Judges Chapter 16 Part Two (Verses 4-9)

A Quick Review
In the first few verses of this chapter, Samson's sexual passions again overcame him. He journeyed from his home in Zorah to the Philistine stronghold of Gaza. When he arrived, he immediately engaged in the services of a Philistine prostitute. The townspeople heard he was there and plotted to kill Samson in the morning.

Something in Samson alerted him to the impending danger. He got up and headed out of the city at midnight, but he took a little souvenir with him: Gaza's city gates. There is no mention of the Spirit of God overcoming him at that moment which causes me to conclude Samson acted using his own strength to pick up these gates made of wood and iron. He then carried them off on his shoulders. Samson was an extremely strong man even without the occasional special anointing of God with super-natural ability. Perhaps one way we can recognize a direct impulse from God upon Samson to do a certain action (as opposed to Samson just doing his own thing) was when we read the Spirit of God came upon Samson.

We must not lose sight that Samson was created for the purpose of causing discord between Israel and the Philistines and to undo all the efforts on both sides to affect a peaceful co-existence. In general we see God merely allowing Samson to do his own fleshly desires and evil inclinations. However, Samson acted in such a way which advanced God's agenda.  


2. (Judges 16:4-5) Delilah agrees to betray Samson
After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, "Entice them, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."

After this it came about that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek: After throwing the Gaza gates off a hillside on the road to Hebron, Samson returns home. Verse four tell us after some undefined time, Samson returns back to the Philistine territory for the same reason he always seems to come: women. And more specifically, Philistine women. While the four chapters which form the story of Samson in the Book of Judges is not a comprehensive history of Samson's life and deeds, it apparently is representative. Everything which is documented about Samson has to do with his love/hate relationship with the pagan world. More specifically, it is a love of pagan (Philistine women) and hate of pagan (Philistine) people in general. This is another of the many ironies of Samson, his behavior and his thought process. But is it not the same with the church today?

On one hand, we want to be different and separate from the world, and yet on the other hand we do all we can to hang on to it with all our might. We want unbelievers to see us as different, but not too different such that we are seen as intolerant or offensive. There are things about the world we like and there are things which we hate. And even the parts we like are not necessarily godly in any way. Basically, these worldly things call to us like a cold glass of water on a hot day. There are so important to us, we cannot imagine giving them up. And more often than not, it is these worldly things which regularly trip us up and cause us pain. They keep us from turning our faith into faithfulness to the LORD. We can resist for long periods of time when we really put our mind to it, but eventually, our memories fade and we are back for another try. We attempt to rationalize and harmonize our fleshly wants and desires with the ways of God's. Ultimately, we fall right back into the world's ways.

Delilah: Samson has fallen in love with a devastatingly seductive Philistine woman named Delilah who lived in the Sorek Valley. This was only a short distance from the village of Timnah, where Samson aborted his attempt to another Philistine girl occurred. Some like to point to Delilah's name as her destiny. But there is not consensus as to what Delilah's name means. Some say it means weak, others say it simply means hair and others say it means delicate or uprooted. There are a few who claim that it had to be a Philistine name because she was a Philistine. It is quite likely Delilah was not her real name, but it was rather a title or nickname given to her (by the Hebrews) well after the Samson affair. This is a common occurrence in the Bible. Without a doubt, Delilah is a derogatory title.

Delilah was a worshiper of the god Dagan and was fully loyal to the Philistines. Samson's affair with Delilah had apparently become fairly well known. The five kings of the five main Philistine cities (Gaza, Gath, Ashdod, Ekron, and Ashkelon) decided this might be an opportunity to finally do something about this one-man wrecking crew which had spoiled their hope of peace with Israel for almost 20 years. These Philistine kings were smart and pragmatic men. They figured since no amount of force had ever worked to subdue Samson; the only remaining avenue was deception and trickery.

By now, Samson's insatiable desire for beautiful Philistine girls was common knowledge and so what was a better trap than to lure Samson with the bait of his latest female friend. 

Entice him and see where his great strength lies: The Philistine kings go to Delilah and tell her they need to know the secret of Samson's strength. It was obvious to them that Samson's power was magical. Thus, it would take a magical solution to deprive him of his great strength. They recognized that size and muscle alone could not possibly allow for Samson's seeming invulnerability. So they offer Delilah 1100 pieces of silver EACH if Delilah can pry from Samson the means of his great strength. With 5,500 pieces of silver at stake (truly a king's ransom), Delilah enthusiastically undertakes the task, thus revealing her cold and calculating nature.

3. (Judges 16:6-9) Samson lies to Delilah about the source of his strength
So Delilah said to Samson, Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you." Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man." Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in an inner room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the cords as a string of tow snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was not discovered. 

So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength is": One day Delilah casually asks Samson the big question, where does his strength lie. With too much self-confidence, Samson toys with her. Undoubtedly, Delilah approached the subject matter carefully and at just the right moment so as to not appear too eager or conspiring. But Samson liked playing games. So he approached her inquiry as a game, not realizing the deadly wager which awaited the eventual winner.

