Mehn, Samson was one Nasty Nazarite

Guys, hi and hello!

I am back with a new set of gleanings from my personal bible readings.

It has been an honest privilege to talk to you about an odd diviner named Balaam, a cynical deliverer named Gideon and his tyrant son Abimelek, and the left-handed assassin named Ehud.

In this issue, I have decided to talk about Samson, one of the last Judges of Israel.

Samson’s mother had been barren and waiting on the Lord for a child. Eventually, God gave her a son who was to be a Nazarite.

In Israelite tradition, a Nazarite was a person consecrated to the Lord, this entailed a few rules as stated in the Book of Numbers

Numbers 6:2–12

‘“Speak to the Israelites and say to them:

‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the Lord as a Nazirite, they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.

As long as they remain under their Nazirite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.

“ ‘During the entire period of their Nazirite vow, no razor may be used on their head. They must be holy until the period of their dedication to the Lord is over; they must let their hair grow long.

“ ‘Throughout the period of their dedication to the Lord, the Nazirite must not go near a dead body. Even if their own father or mother or brother or sister dies, they must not make themselves ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head.

Throughout the period of their dedication, they are consecrated to the Lord .

“ ‘If someone dies suddenly in the Nazirite’s presence, thus defiling the hair that symbolizes their dedication, they must shave their head on the seventh day — the day of their cleansing.

Then on the eighth day they must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make atonement for the Nazirite because they sinned by being in the presence of the dead body. That same day they are to consecrate their head again.

They must rededicate themselves to the Lord for the same period of dedication and must bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The previous days do not count, because they became defiled during their period of dedication. ‘

In view of these Nazarite consecrations specified by the law, Samson was a really weird Nazarite. God gave him supernatural strength, and being Israel’s judge, he conquered many Philistines in battle, therefore, he was in contact with a whole lot of dead bodies.

Many scholars have debated on the semantics of the Nazarite rules and how they applied to Samson, but I think it’s not too far-fetched to expect that he would have needed routine purification rites seeing as he delivered quite a bit of dead bodies, some of them numbering to as many as a thousand.

Judges 15:14–17

‘As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.

Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. Then Samson said,

“With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.” When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi. ‘

Okay, so we have a Nazarite who isn’t like a Nazarite Nazarite? What is going on?

This puzzle I came across in Samson’s story kind of plays out in the entire book of Judges as well.

Israel was God’s covenant people whom he had set aside for His use and glory. God gave them such strict laws and regulations to live by, but by the time of the judges, so much had changed.

It almost seemed like God didn’t care anymore.

Think about what happened to Korah and his followers (they were buried alive), to Aaron’s sons (they got burnt to death), to Achan (he got stoned to death), and that weird dude who brought a Midianite woman to the Israelite camp? He and his beau got stabbed through by Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson. There was usually some immediate repercussion for breaking the covenant.

The evil had to be purged from the camp immediately!

By the time of the Judges, however, things seemed different.

Not like I would have preferred the immediate punishment vibe, but God’s seemingly changing disposition to sin was something that bothered me. To be fair, God was tangibly present with the Israelites when all the things I first listed happened. They were in the wilderness and His presence was their only protection. Defilement would have been more dangerous for them as they were much closer to God’s presence, unlike in the promised land where they now had lands, temples, altars, and the ordinances of burnt sacrifices through which they could commune with God.

Though I do not think that this makes much of a difference, it still counts for an explanation. The Bible is replete with instances where misbehavior before the tangible presence of God was met with immediate punishment. An instance is Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant.

Samson’s story provides some perspective to this puzzle in my opinion.

First, he sought a wife among the Philistines. God’s precepts discouraged the Israelites from intermarrying with the foreigners so that they would not entice Israel with their gods, but Samson did not seem to care.

The marriage fell through partly due to a quarrel (that looks a lot like it was precipitated by Samson), and in a series of retaliatory events, Samson ends up killing a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.

As he journeyed alongside his parents towards his wife’s home to make his intentions known, Samson killed a lion with his bare hands. On returning alone for his wife, he saw that the carcass of the lion he had earlier killed had some honey in it. He ate some of the honey and scooped some for his parents who also ate it without knowing that it was from the carcass of a dead lion.

First, that’s nasty.

Second, it was a dead animal, an unclean thing! Wasn’t Samson a nazarite?!

I feel like I have asked this question one too many times in the course of this article, but such is the state of bewilderment I find myself at Samson’s antics.

After the incident with the philistine woman; which led to her getting burnt to death alongside her father; Samson met another woman in the valley of Sorek named Delilah.

She cut his hair, the source of his strength, weakening Samson and causing the Philistines to finally have him in their wicked clutches. They gouged out his eyes and imprisoned him.

While in prison in Gaza, Samson’s hair soon grew back and in one last majestic feat, while the Philistines sought to make a spectacle of him in the temple of Dagon, Samson took down the walls of the temple with his bare hands, killing more people at his death than when he was alive.

His parents came to fetch him, and he was buried in the tomb of his father, Manoah.

Such a tragic tale for someone who seemed so larger than life.

A few things could be said about Samson.

God used him for his purpose. When Samson desired a Philistine wife, the bible records that God already wanted to take vengeance on the Philistines and Samson’s quarrelsome non-marriage was His means of achieving that.

Judges 14:1–4

‘Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”

But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.”

(His parents did not know that this was from the Lord , who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) ‘

I think Samson’s story is a perfect case study of God’s sovereign choice of men and His resolute steadfastness towards them. For as long as Samson had the hair signifying His Nazarite covenant with God, God’s gift of supernatural strength to him remained. The same could be said of the nation of Israel. Despite her many atrocities, God still hated the Philistines for oppressing her and he took vengeance on them from time to time because He was faithful to the covenant He made with them.

In conclusion, Samson’s story helps us appreciate God’s faithfulness to the unfaithful; whether they be men or nations.

What do you think? I’d really like to know. Share with me in the comments!

I hope that in the future, I get to share more of the things that stood out to me from studying my bible and getting to know my God. I invite you to this same community of God-knowers who have faith in and believe the testimony of the man Jesus Christ who was God in the flesh, who died for your sins and was resurrected for the justification of anyone who believes this good news; that it pleased God to punish Jesus for your sins and resurrect him as you, so that the urge to sin against God is no longer irresistible to anyone who believes.

If you need a bit more context, you can start from here

https://www.youtube.com/live/BoeaFTvC5HM?si=ghO8PL9ApPwbGSlG

Love and cheers.