Time of the Judges

Quite a miracle, though questions doubting its reality have been raised. Let’s take a closer look. While these actions seem fantastic, it was doable considering all the factors. The Bible makes plain that the Spirit of the Lord gave Samson superhuman strength, so he had the power. Questions have also been raised as to the ability of a donkey’s jawbone to remain intact through all that clubbing. It would have come from either the domesticated version of the African Wild Donkey or the Onager which is an Asiatic wild ass. The Onager is the larger of the two.

Was the jawbone actually a plausible weapon? Verse 15 states it was “fresh.” That means it may still have had some skin and flesh on it as well as teeth. While a dry jawbone would have made for a poor club, a fresh one would have been durable and elastic enough to be combat effective. The jaws of the equine family are strong and thick and have a natural handhold between the front teeth and the cheek teeth. A superb weapon indeed!

We must also address the misconception that’s out there that Samson “killed” one thousand Philistines. The Hebrew word naka can mean, to strike smite, hit, beat, slay, or kill. The KJV translates naka as slew, while the ASV prefers smote. Many of them were probably simply rendered unable to fight or disabled. There were probably far more than one thousand Philistines there that day as it would have been foolhardy to have gone to where three thousand Israelites had gathered with so small a number. Also, the Biblical text does not state that Samson killed all the Philistines who were present.

Another point in Samson’s favor is that he had the advantage of terrain. The Philistines had marched east from the coastal plain which meant they were moving into the Judean highlands. Their forces would have been downslope from Samson and the men who brought him to Lehi.

To attack Samson, the Philistines would have to trudge uphill while the Israelite judge would have an easier time of it if he moved downhill toward the Philistine horde. A lot of Philistines were willing to face a stamina filled Samson and his jawbone. You don’t drop a thousand men in a short period of time. Eventually, discretion became the better part of valor, and the remainder of Samson’s foes must have fled. The three thousand Israelite onlookers probably provided some distraction.

In honor of Samson’s feat, the place became known as Ramath-Lehi which means height of a jawbone. Samson’s thirst led to a further miracle as Adonai provided water for Samson by opening a hollow place in the rock at Lehi. In honor of this benevolence, Samson named the location En-hakkore which means, “spring of One calling” (verse 19).

It is at this point in the narrative that the author of Judges credits Samson with attaining the rank of Judge. “So he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines” (verse 20). Sampson’s impressive victory over Israel’s foes and the favor he received from Adonai had not gone unnoticed by his people.

If Samson’s twenty-year judgeship starts here, then there is little of that period that is delineated in the Book of Judges, at least regards him. We do, however, have the story of the greatest of all his miracles. This occurred because Samson was once again consorting with a Philistine woman; this time a harlot in Gaza.

The Philistines, aware of Samson’s tryst, sought to entrap the Israelite but Samson thwarted their efforts. He “…took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron” (Judg. 16:3).

This is a monumental feat! The tremendous size and weight of doors and posts he had to lift was an awesome miracle in itself. But then the Bible says he carried this massive weight all the way to Hebron.

Now Gaza is a city on the Mediterranean coastal plain. To travel to Hebron, a distance of, gasp, forty miles, is a long uphill climb. To top it all off, Hebron is one of the highest cities in all of Israel. This was an incredible display of strength and stamina! Here is one instance where Israel did indeed control the gate of its enemies! People could see the Gaza gate sitting on the mountainside for miles around. That must really have stuck in the craw of the Philistines for they continued to plot Samson’s demise.

He provided them with an opportunity to strike back when he took up with a woman named Delilah in the valley of Sorek. At least he was now spending time with a woman from the area of his hometown, Zorah. It’s a rather sad situation, though, especially if in fact it is an Israelite woman who betrays Samson.

For the Philistines were able to bribe Delilah to inform on Samson and the Israelite had apparently not learned his lesson about not divulging things that best remained secret. As with the solution to his wedding riddle, Samson got tired of being nagged and gave away the reason for his supernatural strength. “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man” (verse 17).

Cutting Samson’s hair did indeed deprive him of his strength. This act was the culmination of his abandonment of the Nazirite vow which he had first begun to break years before when he turned aside into a vineyard and touched the body of the dead lion (Judg. 14:8). As a result of these actions “The Lord had departed from him” (verse 20).

The Philistines gouged out Samson’s eyes and took him back to Gaza. After a time, his hair grew back and he was called on to entertain his captors at a feast for their god, Dagon. There the Israelite judge got to perform his last and most memorable miracle.

After praying to the Lord that he might be avenged “Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested...and he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life” (verse 29-30).

Samson’s last words were “let me die with the Philistines” (verse 29). His family took the body and buried him with his father. His twenty-year judgeship was at an end. Though he performed several astounding miracles, his life seems to be one of unrealized potential.

Judges were set up to free the Israelite people. While Samson scored notable victories, he ultimately failed in his assignment. It would be left for another to complete the task of throwing off the yoke of Philistine suppression.

A lot of Samson’s story takes place in the Philistine city of Gaza. This settlement is part of the Philistine Pentapolis, the five major cities of their inhabited area along the Mediterranean coast. While the other four Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath have all been the

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