Samson: Bible Hero or Terrorist
Since
leaving Christianity, I have become acutely aware of the strange disconnect
that believers have with the violent acts of the Bible. It seems that no matter how horrid the
atrocity, once sugar-coated with divine approval, Christians swallow it quite
easily. Another factor in Christians’ blithe
acceptance of violence is that the blood-soaked events in the Bible have been depersonalized
and spiritualized; reduced to mere props in service of religious lessons. Empathy for the suffering in stories such as
the worldwide destruction of living creatures in the flood story, the killing
of the Egyptian firstborn, and the genocidal stories of Canaanite conquest is
pretty much absent from the thinking of the average Christian.
The
willingness of evangelical believers to overlook atrocities in their holy book,
coupled with their vigorous support for war, torture, and capital punishment,
is quite troubling. Perhaps these “New
Testament” believers are still in some way connected to the bloody and vengeful
instincts of the Old Testament.
Today, as we
remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the 9/11 attacks by 19 terrorists, I
would like to point out something lost on many Christians. Samson is listed as a hero of the faith in
Hebrews 11:32. Never mind his sordid
history of visiting prostitutes, killing men so that he could steal their clothing
to pay a bet, being cruel to animals by lighting the tails of 300 foxes on
fire, so that he could release them to burn the crops of the Philistines. He is a man of faith… apparently.
Let us
consider his ‘crowning’ achievement, and connect the dots with the
religiously-motivated actions of the 9/11 hijackers. They too were men faith, devoted to their
god. Men who praised their god as they
slit throats and flew planes into skyscrapers.
Samson’s final
act is recorded in Judges 16. Shorn of
magical strength, by a haircut, he has had his eyes put out, and is imprisoned by his
enemies, the Philistines. Interestingly,
the location of his imprisonment is Gaza.
In a bit of foreshadowing, the author of Judges tells us that his hair
has begun to grow again.
The Philistine rulers held a great festival, offering sacrifices and praising their god, Dagon. They said, “Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!” When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy to us! The one who killed so many of us is now in our power!” Half drunk by now, the people demanded, “Bring out Samson so he can amuse us!” So he was brought from the prison to amuse them, and they had him stand between the pillars supporting the roof. Samson said to the young servant who was leading him by the hand, “Place my hands against the pillars that hold up the temple. I want to rest against them.”Judges 16:23-26 (NLT)
And so, we come to Samson’s
final act; his transformation from foolish
womanizer, to sainted hero of the faith.
That act of course, involved killing lots of people; a killing empowered
and approved of by his god.
Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.” Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime.Judges 16:28-30 (NLT)
By the way, I purposefully
omitted verse 27. It reads like this:
Now the temple was completely filled with people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof who were watching as Samson amused them.
That’s right.
Samson was the original religiously-motivated terrorist, bringing a building crashing down, and supposedly killing the same amount of people as
died on 9/11. Three thousand deaths in
retaliation for the loss of his two eyes.
Seems proportional – right?
Anyway, God was ‘glorified’ and Samson earned his place in the Faith
Hall of Fame. The Christian acceptance
of the violent, vengeful acts contained in the Bible give them much more in
common with the current actions of violence committed in the name of
Allah, than they realize.
Written by J. M. Green
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