The story of Samson is often told as a great story of Triumph as Samson brings the temple of the false god Dagon tumbling down onto the heads of thousands of pagan worshipers. We are older now, more mature; can there be another view of this great story?
Consider that Samson is a Nazirite, a person dedicated to God before his birth. His parents have raised him in the strict guidelines related to one who is a Nazirite. He has never drank wine, he has never touched a dead body, a razor has never touched his head.
Our story opens in chapter 14 with a story of love at first sight, but a love that is outside of God's perfect will. God has explicitly instructed the Israelites to marry within their own nation. Samson, chosen by God, allows himself to "fall" in love with a pagan. I know this is a difficult thing for us, but God has given us instructions as well regarding marriage. We are not to be "unequally yoked". This has nothing to do with the other person being lovable. God loves all and commands that we love all as well. The difficulty for a marriage outside of the faith is that our partner who is not a Christian cannot look at the world in the same way that a Christian does. They do not have a Christian worldview. That doesn't make them bad people, but it is not possible for them to view Christ as the center of their world if they have not accepted him as Christ and Savior.
Samson violates his Nazirite vow when he reaches into the Lion's carcass to get a handful of honey. The Lion is a dead animal. We don't know for sure from our reading, but it is certainly true that when the wedding party was held (think bachelor party) there was another opportunity to violate his Nazirite vow. I would expect that there was some fruit of the vine (think wine) available there. And still, God used Samson to punish the Philistines. This is a proof that God can use even broken vessels to his good will. Our failures can be overcome by a God who desires to use us in a superhuman kind of way.
Samson is betrayed throughout these chapters by the women that he loves. Perhaps this speaks more to how we approach love than anything else. Certainly love must be more, much more than a physical attraction. The biblical admonition to "guard your heart" is very appropriate when we are looking to find the person that God intends for us to be yoked to "til death do us part".
These stories are also filled with retaliation which is not God's perfect way. God calls on us to "turn the other cheek" and to love our neighbor as ourself. Surely God would have us to destroy the enemy by the power of his love which can also save their souls rather than to beat them to death with the jawbone of an ass. The result of Samson's vengeful retaliation for his betrayal and subsequent anger is that he finds himself living in a cave because he doesn't know who he can trust. And still God can use this man.
Samson falls (that doesn't even sound like love to me) for another woman....Delilah. This relationship is one sided and headed for disaster from the beginning. Delilah is aligned with a pagan god and a heritage that makes real love impossible. They use each other until Delilah finally finds a way to destroy the one who proclaims his love to her. She sells her lover for what is the equivalent of 140 pounds of silver. Samson has his eyes gouged out and put into bondage. he is a laughingstock and proof to the Philistines that their god (dagon) is mightier than Jehovah. (not true as they are about to find out.) Samson has been so weakened that the Philistines lead him about with a small boy. How low has Samson fallen that he who once slew the Philistines by the 100's is now controlled by a boy. But what man has violated, abused and desecrated God can use in a glorious way. Sin demands its wages. Samson is blind in bondage and in slavery, but God can make a way. Having been humbled before men, God restores by the power of the Holy Spirit and more than 3000 + the temple of dagon are destroyed in a moment; a testimony to the power of Jehovah Jireh.
There is a great deal in the story of Samson, more than we have discussed here, but perhaps one of the greatest lessons is about wasted potential. God had gifted Samson mightily and he was used mightily, but how much more might there have been if Samson had been obedient to his vows as a Nazirite. How much more might we be and do and be used by God if we kept our vows as Christ followers?
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