When does this happen? It is some days after Samson had been to Ashkelon. He has returned from there and decided to visit with his wife at the home she shares with her father and family. It was around the beginning of May, springtime, when a young man’s fancy turns to love, as the poets say. Maybe Samson’s has cooled his anger enough that now he thinks of love.
How do we know it is early May? Because it was the wheat harvest and that was when they gathered the wheat in Israel in those times, maybe they still do; late April and early May. It would be cut and left in heaps about the field ready to go to the grinding. Samson will get a taste of that grinding eventually. It is also the dry season, so the wheat laying in the sun will be tinder dry.
Traipsing through these heaps with a goat under his arm comes Samson. It was tradition to bring a gift when you made a visit. Samson had a double purpose perhaps, not just a visit, but a make-up gift. Today we’d be more likely to bring a bouquet of flowers, but Samson is bringing a goat. Two very different aromas, I sure.
Boy, a lot happened in that one little sentence!
So Samson arrives and confronts his father-in-law.
He arrives at his father-in-law's with a pronouncement. “I will go to my wife in the chamber.” In plain words, he’s going to his wife’s bedroom.
And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.”
But her father would not allow him to go in. And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” Judges 15:1-3
But his father-in-law stops him and says he has given Samson’s wife to Samson’s friends. The father-in-laws excuse is that he thought Samson totally hated her. This was probably insincere. If this companion was with Samson at the feast, he is most likely a Philistine. The father now offered a younger one of his daughters to Samson as a consolation prize. Samson takes this as an insult and the anger rises in him again.
This one is a bit difficult for me since I am an animal lover and don’t believe in cruelty.
So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he
turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. Judges 15:4-5
Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. Judges 15:6-8
This is vengeance after vengeance here. The Philistines, and we see how nasty they were, came and used fire as well, and killed Samson’s father-in-law and wife. Samson swears he will get them for what they done and then he will retire. He does strike them, the ones who burnt down the house, and a whole lot more Philistines, then he goes to a place called Etam and hides in the cleft of a rock.
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Roman 12:17-21
I guess we could make something here because he hides in the cleft of a rock. We hide our sin in the Rock of Christ. And I think what Samson did here was sin. Samson was called to start the overthrow of the Philistines, which was a command from God, but I think what we have here is personal vengeance and Samson should have let it to God. Instead, Samson said I will be avenged against you.
In turn, the Philistines raided Judah and the men of Judah, fearing the Philistines, came with 3,000 men to that rock and persuaded Samson to surrender himself to being bound. Judges 15:8-13.
When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his
bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. And Samson said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey,
heaps upon heaps,
with the jawbone of a donkey
have I struck down a thousand men.”
As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi (Hill of the Jawbone) Judges 15:14-17.
Here again the Hulk returns. We see that the Lord was now behind this happening. His bonds fall free and he spied a jawbone of a donkey nearby. Is this enough? The jawbone would have been four times stronger than steel and the row of jags where teeth had been would cut painfully and deep. The only question would be how long would such a weapon hold up? As long as needed if it had been provided by God for the purpose. It lasted Samson for a thousand men.
Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised. Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi. Judges 15:18-19.
Looking at the aftermath of this reminds us of the Israelite in the Wilderness.
But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”Exodus 18:3.
The Philistines thought they had him. They surrounded the brothel and waited at the city gate for him, figuring they would kill him when he emerged at dawn.
Samson didn’t wait until dawn. He arose in the middle of the
night He went to the other city gate on the opposite side, tore it from its mooring and escaped up the hill toward Hebron. Gaza was in Philistia to the west, maybe 5 miles or so from the coast. Hebron was to the east, up in the hills of Judah, the opposite direction from where the Philistines expected him to exit the brothel. Judges 16:1-3.
It begins in the Valley of the choice vine, Sorek. Timnah lay to its south; remember Timnah, where Samson met his wife. Timnah had vineyards and the valley probably was known for its grapes since its name meant “choice vine”. As a Nazirite Samson should have stayed clear of such a place, but he seemed to have an eye for the women there.; for he fell in love with another, this one named Delilah, another Philistine woman. In Hebrew, Delilah means “she dwindles”’ in Greek it means “faithless one”. (Left: Delilah by Gastave Moreau, 1898)
She was faithless to Samson, for sure. She sold him out for 1,100 pieces of silver. This has been calculated to be worth in today’s money about $90,000. All she had to do was seduce him and get him to reveal the source of his great strength. The first part was pretty easy, the second part not as much.
I have never figured out who was the dumbest of these people, He lied to Delilah over and over and she called in the Philistine SWAT team who took him at his word and they failed time after time. They didn’t learn though and kept trying and Delilah stubbornly questioned Samson.
Perhaps he was the dumbest, though, because he kept playing along. However, he did like riddles and fooling people, problem was he wasn’t so good at resisting the wiles of a women. Like his wife before, Delilah begged and wept day after day, even after all his lies, until she pulled out the old, “You don’t love me card”. And he told her if his hair was shaved he would become as weak as any man.
Perhaps he was the dumbest, though, because he kept playing along. However, he did like riddles and fooling people, problem was he wasn’t so good at resisting the wiles of a women. Like his wife before, Delilah begged and wept day after day, even after all his lies, until she pulled out the old, “You don’t love me card”. And he told her if his hair was shaved he would become as weak as any man.
