Samson, Oh Samson… What were you Thinkin”

Been reading the past couple of Days in the Book of Judges.  The Bible mind you, not a book of judges from a Courthouse.  I was reading about Samson.  His Name means in Hebrew the “SUN”.  Trying not to get too involved here .  GOD gave Samson great strength.  HE also set some conditions for him and his Mother as well.  His hair was never to be cut. He was not to eat unclean or forbidden foods, drink wine or touch anything that was dead.  In short he was  a special person, a Nazirite set aside by GOD to rescue the Israel from the Philistines.

But like many of us, Samson with all his talent had difficulty following the rules.  Right out of the gate he goes against his father will and marries out of his Tribe (a Philistine the very people God wanted him to conquer).  Next he eats honey made by Bees in a Lions carcass he killed a few days before. (Yuck) He even fed it to his parents. What was he thinkin!  His wife betrays him in a bet made with his new in-laws.  Which made him mad so he set all their crops on fire.  Which in turn caused the relatives to kill his wife and her Family.  What was he thinkin!  It gets worst.  Samson goes in hiding and when 3000 Philistines surround him he takes the Jaw Bone from the dead carcass of an ass (for those in Rio Linda, a donkey’s jaw bone) and kills 1000 of them.

Well that caused a stir.  A tentative peace ensued and Samson goes to some nearby town and eh, eh, you know visit one of those special women, you know a Prostitute. Just What was the guy thinkin.   Of course they (The Philistines) came after him again.  This time Samson rips the bloody Gate from the city wall and takes it up a Mountain leaving the city open to attack from their enemies.   This gate was not the small thing we normally think of, but one of several hundred pounds.  Samson thinking the he is unbeatable moves again into another Philistine town and falls in love with a dame called Delilah.  The rest as they say is History.  Remember the song “What ever Delilah wants Delilah gets.”  Had to put that in there.   Well long story short, Delilah after three tries get Samson to reveal the secret to his strength.  She cuts his hair and  turns him over to the Philistines.  Next thing he knows is they gouged his eyes out and turn him into a donkey turning a mill stone grinding wheat.  I wonder what he’s thinkin now.

Now the good part.  Samson’s hair grows back in and his strength returns.  The Philistines not knowing this put him on display at the annual Philistine Political convention.   Samson is chained to the two main pillars of the convention stadium.   Praying to GOD for strength Samson pulls the pillars down and kills more Philistines at one time than all the Philistines he killed in his lifetime.  I’m not sure what Samson was thinkin at that time, but I know what I’m thinkin. Samson had really no joy in his life.  He had the gifts and talent to do so much more only to end up killing himself along with the Philistines.

Do  you ever wonder when you find yourself in a particular pickle of your own making, if you had only done what you knew was your Life’s Purpose?  Just what were you thinkin!  We all have a calling and a Life’s Purpose.  Living it I know is not always easy.  But the end result is so much better.  Four Thousand years of recorded Human history has not change once the fact that we have the capability of doing great and wonderful things.  It also records the foolishness we often commit because of ego or whatever you want to call freewill.  I can only speak for myself when I commit my own folly with “What in Sam” hill was I thinkin”

I'm a 74 year old man who loves this new medium of Blogging. I am also an Senior Manager in Send Out Cards which gives me a superior method of relating to the world through Greeting Cards. I have met and enjoyed wonderful friends who support me and actually LIKE me which is very rewarding. My online presence is growing and if I can hang on to life I will reap the benefits of establishing a business that will comfort me when I get old. Mostly however I Blog about my life which for some strange reason is well received. Like most of us the future is scary and the remembrance of older days give a measure of comfort. So I continue to reveal the past with optimism that the future will some day be the comfort of somebody else.

Tags: Bible, Book of Judges, GOD, Philistine, Samson, What was he thinkin