When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” – Judges 14:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 14, 2019): Judges 14

Ninety-years ago today, February 14, 1929, Al Capone made an attempt to kill George “Bugs” Moran in a Chicago garage. On a day when we celebrate love, we have a very real reminder of the effects that greed and hate can have in our world. As far as Capone and Moran, their story of hate is bound up in their competition for illegal profit in the early twentieth century. Al Capone led the “Chicago Outfit” and Bugs Moran was the head of the “North Side Gang.” Their competition in the 1920’s was over the lucrative bootlegging trade and various gambling opportunities in Chicago. Neither the “Chicago Outfit” nor the “North Side Gang” were content within their territories, so conflict was a constant companion as the two organizations tried to maximize their profit line.

On February 14, 1929, two police officers and two civilians walked in a garage where five members of the North Side Gang happened to be present, along with two other men. The two police officers were not real, but the men inside the garage did not know that. The officers ordered the men to line up facing a wall of the garage. After the men in the garage had turned their backs, the two civilians brought out their Thompson Sub Machine guns and killed the five gang members as well as the two other people present. Bugs Moran was the main target of the attack, but he was not in the garage at the time of the killing. Apparently, Moran had decided to sleep in that day and had arrived on the scene after the killing, although it is believed that one of the men that was killed may have looked like and dressed like Moran. The “Saint Valentines Day Massacre” stands as an example of our need for more, and a testament of our willingness to do anything to get it.

Samson was chosen before his birth to be a Judge. From the moment of his birth, Samson was blessed by God. But Samson was also a spoiled brat. There are very few redeeming characteristics that we can find in the Samson saga. Samson was prideful and demanding. He had apparently known no boundaries in life, and he expected to get what it was that he wanted. In this, there was very little difference between Samson and people like Al Capone and Bugs Moran. All the way through the story we see an immature man demanding that he be given whatever his heart desired.

And it starts here. On this day when we celebrate love, I am not sure that Samson ever really knew what love was. Samson knew lust. He knew greed. He wanted what he wanted, and if he was ever denied what he wanted, the strongest man in the world flew into a violent rage. Understanding the severe character defects present in Samson, I sometimes wonder why he was included in the great listing of the faithful that we find in Hebrews 11.

Maybe the answer is this. While Samson led most of his life as the poster child for the spoiled brats of the rich and famous in our world, in the final moment of his life there may have been understanding and true faith. And maybe what is important about the story of Samson is that God was able to work through him, in spite of Samson’s unruly and prideful behavior. Samson was decidedly less than I think God desired him to be, but that did not stop God from accomplishing great things in his midst, although that greatness was in spite of Samson, rather than because of him. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Judges 15