This time she decided he told her the truth and again called the troops once more. This time she convinced them Samson had told his secret, because they finally gave her the promised money. She in turn lulled Samson to sleep. (Do you think she fed him those creamy curds that Jair fed Sisera to make him doze?) No tent nail this time, while he dozed she called in a barber who shaved off his seven locks of hair. Seven the number of completeness and when they were completely gone so was Samson’s might.
“The Philistines are upon you,” she screamed and the poor guy awoke thinking nothing had changed as they seized him.
"I will shake myself free as at other times,” he thought, but the
Lord had left him and he was bound in bronze chains and his eyes that saw right for himself were gouged out. Samson was then taken to Gaza where he was imprisoned and forced to grind in the mill like an ox.
It looked like a sad and obscure end for Samson. The Philistines thought so, but nobody took notice that the hair on his head had begun to grow again.
I saw the Cecil B. DeMille film called “Samson and Delilah” as a
child. I must have been taken to it by my parents because I was only 8 years old at the time, which was 1949. It starred Hedy Lamar and Victor Mature in the title roles. Mature popped up in a number of films where he could bare his he-man chest, such as “One Million B. C.”, where he was a caveman, “The Vails of Bagdad and “The Robe”.
DeMille liked to make these Biblical flicks because it gave him an excuse to often show beautiful and scantily-clad actress on screen. Hedy Lamar certainly fit that type. She had originally came to not in a movie called "Ecstasy" where she bare much more than just her chest. In this movie she was almost demure.
DeMille liked to make these Biblical flicks because it gave him an excuse to often show beautiful and scantily-clad actress on screen. Hedy Lamar certainly fit that type. She had originally came to not in a movie called "Ecstasy" where she bare much more than just her chest. In this movie she was almost demure.
I am not a fan of Hollywood’s version of Bible stories. Here is the movie's plot and you can see the liberties DeMille took.
Samson, a Danite Hebrew placed under Nazirite vows from birth by his mother Hazelelpinit,is engaged to a Philistine woman named Semadar. At their wedding feast, Samson loses a bet with his wedding guests because of Semadar and attacks 30 Philistines to strip them of their cloaks to pay his betting debt. After paying his debt, Samson searches for Semadar, only to learn that her father Tubal married her to a Philistine once Samson left the wedding to pay his debt. A fight breaks out between Samson and the Philistines, which results in the death of Semadar and Tubal. Samson becomes a hunted man, and in his fury he begins fighting the Philistines. The Saran of Gaza imposes heavy taxes on the Danites, with the purpose of having Samson betrayed by his own people. The Saran's plan works, and frustrated Danites hand over Samson to the Philistines, much to the joy of Delilah, Semadar's younger sister. Samson is taken by Prince Ahtur, the military governor of the land of Dan, and a regiment of Philistine troops. En route back to Gaza, Ahtur decides to taunt Samson. Samson rips apart his chains and ropes and begins to combat the Philistines, toppling Ahtur's war chariot and using the jawbone of an ass to club the Philistine soldiers to death.
News of the defeat of Ahtur at the hands of Samson reaches the Saran. The Saran ponders how to defeat Samson. Delilah comes up with the idea of seducing Samson, thus having him reveal the secret of his strength and then deliver him for punishment. Her plan works; she cuts his hair, which he feels gives him his strength. To fully neutralize him, Samson is blinded by his captors and put to slave work, and is eventually brought to the temple of Dagon for the entertainment of the Philistines and the Saran. However, Delilah has been in love with Samson ever since his engagement with Semadar, and his blindness and torture make her feel deep remorse over her betrayal. She initially had betrayed him because she wanted to avenge the deaths of her father and sister, which she thought were caused "because of Samson."
Delilah later attends the public torture of Samson wielding a whip which he uses to be guided by her to the temple of Dagon's main support pillars. Once he stands between them, he tells Delilah to flee, but she remains, unseen by him, as he pushes the pillars apart. The pillars give way and the temple collapses, burying Samson, Delilah, and all the Philistines inside alive, including the Court. In the end, the temple lies in rubble, and Saul and Miriam, his two closest Danite Hebrew friends, are left to mourn Samson's passing.
Notice, of course, the name of Samson’s wife was never mentioned in Scripture. She was called Semadar in the film and played by Angela Lansbury. Her father is also given a name, Tubal, who the film also makes Delilah’s father and Semadar her sister. Delilah then even suggests she find out Samson’s strength secret to the Saran on Gaza, played by George Sanders. Ain't no Saran of Gaza in the Scripture.
The film claims Delilah was deeply in love with Samson and has regrets and remorse over his capture and blinding. She follows him about and leads him to the pillars of Dagon’s temple, where Samson urges her to leave, and she refuses, thus dying with him. Saul and Miriam, Samson’s good friends, are left to greave him. Where did they come from?
So what did happen to Samson?
He is led to the Temple of Dagon because the Philistines demand he entertain them. Delilah doesn’t guide him, a young man does. Delilah is gone from the story, she has dwindled away. Samson repents to God as he stands in the temple crowded with 3,000 Philistines.
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” And when the people saw
him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.
Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years. Judges 16:23-31.
No Miriam and Saul here, just his brothers and family came to dig him out of the rubble and bury him. Delilah is never heard from again.
And even more depravity comes to Israel.
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