“Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me, O God please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
~ Judges 16:28
Hi James and Ellen,
How strong are you? Are you Samson strong? To be Samson strong is to be physically strong. To be Samson strong is to be morally weak. Samson was an Israelite people group guy. Dan tribal clan was Samson’s tribal clan. Samson lived in the land that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . Samson was to live as a guy who had vowed to be a Nazarite was to live. A Nazarite vow meant that a guy was never to have his hair cut, never to drink anything made from grapes and never to be near a corpse. A Nazarite vow could also be made for a set period of time – such as for thirty days as an example. Only John the Baptist and Samuel lived their lives under the kind of Nazarite vow that Samson’s ma vowed that her kid would live during the entirety of his life. Samson, Samuel and John the Baptist all made or had made for them a lifetime vow – which was made to God – as God the Father, which they were committed to live out day after day. When Samson lived on planet Earth over 3000 years ago, a guy who proactively stood up to any enemy neighboring nation or people group of guys and gals was ascribed the title of judge. Because of Samson’s superhuman strength and his willingness to take on and kill hated Philistine guys, Samson was ascribed as a judge by the Israelite people group guys. Samson acted as a judge for twenty years – from 1075 B.C. to 1055 B.C. The Israelite people group judge period – when tough guys and one gal were endorsed as judges, lasted for 325 years. The last reported judge was Samson. The sad ending of Samson’s life is recorded by the Judge Book author in Judges 16.
Samson’s herculean strength did not help Samson make good choices. Samson had a penchant or proclivity for trouble. Samson was willing to tempt fate. Samson relied on his prodigious strength to bail him out of whatever trap or trouble that he put himself in. Samson was despised and feared by the Philistine people group guys. Samson’s home was near the Gaza strip – which was the land area where the Philistine people group guys and gals lived. The Gaza strip today is the land area that Palestinian people group guys and gals inhabit. Palestinian people group guys and gals have a heritage and legacy relating to the Philistine people group guys and gals. Radicalized guys and gals among today’s version of the Philistine people group guys and gals – which are the Palestinian people group guys and gals who go by the name of Hamas, still really loath or detest the Israelite people group guys and gals to the point where they want to displace every single Israelite people group guy and gal who is living in the land of Israel. The embryo through kid development environ that the Philistine/Palestinian people group guys and gals employ is one that promotes an extreme dislike of and advocates for complete extinction of the Israelite people group guys and gals. Samson did his share of building into the psyche of the Philistine people groups guys and gals an internalized revulsion against God’s specially chosen guys and gals. As you are growing up to be an adult guy and gal, how would you like to have your dad, ma, teachers, pastor, . . . continually indoctrinating you with false stuff about a specific race, people group and/or tribe that will cause you to internalize a zealous abhorrence towards that race, people group and/or tribe? Even though there are today racial issues between Afro-American and Caucasian guys and gals in the United States, your grandpaa believes that no other people group will ever be reviled as much as God’s specially chosen people guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, have been and are today.
Samson’s compromised morality had him spend a night with a Philistine people group night walker. Samson easily tore open the city gates – pulling the gate posts right out of the ground, when Philistine people group guys tried to trap him. Samson rubbed what he did into Philistine people group guys’ egos by carrying the gates up to the top of a hill that faced the city of Hebron. Samson then – instead of finding a gal from his own people group of guys and gals– the Israelite people group of guys and gals, to fall in love with, Samson found a Philistine people group gal – Delilah, to fall in love with and which gave the Philistine people group guys hope that they finally had a way to capture, torture and kill Samson. The Philistine people group guys promised Delilah a whole lot of money – like the kind of money that would be needed to buy 275 slaves, if she could get Samson to confide in her the secret of his phenomenal, insane strength. Samson took to ‘pulling Delilah’s chain’. Samson first told Delilah that if he was tied up with seven fresh thongs that . . . when that did not work, Samson told Delilah that if he was tied up with some new ropes that . . . when that did not work, Samson told Delilah that if the seven braids that he braided his hair into were woven into a fabric that was being woven on a loom that . . . when that did not work, Delilah was horribly embarrassed for having been made an absolute fool of three times by Samson. Because Samson was imprudently, foolishly in love with Delilah and because he was tired of her nagging about him having made her a fool, Samson caved in and told Delilah that he would lose all his strength if he had all his hair cut off. This time . . . after Philistine people group guys were finally able to capture Samson, they gouged out his eyes, kept him in prison and a party was thrown to celebrate capturing Samson, Samson literally took the house down on Philistine people group guys by physically pushing apart a temple’s two center pillars. Verse 28 has Samson turning to God for help, “Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me, O God please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”” Being spiritually strong is really what God expects.
Judges 16 (801)