Samson said, "If they bind me with seven fresh cords": Samson being Samson, he invents a lie and tells her that the magical power which can defeat him is in seven fresh bow strings. If he is tied up with those, he will be as weak as any normal human.

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords: Delilah tells this story to her benefactors. They supply her with the seven bow strings. She binds Samson with them. But Delilah is a clever woman and was not particularly convinced that Samson was being honest with her. So she had some men waiting in a nearby room to assist her. As a test, she shouted, "The Philistines are upon you." Samson reacted instantly, and the bow strings snapped like they were nothing but single pieces of straw.

We must understand Delilah was not naive. The possibility that seven bow strings were the secret to Samson's strength was plausible. Seven was seen as a magical number in that era. Further, a fresh bow string was quite strong. Bow strings in that age were usually made from the tendon of an animal. The fresher the tendon, the stronger they were. As they dried out, they broke rather easily. No human could have been bound with seven fresh bow strings and simply broke them at will.

Judges Chapter 16 Part One (Verses 1-3)

SAMSON'S DISGRACE AND DEATH

A. Samson and Delilah

1. (Judges 16:1-3) Samson and the harlot at Gaza
Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. When it was told to the Gazites, saying, "Samson has come here," they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, "Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him." Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

The final words of the previous chapter are that Samson judged Israel for 20 years. Samson did not judge all of Israel. He only judged the area in the former territory of Dan and the northern area of Judah which were under the thumb of the Philistines. The Philistines only presented a problem for a relatively small part of the land of Canaan. They oppressed only a few of the twelve tribes of Israel during this time.

This 20-year reference is also not meant for us to think that 20 years had passed since the donkey jawbone incident and the beginning of chapter 16 in which Samson goes down to Gaza and engages in the services of a prostitute. We do not really know how much time has passed, but it probably was only a few years. It seems as though the Philistines had stopped pursuing Samson after he had single handedly killed 1000 of their men with nothing more than a donkey's jawbone. What we ought to take notice of is that Samson created havoc with the Philistines for a substantial amount of time.

Now Samson went to Gaza: In yet another violation of his Nazirite vow, Samson involves himself with a Philistine prostitute in Gaza. This is the same city of Gaza we know of today. Samson seemed to really have a thing for Philistines girls. There is no record of Samson showing any interests in Hebrew women.

One cannot help but wonder if Samson would really venture all the way from his home in Zorah to the coastal town of Gaza to simply lie with a prostitute. While prostitution went on in Hebrew society, it was not well accepted as it was in Philistine culture. It is amazing the Philistine army did not immediately come after Samson; however, I suspect they were hoping Samson would be a good boy this time around--he would enjoy himself and then go home without decreasing the Philistine population.

When it was told to the Gazites: The townspeople of Gaza were not so pragmatic. When they heard Samson was in town, they set a trap to kill him. They were going to wait for him to come out in the morning. Then they were going to kill him. Thus, the stage was set for another conflict between Samson and the Philistines.

They surrounded the place and lay in wait all night at the gate of the city: The foolish Gazites surrounded the place where Samson was staying. But, Samson must have sensed something was askew as he arose at midnight to leave. Rather than stealthily sneaking out of town, Samson went to the city gates, broke the lock and with superhuman strength lifted the city gates off their pivoting pins and walked off with them. I cannot even imagine the gaping mouths of the Philistines who stood looking at the hole in the city's defensive wall and their missing gates as the morning sun peaked over the eastern hills.

City gates were not small. No human could even contemplate lifting just one of them. The gates were made of heavy wood planks and usually were held together using large iron spikes. During this time in history, iron sheets often covered the outer side so it would not easily be burned down.

He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain: Samson did not just take the gates down, he carried them off on his shoulders! He took them to a hilltop. Now depending on your translation, Samson either took the gates to a hill in Hebron or he took them towards Hebron. The city of Hebron was 40 miles away. It also had an elevation of approximately 2500 feet, meaning it was uphill all the way from the coastal city of Gaza. It makes little sense Samson would have taken the city gates that far. Almost certainly, he took them on a road which was TOWARDS Hebron and arrived at some intermediate place on a hill from where he would see Hebron.


Brief interlude
Samson is one of the most iconic characters in the entire Bible. It is hard to know what to make of him and allegorizing who he was and what he did into a wide array of sermons and topical discussions has proven to be irresistible to Rabbis and pastors alike.

There is a fine line between recognizing and applying a biblically defined God-pattern to a situation versus twisting the meaning of a Bible passage into something which attempts to prove our point. The key to know which you are hearing is context. If the context of the application is the same as the context of the original scriptural pattern, then the application is probably being properly applied. If it is not, it should be discounted as ear-tickling words of persuasion. Whether learning from me or any other Bible teach, that standard should always be kept in mind. Thus I think (and hope) what I am about to say falls within the former rather than the latter category: Samson presents us with a wonderful picture of the church in general and individual Believers specifically. Samson's pattern of being a walking, talking irony is the same pattern of any follower of Jesus; each of us (from the least to the most pious among us) is a living irony.

The Apostle Paul spoke about this strange condition of the Believer at length and summed it up in one of the most desperate, frustrated and passionate moments of his life when he made a bold admission not only about his spiritual condition but also about the mysteries of his relationship with God and how they play out in his life.

