In this video we look at the literary parallel of Jesus and Samson in the annunciation in Matthew 1:18-25.
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| Transcription |
Welcome back to the Bible is Art where we explore the literary artistry of the Bible and this week we’re talking about the riddles of Jesus and Samson.
Let me read for you the annunciation scene from Matthew’s Gospel:
“Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, look, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife,
for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus”
There are many parallels in the OT to Jesus’ annunciation, where the angels come and announce that a woman will have a son. For instance, Sarah and Hannah both have angels visit them with this news. But the closest parallel is to Samson’s mother. So why make the strongest connection to Samson, what connection does Matthew want us to make between Samson and Jesus?
Samson is a strange judge and he’s different from the 11 other judges. His is the longest narrative and it is also the most puzzling.
Samson was a nazirite from birth. A nazirite was someone who specially devoted themselves to God for some period of time, in Samson’s case, his whole life. And there were some rules for being a nazirite, one of them being no touching dead animals and no eating or drinking anything from the vine. Another law that will be important for understanding Samson is that the Israelites were not to marry wives of some foreign places. And finally, we have to remember that the author of Hebrews places Samson in the hall of faith among the men and women of greatest faith.
With this as the background we can start puzzling over Samson. The first thing that Samson does in the story is demand a Philistine wife. His parents protest but Samson insists. Seems like not an ideal first action for the climactic judge.
Next, when he goes down to get his wife he stops in the vineyards of the city of Timnah. Strike two, why would he stop in a vineyard when he couldn’t partake of anything there?
While he’s there a lion attacks him and he kills it, presumably touching a dead animal, then later he will scoop out honey that is in that dead animal. Strike three.
Now if Samson is so great, as the author of Hebrews tells us, if he’s the climactic Judge, which he is, and if his birth is the closest parallel to Jesus, and it is, why all the disobedience? Why all the strangeness?
And we haven’t even talked about all the weird things. Not only does he kill a lion and eat honey out of it but he presents puzzles to his enemies, has strength in his hair, and ties foxes tails together, lighting them on fire to destroy crops, and, this might be the craziest thing, in the end commits suicide. I mean, what’s...
