045 Samson and Delilah
The writer of Judges continues his account of Samson’s
problems with women in Chapter 16. The concluding verse in chapter fifteen gave
the impression that the Samson cycle was completed. Yet the writer has more say
as he continues to build his case against Israel in general and Samson in
particular. This concluding chapter of the Samson cycle is divided into two
parts and will highlight Samson’s continuing love affair with Philistine women.
The
Prostitute of Gaza (16:1-3)
Samson’s Gaza affair is simple and brief. Sampson visits
a prostitute in Gaza and the Gazites plan to capture him when he leaves the
prostitute in the morning. Leaving earlier, around midnight, Samson eludes
capture and escapes by picking up the gates of the city and carrying them off.
This simple story raises far more questions than it
answers.
1) Yahweh is not mentioned. Unlike the other
episodes of Samson, why is there no reference to the Spirit of the Lord coming
upon him?
2) Why are there “no editorial comments” in this
narrative?
3) Who is the prostitute? She is unnamed like
Samson’s mother and his Timnite wife.
4) What is Samson doing in Gaza which is 45
miles from his home and of the five major Philistines cities is the one
furthest south?
5) Samson was well-known to the Philistines near
his home but how had his reputation carried this far from his home and who was
it that notified the Gazites that he was in their town at the prostitute’s?
6) What did the Gazites surround or does the
word as used here just mean to gather?
7) What were the Gazites planning to do to
either capture or kill Samson? Block asks the question: “What were the men
planning to do “until the light of the morning?” - The NIV’s “at dawn we’ll
kill him” obscures the difficulty of the Hebrew.
8) If surround and out in force, how did Samson
get past the Gazites and then move the city gates without alerting anyone
especially if there were guard rooms with guards flanking the gates?
9) How did Samson move the gates without the
Spirit of the Lord coming on him and if the Spirit of the Spirit of the Lord
did come on him why does the writer not mention it?
10) We are told that Samson carried the gates to
the top of a hill opposite Hebron. Is this the same Hebron that was in the
territory of Caleb and if it is, “how could he carry these gates forty miles
(as the crow flies) uphill from the coastal town to the highland city?”
All of these unanswered questions beg another question:
“What is the purpose of this text?” Daniel Block provides us with three likely
explanations. First, Block suggests that the writer is using this episode to
continue to reinforce the image he has created of Samson to this point. This
episode portrays “an Israelite inexorably drawn to the Philistines and
continuing to be driven by his senses. He has no scruples about fraternizing
with the enemy. But this relationship is even more reprehensible than the one
in chap. 14, since he does not bother to marry this woman. Furthermore, in
going to Gaza to fraternize with a pagan woman he has gone as far as he could
from his geographic and spiritual home.” The writer, by not making mention of
the Spirit of God, forces us to consider the possibility that Samson’ strength
was natural rather than a gift from God.
Second, this brief episode adds to the picture being
painted of the Philistines. The anger against Samson no longer confined to a
backwater locale, Samson has achieved fame and recognition, and he has become
the Philistines “Public Enemy #1.” Samson evidently has “a bounty on his head
throughout the land.”
The third possible purpose for this narrative is that it
provides the reader for the reason that Samson is in Gaza initially. Gaza is
the place of Samson’s greatest, most dramatic, and deadliest episode. It is the
place where all the unnamed women in Samson’s life will give way to the one
named woman, Delilah, and she will be the one to bring about his destruction
Samson
and Delilah (16:4-22)
Samson and Delilah is the longest episode in the Samson
cycle. The themes that permeate this episode are “knowledge and ignorance,” and
are reflected in the verbs that the writer uses throughout the episode. Verbs
like: “to see” (vv. 5, 18); “to tell, declare” (vv. 6, 10, 13, 15, 17, 18a,
18b); “to know” (vv. 9, 20); “to declare
falsehood,” that is, “to lead away from knowledge” (vv. 10, 13); “to deceive”
(vv. 10, 13, 15); and the question, “How can you say” (v. 15). Daniel Block
concludes that “Samson has become a riddle to the Philistines.”
