Samson the Deliverer
God's Sixth Lesson - the Rise of the Philistines - God Raises Up Samson (Judges 13:1 to Judges 16:31).
The story of Samson is one of the most remarkable in the Bible. It demonstrates quite clearly that God can use the inadequacies of a man within His purposes. When God raised up Samson from birth He knew the propensities that he would have for good or evil. He gave him every opportunity for success but knew that he would eventually fail. Yet from that failure He purposed to produce success. Samson is an encouragement to all, that if the heart is right, God can use a man, even in his weakness, in His purposes.
Chapter 13. The Birth of Samson (Judges 13:1-24).
This chapter relates the birth of Samson, another ‘judge of Israel'. His birth was first foretold by an angel to his mother, who told her husband about it, and on his entreaty the angel appeared again, and related the same thing to them both. The Angel of Yahweh was very reverently treated by the man, and was known by him to be the Angel of Yahweh, because of the wonderful things He did, and the chapter closes with an account of the birth of Samson, and of his being early endowed with the Spirit of God.
‘ And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of Yahweh, and Yahweh delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.'
The sad story of Israel's failure was again repeated here. It reminds us how little men learn from history or from what happens to others. For Israel were not unique in this failure. The nations continually did evil in the sight of Yahweh. But Israel were the more blameworthy because they had received the revelation of Yahweh, and had become His own people bound by the covenant of Sinai. For a generation after entering Canaan they had remembered Him, meeting together at the three annual feasts at the central sanctuary and maintaining a general unity. But then they had begun to go astray. And as they went astray so their attachment to the covenant weakened. Not all came together for the periodic feasts, the three gatherings a year before Yahweh, although at times particular situations could arouse them to act together (Judges 19-21). The past became a distant memory, gloried in when some of them came together for their united feasts, sung about at their local feasts, but in practical terms almost forgotten by many. They began to compromise with their neighbours, they turned to worship foreign gods or to syncretise them with their own worship of Yahweh, they made light of the requirements of the covenant, their unity was loosened and they failed to live in accordance with God's requirements (Judges 3:6). And yet every now and again something would occur to unite them and bring them back to Yahweh. That this was so comes out in that in the time of Eli (1 Samuel 3:20) the central sanctuary appears to have had a strong influence, while under Samuel it was resurgent. Nevertheless it probably did not include all Israel, for Samuel's control was mainly exercised in the central part of the land, especially in the hill country west of Jordan, and in Beyond Jordan. There is no mention of the farthest Northern tribes, and it is questionable how many of them were included in 1 Samuel 10:20. On the other hand contacts must have been maintained in order for their later unity to come about.
For we must remember that the children of Israel were scattered throughout the land of Canaan, with some separated off from others by other peoples within the land. Different groupings had seemingly arisen. So for example we have no mention of powerful Judah to the south in the accounts of previous Judges in 2-9, and their absence is especially noticeable in the Song of Deborah, although no blame was assigned to them. They were seemingly not even expected to be there (although that may have been because they were hard pressed by the Philistines). Against Sisera it was the northern tribes who came together, and even then there were a number of absentees. Those beyond Jordan in the east refused or hesitated, while Asher in the west avoided the call. Ephraim and Benjamin were, however, responsive, although Dan ignored the call. Dan were probably too involved with the Philistine menace on their southern border, and indeed within their borders. In 2-9 the accounts have dealt mainly with the more Northern tribes (against Sisera), the central tribes (against Midian) or the tribes in Beyond Jordan (against Ammon), although Ammon had affected parts of Judah (Judges 10:9), and thus it is possible that some men from Judah served under Jephthah. But each on the whole faced their own enemies, and when the call to arms has come to the other tribes, only some have responded, often those in their particular (loose) grouping, or affected by the situation.
In this particular situation now in mind we are speaking at the most about Judah, Simeon and the remnants of Dan, all of whom were affected by the Philistines who were their neighbours. Dan were to the north of the Philistines, stretching eastward. Judah and Simeon were to the east and the south. And what is described here may well have been going on at the same time as the invasion of Gilead by the Amorites. Different parts of Israel were being affected by different enemies. The word ‘again' does not necessarily mean after the Ammonite oppression, for that was pictured as going on at the same time (Judges 10:7). It simply means ‘again' in comparison with all previous examples of the same. Indeed constant pressure from the Philistines helps to explain why Judah was so rarely able to participate in the call to the tribes.
