Bible scholars and Bible students have often looked at the story of Samson and said that he was certainly not a typical judge. But, after we have now studied the majority of the judges, we could easily counter that theory with a question of our own: "So what IS a typical judge?" They each invariably had their own set of character flaws and strengths to go with their own personal agendas. At times, they brought to fruition God's plans. Thus, we find like the rest of the judges, Samson was also in a category all his own. I think after so many months of an in-depth study of these judges, we can say with some certainty that a tight or all-encompassing definition of what a judge was and what a judge did rests only within our imaginations.
Samson lived during a time of Philistine oppression. In fact, it had been going on for about 40 years. It is important for us to visualize we have an overlap in time frame between the lives and missions of Samuel and Samson. The Philistine oppression in the west (near the Mediterranean Sea) was beginning at the same time as the judge Jephthah was operating and was anointed to fight back against the oppression of the Ammonites over the portion of Israel who lived in the Trans-Jordan. Israel was fighting off severe aggression in some cases. In other cases, they were simply driving out over-powering pagan social pressures. In several cases, these two things were happening simultaneously. There was not a single tribe of Israel who was not fighting for their lives or way of life in one form or another during Samson's era.
By the time Samson enters the scene, the Philistines had already taken the Hebrews' precious Ark of the Covenant from them during a disastrous war and sad defeat of the Israelites during the closing years of Eli, the High Priest. Because the stories of Eli and Samuel appear in the Bible AFTER this story of Samson, it would seem as though the war with Philistia and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant happened to them at a later time in history. However, in fact, these are merely accounts of different things going on in different places in roughly the same narrow time in history.
Oppression
During this time of Samson's life, we need to be careful in our use of the term oppression when referring to the Philistines. Indeed, they held the upper hand, and they were masters of the region, but they were not trying to annihilate the local Israelites be any means. When we read Scripture closely and also examine some extra-biblical sources, we tend to see a political and social landscape along the west coast of Canaan whereby the Philistines were at once generally not liked, yet in some ways were admired and accepted by the adjacent Israelite tribes and clans.
Think for a moment about Iraq in 2008. Many of the Iraqi people for various reasons were more than willing to have the USA armed forces present, while others resented it deeply and would have give up their lives to see the American forces expelled. Few, if any Iraqis, are enthusiastic to have a foreign nation occupying their country, but a growing number would like to leave behind their ancient ways of fundamental Islamis economics and law for some of the more advanced ways of the West. They do not want to abandon Islam, but they would like to incorporate less violence, some additional personal freedoms and more prosperity into their system. Many Iraqis see the USA as not a bunch of Barbarians looking to loot their nation of its riches or who want to control every aspect of their lives. They do not see the USA as people driving around in armored vehicles hoping to kill anything which moves or want them to be there permanently.
Yet, the USA is so advanced in comparison to Iraq, so wealthy and so overwhelmingly powerful that it causes a major portion of the Iraqi society to feel jealous and bitter at our presence. Although there may be elements of western culture they would like to mold and adopt into their ancient traditional ways, the older residents are quite agitated as some of the less desired attributes of Western society creep in and become attached to their traditional eastern culture. Naturally, the USA is blamed for this development.
In this illustration, just replace Iraq with Israel and the United States with the Philistines, and you will have a pretty good idea of how things proceeded, how life was lived among the Israelites and how the two sides interacted in Samson's era. The Philistines were not forcing their ways on the Israelites, but the Philistines' advanced society with its leading edge technology, tremendous societal organization, unstoppable armed forces, prosperity, wealth and an attractive religion lured many Israelites towards it. For the young Hebrews, they gladly accepted these new ways. For the older Israelite generation, this was nothing but a threat. They knew succumbing to the ways of the pagans would eventually lead to God's anger upon them for idolatry.
