Four chapters (13-17) of Judges are dedicated to one of the best-known stories in the Book of Judges and probably in the Bible, Samson. He is a man known for two qualities that are opposites:
• Great Strength: Most folks when they think of Samson they think of a guy that looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger with rippling muscles but in reality according to the texts this guy did draw any attention as to the way he looked. There is no indication that this is true and quite a bit of circumstantial evidence that there was no visible indication that he had great strength. In fact what we are told over and over is that his supernatural strength came as the result of the fact that the “Spirit of the Lord that came upon him”.
• Great weakness: The 2nd misconception centers on his failures. The first verse of chapter 13 speaks of the oft repeated cycle of sin with Israel that “they again did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Yet compare Samson’s time with Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon and Jephthah and you will find that in their case they “cried out to the Lord” for deliverance. At no point during those 40 years of occupation did the nation ever “cry out” for deliverance. Israel was not being enslaved by spiritual and cultural seduction. It was Philistine assimilation combined with Hebrew apathy that led to God using Samson. Israel hadn’t repented and didn’t want a liberator, so God sent to an unrepentant nation a rugged individualist who instead of fighting national battles, was fighting personal ones that had national implications.
Samson’s life will be influenced by four women and only his mother’s relationship will be positive. His father Manoah’s tribe of Dan had moved north to Laish and became idolaters according to chapter 18 but he and his wife stayed in the area given by God on the border between Dan and Judah. We aren’t given her name but within this culture being childless went beyond just the heartache of unfulfilled maternal instincts to the burden of carrying the social stigma of being seen as divinely punished for some unknown sin. 11 times in this chapter we are told that it was “the angel of the Lord” that spoke to them and a message that not once but twice was delivered to Manoah’s wife before he was told. At the time when an Angel comes to Manoah’s wife, Eli (1st Samuel chapter 1) is the high priest in the Tabernacle. Within 10 years of the birth of Samson, Hannah will come into the tabernacle to Eli and he will declare that God has granted her petition and Samuel will be born a year later. Perhaps Hannah heard what the Lord had done for Manoah’s wife and that the child will be dedicated to the Lord and made the same pledge.
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