SAMSON

Where does your strength come from?

JANUARY 1, 2016
OLD TESTAMENT II
By: Janely Castro
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction

• Statement of the problem

• Review of literature

• Presuppositions

• Methodology

• Discussion of arguments

• Conclusion

• Bibliography

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 “Then Samson called to the Lord saying, “’O Lord God, remember me, I pray!

Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God that I may with one blow take vengeance on the

Philistines for my two eyes!”’ Judges 16:28 (New King James Version).

As mentioned a couple of times throughout the book of Judges “Again the children of

Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 6:1, 13:1). We see that in the period of the Judges

nothing had order or purpose “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was

right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).” God gave these people so many opportunities to repent,

whether they were good or bad, His love always came shining through. The father who loves his

son, chastises. God loves us and the only reason for every deliverance was for a purpose, the

purpose of salvation. “The Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years”,

after reading this text over and again I realize that it did not matter how many times God

delivered them into something that might have seemed bad, because He was always present.

Nowhere does it say that the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines and left them

with their own luck. There was always a purpose for their lives, and although just as the

Israelites, we as well let go from the hand of God many times, He never lets go of us completely.

In the verse mentioned above of the last words of Samson, I imagine Gods love as a bungee cord,

because at first we might feel as if nothing is sustaining us when we go bungee jumping 1, but

once we let go and jump into His arms, God makes us scream! He is capable of healing us from

the inside out, something that a simple Band-Aid can’t do. We’re no longer afraid of falling

because we know that He will never let go and the bungee cord will never tear asunder. And that

is exactly what Samson did.

1 “Sport of leaping from a height while secured by bungee cords and harness”
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 “Then Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ and he pushed with all his might,

and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his

death were more than he had killed in his life” (Judges 16:30). Many of us would think that

Samson lived uselessly throughout his life, and at the end achieved something spectacular! On

the other hand, there is a controversy on whether or not Samson’s actions contribute to history or

was the act only selfish-suicide? What do you think is the definition of suicide?

Suicide means “Intentional killing of oneself”. Is the concept different now than from

what it was hundreds of years ago? What difference does it make that in the process of

destruction it wasn’t only Samson suffering the consequences but everyone involved in the

scenario, whether they were Israelites or Philistines?

The story of Samson lets Gods people understand deeply what He can do with our lives.

Samson was a servant of God, already with a purpose in life planed way before he was born. The

story of Samson was without doubt wonderful in showing Gods mercy and love, through the

many blessings provided. Something great was about to happen to the Israelites way before the

coming of Samson’s birth. There we see the plan that God already had for His people even

without them asking for forgiveness and living their lives with a purpose.

Manoah’s wife was barren2 , but God, even without her praying about it, fulfilled her

desires as a mother. At the beginning of this story we see that the angel of the Lord appeared to

her and made her aware of the situation. “For behold you shall conceive and bear a son. And no

razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he

shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5). “The child shall be

2 The inability to conceive a child.

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a Nazarite3 of God”, How great is God that even when we think that there is nothing left for us or

that we are failures He has something so massive still in stores for us that we can’t even imagine,

it’s the things that would never dare cross our mind. I imagine Manoah’s wife and think about

what she must have felt when the angel of the Lord told her about Samson. Was she ready? Was

she scared?

In “The Anchor Bible” by Robert G. Boling, he mentions from the “Multipurpose Tools

for Bible Study” F.W. Danker (St. Louis: Concordia, 1966), pg. 92, that “Jesus is, according to

the writer of the first Gospel, a second Samson, who comes to play the role of ‘judge’ or

deliverer.” He also mentions about the treatment in the ridicule of Samson 16:25 and the

mocking of Jesus in Matthew 27:29. Taking these events into consideration and noticing how

similar they are, we see the meaning of a ‘deliverer’ more and more throughout the old and the

New Testament. As Samson grew, the spirit of the Lord moved upon him and did great things.

As it has happened to many people in this world we tend to fall in love with the incorrect person,

many times, it is because we do not let God work in us or we go by our instincts first, instead of

praying about our wellness and happiness by pouring our heart and soul to God. God already

knows all of our worries, but He wants us to talk to Him, and let Him know the things that are

hurting us.

Samson is well known for letting himself go and was guided through his instincts of

what he desired and for what his eyes saw, many times the things that cannot be seen are the

most important and the ones that end up mattering the most! “I have seen a woman in Timnah of

the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife” (Judges 14:2).

3 In those days a Nazarite was someone who consecrated to the service of God, let their hair grow, and abstained
from alcohol.
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Something that really surprises me from the story of Samson are the actions and consequences of

this woman that Samson “fell in love with”. In the feast that Samson had prepared, he came up

with a riddle of an event that had occurred to him earlier on their way to Timnah, for the other

young men to explain it. None of them had a clue of what the explanation could be. Moreover,

they threatened Samson’s wife to get the answer from him, “Entice your husband that he may

explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father’s house with fire…” (Judges

14:15). She continued getting under his skin to the point where on the last day for the young men

to explain the riddle, he told her. The men got the answer and this got Samson extremely upset at

her, and what’s worse? The father of Samson’s wife gave her to one of Samson’s friends as a

wife! This action caused tragedy and the harm went both directions. Samson burned the standing

grain of the Philistines and burned vineyards and olive groves. Once the Philistines were aware

of what had just occurred and knew that Samson was to blame, in order to get ‘even’ the

Philistines burned Samson’s no-longer wife and her father with fire. It’s sad to see that it didn’t

matter what the wife of Samson did, either obey the Philistines and throw Samson under a bus or

simply be faithful to Samson and let cowardice aside, she still ended up being burned with her

father just as it was first mentioned.