The great irony of this episode of Samson is that when the
Philistines learn the truth of about Samson, Samson loses his source of power
and it is not his hair but most importantly, his God. Throughout this episode
we are left with the image of a man that cannot see the forest for the trees.
He is so enamored with both Delilah and what he thinks are his own strengths
that he is oblivious to what is transpiring around him. We wonder how this man
could be so dense as to not have learned anything from the episode with the
riddle and his wife and see the same issues at play here with Delilah. Perhaps
it is nothing more than the fact that as Block suggest that: “In this man we
witness a classic example of “all brawn and no brain.”
The theme of testing is also dominant in the Samson
cycle. Daniel Block provides the following examples of testing from this final
episode for us.
First, the Philistine lords
test Delilah: is she a Philistine, or is she Samson’s lover? Second, Delilah tests Samson: Does he love
her, or is he just teasing her? Like the riddle in 14:14, for Samson this test
becomes a trap. Third, Yahweh tests Samson: Will he remain true to his Nazirite
vow (vv. 17, 20)? Verses 15-17 contain the keys to the development of this
motif as all three tests come together and Samson admits that the game is more
than a test of love. Fourth, Yahweh tests Dagon: Can he stand up for himself
and his people (vv. 23-30)? Fifth, Samson tests God: Will he intervene to
defend his agent in the end (vv. 28-30)? Indeed in this section every speech is
a test. As for Samson, the principal character, although he is able to shed the
ropes and the web that bound his hair, he fails everyone’s tests, ultimately
being trapped in his own words.
The
Stage Is Set (16.4-5)
Verse 4 is a bridge from the previous episode with the
prostitute to the beginning episode with Delilah. It provides us with a great
summary of Samson’s problem, “he fell in love.” Throughout the Samson cycle
this has been Samson’s problem. Samson has become the answer to the riddle in
14.18. Block declares, “Samson’s love of women is sweeter than honey and
stronger than a lion.”
Samson’s problem was not necessarily his love of women
but his love of Philistine women. Samson falls in love with a woman from the
valley of Sorek, which was occupied by Philistines. Instead of falling in love
with a woman from the high country of Hebron, which likely would have been an
Israelite woman, Samson falls for a woman who is from the lowlands and is a
Philistine. Hard to read this without the refrain of “looking for love in all
the wrong places” playing in your mind. And for the first time in the Samson narrative a woman is named. No one
is sure what the name Delilah means. Commentators have suggested many possible
interpretations but it appears that the name may simply be a Philistine name
whose meaning has been lost.
In verse 5, the writer provides us with the ingredients
of a modern day James Bond novel. Expectedly, an Israelite man who is a judge
falling in love with a Philistine woman is going to raise some issues, and
issues we have in great abundance. The
Philistines are somehow made aware that Samson is in Gath and that he is in
love with a woman named Delilah. The city fathers of Gath, along with other
Philistine leaders from the four major cities, seek to recruit Delilah to help
them capture Samson. “Like an ancient version of a spy movie, this plot
involves a heroic male, a female agent, money, love, death, and ironic
reversal.”
These “lords of the Philistine” want Delilah to discover
the secret of Samson’s strength and report to them. The writer expresses their
objectives in four verbs: “find out” where his great strength lies; “overpower
him”; “bind” him; “afflict” him. The lords of the Philistines persuade Delilah
to help them by offering her eleven hundred pieces of silver each, an
exorbitant reward, if you will, of 5500 pieces of silver. Like everything that
happens to Samson, even the reward for helping in his capture is exorbitant.
Working the Plan (16.6-20)
The Philistines discovery of the source of Samson’s
strength is made up of four stages. Each stage is similar to the others and
each successive stage builds the tension and heightens the suspense.
The first attempt is reported in 16:6-9. Delilah agrees to cooperate with the
Philistine lords and begins to question Samson about the source of his “great
strength.” Perhaps surprised at Samson’s willingness to divulge the secret of
his strength, Delilah relays what Samson has told her that if he is bound “with
seven fresh bowstrings not yet dried,” he will become like any other man. The
Philistine lords give Delilah the seven bowstrings and she binds him with them.