"For sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin be effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. 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 Lw, 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 7:11-24)

This passage reminds me of the stark reality of my life and my walk with the LORD. And it is not the pretty picture we imagine our lives to be. My only comfort is that all followers of Christ live lives of irony. The same irony I live, Samson and Paul also lived. We have the Spirit of God living in us not because we have earned it but only because He declared us clean and holy enough to be His earthly temples; yet, our corrupted flesh remains just as corrupt as before our salvation, and our evil inclinations remain fully operational.

We have a holy and divine text at our fingertips which explains who God is and what His will is for us. We have a Holy guide who lives within is. And yet, we choose more often than not to ignore all that. We look elsewhere for validation and to do what pleases us at the moment. We usually know it is wrong when we do it and that it is sin, but we do it anyway.

Even worse, we detect and recognize God-induced urgings deep inside us which tell us there are things we are to do and were we are to be. But we often contemplate those divine proddings, mull them over and wrestle with them and discard them in favor of personal comfort, convenience and familiarity.

In the end, this was Samson. In the end, Paul recognized this in himself. And in the end it is you and I as the assembly of Jesus.

As we begin to study the well-known story of Samson and Delilah, we need to be conscious of this: there is a decided distinction between faith and faithfulness. Faith is an act of the intellect. Hindus have faith. Muslims have faith. Even atheists have faith. The source and object of our faith is everything. By itself, faith is passive. Regardless of whatever faith it may be until it is put to work it is dormant. James calls this dead faith.

Faith in action transforms to faithfulness. Faith is knowing, but faithfulness is doing. So it is not only possible, but it typical that one can have faith but NOT be faithful at all. Faith in the right thing will indeed save us for unimaginable joy and peace in the next world. But our lack of faithfulness will bring us nothing but misery, confusion and destruction in the present world.

Pentecost (Shavuot): From Exodus to Acts. Lessons we can learn

Today (Sunday, May 31) is a very important day on the calendar. It the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem!

 

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4)

(*Please note, when the text mentions "one place" the disciples are not still in the upper room where there were in chapter one. "One place" is a nickname for the Holy Temple. Since it was Shavuot (Pentecost), the disciples were required to be at the Holy Temple on this day. Furthermore, in verse 41 of chapter 2, it says 3,000 people received the word and were baptized. Three thousand people could not fit in the upper room. The only place where this could have happened (and where there would have been mikvehs (water immersion tanks similar to a large bath tub needed for ritual purification before entering the Holy Temple)) would have been at the Holy Temple.)


Pentecost in the Old Testament
The Feast of Weeks (also known as Shavuot and Pentecost) will be celebrated this year from sundown on Saturday, May 30 to sundown on Sunday, May 31. Described in Leviticus 23, the Feast of Weeks is the second of the three pilgrim feasts which required all Jewish males to travel to Jerusalem to observe (Exodus 23:14-7, Exodus 34:22-23, and Deuteronomy 16:6). The Feast of Weeks derives its name from the fact that it starts seven full weeks (exactly 50 days) after the shabbat of Passover. Since the festival takes place exactly 50 days after the shabbat of Passover, it is also known as Pentecost, which means "fifty" in Greek.

Each of the three "solemn feasts" (Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks and Feast of Tabernacles) required all Jewish men to travel to Jerusalem to attend the festival and offer sacrifices. All three of these feasts required that a first fruit offering be made at the temple as a way of expressing thanks for God's abundance. The Feast of First Fruits (celebrated during the Feast of Unleavened Bread) included the first fruit offerings of the barley harvest. The Feast of Weeks was the celebration of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. The Feast of Tabernacles involved the first fruit offerings of the olive and grape harvests.

 Exodus
The giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai happened on Pentecost.

"In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain." (Exodus 19:1-2)

"Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke to and God answered him with thunder." (Exodus 19:18-19)

"Then God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the LORD your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery..."(Exodus 20:1-2)

The similarities between the two accounts given in Acts and Exodus
Both accounts have a large gathering of a mixed multitude from many different cultures, nations and languages. A mixed multitude came up with the Israelites out of Egypt. A mixed multitude was with the disciples at the Holy Temple as they were celebrating Shavuot.

Both accounts have a loud noise described in Acts as a noise like rushing wind and in Exodus as a trumpet and thunder. (God's voice is described in Scripture as water falling, a great wind and thunder. These are all people's attempts at describing an indescribable noise.)

Both accounts have bright light. In Exodus it is as fire and lightning. Acts describes it as tongues of fire. (This Hebraic term is used to describe lightning.)

Both accounts have God revealing Himself to common people. Unlike pagan religions in which the deities only spoke to one person or a very selected priestly line, here God is making His ways known to all the world.


God's Word to all the world
After the revelation of God Word at Mount Sinai, God commands His people to recite the whole Torah before the entire nation of Israel.

"At the end of every seven years, in the Sabbatical year, during the Festival of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you shall read this law [Torah] before them in their hearing. Assemble the people--men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns--so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law [Torah]. Their children, who do not know this law [Torah], must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." (Deuteronomy 31:10-13).

