Call of the Wild (1)
So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.” Judges 16:17 NASB
Like any other man – Samson is the superman of the Bible. He might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but he is certainly far stronger than any human being in our ordinary history. We like that. We want to feel the “rush of the Spirit” and experience super-human feats like Samson. We think that God intends us to have power (right?) and therefore, if we could just have the “anointing,” we would be one of those great heroes of the faith, pulling down the strongholds of the enemy.
But maybe we aren’t reading the story correctly. Yes, God certainly uses Samson. Yes, there are incredible feats of strength. But Samson is a figure of pathos, not providence. He is much more like an animal than a man. He is unruly, passionate, unpredictable, uncontrollable—like a stallion that has not been broken, or a lion or the jawbone of a donkey. Samson is the perpetrator of chaos, mayhem, murder, lust and vengeance. He is anything but a holy man. He continuously rebels against the expectations of God’s intentions. He is about as close to a Nazarite as the lead singer in a hard rock band. Except for the hair, his life is a disgrace to his calling.
Maybe that’s why Samson wants of be relieved of his burden. David Grossman makes the following observation about this verse, correcting the translation:
‘As every other man’, he literally said. But earlier, when Delilah had bound him, he said to her—twice—that he would weaken ke’achad ha’adam, like any other man, the word achad meaning ‘one’, as if still wanting, unconsciously, to retain his individuality. Now he forfeits this too, and reveals to her now he can become like every man, tasting these words for the first time.
But maybe it is not a weakness, an illness, to be like everyone else. Maybe this is what Samson, in his heart of hearts, has wanted his whole life.[1]
As Barry Webb notes, Samson has never wanted to fight the Philistines. He wanted to mix with them, to marry into them, to party with them. He wants to be one of them. It is God’s spirit that forces him into confrontation, making enemies of the very ones he wishes to join. The superman doesn’t want to be super. He wants to be included! It’s too much burden to carry God’s intentional separation. Too much for Samson, and, I suspect, too much for us too. Oh, we imagine how wonderful it would be to be clothed in the Spirit, but when we look at the men who have been, we find pathos, rejection, isolation and brokenness. We find a man in a Garden, asking why. Do you still want to be God’s superman?
Topical Index: Samson, Judges 16:17, ke’achad ha’adam, like every other man
[1] David Grossman, Lion’s Honey: The Myth of Samson (Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2006), pp. 133-134.
Is there a person on the planet who has not “resisted the Spirit” (Acts 7:51)? Please raise your hand with me if you know exactly what that is like.
The East believes in something called fate: the West calls it “destiny”, but believes it is something that can be initiated and controlled by ourselves. On one hand, I think we want to have all the choices we make at any given time be effective; on the other hand, we want to have an excuse handy to take care of all those times our choices were either impotent or destructive or embarrassing. We want fame, but we also want to hide in the crowd. We want to sing “I did it my way” (superman) but at the same time we want to whine “the devil made me do it” (slavery). Are we all spiritually bipolar?
What is individuality? What is identity? What is a fully realized human? We think we ought to know. We think we can get there instinctively; that our penchant for choosing: our yetzer ha’ra; our “natural man” ‘knows’ for us. 100% of us have gotten it wrong the first go round. ALL of us have had to learn from experience that we do NOT ‘naturally’ know what is best for us, or even who we are. It has been a shocker for me to learn in business, as well as in personal life, if you are going to bet that either yourself or the next person is going to be able to be depended upon to make choices that are in your own or their own best interests, you are setting yourself up to lose.
I have concluded that NOBODY really knows what their best interests actually are. In fact, we choose against that all the day long. None of us have the capacity to really pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps even into our own identity, much less into a superstar. The world will always find itself down at the crossroads at midnight doing deals with the devil to ‘get ahead’ in the flesh, which will always consist of some version of eating its own tail; of getting a bowl of pottage at the expense of its birthright; it’s true potential. This is the real reason we find ourselves unable to ‘get ahead’. We are the ones betting against our own selves.
I think Samson is the picture of all of us, just blown up large. He got what he wanted: the experience of the rest of us (just on steroids, of course). I look at his story as mine, minus a muscle or two. My choices have caused a mess, too. The people around me have likewise been super destructive. What has been gained by all that chaos? Yeshua said that offenses must come, “but woe to him by whom they come”. Mysterious words. What does chaos actually accomplish? Well, in my life it has effectively canceled out illusion, weakness (any thing to do with indulging self) and has caused landslides in all the passes labeled “something for nothing” which were so luring.
