Day 94: Samson and Delilah

Today's readings: Judges 16-18 and Psalm 147.

I. Judges 16 recounts the final events in the life of Samson. He falls in love with another Philistine woman, this time Delilah. Unbeknownst to him, Delilah was bribe her to learn the secret of Samson's strength. He apparently doesn't fully trust her, so he misleads her three times, defeating Philistine soldiers who thought they had found out the secret. 

At this point in the story, I have to wonder just how smart Samson really is, or perhaps how much he was thinking with the "other head" instead of the one on his shoulders. First, she's a pagan from the enemy nation. He gets clear evidence of her betraying him three times, yet doesn't leave her. Samson wouldn't have known that she was being bribed, but her betrayals should have given him a clue. On the other hand, we all can be blinded by our sins and passions, so it's difficult not to feel for the guy since his weaknesses are still being shared around the world about 3,100 years later.

Back to the story. Samson finally tells Delilah the real secret, which she passes on to the Philistines, then he is captured, has his eyes gouged out, and is forced to grind grain in prison. The Philistines gather at the temple of their pagan god to celebrate Samson's capture. He repents and cries out to God, and pushes apart the temple's supporting pillars, causing the building to collapse. He dies and, by this act, kills more Philistines than all those during his life. 

In the next chapter, there is an odd story about a man named Micah who stole silver from his mother and returned it after hearing that she had put a curse on whoever took it. There seems to be confusion about the law at this time because she takes some of the silver to have a graven image made for the Lord. Micah has a private home shrine to household gods? He hires a Levite to be the priest for this shrine. It's all a bit confusing to me and strikes me as very superstitious behavior. It could be that the latter is partly what was meant in this verse:

In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. (Judg 17:6)

Judges 18 continues the story of Micah and shows that the chaos had spread throughout Israel. The Danites wanted new territory and sent out spies to look for it. Laish was deemed vulnerable, and they conquered it, renaming it for their tribe. On the way there, they stopped off at Micah's shrine and stole the images and valuable items, and persuaded the Levite priest to join them. He did. The chapter ends with a shrine being established in Dan to house the stolen images and with the Levite priest appointed.

II. Psalm 147 is, as the Ignatius Bible notes (verse numbers removed):

A psalm of praise. Four calls are issued to the covenant people under the names Jerusalem/Zion and Jacob/Israel. The Lord is worthy of lauds because he is the Builder, Protector, and Benefactor of the city and of people chosen by him. His care and attention to the natural world mirror his goodness to the nation of Israel... (p. 956)

That's all for today!