Again, God's word is being declared to ALL the people and not to an elite or special subset of people within it. This is similarly stated in Isaiah 54:13: "And all your children shall be learned of the LORD and great shall be the peace of your children." This remains one of the unique features of the Torah. It is a written constitution of the Jewish people. Everyone is expected not merely to keep the Torah but to know it!

There were two further key moments in the history of getting God's word to all the world. The first was when Ezra gathered the people, after the Babylonian exile, to the Water Gate in Jerusalem. This occurred on Rosh HaShanah (the first day of the seventh month often referred to as the "New Year"). The Torah was read to the people. Levites were dispersed through the crowd to teach and to explain to the folks what was being said. This was a defining moment in Jewish history. This was a mass adult education program to help the people learn and apply God's word to their lives. (Nehemiah 8). Ezra and Nehemiah realized the most significant battles for the Jewish people were cultural and not military. To keep God's word alive, they needed the people to know God's word and how to apply it to their lives.

The second key moment was the creation of the world's first system of universal compulsory education in the first century. The High Priest Joshua Ben Gamla created an education system which dispersed teachers into each district in Israel. Children starting at the age of six or seven attended and learned Torah and how to read. Josephus writes about the education system as follows: "Should any one of our nation be asked about our laws, he will repeat them as readily as his own name. The result of our thorough education in our laws from the very dawn of intelligence is that they are, as it were, engraved on our souls."


Lessons we can learn
If we are to do God's word, we need to know God's word. How often do we read God's word? How many times have we read the entire Bible? Do we teach the Bible to our children? Do we use the Bible as a basis for our education?

When I think about church services, how much time is devoted to reading Scripture? Is more time spent singing songs than hearing God's word?

The state of the church is in serious decay. There are many false teachers and blind parishioners. Many people have no idea the names of the books in the Bible much less the words written within them. Our ways and the world's ways are the same. There is no distinction except for an hour on Sunday mornings we gather to sing songs and hear a short sermon on a broad category such as showing compassion to the less fortunate or being nice to one another. We then leave the building feeling warm and fuzzy, but our knowledge of God's word has not increased.

In a time when the Bible is available on demand via the internet, we have no excuse for not studying God's word. We can read or listen to it anywhere. Would you take the challenge to read through the Bible in one year? If we want to be God's people, we must know what He expects from us. Every day is a test to show the world God's word. Every day we can pour out God's word to those around us by knowing and acting in ways which represent Him.

Judges Chapter 15 Part Three (Verses 9-20)

B. Samson slays one thousand Philistines

1. (Judges 15:9-13)

Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi. The men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" And they said, "We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us." Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And he said to them, "As they did to me, so I have done to them." They said to him, "We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not kill me." So they said to him, "No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you." Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah: The Philistines figured they must do something about Samson. Despite being constantly defeated by this one man, they were ready to try again. In verse nine, some of the Philistine soldiers go to attack Judah. They make war on a town called Lehi. The rock of Etam, where Samson was living, was also in Judah and near the town of Lehi. The local Hebrew inhabitatns were puzzled over why the Philistines were attacking them. They had good relations with the Philsitines. When the residents of Lehi found out the Philsitines were after Samson, the men of Judah were more than happy to help the enemy capture Samson if it meant the Philistines would leave them alone.

Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock: The Israelites of Judah knew Samson. They respected his amazing strength. They sent a contingent of 3,000 men to try and persuade Samson to give himself up.

When the men of Judah found Samson, they were up front and told Samson they were going to turn him over the Philistines. Samson knows these people well. He requested that they not kill him. The irony of this is that instead of sending an army of 3,000 men against their Philistine oppressor, these Israelites went after one of their own in order to appease their oppressor. Fighting the enemy disrupted their otherwise comfortable lives. They were more interested in preserving a satanic peace with the Philistines than fighting a Holy War to rid the place of the enemy.

Then the bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock: Samson obtained their promise only to bind him and turn him over to the Philistines. The Israelites tied up Samson with new ropes. This means the strands of the ropes were still moist and thus were art their strongest.

2. (Judges 15:14-17) Samson uses the jawbone of a donkey to kill a thousand Philistines

When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it. Then Samson said,

"With the jawbone of a donkey,

Heaps upon heaps,

With the jawbone of a donkey,

I have killed a thousand men."

When he had finished speaking, he trew the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.

When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him: When the Israelites delivered Samson to the village of Lehi, the Philistines were ecstatic. Samson was finally captures, and the Philistines got the Israelites to do it for them.

And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily: For the first time in a long while, suddenly the Spirit of the LORD comes upon Smason with an even greater strength than usual. Samson bursts the ropes as if they were thin, delicate strands of string. He looks around and finds a jawbone of a donkey lying nearby. He begins swinging it at the heads of hundreds of Philistine soldiers who had only moments before stood in relief that they would not have to face him. The jawbone was fresh. This means, the sun had not had time to dry it out, which will cause the bone to become brittle.