I think chaos, in the end, takes down everything related to itself; it self destructs, like Samson in the temple of Dagon, along with all that identifies with it. Repentance has to do with learning to fall out of agreement with what SEEMED like ‘getting ahead’ in the flesh, for the flesh wants to be lied to. I think the flesh is primed to respond to all the lies about “something for nothing” and the illusion that I am somehow “different” than others (root of covetousness). Chaos is the result of all such choices. Chaos is what teaches us NOT to choose in the flesh, for the flesh is pre-set for chaos. This is not exactly “original sin” (the West’s attempt to say that the devil made us do it), but it is the glitch that makes us susceptible to being lied to.
We want to ‘be ourselves’ – realized identity – for that is how we were created, but the path to our identity now lies through a Detour, for we have all pulled our own houses down around our own ears and blocked the main road. Now, my identity can only be found in Another’s. Halleluah!
Thank you Laurita, I can relate perfectly, never saw it this way.
Question: Do you still want to be God’s superman?
Answer: No. There’s more than enough trouble to go around, and God’s hand is heavy enough without Him especially pressing down on me.
I’m only a man in a funny red sheet. I’m only a man looking for a dream. I’m only a man in a funny red sheet. And it’s not easy. It’s not easy to be me. Superman (It’s Not Easy), Fighting For Five, 2001.
Yesterday while watching TED talks of Bessel van der Kolk on YouTube, I came across a physician named Nadine Burke Harris discussing research on childhood trauma related to health risks. She thought the medical world would embrace childhood stress screening but came to the conclusion that, as a people, we don’t want to face the truths that affect us all.
Every spring there is a big fundraising push for cancer, Relay for Life. Some years ago I stopped contributing. As a people, we know a lot about improving our health but very few ever want to change their lifestyle or habits and do the things we know are good for us. “I set before you life and death. Choose life. – God by way of Joshua”
“Oh, we imagine how wonderful it would be to be clothed in the Spirit, but when we look at the men who have been, we find pathos, rejection, isolation and brokenness. Do you still want to be God’s superman”
Is it a matter of choice? And do we really want to be concerned about being a “superman” OR being “included”?
I think what we might as well say, “Give me the pathos, rejection, isolation and brokenness.” For what choice do we have? It is the lot of every other man’s life, too, anyways, isn’t it? Even those who seek acceptance and inclusion, as well as the superman? It seems best to me to not give in to the “temptation” for either.
I think we do better to surrender and just accept our lot in life, than to resist it or strive for another. Besides, isn’t there really only one way of true “escape” anyways? The greater question is, “Do we know that way?”
“No temptation has taken hold of you except what is common to mankind. But God is faithful—He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can handle. But with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so you will be able to endure it.” [1Co_10:13]
“Whoever trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will escape.” [Pro_28:26]
Probably Solomon sums it up the best…..
“During my fleeting days I have seen both of these things: sometimes a righteous one perishes in his righteousness and sometimes a wicked one lives long in his wickedness. Do not be overly righteous nor overly wise—why confound yourself? Do not be overly wicked and do not be a fool—why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not withdraw your hand from the other. For the one who fears God will escape both extremes. Wisdom makes a wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city. Surely there is not a righteous person on earth who does what is good and doesn’t sin.” [Ecc 7:15-20]
don james said “it was not the world being round that agitated people, but that it was not flat” how long it takes for me to turn away from that warm, intoxicating, self indulging, pre occupation, with my way often is indicative of who my allegiance is to, this heart is often deceitful desperately wicked .who shall free me from this body of DEATH???
Are U Talking to Me?
~ And Delilah said to Samson, [And to him who lacks understanding she says..] Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee ~ (Judges 16.6)
~ ALL we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all ~ (Isaiah 53.6)
Sin short-circuits the mind. As I read the sad story of Samson I think to myself, Samson, you sir are a “pin-head.” Other fitting descriptions might be “nitwit”or “dunderhead,” but to me it seems Samson though gifted with incredible physical strength, seemed to be lacking in discernment.
As we (outside observers) watch this sad story from Judges chapter sixteen unfold, a pattern emerges. Samson, MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!!! “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay! –”
But the haunting question Delilah had for Samson fits us “perfectly” as well: “Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee?”
Dear (deceiving] Delilah, I have a Deliverer!
He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.
(no links, please Carl) Thanks, Mark