Judges 15:9-16:3

Judges 15:9-16:3.  Yesterday I said our story ended with Samson threatening revenge for the burning of his abandoned wife and her family.  Actually he carried through on his threat and I have updated that post.  It only increases the picture of Samson as a man controlled by his feelings.  At the end of yesterday’s story he said he would get revenge and then quit.  And after he fought a severe and ruthless fight with some Philistines he did just that.  He went up into the hills and hid in crack in the rocks.  The place was called Etam and scholars do not know exactly where it was.  From today’s reading we know it was in the territory of the tribe of Judah.

So far in our reading we have met several of the tribes of Israel (See “The Twelve?”).  Manasseah which had territory on both sides of the Jordan River in the northern part of the promised land.  Asher, Naphtali, and Zebulun further north yet on the west side of the Jordan across the Jezreel Valley from Manasseh.  Issachar between Naphtali  and Manasseh at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley.  Gad and Reuben on the estern side of the Jordan River just south of Manasseh’s territory on that side.  And Ephraim in the cetral part of the promised land on the western side of the Jordan.  Dan, the tribe that Samson is part of had a small section of land just south of Ephraim’s land.  Dan’s land started about half way across from the Dead Sea and went to the Mediterranean Sea.  Benjamin’s land was next to Dan’s spreading east to the northern tip of the Dead Sea.  The southern part of the promised land belonged to Judah and was quite large.  It started about even with the northern tip of the Dead Sea and went south to the border of Egypt.  Simeon’s land was also in the south but was completely surrounded by Judah’s land.  Gaza was on the coast about even with the middle of the Dead Sea.  Remember that, although this land was given to the different tribe that they had not completely taken it over.  That is where all the problems in the book of Judges come from both the physical problems and spiritual ones.  Or lets say that that is the setting where the spiritual problems come out.  Remember too that the Philistines, who had originally been “sea people” lived mostly on the costal plain between the hills and the Mediterranean Sea.  Think Costa Mesa to Long Beach.  Garden Grove to Lakewood.

Although we do not know the exact place Samson went we do know the name.  Just like people’s names in the Old Testament can sometimes be related to who they are and what they do (See “What’s in a Name”)  the same goes for place names, maybe even more.  The Hebrew word “Etam”  comes from a root that means to shriek and to fly.  From that root the Hebrews had a word for birds of prey, you know the kind that shriek and fly.  And from both of those words they had the word “Etam” which means a place where wild beasts hide.  That certainly paints an interesting picture of Samson.  You don’t get much more wild than this guy and he is now hiding.  If any person ever lived like a bird of prey or a wild animal it was Samson.  Driven by his desires he swooped in and took or lashed out at anyone who crossed him.

Although he was done with the fighting the Philistines were not.  Revenge is like a bad cycle.  Back and forth, worse and worse.  The Philistines heard that Samson was hiding out in Judah’s territory and so they sent an army in and camped out, ready for war.  As we have already seen the cycle in Judges of sin, servitude, supplication, salvation, and silence (See “Intro to Judges”) has been broken and in this “cycle” the Israelites don’t even cry out to God for help, they are happy to share the land with and even be ruled by the Philistines.  hey, “Why can’t we all cooexist?”  When faced with war they do not rally behind Samson they give him up to the Philistines.  The Philistinses are no match for Samson’s God though.  Empowered by God Samson breaks free of the ropes that the  men of Judah had tied him with, grabs a jawbone from a freshly slaughtered donkey that is lying there in the Philistine camp, and kills 1000 of their soldier.  Evidently in the face of this rage the Philistines retreat.

I don’t know if any one in the story saw that God was the real power behind what was going on.  Samson clearly takes all of the credit.  He composes a song about himself and his deeds while still holding the bloody jawbone, make a monument to his deeds by piling up the bodies, and he even names the place after the unlikely weapon he used, “Jawbone Hill”.  It’s all about Samson and continues to be.  Unlike Deborah in her song God gets no credit.  In fact Samson treats God like a servant and demands water, he’s thirsty.  God, ever gracious and loving provides water in a miraculous way but Samson’s focus is still on himself.  He names the spring of water which God created En-hakkore, “The spring of him who called”.  It’s always about Samson.  And he ruled for 20 years.  But ther is no peace, no rest, no silence for they live in the “days of the Philistines”.

The next little piece of the story sets us up for tomorrows reading.  Samson is still following his desire and chasing after Philistine women.  This time he goes and visits a prostitute in Gaza, a Philistine city on the coast about 45 miles from his home town.  The Philistines of the city think they have him trapped but in the middle of the night he escapes, not quietly though he rips apart their city gates and takes them with him, leaving them on the top of a hill 40 miles away in the heart of Judah’s territory.  Although Samson is clearly empowered by God he must have been quite impressive to see, maybe a sort of Incredible Hulk.  I mean 3000 men of Judah had gone to get him to bring him to the Philistines earlier in today’s story.  Tomorrow we will see Samson’s last run in with the Philistines and again it involves a woman.

I think it is interesting that the comment about Samson’s rule comes n the middle of his story not at the end like the other cycle in Judges.  As I pointed out before  Judges 15:20 says his rule was in the day of the Philistines.  He never really had an over all victory just lots of little battles (if you can call 1000 guys a little fight).  There’s a saying that goes, “You won the battle but lost the war.”  Samson was winning a lot of battles but he was losing the war.  His personal life was all about his pleasures.  In fact it was his desires that led him into most of , if not all of, his fights.   James asks, “What causes fights and quarrels among you, is it not your desires which wage war in you?” (James 4:1).  Samson wasn’t the only one living by his feelings.  Nobody in Israel was concerned about the Philistines controlling their country.  They were too busy living their lives, hey lets not stir things up, let’s just all coexist.  But at what price.  They were supposed to be God’s people showing the world what the true God was all about.  But that might upset some people.  They were giving up their souls for a moment of peace.  They were living for their pleasures too.  Are we doing the same?  Do we try to just fit in and get by or are we being God’s people  showing the world what the true God is all about?  God’s battle was moving forward.  Samson was even a part of it.  But he was losing his personal battle.   Jesus said there will be many people at the judgement who claim to have done great things for him but who never really had a relationship with him.  They will be sent out of God’s presence forever.  God help me not to confuse doing with being.  Sure I want to do things for you but more important I want to be a part of your family.  Thank you for making me a part for free.  Thank you for adopting me, not because of what I can do but because of who you are.  Help me remember who’s family I am a part of and how I should act because of that.  Help me not be content to live in the “days of the Philistines”.  Help me live with forever in view not today and tomorrow.

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