Heroes of Faith – Samson

Welcome to my new series! I recently got the idea to do a “Heroes of Faith” series of posts. Last summer there was a Summer Camp that used this theme and I was curious what Bible Stories they used. While I never saw what they did, I thought that it would be fun to write my own series. Naturally this will have Superhero connections since this is a Superhero blog. If you are curious about my format, I actually did something similar back when I wrote a Martin Luther post. If anyone is inspired by my series to organize a Superhero themed Vacation Bible School, you can mail royalties to me (just kidding). I may still write a few of my normal blogs over the next few months but I have lots of ideas for these “Heroes of Faith” posts.

My first hero is Samson. I haven’t seen the new movie but I am interested in it. Samson has always been a favorite Bible hero for me. When I was a kid I really liked him because he was such a strong guy. As I grew older, I realized that there are several interesting facts about Samson. As a kid I just focused on the strength. As I continued to study Samson I realized the pictures of Christ and also the bad example of moral living that we have in Samson. He certainly is not a hero of faith because he showed us how to live our lives. He didn’t follow God’s law very well. He didn’t choose wisely when it came to finding a wife. He even had a time when he went to a prostitute. His downfall came because he trusted in himself rather than trusting in God. We don’t call Samson a hero because he is a shining example of morality.

God used Samson to punish the Philistines. It is interesting when you hear how he defeated many people at once. In Judges 16, we hear, “The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on is arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and stuck down a thousand men.” Scripture just briefly describes a scene that must have been incredible. First, what did it look like when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson in power? Was there a change in appearance? Did he get energized? Second, can you imagine what it would look like to see one man killing a THOUSAND men with a jaw bone? I am sure that it was a bloody event but scripture just spends one sentence on it.

The key events of Samson’s life come in Judges 16. We see his biggest failure but also his biggest success. He falls in love with Delilah. That is the start of his downfall. It becomes obvious that she doesn’t care for him as much as he loves her. She is constantly trying to get him to tell her the secret of his strength so that the Philistines can capture him. In a moment of overconfidence and misplaced trust, he tells her about his hair and Nazarite vow. He mistakenly believes that he can abandon his vow and still overpower the Philistines. He trusted himself rather than trusting in God. Once Delilah had cut off his hair, the Philistines captured him, imprisoned him and gouged out his eyes.
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After this, Samson realized his failure and turned to God in repentance. He was presented with an opportunity to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The Philistines wanted Samson to entertain them at a festival they were having. They were gathered in the temple of their false god and Samson had the opportunity to stand by the support pillars. He prayed, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes” (Judges 16:28). God gave him one more feat of strength. Samson died by pushing down the pillars of the temple. When he did that, the collapse of the temple killed three thousand Philistines. When Samson died, the Israelites were delivered from the Philistines.

In his death there is a picture of Christ. The death of Samson saved God’s people. Obviously there is not much more about Samson that you can compare to Christ but that is a good picture. Samson is a hero of faith not because of the moral character he showed for most of his life but in the end, he trusted in God. The main lesson for us from Samson is the importance of trusting in God rather than ourselves. Our best strength comes through faith in God. We can accomplish many things in our lives but we need to remember to keep God first in our lives. There are plenty of times that we fail to do this. We probably don’t have failures on the same scale as Samson but we are tempted to put many things before God. That is why it is so beneficial to look at Jesus. We watch him putting God first for all the times that we fail to do so. He followed the Father’s plan all the way to the cross to save us. When we think about his obedience and the forgiveness he won, we are strengthened to live for our God and we are motivated to love God above all things.

Now, you might be wondering when this Superhero blog is actually going to mention a Superhero. This will probably be the typical pattern I follow for this series. Most of my time will be focused on people from Scripture. But now I will reveal the Superhero that I associate with Samson. Keep in mind that this portion is much more light-hearted than everything that came before. In my mind, Samson is the Incredible Hulk. Think about it. When we hear that God gave him power at certain times, doesn’t that make you think of Bruce Banner getting angry and turning into the Hulk. When Samson was depowered and captured, doesn’t that make you think of a foe of the Hulk finding a way to block the gamma-infused transformation of the Hulk (it happens sometimes). And then God gives Samson one more transformation. Samson transforms by the pillars and shouts “SAMSON SMASH!” Down comes the temple. Philistines defeated.