The story of Samson then continues with more revenge towards the Philistines. After

being captured and arrested, this was still not the end of him. The spirit of the Lord was with him

again and he was able to let loose from the ropes that captured him tightly. Judges 15:14 says

that “the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire”, Samson then

fought and killed a thousand men with the fresh jawbone of a donkey. Wow! What a strength!

It does not end there though, letting himself guide by his promiscuous senses, without the

guidance of God, Samson once again “falls in love” with a woman called Delilah, from the

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Valley of Sorek. Once more, the Philistines brainwashed this woman to tell them where

Samson’s strength was coming from. “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and

by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us

will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver” (Judges 16:5). Do these words sound familiar?

They remind me of when Juda betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver in Matthew 26:15 “’What

are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?’ And they counted out to him thirty pieces of

silver.” Considering that the standard of living was much lower then, than it is now, the amount

worth was still not a life-changing reward.

Delilah strived to obtain the answer for the reason of this mysterious strength, but

Samson never told her seriously what the true reason and the purpose was until after many times

of trying different things, once again she insisted to the point where Samson poured out his heart

to her. I think of Delilah as such a heartless and promiscuous woman, it is sad to see how much

Samson really loved her to the point of blindness, literally. He underestimated the things she was

capable of doing. To the point of betrayal, practically leading him to the route of death just as

Judas did with Jesus. But we noticed that these characters all had a special role in leading to the

deliverance from evil. “Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down

to Gaza “(Judges 16:21). Something that stood out to me was in Judges 16:20 “but he did not

know that the Lord had departed from him.” Can God depart from us?

After being captured and vulnerable, Samson is ridiculed by the Philistines and asked to

entertain the whole crowd of people gathered in the roof, contemplating him. The temple was

full with thousands of people and all the lords of the Philistines were there. He asks to be taken

and stationed to the great pillars. “Then Samson called to the Lord saying, ‘O Lord God,

remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray just this once, O God that I may with one blow take

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vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!’” this was Samson’s last prayer before his death.

At this point all that Samson wanted was vengeance. He held the two pillars “and he pushed with

all his might and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it” (Judges 16:30).

Throughout Samson’s life we see a series of events that are so wonderful and teach us a lesson

about the way we live with God into His expectations. God provided Samson’s strength, for an

unimaginable purpose. God delivered the Israelites through Samson. And as the bible mentions

earlier, the spirit of the Lord moved within him, and there is no doubt about that. Samson had a

purpose, indeed. Although his actions in the temple might have seemed suicidal and selfish,

Samson’s purpose was to deliver. Was it not? There had to be consequences, trials and

temptations, and although Samson fell for every single one of those he still came back to the

Lord, and realized that he is weak without Him! His strength came from God every single day.

The Lord was with him, protecting him everywhere he went.

The same thing goes to us! Many times, we think that we are so strong and nothing will

ever hurt us. Who would have thought that Samson’s greatest enemies were women and desire?

What are the idols that we follow nowadays that sidetrack us from the promises of God? Many

have thought that Samson’s life was a waste, but the more I think about it the more it surprises

me to what it really means, and it now relates to many people. That day, Samson had killed more

people than he ever had in his whole life. I cannot imagine the great force that God provided him

with; to cause such great destruction, and fulfill the promise of a deliverer, it is amazing! The

Lord had never departed from Samson. At that time when Samson had poured out his heart and

soul to Delilah, Samson departed from God and he forgot that was a promise between him and

the Lord. He was a Nazarite from the very beginning. This teaches all of us that God never

departs from us even in the times of sorrow and frustration, when we think that nothing else is

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helpful we shall call to the Lord and he shall give the might and the force to bring those pillars of

our life down! In addition, He will kill the things that are holding us back from believing on His

beautiful promises and our salvation.

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Bibliography

Bible (New King James Version)

Martin, James D. The Book of Judges. Vol. 11. Pg. 151-181 Print.

Bible. O.T. Judges. English. Boling., 1975, and Robert G. Boling. Judges. n.p.: Garden City, NY
: Doubleday, 1975., n.d. SILC (Southwestern’s Internet Library Catalog). Web. 21 Jan.
2016.
International Critical Commentary On The Holy Scriptures Of The Old And New Testaments /
AT.. 7. A Crit.And Exeget.Comm.On Judges. By G.F.Moore.8.Impr. 1966. n.p.: Clark,
1966. Bibliotheksverbund Bayern. Web. 21 Jan. 2016.
The American Century Dictionary