IN SAMSON’S DEFENSE
By Adesoji Fasanya
Image: A picture of Adesoji acting as Samson
A few weeks ago, I was involved in a stage drama production. It was an adapted biblical story of Samson into the Yoruba cultural and 21st-century perspective. You can watch it here. The truth that we passed through the 3-hour stage production was simple — it was to encourage the younger generation not to repeat the mistakes of the fallen heroes, we however admonished that the secrets that made the heroes of faith be embraced and their sacrifices be reiterated in our lives.
This admonishing isn’t novel to us as many often take clues from biblical stories to pass timely messages. Paul taught us in Romans 15:4 to learn from the Scriptures. This is why when many are going to teach about male promiscuity, they often pick on Samson. The name ‘Samson’ is now associated with sexual pervasion and disobedience, many talk of Samson as a biblical character who ended his destiny on the lap of Delilah, but nothing can be farther from the truth. While I believe the lessons being taught on taming sexual desires are ever valid, I find Samson to be an unjust biblical character to exemplify such inordinate affection. I believe the biblical text is clear enough and when I read the synopsis of this elegant Judge of Israel, I see the story of a misunderstood man.
Firstly, he was misunderstood by his parents who for the demands of the Law believe he shouldn’t have picked a wife from among the daughters of the Philistines. Judges 14:3–4 explained that the insistence of Samson to pick a wife from Timnah wasn’t haphazard, but that it was God seeking a confrontation with the Philistines. God wanted to bring salvation to Israel but how will He do that if He doesn’t confront them? Imagine Moses declaring the deliverance of the children of Israel from the wilderness of Midian and not going to meet Pharaoh. Do you see the absurdity? Exactly! I can almost hear the words of Jesus when He said,” You are making the word of God of none effect by your tradition” (Mark 7:13). Just like David ate of the showbread reserved for the Priest by Law (Leviticus 24:5–9) in 1 Samuel 21:1–6, obviously breaching the demand of the Law although not counted to him as sin. Why do we put Samson to the slaughter on an obvious divine directive?
Furthermore, his bride misunderstood him. As the story unfolds, Samson presents a riddle to the young men of Philistine present at the feast (a wedding feast of some sort). The young men were the companions that were at the feast and they couldn’t solve the riddle. They turned to Samson’s wife and threatened to kill her and her family if she didn’t tell them the riddle. She turned to Samson and begged for days. On the seventh day, he told her and Samson knowing that he had been cheated, fought, and killed many of the Philistines. In an amazing twist, he upheld his side of the bargain by giving the young men the spoils from their countrymen. Imagine if his bride understood the kind of man Samson is. She would have trusted him to defend her and her family and take solace in his strength instead of cowardly deceiving him.
As if that wasn’t enough, in Judges 15, the father-in-law gave Samson’s wife to one of the young men who had cheated Samson. In the father-in-law’s defense, he said he thought Samson hated her because of what she had done. Just imagine how emotionally troubled Samson would have become. Oh, what emotional pain! Samson then saw it justified to avenge himself (Judges 15:3). The young men responded by killing Samson’s wife and his father-in-law horrifically — they burnt them to death. As if that wasn’t enough, three thousand soldiers went to arrest Samson, whom the Lord helped to victory against them.
This was the backdrop of meeting Delilah who was contracted by the rulers of the Philistines. Please drop the idea that Delilah was a witch or demon for a second and imagine what any woman would have done. You had prior knowledge of what was done to Samson’s wife (who for some reason wasn’t named) and her family. It is also worthy of note that the Philistines were occupying Israel at the time. Imagine the United States in a war with Mexico and while occupying Mexico, they contracted an American woman who has a Mexican lover to help arrest her lover. What are her chances of declining the offer knowing fully well that the previous lady was skinned alive by the authority? Exactly! Delilah accepted the offer because she was protecting herself. But in protecting herself, she misunderstood the man who claimed to love her. She misunderstood the extent of his power just like his now-dead wife. Samson who had held on for seven days before telling his deceased wife the answer to the riddle, now gave the secret to his strength cheaply to Delilah, showing how emotionally unstable he had become.
Just as Samson was misunderstood by his parents, kinsmen, wife, in-law, and lover, even after millenniums have passed, we still misunderstand him as promiscuous and sexually perverted. We think he was given to fornication and lust. So, we pick him up and place him in the slaughterhouse at every chance we get. In our minds, Samson the judge is now Samson the promiscuous. Alas! The Bible didn’t present him in such a way. In a rather fascinating way, the writer of Hebrew listed him as one of the heroes of faith in chapter 11 of his epistle.
In conclusion, let us rather stay within the confines of the biblical text, avoiding syncretism as much as we can and understanding the context of biblical events.
If you so agree, promise me you would embrace “Samson, the Judge” and not “Samson, the Promiscuous”.
Smiles. Thank you. Please, clap up to 50 times.
