Aug. 7, 2011
Background Scripture: Judges 13; 21:25
Devotional Reading: Romans 2:1-8

I think it was Oliver Cromwell who admonished the artist who would portray him: “Mind, you paint me warts and all!”

If Samson, the mighty Danite, had sat for a portrait, hiding his personal, moral warts would have been an almost impossible task. For, despite the fact he is one of the best remembered Old Testament “judges,” the Samson portrayed in the Book of Judges is hardly one of the most admirable, and the high point of his saga is the very beginning: Judges 13:2-25.

Yet, Samson began as a child of promise – actually, promises. There was the promise given by an angel to the unnamed wife of Manoah: “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son” (v. 3b). There is also the implied promise of the mother to raise Samson according to the angel’s instructions.

Nazarites were people set apart by God and dedicated to live simple exemplary lives: “Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat anything unclean, for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from birth.” And the promise of the angel: “It is he who shall deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines” (13:4,5).

Promises kept

Two of these promises were kept: God gave her the gift of a son and, as promised, she raised her son according to the Nazarite code. But the angel was unable to keep the promise he had made because of another individual in the equation: Samson, who, exercising his free will, rendered the promises void.
Although Samson was probably admired by other members of the tribe of Dan (as sports heroes today may be lionized), he really did not lead his people. In fact, he certainly increased the hostility between the tribe of Dan and the Philistines.

In my retirement I attend the church in Dallas that I served in my last 13 years of ministry. Each time infants are brought by their parents to the altar rail for baptism, we the congregation sing the hymn:

*Child of blessing, child of promise, baptized with the Spirit’s sign;
With this water God has sealed you unto love and grace divine
The ritual reminds us of God’s promise of grace and we listen as the parents give their vows to nurture their children in Christ’s holy church.
Often I look at the infants and wonder what kind of men and women they will become. God has repeated His promise. The parents have given their solemn vows. The congregation has covenanted together:

*Child of joy, our dearest treasure, God’s you are, from God you came.
Back to God we humbly give you; live as one who bears Christ’s name.
Among his people, Samson may have been a celebrity. His feats were spectacular: tearing apart a lion with his bare hands (14:5), single-handedly slaying 30 men of Ashkelon (14:12-19), killing 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, carrying off the Jaffa gates, pulling down the pillars of the temple of Dagon and wreaking vengeance on his bride’s people by setting fire to their fields and orchards.

His was a strength of body, but not of spirit. Vain and contemptuous – he might as well have gotten a haircut!

I promise, but …

His weakness: The wrong kind of women. First, the woman of Tinmah, a Philistine (14:1 ff.). Despite parental warnings, he insisted he must have her. When he found that she had given her countrymen the key to his riddle, he killed 30 men and returned to his father’s house.
Later, he took up with a harlot of Gaza (16:1), who betrayed him to a band of Philistines.

Finally, he fell for Delilah, “a woman in the valley of Sorek,” (16:4). She also betrayed him, but the blinded, imprisoned Samson came to a spectacular, but tragic end (16:4-30). The child of promise had become the man of great disappointment.

Who was responsible for Samson’s failure? Not his parents, because they did all that they promised to do. Not God, because He stood ready to fulfill His promises. And actually, although Samson disappointed all and forsook the role to which the Lord had called him, God was able to use even the tragic Samson to accomplish His will.

Each of us begins as a child of promise, and then … what?
*”Child of Blessing, Child of Promise” words by Ronald S. Cole-Turner, music attributed to C.F. Witt

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.