I. The Story of Samson

God had planned a special life for Samson. God visited Samsons parents through an angel to tell them that Samson would be a Nazarite from birth. The vow of a Nazarite was typically for a set period of time and was voluntary. Yet, in Samsons case, he was to be a Nazarite all his life and it was a calling by God, not a choice that Samson made personally.

This special vow put restrictions on his life. This included the food that Samson was to eat, that he was not to cut his hair with a razor, nor to be near a dead body. In exchange for these limitations, God endowed Samson with exceptional strength. Sadly, Samson violated all these restrictions during his life which brought him to a tragic end.

Samson once met a woman from the Philistines. These were the enemies of the people of God. Samsons parents tried to convince him to choose an Israelite woman to be his wife, but he refused their guidance. Even though Samsons desires were carnal, God used this choice to accomplish His plan.

On Samsons way to visit the woman he had chosen to be his wife, he met a young lion along the way. He was able to kill the lion with his bare hands. Apparently this was the first time the great strength from God appeared in his life. The Bible says that he did not even tell his parents about this event.When Samson returned home from visiting the woman who was to become his wife, a swarm of bees inhabited the dead body of the lion. Samson took honey from the lions carcasein violation of the Nazarite vow to avoid dead bodies.This event of the death of the lion and subsequent inhabitation by bees became the basis for a riddle he later told.

When preparing for the wedding feast a group of Philistine men, who apparently wanted to cause trouble, came to Samson. Samson proposed a challenge to them. He gave them a riddle that they had to answer within the week of the feast. If they answered correctly he would give sheets and clothing for each of the 30 men. Or, they would do the same for him if they could not figure out the riddle.The riddle was, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.

The Philistine men were not able to answer the riddle on their own. They threatened the lives of Samsons wife and her family to get her to discover the riddle from Samson. She pleaded with Samson for the answer during the feast. Samson finally revealed the answer to her.

The Philistine men came to Samson with the answer, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?To obtain the clothing he needed to pay off the debt of the riddle, Samson went and slew 30 men from Ashkelon.

Samsons wife was taken from him and he was not allowed by his father-in-law to have her. The father offered Samson a younger sister instead. Samson was not pleased with the idea of a substitute. As a punishment for taking away his wife Samson tied 300 foxes together by their tails in pairs and lit a torch between them. The foxes ran through the corn fields of the Philistines destroying their crops.

The Philistines retaliated against Samson by burning Samsons wife and her household. Samson singlehandedly went to war against the Philistines. We are not told how many people Samson slew at that first battle, but apparently an impressive number. He then retreated to a mountain.

The men of the Philistines came to take Samson by force. But the men of Israel did not want their country destroyed because of this war. They knew the Philistines were mightier than Israel. Therefore, 3,000 Israelites came to Samson to ask him to turn himself in. He allowed them to bind him with ropes and deliver him to the Philistines.

When he arrived in the camp of the Philistines, Samson broke the ropes and again fought the the men of the land. This time he battled with a donkeys jawbone. He killed 1,000 Philistines before the fight was over. But, he was dying of thirst. God provided water for him from the jawbone.

This single-man war against the Philistines started a 20 year reign of Samson over the Philistines. Samson did not always obey God or His plan, yet God used Samson to lead and protect Israel. Therefore he is one of the many judges in the Bible that God used.

At one point Samson was surrounded by the Philistines in Gaza to capture him. He rose in the middle of the night and tore the gates of the city from their hinges. Then the Philistines plan to capture him was not accomplished.

Samson had a woman problem. The reason he was in Gaza previously was to be with a prostitute. Later he was in the Valley of Sorek with Delilah, who was not his wife. Delilah was a Philistine. The leaders of the land each promised to pay her 1,100 pieces of silver for her help in discovering Samsons strength and for bringing him into captivity.Through various attempts and pleading, which you can read about in the story of Samson and Delilah, she was able to uncover his weakness. Samson was taken prisoner with the help of Delilah.

