Samson, Faith against all (Hebrews 11)
Samson, Faith against all (Hebrews 11)
Why did we read this chapter 4 of the book of Judges?
Now we are continuing our reading and reflections on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Chapter 11 invites us to imitate the faith of ordinary people who had a remarkable attitude of faith in the Lord. Among them, Samson is named.
I take this opportunity to focus on some biblical characters, such as Samson, whose life is very well-known but very poorly understood. We will soon see Jephthah.
32 And what more shall I say?
For I would not have time to speak of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
33 By faith they overcame kingdoms, exercised justice,
achieved the fulfillment of promises, shut the lion’s mouth,
34 extinguished the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, regained strength after an illness, been valiant in war, put to flight foreign armies.
They seem to have been very famous in the collective history of the Hebrews.
Misunderstood?
Ah, Samson! He is one of the best-known and most misunderstood of the Old Testament biblical characters because of his extraordinary strength. What emerges from the popular understanding is that he is a kind of “hormone-driven brute.”
He has a problem with women!
Should we adhere to this vision?
Samson an inspiring example of faith
The verse we read just before tells us the complete opposite.
Samson is an inspiring example of faith for us now, as he was for the first readers of Hebrews.
OT in the light of the NT
Little reminder. How do we understand a text from the Old Testament?
Always in the light of the accomplishment of Jesus (incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension), and the words of Jesus and the epistles.
God’s support evident with Samson
For Samson, it is ultimately very simple to see the man of faith that he was. Just by simply reading the 3 chapters of the Bible dedicated to him. Judges 13 to Judges 16 which describe 4 major stages in Samson’s life:
The Period of the Judges, alternation of infidelity and return to the Eternal
The period in which Samson’s life takes place is that of the Judges, a time when the general attitude of the people of Israel was not great. Indeed, the exploits of the conquest of Canaan (such as Jericho) under the leadership of Joshua were to be completed by the tribes. But instead, the tribes preferred assimilation and fell into the idolatry of Canaanite religions.
Contract – judgment
The Lord, keeping the terms of the contract made with Israel, confronts them with the judgment of their attitude of abandonment of God and idolatry.
Cycles of the Book of Judges
This is followed for 400 years by cycles where:
The first 3 cycles
The first 3 “great judges” show broadly the same cycles:
1) Othniel
2) Ehud
3) Barak – Deborah.
The other cycles are less and less successful
Things get worse with the following:
Decrescendo
And the further we go in the book of Judges, the more the author shows us how everything deteriorates, because the people of God did not do what they were supposed to do and did what came to their minds.
At that time there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
God intervenes especially through Samson
Then comes the story of Samson, which closes the series of “great” judges, with a special manifestation of God. God intervenes especially through Samson.
Israel’s Estrangement and Decline
The rest of the book ends with 2 events that show the decline and decadence
due to his estrangement from God.
Then comes the matter concerning Samson.
2 things to understand Samson’s mission:
And Samson will show and demonstrate this through his life.
The Angel of the Lord says it clearly:
“He will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Whose end will only come later, with David and Solomon.
Birth
One of the 5 unusual births in the Bible
The birth of Samson is one of the 5 exceptional births in the Bible:
Huge significance for the people of Israel
The birth of Samson which is the second of its kind in history, after that of Isaac. Imagine what this means as a reference for the people of Israel. Just like Abraham, the father of the Hebrews had the beginning of the posterity wanted by God through Isaac in an extraordinary way.
Here too you have someone whom God desires in the same way for an important mission.
Interventions of the angel of the Lord for the birth of Samson
Indeed, Samson’s mother is sterile and it is the angel of the Lord (who is associated in this theophany with the special intervention of the second person of God, not incarnate) who intervenes twice to announce and specify the mission and the specificity of this child set apart and consecrated from the womb of his mother. The sign of the consecration will be visible because the razor will not pass over his head.
Judges 13. 3-5
“Here you are, barren, without children.
You will become pregnant and give birth to a son.
4 Now be careful not to drink no wine nor strong liquor and not to eat anything unclean,
5 for you will conceive and give birth to a son. The razor will not pass over his head, because this child will be consecrated to God from his mother’s womb. He will be the one who will begin to deliver Israel from the domination of the Philistines.”
Accuracy, Samson’s strength is not in his hair
Let us note here that Samson’s strength is not linked to his hair.
His hair is a sign that he is consecrated,
If his head is shaved, he decides to show that he is no longer consecrated, he becomes a Hebrew like any other…
From the beginning, exemplary connection with God
This chapter 13, the one that speaks of his birth, is extraordinary. And it ends with these hyper-important verses:
Judges 13. 24-25
“The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew, and the LORD blessed him. The Spirit of the LORD began to move him in Machaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.”
He is blessed by God and above all his action is guided by the Spirit of God. It is under this supervision that he will accomplish his first mission.
#Samson#
####special envoy of the Eternal####
The Wedding
Marriage with a Philistine
Samson is going to marry a Philistine woman to show all the chaos that comes out of it internally and externally,
Marriages with other nations forbidden by God
God had formally forbidden marriages with other nations, not because He was racist (and we have opposite examples with Ruth and Rahab) but because there is no spiritual unity.