With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps: Samson's words as he kills the Philistine soldiers is a poem and is a play on two words: donkey and heap. As is common in Hebrew, the same word can often mean two entirely different things. Thus at times in the Bible, we will get some nonsensical English translations because the translator was unaware of the alternate meaning of a word. Both donkey and heap use the word chamor as their root.

Samson, after killing a large number of Philistines whose bodies were piled up in a heap, he chased down more of them and did the same to them, which created another heap of corpses. The way Hebrew words, it could have been several more than two heaps which Samson created. Thus, we find the place where the massacre occurred is place called Ramath-lehi, which means jawbone heightsd or jawbone hill.

3. (Judges 15:18-20) God provides for Samson miraculously

When he became very thirsty, and he called to the LORD and said, "You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank, his strength returned and he revived. Therefore he named it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. So he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

When he became very thirsty: The battle ends, and Samson is exhausted and very thirsty. There had been no time to refresh himself. There also was apparently no water nearby. In a rare moment of proper spirituality, Samson acknowledges that it was the LORD who won this battle. It was the LORD who preserved Samson's life in what only seemed to be a one-man fight against staggering odds. Samson says to God that he is grateful that God has seen fit to accomplish such a great rescue through His servant.

Although Samson was quite aware of his calling as a Nazirite, and thus calling himself God's servant, as God's tool he was to begin to liberate Israel from the Philistines. He was by far the most unfaithful of all the Judges and paid but lip service to his God-ordained status as a Nazirite.

Samson was now weakened both by dehydration and sheer physical exhaustion from a fight which probably lasted for a day. He would not be able to withstand another attack if other Philistines decided to join in. As God had done in the days of old, long before Samson, the LORD sprung forth water from a rock and satiated Samson. Samson revived.

Judges Chapter 15 Part Two (Verses 4-8)

2. (Judges 15:4-5) Samson strikes out against the Philistines by burning their crops 

Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. When he had set fire to the torches, he released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, thus burning up both the shocks and the standing grain along with the vineyards and groves.

Samson went and caught three hundred foxes: Samson decides to take rather inventive revenge on the Philistines. He captures 300 shu'al, binds their tails together in pairs and ties a lit torch to them. The animals race off in panic. In the process, the flaming torches which they are dragging behind them set the dry ripened wheat fields on fire.

A shu'al is not actually a fox. Rather, they are more akin to jackals. Foxes are solitary animals. It would be nearly impossible for one man to trap 300 of them. Jackals, on the other hand, travel in packs. So there is a possibility of capturing several of them at once. God prescribes man to be humane to all creatures. What Samson did was downright cruel. It is not hard to imagine many of the jackals being severely burned. Others were killed, and every last one of them were traumatized to the extreme. Samson used them as a tool of personal vengeance, caring little for their fate and suffering they endured. This is becoming a familiar trait of Samson.

Burning up both the shocks and the standing grain along with the vineyards and groves: Just like any ancient society, these fields of grain were the livelihood of the common folk. While these people were indeed Philistines, who God ultimately wanted removed from the Promised Land, they were not monsters. In addition, it was common to plant wheat among olive trees. So many of the olive groves were also burned down.

Unlike some of Samson's earlier adventures, we do not find any reference of Samson being given divine strength and influence to set these fields on fire. We also do not find any reference to the Holy Spirit coming upon Samson in this case. It would be reasonable to assume that this was nothing more than Samson obeying his own evil inclinations. Were the results something God would use for His purposes? Absolutely. The LORD'S primary purpose for Samson was to undo the ungodly peace and syncretism between His people and His enemies. Did the LORD approve of wanton cruelty and indiscriminate destruction? Not a chance.

3. (Judges 15:6-7) The Philistines retaliate by killing Samson' wife and family

Then the Philistines said, "Who did this?" And they said, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion." So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. Samson said to them, "Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will quit."

Then the Philistines said, "Who did this?": In verse six, the Philistine farmers begin to ask one another if they knew who might have caused all this destruction. Some must have witnessed it because, without hesitation, Samson was pointed out as the culprit. 

So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire: The farmers were also informed that this happened because Samson's almost father-in-law had denied Samson's bride to him and had given her to another. It was this which drove Samson to burn down their crops. The Philistine farmers went as a mob to the man's house and burned it down with him and his daughter inside.

Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge: When Samson finds out about this atrocity, he decides he would reciprocate by killing some more Philistines. (And the cycle continues.)

The Philistine farmers had no interest in taking on Samson, whom their army could not deal with. They blamed their misery on someone who they determined upset Samson. (The person the Philistines cast the blame on was also more convenient to extract revenge upon.)

This exact same mentality is still at play in the Middle East. We have a worldwide consensus that the homicide bombings of public buses, the constant rocket attacks into purely civilian neighborhoods coming from Gaza and the desire of a dozen Muslim nations to annihilate Israel is because Israel has done something to offend them. It is Israel's fault that their neighbors are constantly attacking them. The only reason (other than underlying anti-Semitism) that this irrational attitude persists throughout the world is from the vast fear the world has of Islam. The world prefers to shift the blame to the victim because to deal with the perpetrator is fraught with difficulty and great danger.

