The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.” – Judges 16:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 11, 2016): Judges 16

The inconsistencies in a story, tell a story. Beware of them. On January 18, 2016, just a week away, the British Parliament will debate whether or not to allow Donald Trump on British soil. At the same time, Vladimir Putin thinks that Donald Trump will make a fine President. There is something wrong with this story. Even though the British Parliament has received a petition signed by 500,000 people demanding that Trump be kept off of their island (and a second petition signed by 40,000 people who think that that the first petition is rubbish) it seems unlikely that the Parliament would actually ban Trump from Britain, but just the fact that there will be a debate is important. If anyone questions Trumps ability to lead the United States, maybe the fact that a significant ally is having this debate should be important. I can’t remember another presidential candidate who was barred from entering an ally country, and yet loved by the one country we might think to be the United States sworn enemy – or at least a friend who we are not on very good terms with at the moment. There are discrepancies in this story of which we must take note.

There are a number of inconsistencies in the story of Sampson. Sometimes it seems like the only people who act the way that we think that they should act are the Philistines. Everyone else seems to be out of character. But then again, this question of the Philistines is also unexpected. We picture Samson as being a big man with huge muscles – maybe looking like someone who had been on anabolic steroids for a while. In my mind, he is an ancient Hulk Hogan, someone who if he lived today would have no problem finding employment with World Wrestling Entertainment. I mean, no one would think to ask Goliath what the secret to his strength might be. Goliath was simply a giant – we expect him to be strong. The marvel in the story of Goliath is that he was defeated by such a small boy. We all want to know what David’s secret was (of course, David’s secret wasn’t much of a secret – he was simply a servant of the most high God.) In the story of Gideon earlier in the book of Judges, no one marvels at the strength of the Midianites. We know where there strength was found – it was in the sheer number of their soldiers. What is amazing in the story is that they are defeated by such a small – and weak – army, led by the reluctant warrior, Gideon.

So as we read the Philistine question, maybe the inconsistency of the story is in how we picture Samson. Maybe Samson wasn’t the large, muscle bound oaf that we believe him to be. Maybe Sampson looked more like an accountant, albeit with long hair, than a warrior. It is the only way that the question makes any sense. And it is a discrepancy of which maybe we should take note.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 3