Today’s
Scripture Reading (July 25, 2019): Psalm
119:49-96
It is an old story and features a long-haired male protagonist.
His name was Samson, and he was the original strong man. Samson did many feats
of strength during his life, but sometimes we miss that these feats of strength
were never part of Samson’s purpose. God had blessed him so that he could be
the instrument God would use protecting Israel from her enemies. And Samson was
a Nazirite, which formed a significant part of his relationship with God. The
vows of a Nazirite were often taken for relatively short periods, maybe a year,
and it signified a consecration to God by abstaining from alcohol, letting the
hair grow long, and refraining from coming in contact with dead bodies. Samson
was different because his Nazirite vows were made for the entire length of his
life. There were very few lifelong Nazirites in the history of Israel, although
John the Baptist may also have been a Nazirite like Samson.
The myth that we seem to have accepted is that the secret of
Samson’s strength was his long hair, but that is not true. The secret of
Samson’s strength was grounded in his unique relationship with God, this
lifelong commitment to a Nazirite way of life. So, during the incident with
Delilah, she keeps asking Samson how to negate his great strength. The truth,
from Samson’s point of view, was that there was no way to make him as weak as
any other man. He was Samson, and Samson was strong. And so he tells Delilah
that if he was tied with seven fresh bowstrings that he would become weak. But
that was a lie. Next Samson says that new ropes that have never been used would
make him as weak as any other man. And that was also a lie. The next suggestion
was weaving his hair into fabric would make him weak. But that, too, was a lie.
It was a game that Sampson was willing to play until Delilah got tired of
playing it. Samson’s next suggestion is essential to the rest of the story.
“No razor has ever been used on my
head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my
mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become
as weak as any other man” (Judges 16:17).
I think that Samson thought that
this, too, was just one more lie. It was evident that Delilah could not be
trusted with the information, so why would he tell her the truth, especially
when the truth was simply that the strong man was Samson, the strong man. But
it was in this act that he forgot his devotion to God; he forgot the law of God
and treated things of God and commitments to God with a severe lack of respect.
I have no idea whether it was Samson
that the Psalmist had in mind as he wrote these words, but it is the story of
Samson that comes to my mind as I read the words. Samson was bound with ropes,
and they held him because he forgot about God and his laws. Samson forgot, for
a moment, that it was God who was strong. He was not Samson, the strong man, he
was Samson, the Nazirite. And without God, Samson was as weak as any other man.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:97-144
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