The Bible: Commentary and Controversy

Years pass, a few minor leaders follow, and then “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.” And along came Samson.

And, of course, another great story. A man named Manoah had a wife who was unable to give birth. One day the angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her she would give birth to a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor “because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” He also told her pretty much what doctors tell pregnant women today, that she must not “eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean.”

The angel then made the man and his wife believers by shooting up to heaven in a tower of flame, That would certainly have done it for me. So the woman gave birth to a boy they called Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and began to stir in him.

After a few years Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw and admired a young Philistine woman who, when he returned home, he told his parents he wanted to marry. They were against it, but of course they didn’t know the Lord was making it happen, wanting an occasion to confront the Philistines, who were then ruling over the Israelites. On the way back to Timnah, Samson was attacked by a young lion, which he tore apart with his bare hands, then went into Timnah, talked to the young woman, and liked her.

Some time later, on his way to Timnah to marry her, he stopped to see the lion’s carcass, and saw in it a swarm of bees and some honey, which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When the people saw him at the pre-wedding feast, they chose thirty men to be his companions, and Samson told them if they answered a riddle within the seven days of the feast he would give them thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes, but if they couldn’t answer it, they must do the same for him.

This was the riddle: “Out of the eater came forth meat, And out of the strong came forth sweetness.” (Youngs) Well, no one could answer that riddle without help, and Samson’s wife helped, haranguing him until he finally told her the answer, which she passed on to the companions. So on the seventh day the companions answered the riddle, saying What [is] sweeter than honey? And what stronger than a lion? (YLT)

Infuriated, Samson said to them “If you had not ploughed my heifer, you could not have answered my riddle.” And filled with the Lord he went to the Philistine town of Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home.” (NLT)

Samson’s wife was then given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast, which angered him so that he plotted an revenge to do them great harm. So he caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs, fastening a torch to every pair. Then he lit the torches and turned them loose in the Philistines’ standing grain, burning the shocks, the standing grain, the vineyards and the olive groves.

When the Philistines asked why Samson had done it, they were told it was because his bride to be was given to someone else. So the Philistines burned the girl and her father to death, whereupon Samson vowed more revenge, slaughtered many of them, and went to dwell in a cave in the rock of Elam. Judah, with three thousand men, went to take Samson prisoner. Samson agreed to be bound and handed over if the Israelites promised they themselves wouldn’t kill him. So the Israelites bound him and took him to the Philistines. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon him; he burst his bonds, picked up the jawbone of an ass, and slayed a thousand Philistines. Then he complained to the Lord of his great thirst, whereupon He opened up “a hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it.”

Some years later he fell in love with a woman named Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines came to her and said they’d each give her 1100 shekels of silver if she would find out and tell them the secret of Samson’s strength. (At today’s silver price of $17 an ounce that would be about $50,000. However, basing the value on what it would buy in the time of Samson, some historians calculate each shekel would be worth $400 – $500. Meaning Delilah was being offered at least two million dollars relative to today’s dollar.)

Captivated by the thought of so much money, Delilah began to harangue Samson for his secret. He lied to her three times, then admitted if his hair were to be cut, his strength would leave him. So Delilah promptly managed to cut off his hair, making him weak enough for the Philistines to capture him. They then gouged out his eyes and put him to work grinding grain in the prison. How long he was there the bible doesn’t say, but during that time his hair grew. Why the Philistines didn’t barber him every month is beyond me, but they didn’t.

One day the Philistines shouted for Samson to be brought out to entertain them. He was taken to a temple where thousands were waiting to see him humiliated. Samson asked the servant who had led him out to “’Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.’” Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “’Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.’” Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, “’Let me die with the Philistines!’” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.”(NLT)

An amazing story, one that – at least to me – smacks of the storyteller’s creativity. But as someone once said, “God works in strange ways His wonders to perform,” of which Sampson’s story is certainly an excellent example.