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Judges 16 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Samson was a man of extremes. As quickly as the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him, He also just as quickly left Him (Jdg 13:16; Jdg 14:4; Jdg 16:20). There was little stability in his life and that really came down to the consequences of his choices. The Lord, however, still used Him for His glory.
I have often had my own theory on Samson’s appearance. Putting a city gate on your shoulders and carrying it up the side of the mountain was an impossible feat for man. Hebron is 40 miles east of Gaza, so it would have taken the better part of a day just to travel that distance, let alone carry a gate on your shoulders!
This is just my own personal speculation (not Scriptural), but I don’t think Samson was physically-imposing. I think he may have been an average looking man, or even scrawny (picture Steve Rogers before he was Captain America). Although he is portrayed in illustrations to have a mighty physique, that would have been a good explanation for his superhuman power. Delilah was given the task of discovering the source of his great strength, therefore, I don’t think it could have been obvious by looking at his beefy muscles.
It’s only by the grace of God that Samson was permitted to use His strength to do all these things. Obviously, we can read and know that Samson took all of it for granted – a lesson in itself. However, the most striking part of Samson’s story for me is his personal motivation. He is never actually motivated for the liberation of his people, but rather, for personal vengeance. Even his last dying breath is done out of spite for the Philistine people. It’s only used by God in the end to help Israel.
We must be very careful that we don’t fall into the same trap. Are we using God’s strength for our own personal agenda? Are we motivated more by vengeance than for the heart of God? This could manifest itself simply by our heart desiring for someone to suffer justice and torment instead of praying for our enemy’s Salvation which we are commanded to do (Matt 5:44; Luk 6:27).