period). He was given a special physical strength to be the leader of Israel against eternal enemies and to defend the nation and set Israel apart from other nations. The LORD began to stir Samson. It was good until chapter 13.

Likewise, Israel was called by God and a special gift was given to the nation – the Word of the LORD that gives life and the covenant with the LORD. Israel had unlimited potential to be the nation that could be the light and salt among the nations. Under Joshua’s leadership, they successfully conquered most of the Canaan region. Then, each tribe was to follow the LORD with all their heart and complete the conquest of the rest of the Canaan region. Yet, Israel squandered this opportunity, starting from the periods of Judges. 

Samson Representing Israel as was

Despite his special birth and calling, Samson did what was right in his eyes. He picked the Philistine girl because she was right for him. He went near the vineyard, possibly to drink, and ran into a young lion, which he tore in half. Then, he swooped up honey from the carcass of the lion (which he was forbidden to touch as a Nazarite). He had his anger problem and went out to kill 30 people in Ashkelon. Samson violated many things that were forbidden for a Nazarite. His life could not be farther from that of a holy man of God. 

Just like Samson, so was Israel especially after the death of Joshua. They began to follow other gods. They did what was right in their eyes and practically did not consider the LORD as their king. They played harlot with the false gods of the surrounding nations, and continued to depart from God.

Samson was like Israel, and Israel was like Samson. 

Holiness

For this reason, the story of Samson reminded me of the meaning and the importance of identity – and as followers of Christ, our identity is rooted in the holiness of God. These chapters provided me with a new opportunity to examine my heart and values. In what way, have I set myself in a comfortable position to maintain “peace” with this world’s values? What can I do to make the most of my gifts and talents that God have given?