The Israelites always had an affinity to the Mystery Babylon religions and the Philistines' methods of religious practice were very appealing. Intermarriage between the Hebrews and Philistines was common. Few Israelites spoke out against it because it would have been seen as bigotry. Business partnerships between Israelites and Philistines were usual. It brought advantages to both sides. Only the most expert archaeologists can distinguish between Hebrew and Philistine pottery from the 12th and 11th century B.C. (Samson's era). The two societies had become very intertwined.
Things to note about Samson
One thing to examine is Samson's character. He was like an overgrown and uncontrollable juvenile delinquent. He understood his tremendous strength advantage, the admiration of the young men and women which came with his strength and he had no problem using it for personal enjoyment. Second, Samson was almost schizophrenic in behavior. One moment he was willing to risk his life for the purer ways of Israelite religion. The next moment he was partying with the pagans. Third is that while Samson recognized his status as a Nazarite (something which was given to him in the womb), of the several Torah requirements placed upon a Nazarite, the only one he seems to care about was his long hair. We will find him drinking alcohol, touching dead things and eating food he ought not to.
I sometimes wonder if the Apostle Paul did not reflect upon Samson and his personal inability to do what was right even though he knew what he should and should not do. In the Book of Romans, we see the prolific and thoughtful Paul ponder his own frustrating condition that eerily resembled Samson, a man of nearly unlimited strength, who lived 1200 years before Paul.
"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:14-24)
I think Samson may have thought these same thoughts after he had foolishly allowed his hair to be shaved, then his eyes were blinded and he was imprisoned by the Philistines and given humiliating tasks to perform in public. The difference between Samson and Paul is that while Samson did not know the answer to the question: "What a miserable creature I am, who will rescue me from this body bound for death?" Paul had the answer. In Romans 7:25, Paul boldly and with great relief proclaims, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
THE BIRTH OF SAMSON
A. The Angel of the LORD announces the birth of Samson to Manoah's wife
1. (Judges 13:1) Life in Israel at the time of Samson's birth
Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, so that the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.
Samson judged Israel around 1070 B.C. to 1050 B.C. This is an overlap with the time Samuel lived, and Eli was the High Priest during some of that time (or perhaps even a few years earlier). Another judge by the name of Abdon also judged during this period. This is a good example of how the Judges operated in different parts of Canaan, affecting only a few tribes (or sometimes only a single tribe) at any given time. In other words, while Samson was operating within the tribe of Dan, Samuel tended to operate within the southern tribes and Abdon lead within the northern Israelite tribes and to a lesser degree the tribes on the east side of the Jordan River. Even though the book of Samuel follows the book of Judges in the Bible, in reality they operated concurrently.
Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD: Although we get the typical announcement which precedes each new judge cycle, i.e., the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and we are told the LORD punished his people by turning them over to an oppressor (in this case the Philistines), what we are not told is that there is any record of the people crying out to the LORD for deliverance. I briefly covered the issue in the introduction when I explained the so-called oppression of the Philistines was rather easily accepted by Israel. The Philistines were technologically and culturally advanced.
The Philistines were not barbarians. Their culture was attractive to those who they ruled over. The tribe of Dan seemed to be somewhat apathetic about their condition. It seems as though it did bother God because He raised up Samson to deal with the Philistines on their behalf.
The tribe of Dan during Samson's era
Dan never firmly controlled any territory it was allotted. Rather, shortly after their arrival in Canaan, families within Dan started moving into more secure territories of some of the other Israelite tribes. A large contingent of Dan also pulled up stakes and migrated north to the Lebanon border region and established a new center of residence in what they considered better conditions. In the far northern area, they established the cult city of Dan. They went far away in their worship, and in time, they were forced out of that area and scattered. (Large remnants of Dan have been discovered in Africa and many have recently returned back to the land of Israel.) You can visit the ruins of the northern city of Dan today; it is a beautiful and fascinating place.
Not everyone from Dan wanted to take such a drastic action as to migrate north. So, they stayed behind in a number of small enclaves in the central part of Canaan. The people who chose to stay were more willing than those who moved to the north to submit to the governing authority of the Philistines and to varying degrees were willing to assimilate into Philistine society. This is the case with Samson and the Danites who he lived among.
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