She wisely tests his statements by announcing the arrival of the Philistines,
the cords disintegrated like yarn in a fire. The first attempt by the
Philistines was a failure. Do you think Samson was intentionally violating his
Nazerite vows by telling Delilah to use the tendons (bowstrings) of dead
animals to bind him?
The second attempt is in verses16:10-12. Delilah accusing
Samson of lying to her, asks him again to give her the secret of his strength.
Samson quickly gives her a more believable answer. Samson tells her that if he
is bound with new ropes his strength will be like that of other men. Just like the previous time, Delilah ties him
up with new ropes, and announces the fact that Philistines are attacking her.
Samson easily breaks his binds.
The third attempt as told in 16:13-14 is a step closer to
the truth as it at least involves his hair. Samson tells her that if she would weave
the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on a loom and then tighten them
with a pin, he would be as vulnerable as any ordinary man. It is hard to envision
how this would have been done. Perhaps Samson laid down close enough to the
loom so Delilah could weave his hair into the fabric and tighten it with the
pin. Delilah follows his instructions, Samson falls asleep, Delilah signals the
arrival of the Philistines, and Sampson just pulls out the pin and was free.
The fourth and last attempt is contained in 16:15-17. After failing three times to extract the
secret for Samson’s strength from him, Delilah breaks out the heavy artillery,
she follows in the footsteps of Samson’s wife and plays the “you don’t love me”
card. She complains that he does not really love her and that there can be no
love if Samson is not willing to share the innermost secrets of his heart with
her. “This had been the issue with regard to the riddle of the wedding, and
this is the issue regarding the riddle of Samson’s strength.” The writer’s
reference of Delilah nagging him to death foreshadows coming events.
In 16:17 Samson finally gives in and tells her everything.
He tells her that if his hair is cut (shaved) his strength would leave him. He
even explains that he is a Nazerite and that he was set apart to God since
birth. Why would he tell that to a Philistine? This confession reveals more
than the source of his strength; it tells us that Samson was aware that he was
indeed set apart to God. Yet still it seems obvious the Samson does not take
his vow seriously, he gloss over his responsibilities in fulfilling his vow; “he
simply does not take it seriously. Like his strength, and the people around
him, it is a toy to be played with, not a calling to be fulfilled.”
It is also significant that Samson refers to God by the general
designation Elohim instead of the more personal designation of Yahweh. From Delilah’s
perspective then his vow could have been made to any god. And Block tells us
that may have been just as well: “Given the character and conduct of the man,
the narrator probably was relieved to have Samson put it this way; it limited
the damage he was causing for the reputation of the God of Israel.”
Verses 16:18-20a reveal that like “the riddle in 14.18,
sweetness has won over strength,” and Delilah has won and Samson has fallen.
Betrayed by love and betrayed by his own lack of commitment to his vows, Samson
is now powerless.
In this last attempt, Delilah recognizes the truth when
she hears it. There is no need of a test or a trial and the Philistines return
again and even bring their silver with them. Delilah gets Samson to fall asleep in her lap
and has a man come and cutoff Samson’s seven braids. Like the previous episodes
she announces the arrival of the Philistines but unlike the other times, this
time she turns Samson over to them and her job is successfully completed.
Verses16.v20b-22 is the climatic event of Samson’s
capture by the Philistines. In v19 the writer tells us that Samson’s strength
has left him. Now in v. 20 the writer reveals the greater tragedy, that Yahweh
has left him. This is the real tragedy. There can be no worse fate than to be
abandoned by God and now Samson, the one divinely chosen by God has been
abandoned by Him. As we have seen throughout the cycle, Samson has played with
his gifts and taken them lightly, only to come to this point of realizing that
everything he had, he has thrown away.
16:21 reveals a great irony of the Samson cycle. Samson,
the man who did what he thought was right in his own eyes is turned into a
blind man as the Philistines gouge out his eyes. Throughout this cycle Samson
has come and gone as he pleased, did what he please when it pleased him and now
his life is one of bondage, imprisonment and humiliation. Samson is apt proof
of the adage “How the mighty have fallen.” “Overnight a man with the highest conceivable calling, the divinely
commissioned agent of deliverance for Israel, is cast down to the lowest
position imaginable: grinding flour for others in prison.”
