Samson Case Study

Strong enough to tear a lion's mouth apart, Samson serves as a biblical image of God's will for the Hebrews. Although many elements reveal this is a mythical folktale, the legacy of Samson demonstrates the powers of God and the extent that He will pursue his goals on Earth. A tragic figure, Samson saves the Hebrews at the expense of his own life.

Samson is born into a troubled Israelite time when the Philistines are ruling them. They had been placed there as punishment by God to live for forty years (about a generation. Mono'ah's wife, a barren older woman, is visited by an Angel who claimed that she will have a birth and the "child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb," asserting that the child will serve to accomplish the will of God. She is instructed not to drink alcohol and to never cut his hair, showing God's desire for Samson to look different from others. This birth announcement is similar to that of Samuel. It is assumed that God will use Samson to save Israel and free them of Philistinian power. As an example of the distrust of women during the time, Mano'ah does not fully believe that his wife actually saw an angel. Later, the angel returns to prove to Mano'ah, and accepts a sacrifice of meat for God. The child is soon conceived and is raised according to the stipulations of God.

Early in his life, Samson finds a woman that he desires, but she is a Philistinian. His father wishes that he would choose someone from their own area, and not one from the people who have harmed them. However, Mano'ah accepts the marriage with the belief that there is a deeper meaning behind it. On his way to Timnah, a lion attacks Samson. The strength of the Lord enters him, and he demonstrated his divine power and strength by ripping its mouth apart and killing it. He did is easily, but did not tell people about it. Returning home, he sees that a swarm of bees had made honey in the lion. He eats it and brings it back to Mano'ah and his mother, but again doesn't reveal anything about the lion. As was customary for the time, Samson throws a large party for his wedding. As a gift, thirty young men are made his companions. He decides to tempt them with a riddle- "Out of the eater comes forth meat, out of the strong come forth sweetness" and places a bet with the men that they cannot solve it in seven days. The men threaten his wife for the answer, and she pleads with him for many days. On the seventh day, he tells his wife, and she betrays his trust by telling the Philistinian men. When the men approach Samson and tell him the solution relates to the lion and the honey, he is angered by her betrayal and slays thirty men from Ash'kelon.

Upon returning home, he discovers that his father-in-law has given away his wife, thinking Samson must hate her. He suggests marrying the girl's younger sister. Samson is angered, but realizes that "Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them as displeasure." The disloyalty of the Philistinian people gives Samson reason to neglect the guilt he could feel for punishing the Philistinian people. He fetches three hundred foxes and uses them to burn the Philistinian grain. As a response, they kill the father in law and wife of Samson, further angering him. Samson vows revenge and kills many of them, notably one thousand with the jawbone of a donkey. Though he did not brag about his defeat of the lion, this time Samson boasts greatly about his accomplishment, and asks God to give him water for the hard work that he has done. The battles continue for many years, and at this point God's plan becomes clear. He intended for Samson to infiltrate the Philistines and eventually wage war on them.

Later, Samson goes to Gaza and begins sleeping with prostitutes. His boastful nature continues as he lifts up the town gate and carries it atop a hill after the men of Gaza try to plot against him. Sometime later, he marries Delilah, but she too falls victim to Philistine wishes to destroy Samson. She is easily corrupted to discover the weakness of Samson, but he lies to her three times about possible ways to make him weak like a human. After she pressed him constantly for the answer, he reveals that he has never cut his hair. That night, his hair is cut, betraying his Nazirite vow, and his strength turns to that of a normal human. Surprised by his lack of strength, Samson is caught off-guard and is captured by the Philistines, who gouge out his eyes. He is bound with chains and tortured in prison. However, his hair begins to grow back, and along with that, his power. One night, as the Philistines were praising Dagon (their God), they call for Samson to be brought out to entertain them. He is placed near the pillars of the roof that hold the building together. As he is laughed at, Samson prays to God for one final feat of strength. His call is answered, and Samson breaks the supports and kills all of the powerful Philistinian people that are within the building, along with himself.

Analyzing the text, the first thing one must accomplish is to correctly identifying what God's plan was. The story of Samson is somewhat ridiculous. He is a servant of God, yet he constantly betrays him. He marries from outside his group, manipulates the dead lion carcass, and makes his parents unclean by sharing the carcass honey with them. At times Samson is fueled with the power of the Lord to have super-human strength, yet at other times God punishes him by making him weak and essentially having him serve as the first 'suicide bomber'. The most common accepted message of the work is that regardless of strength or wit, no one can disobey the will of God. In Deuteronomy 7:1-3, God had told the Israelites not to marry people outside of their own nation. Samson married a Philistinian woman anyway, and was tricked by her beauty. We can learn from this that