{"id":56229,"date":"2019-05-27T00:54:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T21:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=56229"},"modified":"2022-12-18T09:25:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T07:25:18","slug":"samson-incredible-hulk-or-divine-prophet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/samson-incredible-hulk-or-divine-prophet\/","title":{"rendered":"Samson: Incredible Hulk Or Divine Prophet?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[392,506,878],"acf":{"old_id":"56229","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":51424,"related_cahpter":"227","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"His legacy lives on well after his death","content":"

Our chapter brings the story of Samson to a close. After a colorful and tumultuous life sprinkled with acts of heroism and supernatural strength as well as promiscuity, Samson redeems his name by repenting and literally bringing down the (Philistine) house with his death. <\/span><\/p>\n

What kind of hero was Samson? Was he just another version of The Incredible Hulk?<\/span><\/p>\n

Rav Adin Steinsaltz doesn\u2019t think so. He suggests that Samson was actually a <\/span>navi<\/span><\/i> – a prophet. Wait – what? Isn\u2019t a prophet someone who speaks the word of God by chastising and making predictions? Samson was a man of action, not a man of word!<\/span><\/p>\n

Rav Steinsaltz has a broader vision of a prophet: one who transmits God\u2019s message in the world. True – this is most often through the spoken word but not exclusively so. In Samson\u2019s case God transmits His message to Israel and the Philistines through Samson\u2019s amazing displays of power and might. His unique role as a mighty hero cows the Philistines into submission where words would have failed.<\/span><\/p>\n

I would suggest the following, that Samson\u2019s actions and influence lasted long after his death. Looking carefully at the end of the chapter, we see a hint to this when we notice Samson\u2019s epitaph in the last verse:<\/span><\/p>\n

… And he judged Israel twenty years (Judges 16:31)<\/span><\/p>\n

Why would the text repeat this piece of information? We already know this from the previous chapter!<\/span><\/p>\n

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years (Judges 15:20)<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps we can understand it this way: Samson was a judge, prophet and leader for twenty years during his lifetime. Yet even after his death, Samson continued to \u201cjudge\u201d and lead Israel to another twenty years of peace through the legacy he left behind that continued to instill fear in the hearts of the Philistines. It took another twenty years for the Philistines to dare fight Israel, giving the Jews some respite from war and strife.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of us have our own way of manifesting God in the world. Samson is an intriguing and compelling model of how we can do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

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