In16:22 the writer provides us glimpse of hope with the
simple statement “But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had
been shaved.” All is not lost.
One
Final Act (16.23-31a)
Verses 23-24 report the gathering of the rulers of the
Philistines and their people to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon and celebrate
the capture of Samson. Samson was put on display before the crowds and caused
the people to breakout in praise of their god.
Our god has delivered our
enemy into our hands;
The one who laid waste to our
land, and multiplied our slain.
In 16:25-27 the people called for Samson to be brought
out so that he might entertain them. The Philistines brought Samson out and
stood between the pillars at the center of the building. In v. 26 our attention shifts “to the man who
has been placed in the center of the crowd and of the building, the man who was
the victim of Philistine torture and the butt of Philistine jokes.” What a
pathetic image of our hero, having to ask a servant to put his hands on the
pillars so that he could lean on them. Verse 27 tells us that the temple was
crowded with more than three thousand spectators, some in the temple and many
on its roof.
Verse 16.28tells us of Samson making one last impassioned
plea to his God, to Yahweh. His plea is in two parts. In the first part Samson
asks Yahweh to remember him, to act on his behalf and secondly he asks Yahweh
to strengthen him one last time so that he may “get revenge on the Philistines
for my two eyes.” Finally, when deprived of strength, and about as low as one
can get, Samson calls upon the God who was the true source of his strength finally
acknowledging the role of Yahweh in his life
Yet again there are issues with Samson’s prayer. Samson’s
requests are still all about him, all about him getting his revenge. He makes
no requests for his people, his nation or for the purposed of his God. We
should also note that Samson switches from the use of the personal God, Yahweh,
to the generic term, Elohim, in the middle of his pray as he asks for his
revenge. We are left to deal with Samson’s total lack of concern for the divine
agenda or the fate of his people. “All he seeks is personal vengeance.”
In 16:29-30 Samson gets his revenge. Samson extends his
arms so each of his hands could touch the pillars on each side of him and
utters his final words: “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushes on each pillar causing them to
fall and that with the weight of the crowd on the roof destroy the temple,
killing more than more people that he had killed previously and he dies as he
had lived, among the Philistines. The Nazirite, set apart for the service of
God, dying as he had lived, with the uncircumcised Philistines. The tragedy of
Samson’s wasted life is summarized in the words that “he killed many more when
he died than while he lived.” Samson’s epitaph reads “He accomplished more for
God dead than alive.”
Verse 31 concludes the Samson cycle. “He had led Israel
twenty years.”
Final
Observations
Samson’s life reveals the consequences of the
Canaanization of Israel. Samson operates according to the “do what is right in
his own eyes” rule. Throughout the Samson cycle Samson never deviates from this
rule, he never operates “in anyone’s interest but his own.” The people that enter into his life are simply
tools to be used for his benefit, for his good. There is no sense of servant leadership, where the leader puts the
interests of those he is leading ahead of his own, to be found in Samson’s
life. When each man is doing right in his own eyes, how can he see the rights
of others? This is one of the ultimate results of the Canaanization
process.
Another result of the Canaanization process is that those
in leadership positions will frequently operate on the “the basis of their
senses rather than on the basis of principle.” Samson was able to kill his
enemies by the hundreds and thousands, but he was without principles. He sought
to gratify his physical needs and driven by lust his relationships with women
were based on his needs not principles. How could he ever “love,” when the most
important thing to him, was him?
Samson provides us with a classic example of the fact
that often those with greatest gifts neglect the purpose(s) for which they were
given those gifts and often end using their gifts for their own betterment.
Like many men before and after him, Samson wasted his gifts. And that which is
wasted God takes away. Samson takes his place upon the pile of human tragedy,
of a life of unfulfilled potential.
As we have seen in the previous deliverer cycles, if there
is anything positive to come out of Samson’s life, it is only due to the
gracious intervention of Yahweh. And like Samson, “if Israel will eventually
emerge as an identifiable entity from the dark period of the judges, this says
nothing about the quality of her leaders. Yahweh is determined to build his
people. Even if she becomes her own worst enemy and her human leaders fail her
in the end, by the grace of God she will triumph.”
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