Samson- All the Kings Horses, and All the Kings Men, Could Not Put Him Together Again.
Posted: Thursday, March 19, 2009
by Swapna Nanda
Samson was very strong and mighty young man. From his birth, God has chosen him to be a leader for the nation of Israel. He was bestowed with unusual physical strength. He could fight many thousands of people single-handedly. He had great stamina and vigor. With great opportunity comes greater responsibility. Unfortunately he was thoughtless about his great strength, which was his uniqueness but acted irresponsibly. He went ahead with his life selfishly and got involved with a woman, who he thought loved him too. Samson never felt it necessary to choose his girlfriend wisely; therefore he fell pray to her evil enticing. Her name was Delilah who was a philistine lady. She was actually engaged by the philistines to spy on Samson and find out about the secret of his physical strength. Very soon, Samson unsuspectingly gave away the true secret of his strength to Delilah. The philistines captured Samson with deception and shaved off his long strands of hair, which was the secret. He was captured.
There they put him to work grinding grain in a prison. We know from archaeological findings that this type of prison was in reality a grinding house. This was a place where slaves and prisoners were put to work. Samson spent his days crouching on the ground grinding grain. Here was a helpless blind man fumbling with grains and grinding stone whose destiny had been to be an instrument of God. Perhaps those were the days when Samson realized his mistake of being careless with life and therefore ultimately deceived by people. Samson repented and came before God with brokenness and humility. Perhaps he spent all the moments in prison crying out to God. God whose nature is Faithfulness, Mercy and Forbearance heard Samsons outcry. The hair on his head began to grow and perhaps God was also giving a second chance.
One day the Philistine leaders held a ceremony to celebrate their victory over their enemy. They brought Samson into the temple where they were assembled, so he could entertain them. Once inside the temple, Samson asked the servant who was guiding him to show him where the pillars were, so he could lean against them. Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, `Let me die with the Philistines!' Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived (Judges 16:29-30).
But did it really happen? Could one man pull down an entire temple single handed? Archaeology has provided us with some amazing answers.
Two Philistine temples have been uncovered by archaeologists. One at Tel Qasile, in northern Tel Aviv, and one in Tel Miqne, ancient Ekron, 21 miles south of Tel Aviv. Both temples share a unique design -- the roof was supported by two central pillars! The pillars were made of wood and rested on stone support bases. With the pillars being about six feet apart, a strong man could dislodge them from their stone bases and bring the entire roof crashing down. The archaeological findings match the Biblical story perfectly and attest to the plausibility of the account.
Although Samson had his weaknesses, he was a man of God and is listed in the New Testament as one of those who through faith conquered kingdoms, whose weakness was turned to strength (Hebrews 11:32-34
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)I've always been fascinated with the story of Samson and it is interesting to once again see that archaeology has confirmed the plausibility of the story.Thanks for this.Yes indeed Samson's story is also a proof that all the other stories of the Bible are true too. Thank you Mr. David for reading and leaving your comment. Regards, Swapna
the jewish book of fairytales has delighted the world for three thousand yearsI don't think The Bible is a book of fairy tales. Fairy tales are always wishfull thinking. And do you think fairies really exist? I do not think so. If Bible is a fairy tale then it cannot guide so many people. The Bible is the Book where God has revealed Himself. Yes, the stories are delightful indeed but they are meant to shape and build our character and help us to know the Truth and be saved from hell. I wish you all the best to discover the Truth for yourself. Thak you for reading and commenting. Your comments are always welcome.
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