The story of Samson

by Simon 35 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  Simon

  Just a few things in the account that don't make sense and lead me to believe it's just a made of story (really? a guy with superhuman power? who would have thought... )

  Samson was dead strong and killed zillions of them Philistines (who, as an aside, then seemed to vanish from any trace in history).

  He did his massacres with a piece of animal bone.

  He gave away his secret that it was his hair that gave him his power.

  They chopped off his hair and he was easy meat.

  Now, if I was a philistine, I would have assigned someone to shave his baldy head every morning like they are probably doing in Guantanamo Cuba. Don't they remember how strong he was? Geez ... it's like catching superman and then throwing away the kryptonite.

  In fact, he was such a threat, why keep him alive at all? It's like the villains on James Bond films showing him round the secret base ... "the only way to stop me Mr Bond is to press that red button there".

  Now, the key bit is that the story ends with Samson praying for Jehovahs strength to destroy the Philistines in their temple.

  If that's where he's supposed to have got it, then why does it go on about his hair starting to grow as if this gave him magical power?

  Something smells fishy to me ...
• 

  ashitaka

  HAHAHAHA!!!

  I never thought about that. They had to have had VERY short memories to let him grow his hair back....makes sense.

  Just goes to show you what drivel people believe when their brainwashed.

  Just more balonga for the horsepucky-sandwich.

  paryer me ass....there was probably an earthquake, and a urban legend started......or perhaps it was a smurf that toppled the walls....

  ashi
• 

  ozziepost

  Now Simon, if you're gonna try some Bible commentary, you gotta get the names right!

  It's

  SAMSON

  Try using your 'Edit' function!

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate."

  
  - Ron Hutchcraft Surviving the Storms of Stress
• 

  Will Power

  Sounds like voodoo to me.
• 

  Liberty

  Hi Simon,

  Great board, by the way! It is amazing how silly these biblical fairy stories are when read with the Watchtower blinders off. I remember years ago sitting in a Kingdom Hall having this nonsense rationalized. As I recall, the Society explained that the long hair was just a "symbol" of Samson's obedience to God and that when the Philistines cut it Jehovah's spirit left Samson along with his superhuman strength since Samson had sinned by getting himself into this situation. But you are exactly right in that if this was truely the case then why did his hair have to grow back in order for him to regain his strength if it was from God all along? He could have been bald and still had his strength return if that(God providing his strength) was really the point of the story. It's obvious that the original story tellers had no "symbolic" meaning in mind and that it was just an entertaining story.

  Modern religious fanatics are always embelishing Bible stories to help make them rational to folks who are now more sophesticated than ancient goat herders. Their explainations are always extra-biblical, overly complex, and just plain wishful thinking. Most of the Bible is myth and nonsense which makes for great movies but poor philosophy to base ones life upon. For a real laugh try reading the biblical creation account literally without all the modern explainations/rationalizations. It really is beyond silly.
• 

  RunningMan

  The Samson story is hilarious.

  For example, Delilah asks him for the secret to his strength, but he is suspicious, so he gives her a false answer (tying him with fresh bow strings). So, he boinks Delilah and falls asleep. He then wakes up (surprise, surprise) tied up with fresh bow strings.

  Well, shortly after, she asks him again, so being rightfully suspicious, he gives her another phony answer (new ropes). Again, upon awaking he is tied up with new ropes.

  For a third time, she asks him the secret, and not trusting her, he gives her a fake answer (braiding his hair). He again wakes up with his hair braided.

  So, finally she asks him again. Of course, by this time Samson for some reason trusts her and tells her the truth. What kind of an idiot is he? Every time he trusted her, she betrayed him. So, based on this experience, she must now be telling the truth - and this man was the judge of Israel for 20 years!

  But, my favorite Samson story is the story of the 300 foxes. He wants to burn the crops of the Philistines, so instead of just getting a torch and lighting them, he catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together in pairs with a torch between them, lights the torches, and releases them into the field.

  I did some calculations on that (I can post them if anyone is interested). To get 300 foxes he would need to depopulate an area of around 900 square miles.

  The man was a complete moron.
• 

  Satanus

  With a name like that, he was probably a viking. They are known to be tough bastards.

  SS
• 

  Simon

  doh, what an ignorant sod I am ... y'know I thought it looked wrong when I typed it . Thanks for pointing it out - I've corrected it (the edit still works for me as you can probably tell).

  I think I got it confused with the surname of someone in our hall ... that was with a P
• 

  RWC

  Let me respond to Samson:

  First he was a Nazirite from birth. That means through his parents they made a vow that he would never drink wine, never cut his hair, and never have contact with the dead. The fact that he attributed his strength to his hair was really attributing it to God through the vow that he had made.

  Second, the text makes it clear that the reason he finally gave in to Delilah was because she nagged him everyday about it until he was tired to death. Who hasn't done that in their lifetime.

  Third he lost his strength, not because of his hair, but because the Lord had left him for breaking his vow.

  The fact that the Philistines would allow his hair to grow back was because they didn't believe in God and because they had left him to rot in prison. Only when they thought that they were invincible did they call for him to come to the party where he killed them.

  As for the foxes, how did you figure out how many foxes lived in that are at that time when you did your calculations?
• 

  LDH

  Running Man,

  That is entirely why I deduced the theory: This story was made up as an "Aesop's Fable" to teach men how untrustworthy women are!

  Nice thread Simon.

  Lisa