Ep. 67 - Samson (Part 4)

Last we left our story, Samson had just done the unthinkable…he had revealed the secret of his strength. And not to just anyone, but a Philistine woman. And not just to any Philistine woman, but to a Philistine woman who was obviously trying to betray Samson. Three times, Samson had given Delilah fake reasons for his strength. First it was bowstrings, then it was fresh ropes, then it was weaving his hair into a loom. And each time, Delilah had betrayed him to the Philistines. But Samson just couldn’t see it. Samson was so head over heels for Delilah that he couldn’t even imagine that she was trying to get him killed…it’s just that the Philistines were attacking him at very weird times. And Delilah, seeing how blindly in love Samson was, really pressed him for the real secret to his strength…and Samson eventually gave in and told her - it was his lifelong Nazirite vow to God which was shown through his hair that had never been cut. Somehow, Delilah could tell that Samson really had told her the truth this time…that she really did know the secret. Would Delilah take advantage of Samson’s love for her and tell his secret to the Philistine lords? Would she really get Samson captured, imprisoned, and maybe even killed? Well…let’s find out.

Well yes, Delilah was indeed going to betray Samson. As soon as she realized that she really did know Samson’s secret, she wasted no time. Right away she called for the Philistine lords, and said, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” (16:18) And the Bible says that the Philistine lords, “came up to her and brought the money in their hand.” (16:18) It was all about the money. But of course, just like all the times before, Delilah needed to prove to the Philistine lords that she did indeed know the secret. And so, for the fourth time, Delilah lured the unsuspecting Samson back into her room. And this time she lulled him to sleep on her knees. And as soon as he was asleep, Delilah called in a slave…who carefully shaved his head. And what happened next? You guessed it…Delilah suddenly yelled, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” (16:20) Samson suddenly woke up and, having been in the situation many times before, shot up and got ready to fight off the Philistines. But of course, Samson quickly realized that this time was different. Samson’s super-human strength…which he had had since he was a young man…had left him, because as the Bible says, “the Lord had departed from him.” (16:20) And the Philistines captured him and took him away.

Now, as we already know, the Philistines were a brutal people. And Samson had caused the Philistines a lot of trouble over the years. Now that they finally had Samson in their hands, well, they were going to make the most of it. They weren’t going to just kill him…no no no…that would be a waste. Instead, they were going to make him into a trophy for the Philistines…and a humiliation to the Israelites. And so, very cruelly, they poked out his eyes to make him blind, put bronze shackles on his feet, and then threw him into prison where they forced him to be a grinder. A grinder was someone who pushed a big round millstone around in a circle over and over again to grind up grain into flour. This was usually something done by a donkey or maybe slaves…and it was embarrassingly humiliating to make someone like Samson, one of the most famous warriors of all time and who was the judge of all Israel, do something like that.

Now we don’t know how long that poor blind Samson was in prison, but it was enough time for him to think long and hard about how foolish he had been. He must have kicked himself for how blind he had been about Delilah. I mean…how many times did the Philistines need to magically show up at just the right time for him to realize what was going on? But it went deeper than that…he knew that he shouldn’t have been with Delilah in the first place. He was a Nazirite…he had been set aside for God’s special purpose …what was he doing hanging out with a Philistine girl at all? And thinking even farther back, why couldn’t he had stayed away from that harlot in Gaza? And why had he married that Philistine girl? Why couldn’t he have honoured his parents and found an Israelite wife? Even when he thought about some of the amazing parts of his life…like the time he killed that lion…he’d eaten honey out of a dead body…something that the Israelites weren’t supposed to do…and even more so for a Nazirite. The more and more he thought about it, the more he realized just how careless he had been…and how his hair getting cut was really just the last thing in a long line of things he’d done to separate himself from God. In fact, it was amazing that God hadn’t taken away his strength sooner. Many days and nights went by as Samson wrestled with his past. And while Samson was slowly realizing the depths of his mistake, and as his understanding of God’s mercy and love slowly grew, so also was Samson’s hair.

After some time, one of the regular Philistine holidays came around and the Philistines got together for a big celebration in Gaza…the same place where Samson was being held in prison. This year the Philistines had a lot to celebrate…not the least of which was the defeat and capture of their greatest enemy, Samson. With Samson out of the picture, the Philistines probably had no problem oppressing the Israelites to their heart’s content. And in ancient times, when a nation had a great victory, they would often thank their nation’s god. And the Philistines were no different. The Philistines had a god named Dagon. So when all the Philistines started getting together, they would go by the prison where Samson was held, and they the would say, “Our god (talking about Dagon) has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead.” (16:24) This was the guy who had set all their fields on fire, who had single-handedly killed 1000 soldiers with nothing but the jawbone of a donkey. And here he was in prison pushing a grindstone around like a donkey. This is what happens to the enemies of the Philistines.