4. (Judges 15:8) Samson repays the Philistines for the murder of his wife

He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter: Samson went on another random killing spree. He killed any Philistine who came across his path. Then, Samson left Philistia and went to a cave called the rock of Etam. Samson did just as he stated he would do in verse seven. He killed a certain number of Philistines until he had exacted revenge. Then he stopped and retired to the rock of Etam. 

History is circular. What we see happening between Samson and the Philistines is once again happening between Israel and the modern day Philistines--the Palestinians. One thing to keep in mind, the LORD does not want peace in the Middle East, at least not yet. The kind of peace men want and are striving for is man-made. It involves compromising God's principles. It means Israel has to essentially give up on the covenants God made with them. Id the Palestinians were not harassing Israel, someone else would be. Before there were the Palestinians, Jordan was Israel's archenemy. Before them, it was Egypt, Iran and Iraq. If the leaders of Israel were not so willing to give up much of the Holy Land, God would not be allowing the never-ending murders. Israel is constantly being stirred up so that the roadmap to peace cannot possibly happen.

The same seemingly unsolvable dilemma is the Middle East today was very much the same way in Samson's day. It is the instability and constant violence from the enemy, and Israel's disobedient response to it all (instead of repenting of their ways and returning to the LORD) that is the hallmark of the days of the Judges. It is the same way again in our time and for the same reasons.

Judges Chapter 15 Part One (Verses 1-3)

Introduction
In chapter 14, Samson spotted a Philistine girl who he wanted to marry. He disrespectfully demanded his parents to negotiate a marriage contract for her. Samson's parents objected to this because the girl was not Hebrew. No Hebrew (let alone a Nazirite) should ever consider marrying a pagan Philistine. Samson's father gave in and did as Samson demanded.


A seven-day long Philistine-style wedding ceremony ensued. The events occurred around a banquet. Thirty Philistine men were invited as "companions: of the groom. This was likely due to no Israelite would accompany Samson into Philistine territory in order for him to marry a Philistine girl. At the ceremony, it was Samson's duty to entertain the guest. One of the popular means of entertainment was to challenge the guests to a riddle. Samson spiced up the game by attaching a wager and a handsome prize to those who guessed the answer correctly. But this game also came with a hook: if the guests lost the wager, they would owe Samson a large sum of very valuable clothing.

The riddle concerned the lion which Samson had secretly killed on the journey to Timnah when his parents first met Samson's future bride. Then, on the next trip for the actual occasion for the wedding, Samson stopped out of curiosity to view his handiwork. He found to his delight that some bees has set up a hive and had produced honey inside the carcass of the dead lion.


Since Samson was alone on both occasions with the lion, the riddle he offered (with the lion being the answer) was unsolvable, meaning it was quite unfair and insulting to his guests. The wager, which involved expensive clothing, made the matter all the more delicate. The guests sensing they had been duped went to Samson's bride and demanded she use her womanly wiles to get the answer to the riddle from Samson and then divulge it to them. (The men, being her fellow country men, felt entitled to the information. Moreover, they threatened to kill Samson's bride and her father.) After several days of crying and whining to Samson, Samson finally caves in. He tells her the answer to the riddle. She immediately goes to the wedding guests and tells them the solution.

Samson felt betrayed. Before the seven-day wedding ceremony was concluded, he stormed off. He walked about 30 miles to the Philistine city of Ashkelon. There, he murdered thirty men for their clothing in order to pay off the wager for the riddle. These thirty Philistine men were killed at random. They had no part in the wedding. They were innocent victims.

Since Samson did not complete the marriage ceremony, he was never actually married. We find the humiliated father of the girl giving her to Samson's best man (a Philistine) since Samson had never returned to claim his bride.


SAMSON AGAINST THE PHILISTINES

A. Retaliation back and forth
1. (Judges 15:1-3) Samson's rage at discovering his wife is given to another man
But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat, and said, "I will go in to my wife in her room." But her father did not let him enter. Her father said, "I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I gave her to your companion. Is not her youngest sister more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours instead. Samson then said to them, "This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm."

But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest: Some undefined amount of time passed, and the wheat season arrived. This means, it was around late May or early June, a holy time in which Shavuot (Pentecost) was celebrated. Samson's anger had finally subsided enough. He decided to go back to Timnah to see his wife. The word used for wife in Hebrew is ishsheh, which can mean woman or wife depending on the context. It is hard to know the exact relationship Samson had with this girl. Was he married or not? He must have felt some ownership claim over the girl otherwise he would not have expected to visit this girl in her personal chambers. The girl's father explained the situation to Samson. They had no idea what to make of Samson abruptly leaving the wedding ceremony, but since he did not come back, and so much time had elapsed, they could only assume Samson did not want her anymore. The father gave the girl to another man.

Samson visited his wife with a young goat: The answer to what was actually happening here might be in the young goat Samson was bringing with him. Why would he be bringing a gift? And why would it have been considered important enough to include the gifting of the goat in the narrative? It is usually taught the young goat was a present of reconciliation. While it is possible, it is hard to imagine that such a common and rather inexpensive item would have been suitable to apologize for the tremendous insult and boorish behavior Samson had displayed some time earlier at his own wedding.

