Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison. However, the hair of his head began to grow after it was shaved off.
Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes: Samson was captured and taken into custody. His eyes were gouged out, which is another irony in this story. Samson's eyes were the instruments of his unfaithfulness. His eyes were the portals of his lust. He always did what was right in his own eyes. And now, God's harsh justice demanded that those fleshly eyes were to be blinded to the things of the world in order for Samson to finally see the LORD.
They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains: The Philistines had a lot of experience with the inadequacy of ropes as a binding mechanism for capturing Samson. This time, they use bronze. Blinding Samson was a way to humiliate him and make him more docile. They also put him to working grinding grain.
He was a grinder in the prison: Usually, the scene which is illustrated in story books is one of Samson handcuffed to a huge industrial grain grinder which was normally powered by an ox or donkey. However, no such thing is implied by the test. All current archeological evidence is that thus type of grain mill was not even invented until at least 700 years after Samson's death. Samson merely sat at a standard stone grain mill and ground grain, a few handfuls at a time, from dawn to dusk.
Grinding grain was considered woman's work and for such a manly man as Samson to be reduced to such a thing after his notorious exploits made him utterly impotent and laughable to his enemies.
However, the hair of his head began to grow after it was shaved off: While Samson was languishing away in prison, something else was happening: his hair began to grow back. If one gives a little thought, a good question to ask would be: why would the writer of the Book of Judges record such an obvious and trivial thing as the very natural action of Samson's hair growing back? After all, this would happen to anyone under almost any circumstance. Of course, the answer is that the inspired writer has something more in mind here. It implies Samson re-examined his relationship with God, and Samson recognized his personal failings.
Samson was ready to acknowledge his sin and was going through the terribly painful process of true repentance. This repentance would lead to some kind of spiritual strengthening and some amount of restoration of his Nazirite status.
This is a pattern for all of us to be aware of:
1. If we are unfaithful, our spiritual strength will deteriorate.
2. As out spiritual strength deteriorates, our usefulness to the Kingdom of God and His purposes for us begins to evaporate.
3. When we have become so unfaithful (we cross a line only known by God) as to cause God to react, God can chose to depart from us (at least in the sense of being an active protector or influence in our lives).
4. And when that happens, our fall/destruction is certain.
The good news is that even when we have finally come to destruction, if we recognize our sin, sincerely repent and confess it, then the LORD will return to us. However, that return may not be immediate or to the same degree or even for the same purpose as before our fall. Samson was in a glorious position for a long time. He was one of but a handful of Judges over Israel. Samson was feared and revered by friend and foe. The earth trembled wherever he walked. he was invincible.
But as we will soon see, even though he returned to God, and God returned to him, things were different. Samson's deteriorated condition bore little resemblance to his past glory. Sin has consequences, consequences which often are long lasting. Forgiveness does not mean those consequences will be averted. It merely means that the LORD will not cut us off from Him in eternity.
3. (Judges 16:23-25) Samson is mocked by his enemies
Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands." When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, 'Our god has given our enemy into our hands, even the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us." It so happened when they were in high spirits, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may amuse us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.
Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon: As happened on regular occasions, the elite of the Philistines gathered at their temple to offer a sacrifice. The chief Philistine god was Dagon. While it was not for the express purpose of mocking Samson that they assembled, they did offer up thanks to Dagon for handing Samson over to them.
Dagon: Dagon is usually depicted in the form as a half-man and half-fish. (After all, the Philistines were called the Sea Peoples and their territory hugged the Mediterranean Sea.) However, Dagon's function was the god of grain and harvest. Fertility also played a role in Dagon's sphere of influence. This assembly was probably some sort of agricultural festival, which was underway in Philistia. Dagon is given credit for Samson's departure from God.
A very similar thing happens today. Whenever any Arab nation makes gains against Israel, Allah is given credit for it. This makes God seem weak and impotent to the unbelieving Muslims, thus it distorts God's true nature. Islam is growing at a much faster rate than Christianity, and that is not because of God. It is because of the unfaithfulness of His followers. This makes God seem weak, and God's enemies seem strong. Everyone likes to be a winner, so they will associate with whatever appears to be the perceived victor.
It so happened when they were in high spirits: Once the revelries of the festival were in full swing, and the people were drunk and feeling full of themselves, they decided it might be fun to bring Samson out so they could mock him,. But in prison, in the most unimaginable horror which were the prisons of old, Samson had changed, but not entirely. he had apparently come to terms with God such that God saw it as repentance. God returned some measure of strength and divine purpose to Samson.
4. (Judges 16:26-31) Samson's bittersweet death
Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his 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, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them.
Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life. Then his brothers and all his father's household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.
Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, "Let me fell the pillars": In those days, the typical supporting pillars were not one large carved piece. Rather, they were some smaller cylindrical sections stacked up to form a pillar. So Samson was able to push one of those sections on each pillar far enough askew that the column's stones no longer lined up and thus crumbled.
Many examples of that era of ancient temples in the Middle East have been found and catalogued. it was common for them to be quite large. It was also common that the roof was used for the regular folks to gather and watch the ceremonies below, which was conducted by priests and dignitaries.
In verse 23, we are told that the chiefs of the Philistines were there, meaning at least the kings of the five major Philistine cities were in attendance, the same one who hired Delilah to deceive Samson.
About 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them: The ground floor of the temple under the roof was full, and the roof was crowded. Undoubtedly the crowded condition of the roof made its total collapse easier, so that when Samson made the pillars that held it up unstable, the weight of 3,000 people on that roof contributed to its buckling. We are told upon Samson's death, he killed more of God's enemy (the Philistines) than he had in his many run-ins with them during his life.
The most powerful lesson we can learn: The LORD determined the last act of Samson, a redemptive act of sorts, after Samson had repented sufficiently, that the LORD decided to return to him. But this would also mean the end of his life. Unlike the earlier parts of his life, during a more faithful time, when the adoring women and children who followed Samson around and praised him after the many times he bruised the Philistines, this time the only songs that would be written for him would be as a memorial. The only honor he would get was to have his crushed body entombed with along with his father's. It did not have to be that way, but Samson could not see that before the LORD had departed from hum and his eyes were gouged out.
Samson died in a state of grace, but he died as a broken and shamed man. Samson could have been honored today as King David is honored. But instead, Samson chose the way of the flesh and preferred fellowship with God's enemies rather than with God's people. Samson ruined the unique gift the LORD had given him. All that was left was to lose his life in one final act of personal revenge--an act which at least served a purpose in God's Kingdom.
Just as in the past, it was always Samson's passions and lusts which led to the conflicts he caused, and then avenging and revenging that cycled back and forth between he and the Philistines. Even at his death, it was not God's instructions for him to kill all those Philistines, it was a person act of anger and payback for their treatment of him.
Then all his brothers and all his father's household came down: Verse 31 explains Samson's family came to the demolished temple to fetch Samson's body and bring it home for a proper burial. All know cultures of that era were greatly concerned with the corpse, and thus it was the norm for relatives of a fallen enemy to be given free passage to retrieve the body of a loved one. According to the Bible and all known records, Samson was an only child. The "brothers" spoken of here (those who claimed his body) are meant in a general sense and not in the sibling sense. These were members of Samson's clan, doing their duty as next of kin. Samson's judgeship ended after a 20 year run.
No comments:
Post a Comment