As the celebration went along, and while the Philistines were feeling super happy with themselves, they decided…ya know what…why don’t we see bit more of Samson. Why not call him up out of the prison and make him walk around in front of all the people? Yah…why not humiliate him even more? And so, that’s what they did…Samson was led out of the prison and was made to walk around in front of the huge crowds of Philistines while they cruelly cheered, laughed…and even probably threw stuff at him. What made it even worse was that he wasn’t even being guarded by soldiers…because he was blind, all it took was a young boy to lead him around by the hand…like some kind of animal. Samson had been to Gaza before, and even though he was blind, he knew exactly where he was. He was right in front of the huge temple to Dagon. And Samson would have known the basic layout of the temple…that the temple was a covered structure that would have been full of people, and that there was a huge roof on top of the templet from which probably most of the people were watching him. And indeed Samson was right, there were about 3000 people watching him from that roof…not to mention all the Philistine lords who were inside the temple. Everyone had come out to see Samson…the great enemy of the Philistines!

As Samson was being led around like some kind of animal, he probably couldn’t help but think to himself that the Philistines would have never been so brave to do this to him back when he had his strength…back when God had been with him…back when he’d had his ha…wait a second…his hair…it had been growing back! Nobody had thought to keep it cut! I mean, it certainly wasn’t as long as it had been before, but it was there. Could it mean something? Could it mean that maybe, just maybe, God would be with him again? Could it mean that maybe, just maybe God would give him back his strength…even one last time? But even if God did give him back his strength, what could he possibly do with it? He was blind after all…it’s not like he could face off against an army again like he’d done before. But while Samson didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, as the Philistines continued to lead him around and mock him and laugh at him, he decided that he was going to try…and he would figure out something.

When the Philistines were finally done parading Samson around, they led him to the very front of the temple…right in front of a line of pillars that were supporting the temple structure. And that’s when an idea occurred to Samson…something that Samson could do with his strength (if God did indeed give it to him)…something that he could do that would deal a huge blow to the Philistines and that he didn’t need to see to be able to do it. And he said to the boy who was leading him around, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.” (16:26) And the boy did so. And Samson reached out with his hands until he found the two pillars that were right in the centre of the temple…the two pillars that supported most of the weight of the roof where all the people were, and then Samson said, “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!” (16:28) And then, feeling his strength return to him, Samson braced himself against the two pillars and yelled, “Let me die with the Philistines!” (16:30) And then Samson pushed with all his might.

With all the shouting, and laughing, and partying that was going on, at first the Philistines probably didn’t notice what Samson was doing. But that didn’t last for long. Because as Samson pushed and strained and struggled against the pillars, they began to buckle…then crack…and then with a huge noise the pillars crashed to the ground. And the Philistines definitely heard that! And as the Philistines turned to see where the noise had come from, when they saw the pillars…and when they saw the whole temple structure beginning to collapse…their laughing quickly turned into cries. And before anyone had a chance to run away, the whole temple…with all the people who were inside the temple and all the people who were on the roof of the temple…at least 3000 people…collapsed like a house of cards…and all the cruel Philistines who had just a moment ago been laughing at Samson…all died with Samson in the rubble of the temple. In fact, so many Philistines died in this disaster that the Bible says that, “the dead that [Samson] killed at his death were more than he killed in his life.” (16:30)

So ends the story of Samson. Like most of the other judges of Israel, Samson certainly had his faults. He was impulsive, he was controlled by his emotions, he disobeyed his parents, he made friends with God’s enemies, and he couldn’t stay away from pretty Philistine girls…but worst of all he was unfaithful to God and careless with his Nazarite vow. While Samson might have been strong in his body, he was weak in his character. But despite all of Samson’s faults and all of Samson’s mistakes, God still managed to accomplish His purpose through Samson. God had said that Samson would “begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” And despite whatever else Samson might have done, no could argue that he hadn’t done that. And ya know kidzos, if we are honest with ourselves, we are a lot more like Samson than we like to think. Do any of us struggle with weaknesses? Do any of us make the same mistakes over and over and over again…kinda like Samson did? Yah…many of us do. And sometimes those mistakes catch up with us like they did with Samson. But when our mistakes catch up with us…and when we are in our own prisons of sadness and discouragement…don’t forget that God can still do very great things through very imperfect people…just like He did with Samson…all those years ago.