Samson’s Riddle

As a child, and later as a Christian, I always enjoyed reading the story of Samson. It is exciting and dramatic.

But lo and behold! I read it now with opened eyes.

If it is true, it shows us that god is a vindictive, petulant ill-tempered murderer.

If it is false – it shows us that the Bible wasn’t written by god and Christians are wrong.

So, which is it to be?

It teaches us about the “Holy Spirit”. As a Christian, I would worship the Holy Spirit as part of the mysterious Trinity (not actually mentioned in the Bible) - obey it, speak reverently to it. The Holy Spirit is supposedly the giver of gifts, and the fruit of the spirit is supposedly joy, peace etc.

So here goes; let’s look at the tale of Samson’s Riddle:

Samson has seen a dead lion with a bees’ nest inside it. He decides to have some fun.
He suggests to his 30 pals that they solve a riddle he has made up for them. This is entirely his idea. To make the thing more interesting, he suggests a stake of 60 pieces of clothing.

Judges 14:11 - And when the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. And Samson said to them, "Let me now put a riddle to you; if you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments; but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments." And they said to him, "Put your riddle, that we may hear it." And he said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet."

It’s a tricky one – and his friends can’t solve the riddle. Good mates that they are, they decide to threaten his wife to see if they can extract the answer from her. She goes and begs Samson to tell her the answer. She carries on begging and crying until finally he gives in and tells her.
She immediately goes and tells his companions.

And they could not in three days tell what the riddle was. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?" And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, "You only hate me, you do not love me; you have put a riddle to my countrymen, and you have not told me what it is." And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?" She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted; and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her countrymen.

So his friends guess the riddle. Now, what happens next? The spirit of the Lord came upon him. That means that his actions are now guided by the Holy Spirit. He goes down to a nearby Philistine town – slaughters 30 men and steals their clothes. That’s 30 men who wouldn’t have died if Samson hadn’t been possessed by the “Holy” Spirit.  Murder and theft – just so Samson can teach his friends a lesson. As for Samson’s wife, she is given away like an old boot to one of Samson’s best friends. She apparently has no say in this, so the “Holy” Spirit has directly caused her to be raped.

And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ash'kelon and killed thirty men of the town, and took their spoil and gave the festal garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

Mass murder, theft, treating women as property – causing rape. That is what the “Holy” Spirit is guilty of in this particular tale. So much for peace, joy, patience etc. The fruit of the Spirit in this story is Samson's "hot anger".  Oh… how anti-human is this story! Where is the humour? It was only a riddle, for goodness’ sake! How sour-tempered, evil and ugly is the behaviour of this so-called “Holy” Spirit. In this story, what is the difference between “the Spirit of the Lord” and Samson’s own hot temper? No difference. The “spirit of the Lord” is just a metaphor here for Samson’s own emotions and will power. It always is. The Holy Spirit – god – is just a convenient Imagined Being to blame, or credit, with anything you choose to.

Post-script
The Hebrews didn’t like the Philistines, because the Philistines were dominating the land and were superior in nearly every respect. They were a skilled, scientific, artistic people with maritime expertise, fishing skills and military prowess. The Hebrews had none of these attributes; they didn’t study the stars, knew little of navigation, little of other languages, little of any science. Any artistic skill they had was forbidden to be expressed by their repressive god – although he did break his own law when it came to decorating his temple.  The life of an ancient Hebrew was filled by religious repression and theocratic dictatorship.
So the Hebrews were the backward people who became part of the Philistines’ empire-building. It is a similar story to that of the British Empire. The British thought they could “civilise” the backward world. The Philistines tried to civilise the backward Hebrew race.

Today we use the word “Philistine” in a derogatory fashion, but only because of the historical fact that much later in history the Christian religion came to dominate the western world, on a whim of the Emperor Constantine. If you see Philistines as uncultured and inartistic – you have only read the Hebrews’ side of the story.

Geoff Mather 2007

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