Wedgewords

Samson usually gets a hatchet-job review of his character. That's my thesis.

Samson is a hero of the faith. He is listed in Hebrews 11 as such. He is a Nazarite from birth, the judge and deliverer of Israel who is clothed in the Spirit, he is victorious over the Philistines whereas the rest of Israel has failed to complete the conquest of the land, and perhaps most of all, Samson is a type of Jesus Christ.

Here we go.

Samson was born to a barren woman. The Angel of the LORD (usually this is the pre-incarnate Christ) appears to this woman and tells her that she is going to bare a son, and this son is going to be special. He is to be a Nazarite. He is to be dedicated to the LORD. This is a type-scene. We've heard the story before and we will hear it again. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel, and John the Baptist are all born from barren women. Jesus of course surpasses all of them by being born from a virgin.

One rather interesting objection to my thesis is Samson's relationship with women. He liked foreign girls and even visited a prostitute. That can't be good can it?

I think it can be, so long as we allow the Bible to inform our biases.

We can begin with Samson's Philistine wife from Timnah. Even his own parents thought this was a bad idea.

“Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?†they asked Samson. The reply is very interesting, and if you don't know Hebrew (not that I know it very well) you will surely miss it. "She is yashar ayin." -She is upright in my eyes. Upright is a moral description. This Philistine woman is the best choice, the most like a woman of valor (Proverbs 31). This strikes us as strange, but it shouldn't.

How can a foreign woman meet the requirements of Proverbs 31? This question wouldn't be a stumbling block to us at all if we understood the order of the Hebrew canon. The book which follows Proverbs, that is to say, the next story after Proverbs 31, is the book of Ruth. This is all the more relevant when we remember that the book of Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges. Samson lived during the time of the Judges. Perhaps he and Boaz saw which women were upright and which were not. Both men found foreign women to be upright.

And of course, if this argument is too much for you, we need only point out vs. 4 of Judges 14- "It was from the LORD- that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines." Samson's marriage to the Philistine woman is ordained so that Yahweh can overthrow the Philistines.

The lion in the honey imagery is quite interesting as well. I'm tempted to say that the sweetness comes from what first looked like danger, but perhaps I'm stretching things now.
Back on course.

We can also note that Samson tells riddles to the Philistines. These riddles leave the Philistines confused. Perhaps we can remember that Jesus told parables that left the people confused. I think James Jordan has some work on this in his commentary on Judges (or is it Peter Leithart? I forget).

Samson catches foxes to ruin the grainfields and the vineyards (15:5). This should immediately bring Song of Sons 2:15 to mind, but what is more interesting is that Samson lights these foxes on fire and has them burn down the enemies crop. Yahweh would burn His enemies, especially Canaanite towns in the land which is promised for Israel. Samson is doing the job which Israel had not completed.

In vs. 8 of chapter 15 we are told that Samson stayed in a cave. This is Elijah imagery (1 Kings 19) which is, by implication, John the Baptist imagery. Samson is the forerunner for a king.

Some might also object that Samson stayed with a prostitute in Gaza. That is also bad news right? Not exactly.

For starters, Samson most likely did not have sex with the prostitute. We think that Samson was a womanizer, so we assume that he had sex with this prostitute, but that premise is quite faulty. If the marriage to Samson's first wife was not an example of immorality, perhaps this episode with the prostitute in Gaza is not either. The term "went in to her" is quite ambiguous. It can mean sexual relations, but it doesn't always mean this. We can look back to Judges 4:22 for a clear example of where this does not mean sex. Barak "went in to" Jael. The Hebrew is bo el, the same phrase used of Samson in 16:1. Barak clearly did not have sex with Jael on this occasion, but rather entered her tent. Nearly every time "go in to" is used in reference to sexual relations in the Old Testament, a further qualifier is given such as in Genesis 38: 18 "He came in to her, and she conceived."

Of course, what really makes clear what Samson is up to when he stays the night with a prostitute is remembering where else in Scripture Israelite men stay the night at a prostitute's house. Do you remember?

Israelites spend the night at the houses of foreign prostitutes for one reason in particular. They do this when they are about to take that land, which God has promised to them, by force. Rahab is the clear example of this in Joshua 2:1, and you might have also guessed, the spies "went in" to her house. Of course, when the locals come looking for Samson he has no need to flee, and he instead prevails against the gates of the city. Perhaps you've heard of that concept before (Matthew 16:8).

As is fitting for a discussion on Samson, I'll conclude with a bit of riddle. We know of Old Testament men who married foreign women. Boaz made an especially good decision. We also know of a prophet who married a prostitute. So, which new testament figure takes a bride who is both a foreigner and a prostitute?