In this passage, it is noted that the Lord allows Israel to be subdued by the Philistines for 40 years (due to their sinfulness). The Lord then sends an angel to a Danite, Manoah, whose wife is sterile. The angel tells Manoah's wife that she will give birth to a son who:
- is to be a Nazirite
- will begin delivering Israel from the Philistines.
It is neat to see God working through Manoah's prayer to bring glory to Himself. Note that in verses 4 and 5, the angel had been fairly explicit in his instructions to Manoah's wife regarding Samson's upbringing. Thus, God was essentially condescending to Manoah by allowing the angel to pay them a return visit. Yet the angel worked through Manoah's lack of faith by:
- noting that his name is "wonderful" in verse 18
- rising to heaven in the flames from their burnt offering.
2. Samson's Marriage
In this passage, Samson goes to Timnah and falls in love with a Philistine woman. Although his parents are unhappy with this move on his part, Samson will not waver in his resolve. On two of his later visits to Timnah, he kills a young lion by the power of the Holy Spirit and eats honey from the lion's carcass, respectively. Samson is then married; he presents a riddle to his Philistine groomsmen concerning the lion and the honey. The groomsmen are unable to solve the riddle, so they threaten Samson's wife; after much cajoling, she convinces Samson to reveal the answer to the riddle. Having lost a bet that is connected to the riddle, Samson then goes to Ashkelon and kills 30 Philistines, stripping them of their clothes and giving them to the groomsmen.
This is a mind-boggling testimony of Samson's God-given strength. How did Samson take on a young lion and rip it apart with his bare hands? Lions are strong enough to kill humans with one paw swipe, so Samson's strength is beyond my comprehension. Also, how did Samson get away with killing 30 men in Ashkelon? Ostensibly people in Ashkelon would have discovered the murdered men, yet there is no mention of the Philistines attempting to punish him for these murders.
3. Samson's Vengeance on the Philistines
In this passage, Samson's father-in-law gives his wife to his best man. When Samson hears this news, he is enraged and captures 300 foxes; after tying torches to their tails, he allows them to burn up the Philistines' grain, vineyards and olive groves. The Philistines retaliate by burning Samson's wife and father-in-law to death. Samson then retaliates by killing many Philistines. He later hides in a cave in the rock of Elam, and the Philistines prepare to capture him. 3000 men of Judah arrange for Samson's handover to the Philistines so that they can be at peace with the Philistines. Yet when Samson is about to be captured, the Holy Spirit comes upon him and he is able to kill 1000 Philistines with a donkey's jawbone.
I recently skimmed through some notes that our pastor had scanned regarding the hardening of Pharoah's heart when Moses wanted him to free the Israelites. Now the account of Samson is connected to that story in that God plays a nontrivial role in both passages. Samson is clearly responsible for his actions in this story; he behaves rather selfishly and will not hesitate to retaliate against those who he feels have wronged him. Yet God is glorified through Samson's actions as he brings Israel and the Philistines into a state of war, upsetting the status quo where Israel was subservient to the Philistines. Clearly God is working through Samson's actions to punish the Philistines for their harsh treatment of Israel.
