I recently heard the story of Samson from a very different perspective. While this got my attention, I was confused. The stories that I had heard of Samson growing up was the general ‘Samson and Delilah’ and how she bothered him enough for him to finally give away his secret that his hair should never be cut.
My daughter alternates between which stories she wants to hear each night on the kids bible app and for days on end, I was listening to the same Samson story. The app is interactive allows children to hear the stories and they are able to touch different parts of the screen and the people and animals react.
When I heard the sermon, it contradicted what I thought I knew. The sermon was laid out and presented in such a way that if you heard it, would leave you in awe. The pastor talked about how the young lion roared at Samson, and Samson killed it. Sometimes in our lives, trouble will come roaring. The bible even tells us that the devil is like a roaring lion going to and fro seeking whom he may devour. The way the pastor exclaimed was that it was the roar that was intended to scare you and send you running – putting you in further harm. The spirit of the Lord came on Samson and he ripped the lion apart as if it were a young goat (much less harmless animal). Then a few months later, he saw the carcass of the animal, with now a bee hive with honey, he scraped the honey out and ate it and even gave to his family. The pastor explained that sometimes after we are able to slay our lions, that we will be able to get sweet out of it. But that’s not how I had heard it and understood it after all this time.
You see, because I had heard the kids bible app so many times, I was led me to believe that Samson should not have taken the honey and eaten it because the lion had been dead and would be considered unclean.
This sent me searching and researching. I was an auditor in my early career life. I was taught that if something does not seem to add up, I cannot just accept it and move on, I need to do additional work to either confirm or disprove what has been presented.
I went to the previous chapter in the bible and found the instructions the angel provided to Samson’s mother was mostly to her (which may have also applied to him). He told her that while she waited and was pregnant, she was not to consume any alcohol or unclean thing. The clear instruction for Samson was that his hair should never be cut. At no point the bible explicitly says that Samson did wrong by eating the honey – it only talked about the circumstances around it.
I went to other bible commentaries. The glaring thing that I came away with, was that the spirit of the Lord was with Samson. For most of my life, I believed that by Samson choosing a Philistine wife, he was carrying out his own desires. Wrong. This choice was so that God’s plan could be put into place. Even when Samson gave away his secret to Delilah and his head was shaved, and he became a slave, it was so that God’s plan could be carried out, and he was able to kill thousands of Philistines at the same time.
What misconception are you walking around with?
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your teaching and for pastors who give us words of wisdom and explanations like we’ve never heard. Lord, there will be times that we may need to do our own searching, give us the wisdom to go about that task efficiently and with understanding. Break down our hearts so that we may clearly understand the words and interpretations in your holy word.