Instead, there is another, and much more likely possibility. There is an ancient Middle Eastern custom (still practiced today in some Middle Eastern culture) called sadika. It was (and still is) followed by men who have no permanent habitation. Thus, their wife is allowed to remain with her parents on a more or less indefinite basis. It is also recognized as a marriage of lesser status than the more typical one in which a husband and wife set up their own household together. Sadika is probably an evolution of the concubine relationship whereby a man takes a woman to live in his household, but she is not given a marriage certificate or married under the chuppah (i.e., she is not given a wedding ceremony). Yet, she does have many rights of a wife.

In modern times, the husband in this kind of marriage is called a joz musarrib which means a visiting husband. In this system, it is the husband's duty to bring the wife a gift each time he comes to visit her. It does not have to be a valuable gift, but it cannot be so small as to be insulting. A kid goat would fit this bill just about right for their period in time. Thus, in our case with Samson, he says in verse one, "I will go in to my ishsheh in her room." No man would be allowed to enter a single woman's private chambers, nor could a married woman have a male visitor other than her father of husband in her own room. Such a thing just was not done. It could easily bring the death penalty for parties involved. Samson seems as though he thought he had some kind of marital relationship with this girl (probably of the sadika kind), but the father thought otherwise.

Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she: Seeing Samson was surprised and upset, the father offered the girl's younger sister to him. The father tells Samson, the younger sister is even prettier. Why not take such a nice trade? While that may seem uncivilized to us, it was usual in those days for such a transaction to occur. The father was making a sincere attempt to make things as right as he could under the circumstances. Samson did not want the girl's younger sister. Another rage overcame Samson.

This time I should be blameless in regard to the Philistines: Samson determines he is going to take revenge for this perceived offense against him. It was going to be against the Philistines in general. It is self evident Samson seems to lump all Philistines together. If one Philistine insults him, then all Philistines are open to blame and are fair game. This is so strange. Samson seemed to hang out regularly in Philistine territory and had a hunger for Philistine women. Yet, he seems to have some deep-seated burning hatred towards the Philistines as a group.

I think it might be fair to say he was rather bigoted towards them. After all, you could take any race of people and decide the actions of one equal the actions of them all. It is hard to not see this as a kind of bigotry. Of course, the Philistines ruled over Israel at this time. So the Philistines were hardly the good guys. But, any soldier who has fought on foreign soil will tell you that it is a dilemma to mentally separate the innocent civilians from the military troops who are trying to kill you. Yet, most soldiers instinctively know there is a difference, and they must conduct themselves in that knowledge.

It can be also argued that since God was in the middle of all this with Samson, perhaps Samson was responding to a righteous kind of impulse within him to destroy the Philistines. But Samson's other actions indicate Samson did not seem to care much about what God thought or what God's laws and ordinances entailed. Samson operated primarily in a self-centered manner, by doing what was right in his own eyes. He had very little self-control or wisdom.

Judges 14 Part Three (Verses 15-20)

3. (Judges 14:15-18) Samson's Philistine wife extracts the answer to the riddle from Samson and tells it to the Philistines
Then it came about on the fourth day that they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, or we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?" Samson's wife wept before him and said, "You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have propounded a riddle to the sons of my people, and have not told it to me." And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?" However she wept before him seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people. So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,
"What is sweeter than honey?
And what is stronger than a lion?"
And he said to them, 
"If you had not plowed with my heifer, 
You would hot have found out my riddle."  

Then it came about on the fourth day: The thirty men continued to try various methods to answer the riddle. Unsuccessful, they were beginning to realize not only had Samson made a fool out of them, but they were going to leave the wedding feast poorer than when they had arrived. This infuriated them. So they confronted Samson's bride and demanded she pry the solution out of her husband.      

The fourth day: Depending on your Bible translation, it may say, "It came about on the fourth day" or "it came about on the seventh day." The English translators are trying to make sense of this story for us Greek-minded folks. The actual Hebrew states, "It came about on the seventh day." Yes, the Hebrew text actually makes this story a little bit confusing.

It is quite time consuming to go into depth about how everything plays out on a timeline. I will summarize. It says the 30 men could not solve the riddle after three days. Then the Hebrew says on the seventh day, the men went to Samson's bride. Next, we see Samson's bride ask Samson for the information, Samson refuses, and then he gives in because it says she cried for the entire seven days. By the seventh day, Samson was worn down and tells his bride the answer to the riddle. We see a few timing conflicts. For instance, it says after the third day of a seven day feast the 30 men approached the bride. Yet, it says she cried for all seven days (presumably to get Samson to tell her the answer). Then we are told before the seven days ended, the Philistine men received the answer from Samson's bride and delivered the answer to Samson.

The timing issue can be solved if one understands we most likely have a contextual mixing of the same term meaning two different things. The term is "seven days". Seven days was the length of the wedding feast, but we have no idea what day of the week the festival began. Seven days is also how long the girl cried. And the "seventh day" is also a common biblical term which means the Sabbath. (The Sabbath is the seventh and final day of the week.) Thus, it was very likely not on the seventh day of the wedding banquet in which the men came to the girl to convince her to help them solve the riddle. Rather, it was referring to the seventh day of a standard week (the Shabbat). You can continue this theme for the rest of the timing issues to resolve anything which may appear as a timing conflict.