“And Yahweh delivered them (mainly Judah and Dan) into the hands of the Philistines forty years.” The Philistines were not like any other opponents that the Israelite faced at that time. They were not local warriors, but had come across from Crete and the Grecian mainland, and were fierce and uncompromising fighters who were seeking to establish themselves in this new land, and form a military elite over the local inhabitants. Having taken their time establishing themselves in the coastal plain, they had made an abortive attempt on Egypt, but had suffered a retaliatory attack by Raamses III. Slowly recovering from this they were now beginning to expand their empire northwards and eastwards.
The Philistines were a part of the inflow of Sea Peoples from Crete and the Aegean, who had fairly recently invaded the coasts of Syria and Egypt. They wore head-dresses of feathers, and were armed with lances, round shields, long broadswords and triangular daggers. They gradually incorporated iron into their lifestyles and weaponry, something which they had learned from the Hittites and which gave them great superiority. Repelled from Egypt they became a ruling class over the native Canaanites, and at certain stages parts of Israel also submitted to them, especially Dan and those in the lowlands bordering the Coastal Plain. The Philistines quickly acquired Canaanite culture, religion and language, for their gods were Near Eastern, but some of their temples were certainly patterned on similar examples in the Aegean. They were a formidable foe.
The Philistines were a type of foe that Israel had never faced before since leaving Egypt. They were united under five ‘Tyrants' (seren - used only of Philistine leaders) in their five principle cities, and, as a military ruling class, had to keep together a strong army and maintain firm unity and discipline, carefully watching over those who reluctantly lived and served under them. They maintained a monopoly on working iron, (learned from the Hittites), and were thus more powerfully armed than those around. They were a genuine occupying army, controlling the conquered almost literally with a rod of iron. In the days of Samson's escapades the territory they controlled was the coastal plains and the surrounding lowlands, and the Danites and parts of Judah at least were crushed under their weight to such an extent that they offered little resistance (Judges 15:11). See 1 Samuel 14:19-21 for a partial indication of what conditions would have been like. They were in complete subservience. That was probably why a large number of Danites had left their inheritance and had settled in Laish (Judges 17-18).
The Philistine aristocracy were established in many towns, and were so hated that they had themselves constantly to be on guard, and as a result they would react violently to any attempt to undermine them. Because of this it was indeed difficult to see how they could be attacked in any way, for they held all in iron control under a kind of martial law, and reacted violently. Any disobedience would have been stamped on, and any reaction or retaliation severely dealt with. The country that they controlled was held in thrall. But God raised up a kind of one man army by the name of Samson, an Israelite aristocrat (a judge of Israel) who mingled with the Philistine aristocracy, probably welcomed by them because of his status and his phenomenal strength. And he developed his own way of attacking the Philistines, and did it in such a way that no repercussions were brought on his people. Indeed by the time of his death the Philistines had been severely weakened as a result of his activities.
Later after the battle of Aphek this control by the Philistines would extend further, although areas of resistance held out, and this continued until the mighty Samuel drove them back to the plains (1 Samuel 7). Later they returned again and gained iron control over a wide area (1 Samuel 14:19-21), causing great trouble to Saul, and building forts in the highlands, and this continued until they were finally subdued under David. They do not appear to have troubled the area Beyond Jordan, nor the farther tribes to the north.
“Delivered into the hands of the Philistines” indicated that at least Dan and parts of Judah had become tributary to them. ‘Forty years' indicated a long period of domination, a whole generation and more, longer than any other of the previously mentioned trials. The Philistines would not be so easily dealt with now they were settled in. It should be noted that there was no cry to Yahweh for help from ‘Israel'. Those under Philistine control appear to have been fairly content with their lot, which suggests that the Philistines, while maintaining iron control, did not treat them too harshly. But God knew that left in these circumstances they might well lose their faith in Yahweh altogether and be assimilated into the surrounding peoples.
It should be further noted that Samson did not try to raise the tribes and rebel against the Philistines. They were too powerful for tribes whose faith was as weakened as that of Judah, Simeon and Dan, and the other tribes probably did not want to get involved. This was possibly a part reaction to past attitudes. Samson was instead a provocative one man band, and God used his propensities as tools against them (Judges 14:4), in order to weaken them until someone would arise with faith to defeat them (1 Samuel 7:10-11). We can indeed interpret his life as being that of a great buffoon whom God used in spite of himself, but careful examination rather suggests that he had considerable acumen and cleverly played with the Philistines like a fisherman will play with a fish. That is not to deny his weaknesses. But it does help to explain why God used him.