This is what Samson will show through this marriage. And all the cascading consequences.
Judges 14.4
“His father and mother did not know that this was from the LORD. Samson was looking for an opportunity to argue with the Philistines.
The chaos that came from this marriage
Treason
During the wedding, his wife betrays Samson to give the answer to the riddle to her fellow Philistines who pressure her by threatening to burn her and her entire family.
Repeated chaos
It follows:
The Philistines, who had the upper hand over Israel, were dissatisfied with Samson’s actions and went up to Israel to demand that Samson be handed over to them.
And what do the Judeans do? Instead of following behind Samson to take the upper hand on the Philistines, they go up with 3,000 soldiers to deliver Samson to them!
Samson, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, frees himself from his prison bonds and eliminates 1000 Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone.
Chapter 14 to reread
I invite you to reread this chapter 14, so much do we see the presence of the Spirit of God which accompanies Samson’s action.
Observation
Assimilation, instead of conquest, ultimately results in God’s people fighting the one who is clearly God’s messenger. Assimilation does not work unless there is a spiritual change first (like Rahab and later Ruth).
The spiritual difference generates a struggle that causes damage on both sides but especially for Israel:
Besides, we will realize this in the 3rd episode.
#Marriage without spiritual unity#
####opens to cascading disasters####
Gaza
Gaza, a city open to invasion
This third episode says a lot about the apathy of Israel, instead of following the Eternal in His order of conquest (which He had given in the time of Joshua and recalled at the beginning of the book of Judges).
We will read;
Chapter 16: 1-3
1 Samson went to Gaza.
He saw a prostitute there and went into her house.
2 It was said to the inhabitants of Gaza: “Samson has arrived here.” They surrounded him and lay in ambush all night at the city gate. They remained quiet all night, saying to each other: “At daybreak we will kill him.”
3 Samson lay there until midnight. About midnight he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate and their two doorposts, tore them out with the bar, put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the mountain that faces Hebron.
What does it make you think of?
What does this make us think of?
Jericho
It reminds me of Jericho:
Similar methodology
The same pattern.
Shelter with a prostitute:
A night action:
The city lock can jump:
It is an open city.
If it falls, the entire territory of the Philistines would be winnable!
Clear message for Israel
By displaying the gates from the top of the mountain which radiates over a whole part of Israel, Samson expresses something very strong.
– “Gaza is no longer a fortified city. It is a city that can be taken, it no longer has gates.”
#In Gaza#
####Samson shows exactly the same thing as in Jericho####
Delilah
Conclusion of the real state of Israel
This only completes the state of mind in which Israel is, following this assimilation. God’s interests are not a priority, it is the comfort of the moment that counts.
Samson, trapped by his lack of discernment
Engagement with a Jewish woman.
Samson is in love with Delilah. Are they in an engagement period?
They do not appear to be married as there does not appear to be any nuptial intimacy (the Philistines “hide” in the bedroom(s)).
She seems to live in a part of the valley under the control of Israel (the Philistines go up there as when they make incursions into Israel).
Her name suggests that she is Jewish. (If she had been Philistine, the princes would not have paid a single cent and would have intimidated as in chapter 14.)
Samson rebuilds his life
So, after the painful episode with his Philistine wife, Samson starts a new life.
Samson Light with his consecration
by playing with fire but above all by lack of discernment of Delilah’s intentions. (His lack of discernment is underlined by the fact that he had his eyes gouged out.)
He will offer the secret of his consecration and lose everything associated with it:
Continue to the end
In a final burst, the Lord will give him the strength to continue his mission by eliminating, like never before, the Philistine elite.
Conclusion
Not only does a Jewess betray God’s messenger several times, but she also puts him out of action through her seduction. This is the purpose of assimilation, to the detriment of the Eternal’s recommendations.
#The Delilah Episode#
####reveals that the purpose of assimilation, at the time of the Judges, is treason####
Faith, alone against all
Taking a step back, yes, Samson is a true man of faith of the Lord in the midst of the enemies of the Lord!
And us, in their time?
If we had lived in the time of Samson and were part of the people of Israel, what would our attitude have been?
Almost certainly, we would have done as they did…
And us, now?
But instead of making fiction, what is our attitude now?
Would either take precedence over our life of faith?
Are we the hyper-assimilated ones?
Are we hyper-assimilated?
It’s super simple to know: Samson’s gestures of faith were visible.
Are our gestures of faith perceptible?
Or is it that what is most noticeable is our hedonistic accumulations?
Are we in an active faith? Or the opposite?
The in-between is not a middle ground. In Revelation, which is aimed more at our side of history and not the Bronze Age, there are these verses:
14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
‘These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the author of God’s creation:
15 I know your works. I know you are neither cold nor hot. If only you were cold or hot!
16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
17 For you say: I am rich, I have become rich and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.
A gesture of faith, perhaps there is one waiting.
So, this week I’m going to…