Samson's wife wept before him: Moving along, Samson did not want to tell the girl his riddle. He knew she may divulge his answer to the 30 men. After all, despite the fact they were in the marriage process, her family was Philistine, and her culture was Philistine. Also, all her friends were Philistines. The pressure would have been too much for her not to help out those who she had been closest to all of her life. In fact, Samson says not even his own parents knew the answer to the riddle.

(There was good reason for this. Remember, Samson's parents were not present when Samson discovered the honey inside the lion. Samson gave his parents honey from an unclean lion carcass. If they ever found out, they would be furious with Samson because they would have to go through a long and costly process of ritual purification. Moreover, the mere thought of them eating something unclean would have probably made them sick.) But this also was an important tool for the LORD to use in His determination to undermine the peace process between the Philistines and the Israelites.

The tears from Samson's bride finally have their desired effect. Samson tells her the answer to the riddle. I think most men can identify with this situation. When a woman cries even for a few minutes, most men are ready to do almost anything to stop her tears. Most men have no idea what to do with a crying woman...and most woman know this. I cannot imagine how heart-breaking it must have been for Samson's bride to be crying during the wedding feast.

She then told the riddle to the sons of her people: Unfortunately, the girl instantly goes to her 30 men and tells them the riddle's answer. Just moments before the end of the seventh day, when the time would have ended for the men to declare the answer or owe Samson the clothing, they go to Samson and give him the solution.

If you would not have plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle: Samson may have had character flaws, but he was no dummy. He knew immediately his wife had betrayed him. Thus, he told the men in a kind of riddle form that he knew what they did.

A short detour
All throughout this story, this girl has been called Samson's wife. But that is not correct. The Hebrew term being translated is ishsheh; it can mean girl, woman or wife. The meaning is derived from the context. The problem in this story is that the whole wedding process was interrupted before the end of the seventh day. But more importantly, this rift between Samson and his bride seems to have happened BEFORE they had sexually consummated their marriage. This is key. By Hebrew standards, the marriage ceremony consisted of a gathering of friends and family, a brief ceremony officiated by the parents and then everyone watched as the couple went into their home to consummate their union. In the morning, a marriage cloth was used as proof of the consummation. The cloth was given to the mother of the bride for safekeeping; this was in effect the equivalent to a signed marriage certificate.


The point is this: by everything in the Scriptures, there was no consummation of this marriage. Thus, Samson and his bride were never officially married. Thus, to translate the word ishsheh as wife is a misnomer. So why do we find it in the text this way? The answer is the rabbis (especially those who helped create the Greek Septuagint) wanted to make Samson out as a great and near perfect man, rather then the seriously flawed man that he was. Thus, they concocted all kinds of fanciful and unsubstantiated excuses and scenarios which changed the plain meaning of the holy texts. For instance, they claim that before Samson married thus girl, she converted to Judaism. Then they claim Samson and this girl were legally married in correct Torah fashion. Thus, this girl was his wife. The next chapter (chapter 15) will bring up this issue in more detail. So we will examine it a little more at that time.


4. (Judges 14:19-20) Samson's anger and revenge
Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and he went down to Askelon and killed thirty men of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father's house. But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily: Verse 19 states the Spirit of the LORD came over Samson as he went to Ashkelon. The Spirit gave Samson the burst of supernatural strength which allowed him to go through the city and kill these random Philistine men in order to take their clothing from them. This reminds us that the LORD was behind this all. Yes, Samson's own evil inclinations made him the bully with anger management issues, but the LORD used this for His purposes.

Samson was beside himself in anger. His betrothed had betrayed him. And now he had to come up with thirty sets of clothing for his guests as their prize for "solving" his riddle. Rather than just tell the men their method of getting the answer negated what he owed them, he determined he would meet his obligation.

So boiling with rage, he went to Ashkelon (about 30 miles away). He proceeded to kill 30 male citizens of Ashkelon in order to take their clothes from them and give them to his wedding guests. These men Samson killed had no connection to the weeding. By all accounts, these were random killings, but undoubtedly, Samson picked men who possessed the special kind of clothing the bet required. He took the clothes and gave them to the men he owed them to. He then went to his father's house in Zorah.

But Samson's wife was given to his companion: Back in Timnah, his wife and her family would have waited and waited for Samson to return. But Samson never did. What a terrible insult to her family and what a dilemma. Was this girl married or not? Would Samson return and complete the marriage process or was this girl to remain in limbo? After some time passed (we do not know how many days, weeks or months may have elapsed), the girl's father gives her in marriage to Samson's best man.

In summary, Samson's rash decision to marry the Philistine girl, the girl's decision to betray her fiance to the 30 wedding guests, and then her father's decision to give her to another man after Samson took off now made reconciliation impossible. Samson's war against the Philsitines was about to begin in earnest. By the way, the Rabbis handle all this (and what is about to come) by explaining that Samson's co-called "wife" now gave up her Judaism and returned to the religion of her Philistine family.