“Is this strength really mine?”
An answer still deeper that he’ll come to realize later:
A strong man is weaker without the Source his Creator.
His riddle is a metaphor with layers of congruency:
It captures the core of his character and destiny.
He’s stronger than the lion and uses his power at will,
But he’ll end up being weakened and put to work in the mill.25
He seduces the women with his games and his strength,
And in feigning surrender he shows a side that is sweet.
But he betrays who he is in relationships with women;
Trusting only his own wits, he ends up betrayed by them.
The riddle-game he plays seems to be mostly innocent,
It’s brains over brawn, but winning’s still his intent.
But his wife and her friends refuse to be bested.
He naively assumed they’d accept that he was special.
They outwit him at his game by resorting to deceit,
Turning the tables on him so he’s darkly defeated.
Just as the answer to the riddle is divined through deceit,
So the key to Samson’s mettle includes betrayal as a theme.
V
What fascinates me next, as it did when I was a boy,
Is this theme about Spirit sprinkled through the story.
His expression of “hot anger” through vindictive killings,
Is prefaced by “the Spirit of the Lord rushing upon him.”26
How are we to understand this? Is Samson just crazed?
Are we to go and do likewise? Violently rage?
Yet a third time it’s written that God’s Spirit rushed upon him,
And with the jawbone of an ass he kills one thousand men.27
VI
Up to this point in his life, he seems a bit entitled;
Demanding that God give him water so that he won’t die.28
It must have been difficult for Samson as for us,
To understand what’s going on here, to not be nonplussed.
Who here’s responsible? Is it God or is it him?
Can he hold God accountable? Or is he on his own?
We imagine Samson wrestling with who he is and why?
What’s the nature of his identity and how is he to live?
If at times God “took him over,” how would that feel?
Perhaps he felt grandiose; but what about free will?
His parents must have told him that before he was born,
They’d been visited by an angel and told they’d have a son.
They’d dedicate him to God if his mother would not stay barren.29
On the one hand he’d feel special; on the other hand bound.
It’s fascinating to read then about Samson’s development;
The way things unfolded is complex and compelling.
He knew he was consecrated, a nazirite set apart:
Couldn’t drink wine nor strong drink, nor ever cut his hair.
Amidst such restrictions, how could he be his own man?
Would he defy prohibitions, or take a compliant stance?
His parents had expectations, as well as did God.
How he became his own person is what the story’s about.
He resisted parental pressure about whom he should marry.
Instead of choosing ‘mongst Israelites, he chose a woman from Timnah.30
In various relationships, Samson’s identity is created;
In relation to Spirit, too, he gradually individuated.
VII
This story about Samson is amazing in its own right;
But that it’s a story used to tell a story, we must not lose sight.
It’s announced in the beginning that God will use this man
To humble the Philistines, who were oppressing the land.31
When we read about this dynamic, it’s easy to resent it.
If this is the way God would have it, isn’t Samson a puppet?
So the story makes us think about what life’s all about:
Do we just make the most of it, live for self, then die out?
Or if we’re open to God’s Spirit and its power in our lives,
Can we then be ourselves without sacrifice?
Do we really have free will, or are we in fact trapped?
Once we’re conscious of God’s call, can we really turn back?
Let’s look again at Samson and how that worked out;
Is there something we can learn from the book of holy writ?
VIII
The back-story of Samson’s birth rings out the tone here:
The way the Lord works, turns everything on its ear.
But before we delve into the details about that,
The preface makes it clear that God’s behind the action.32
God’s actions are not bound within ritual constructions.
The fact that they aren’t, reveals the relativity of such structures.
In a patriarchal society, the story first mentions the husband;
But the thrilling exigency is that God appears to the woman.
“Although
