July 7

Samson and the Lion

            Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.  Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.  After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.  He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

                His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do. When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.  Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me 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 explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.” So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.” He said to them,

“Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.”

But for three days they could not explain the riddle.

            Judges 14:5-14

             

            I find Samson’s story intriguing.  I say “Intriguing,” because we so desperately want his life to be simple and easily explained, but it is not.  The easy story would be that there was a man who was muscle-bound and super strong, but not very bright, who fought the oppressors of the Israelites but was ultimately defeated because he was not smart enough to see what Delilah and the Philistines were doing to him.  All brawn and no brains makes sense to us and is easier to reconcile with how we want the world to work.

            But then you read the actual account, and the story gets more complicated.  The first tale of Samson that we come across was his wedding.  He found a foreign girl that he fancied and had a wedding arranged.  On the way to the wedding, he found the remains of a lion that he had killed with his bare hands.  He scraped out some honey from a hive that had formed.  At his wedding he decides to start some mischief and creates a riddle to stump his bride’s wedding party.  They cannot solve it and then threaten Samson’s bride and her family.  This reveals a few things.

·         Samson is clever.  He has an active mind and enjoys word play.  He is not just a big pile of muscles with nothing going on between his ears.

·         The people are not intimidated by Samson.  I do not think that he has an overly developed physique.  The men are not afraid of getting on his bad side so my guess is that Samson looked like an average man and when the Spirit of God came on him, his strength exploded.

·         The Philistines were corrupt and evil.  They were the people who were oppressing Israel and the reason that God sent a judge for deliverance.  The men did not want to lose a bet and so they threatened to kill Samson’s wife and her whole family unless she told them the solution to the riddle.

This story also sets the stage for events later in Samson’s life as his wife begs and cries for days on end for him to reveal his secret.  He finally does and the consequences are dire.

            Our world wants stories that are simple and characters that meet expectations.  Our kids fly in the face of those stories.  Working at the IDD center, I engaged with several individuals with disabilities and delays whose stories did not match my assumptions.  There were some who had been married and divorced.  There were some who had children that they were trying to visit or support.  There were some who were caring for their parents who had more severe conditions.  There were some who were not allowed to be by themselves but had drivers licenses and access to cars.  There were some who were genius level intellects in some fields, but were limited to elementary verbal skills.  And consistently, the only jobs that we were able to find for them…no matter their skills or life needs, were janitorial.

            Life is complicated.  People are complex and not easily defined.  Every person has hopes and dreams and plans and fears.  Every person is immersed in the chaotic story of their own life and is more than we initially see as an outside observer.  That includes your child.  As parents, we have a narrative in our heads about who our kids are and how they got to this place.  That is probably not the same story that they are living with.

Consider trying to get to know your child better by learning how they see their story.

A moment to reflect:

Ask your child to tell their story and see what you find.