We started our look at the last Judge, Samson, yesterday. The story starts with promise: a couple conceive him late in life, and Samson is called to deliver Israel from the Philistines:

You are, in fact, pregnant right now, carrying a son. No razor will touch his head—the boy will be God’s Nazirite from the moment of his birth. He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression.” (Judges 13.5, MSG)

Chapter 13 ends, as I say, with promise, but things start to go downhill right away:

The woman gave birth to a son. They named him Samson. The boy grew and GOD blessed him. The Spirit of GOD began working in him while he was staying at a Danite camp between Zorah and Eshtaol. Samson went down to Timnah. There in Timnah a woman caught his eye, a Philistine girl. He came back and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, a Philistine girl; get her for me as my wife.” (Judges 13.24 – 14.2, MSG)

When we think of Samson, we think “Samson and Delilah,” but Delilah doesn’t make her appearance until Judges 16. Chapters 14 and 15 are about this first woman, who remains unnamed. He shouldn’t be consorting with foreign women since such behavior is expressly forbidden (see Deuteronomy 7.3 – 6).

We also remember Samson for superhuman strength, an attribute that isn’t forecast, but appears when “the Spirit of God comes on him:”

Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When he got to the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion came at him, roaring. The Spirit of GOD came on him powerfully and he ripped it open barehanded, like tearing a young goat. But he didn’t tell his parents what he had done. Then he went on down and spoke to the woman. In Samson’s eyes, she was the one. (Judges 14.5 – 7, MSG)

Later, he sees honey in the carcass of the lion. He eats the honey even though as a Nazirite, he is supposed to avoid dead bodies. Then he propounds the riddle at his wedding feast:

From the eater came something to eat, From the strong came something sweet. (Judges 14.14, MSG)

The Philistines threaten to torch the bride and her family (these are not nice people!) so she cajoles the answer out of Samson prompting this famous reaction:

And Samson said, If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, You wouldn’t have found out my riddle. (Judges 14.18, MSG)

Then the Spirit of God comes again:

Then the Spirit of GOD came powerfully on him. He went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, stripped them, and gave their clothing to those who had solved the riddle. Stalking out, smoking with anger, he went home to his father’s house. (Judges 14.19, MSG)

Unlike the other judges, Samson never leads the Israelites into battle against the Philistines. He just kills them and irritates them as he has opportunity when he gets angry enough. More to follow…

There is a kind of matter-of-fact indifference in the tone of the narration, almost as if God is saying, “Well, if this is all you’re going to give me to work with, I’ll use these men and women, just as they are, and get on with working out the story of salvation.” These people are even given a measure of dignity as they find their places in the story; they are most certainly not employed for the sake of vilification or lampoon. God, it turns out, does not require good people in order to do good work. – From Eugene Peterson’s Introduction to Judges (in The Message)

 I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets… .Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions… (Hebrews 11.32 – 33, MSG, emphasis mine)