Superheroes are big business these days. Characters formerly confined to ten-cent comic books are the main characters in the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Webster’s dictionary defines a hero as a figure, often of divine descent, endowed with great strength or ability. At one point we loved heroes that saved the world by following rules and being morally upright – a saviour who did right things in the right ways. Recently, the anti-hero is all the rage; these are the heroes with morally ambiguous behaviour.
Samson is a great biblical example of the anti-hero, the last of the deliverer-judges in the Book of Judges. His birth narrative is remarkable and rivals those of such biblical figures as Isaac, Moses, and John the Baptist, not to mention Jesus in some ways. The bible speaks of his great purpose and gifting: “the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth … The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. Then the Spirit of the Lord began to direct him (see Judges 13:5,24-25)”; but also hints at limitations for he will only, “begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines. (13:5)”
What hinders Samson time and again is what he brings upon himself through flagrant disobedience. It is evident in the first verse we come to after he has come of age. He is attracted to a young Philistine woman and, against God’s law and his parent’s advice, he wants her for a wife because, “she is right in my eyes. (14:3)”
Something to See:
By the end of Judges the failure of each human judge to truly deliver God’s people is evident – the nation’s Canaanization is complete, and the book’s last verse says it all: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (21:25)” In contrast, Paul tells the Corinthians that, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2:9)”. God’s wisdom is higher than ours, which is why we “walk by faith, not by sight.” Whose sight do you trust? Samson and his people had such a diminished view of God, and elevated view of themselves, that they only did what was right in their own eyes. When we rely on ourselves, at best we rely on a very meagre perspective; at worst we are ruled by the worst of our passions. God always has so much more for us, and our community, if we would only trust him!