Samsons hair had been cut and his eyes gouged out. He was taken to the grinding wheel of the Philistines. Samson was publicly humiliated.Samson was placed in front of the prison house to be humiliated once again. He asked the young boy that led him out (presumably like a dog on a leash) to place his hands on the pillars of the building. Though blinded and humiliated or maybe because he was finally humbled, Samson prayed that God would allow him to do a work on behalf of Israel once again. God granted him the strength to knock down the building. The Bible says that Samson slew more in his death under the rubble of the building than he did in his life.Interpretation and Understanding on Samsons life

II. Interpretation and Understanding on Samsons life

One leader who could have qualified to be a judge also owing to his superhuman gift of physical strength is Samson. Samson, never acted as a military commander of sorts leading his people in any campaign against the enemy. Neither did he act as a judge trying to resolve disputes among his people. Rather, he used his superhuman strength solely as an individual warrior carrying a more personal crusade of revenge against the Philistines who took his wife away from him. He carried on his fight not necessarily against an invading enemy but against a people who were representing the more dominant and powerful group in the land. His exploits indeed reveal clearly how the Israelites were able to manage living near the territories of the more wealthy and civilized Philistines not without the expected border irritants and occasional violent skirmishes.

His exploits appear to be revolving more around the theme of his fascination with foreign women, even with harlots (16:1). The writer of his story appears to point to such fascination as the one thing that eventually led to his own downfall and eventual death. Such a story, especially of his falling for the charms of the beautiful Delilah may also remind the readers in time of the writer of the same weakness Solomon manifested as a leader. It is such weakness which the historian may be pointing out as a key to Solomons being denounced by the historian for apostasy and which led to the eventual division of his kingdom upon his death (cf. 1Kgs. 11:1-12). Military or even physical power can only be used to serve and acknowledge its source and for the service of ones own people. Once it is used to serve the ends of foreign domination and control it is bound to be judged and terminated by the only power that gave it its original existence.

II. The Story of Samuel

IV. Interpretation and Understanding on Samuels lifeA. Negative1. Israels decision to change her own political system is a revolutionary eventa. From what has been unique to itself to what has been commonly accepted.b. A system of tribal confederation undergirded by the tradition of the covenant emanating from the Sinai event has made Israels society at that time a totally unique and unprecedented one; Israel then was to live without any human king but solely under one ruler, Yahweh.c. A revolutionary step towards typical nationhood, not different from any of the nations around them, the decision to adopt the way of nations around them by having their own king.d. The ideal of being and living as a people uniquely set apart from the rest of the nations with its own radical alternative mode of political and economic arrangement appears to have succumbed to the harsh realities of a conflict-ridden world.2. The shift must not have been an easy process for Israela. The idea of having a king must have been a hotly debated issue between the more pragmatic and progressive minded young generation and the more elderly and conservative ones.b. The apparent negative attitude initially expressed by Samuel to the idea of having a king may actually be coming from a deep undercurrent of antimonarchic sentiment among the more conservative citizens of Israel.c. The elder generation must not have been processed the shift easily due to the fact that they had been nurtured in the tribal traditions of old.d. The statement that the demand of the people constitutes Israels rejection of Yahweh as their king may actually be borne out by the eventual outcome of the historic event in the later years of Israels existencee. Israel would suffer destruction in the hands of enemies because of what the historian and the prophets describes as the nations failure to obey the terms of the covenant with Yahweh.B. Positive1. An even more dynamic image of God is seen to be emerging.a. We are able to see a God who listens and responds to the collective voice of his people.b. We are able to discern a God who is willing to allow his people to learn from and face the historical risk and consequences of their own decisions as a nation.c. We have a God who would rather be hurt than undermine the freedom and creativity with which he had gifted his people.2. An image of a God who is not and cannot be identified with any particular sociopolitical system of any nation.a. God appears to be a God not just of Israel in tribal system but a God who remains their God even when they shifted to the monarchy.b. A God who calls all Israelite kings and rulers to accountability in the same way as with the judges then; one who is not bound to any particular sociopolitical system of todayc. If God is the God and Lord of all nations, then, there can be no nation who can escape His righteous rule and presence in their midst and there can be no ruler of any nation who can escape from his power to judge and call to accountability.3. Israel can become an effective instrument of God in bringing his light and truth to the nations.a. If Israel is called to be a blessing to other nations, it will only be but natural for Israel to experience being one of those to whom is called to be a witness.b. It will even be expected of Israel to undergo the historical trials and crisis of being a nation before becoming a conduit of Gods blessing to other nations.c. It may actually be called to incarnate the presence of God in the midst of the broken and conflict-ridden world it is in.