34 – The Making Of Samson

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Wicked Israel was so wicked that her next Judge needed to be almost super human to save her but, even then, his ability to save her was limited. His ability was limited by YHVH Himself. Israel had gone too far and YHVH would no longer save Israel from her enemies. It was time for Israel to suffer and struggle for a while. Let’s call that a Tribulation period. This ancient Tribulation started with Philistine oppression and ended with the arrival of Babylon.

Israel was in a situation from which she could not extricate herself, nor was YHVH willing to simply rescue her again so that she could return to her wickedness. At this point with the life of Samson, YHVH would simultaneously begin to save Israel through a process – not wholesale deliverance –  and using the same process, would remove the tribe of Ephraim from power and move the Tabernacle by allowing Himself to become a prisoner of war, which when it happened, terrified the Israelites! Eventually, Israel would get a Messianic King – David. But first, the process had to begin so YHVH raised up Samson.

Let’s explore just what Israel was facing under their enemy, the Philistines. The same situation will apply to YHVH’s people in the end of days.

The Reason For The Philistine Oppression

Judges 13:1  The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight; and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 

This is the 7^th time YHVH has had to deal with Israel’s infidelity. There is a mathematical explanation to this which I will explain and which will give us insight into YHVH’s plans and timing, as well.

Since Samson will be called to single-handedly battle the Philistines, we should understand who these people were. The Israelites had encountered them before in Judges 10. Abraham had even encountered them in Canaan (Genesis 21:34).   

Judges 10:7  Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon.

The burning of YHVH’s anger was metaphorical then but will be literal in our day.

The Judge, Jephthah, only fought the Ammonites. He did not battle the Philistines, so they remained to continue escalating their oppression of Israel. When the Israelites cried out to YHVH about the Ammonites and Philistines, YHVH said He had already delivered them from the Philistines once before, remember?

Judges 10:11  Yahweh said to the children of Israel, “Didn’t I save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?

When had YHVH saved Israel from the Philistines before?

Judges 3:31  After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. He also saved Israel. 

This was about 300 years earlier in Israel’s Judges period. We can see that the Philistines have now become a “regular” enemy. But the Israelites did not remember or learn their history so they were doomed to repeat it. Biblically, every time we repeat a lesson, it is stronger and more difficult. I will show you this in mathematics in a little while.

The reason I am doing this study of ancient Israel’s history is because WE are Israel, and if we don’t learn these lessons, we also will be doomed to repeat the same history. In fact, that is what the coming Tribulation is all about. Israel has not learned her lesson!

Judges 13:1 tells us Israel once again has rebelled against YHVH with other gods, so YHVH will now use the Philistines to punish them again.

The final years of the Judges period will go on for 40 years, not only so Israel can feel the punishment longer and stronger, but also to facilitate the destruction of Shiloh. The removal of the Tabernacle will accomplish something else – the removal of Ephraim as the lead tribe of Israel. YHVH never does only one thing at a time. He always accomplishes many things simultaneously.

Who were the Philistines?

They were Egyptians. You may have heard they were from an unknown people and just appeared out of nowhere or that they were Greeks. Let’s see what the scriptures have to say about them.

Genesis 10:6  The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 

Ham is a primary enemy of Shem and his descendants of Israel to this day.

Genesis 10:13  Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
Genesis 10:14  Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from, [wrote Moses]), and Caphtorim. 

After telling us who Cush fathered in Genesis 10:6-12, Moses explains about Mizraim’s descendants. These would become Israel’s archenemy.

As a side note, Mizraim is Egypt. The name has been “Egypt” since 332 BC when Alexander the Great conquered that land. Even though Mizraim was conquered by the Romans in 30 BC, the name remained “Egypt” in Latin in the Roman empire and then later in English. The Hebrew Tanach always uses the name Mizraim, not Egypt.

One of Mizraim’s sons, who was a grandson of Ham, is Casloch. The ‘Casluhim’ is the descendants of Casloch. The family of Casloch, the Casluhim, moved to and settled in the eastern area of Libya (which is Put in Genesis 10:6, later called Libya). That is the border region between Egypt and Put. I will show you this on the map but first we must learn about Pathros.

Pathros of Genesis 10:14 was one of the brothers of Casloch. Here is the important part. The descendants of Pathros, the Pathrusim, settled near the Casluhim and intermarried with them.

Jasher 10:23 And the children of Pathros and Casloch [Casluhim] intermarried together, and from them went forth the Pelishtim [Philistines], the Azathim [an early name for Gaza], and the Gerarim, the Githim and the Ekronim, in all five families; these also built themselves cities, and they called their cities after the names of their fathers unto this day.

The Intermarriage of the Pathrusim and Casluhim families produced the Philistines.

Five of the sons from the intermarriage of the Pathrusim and Casluhim tribes brought forth Pilish [from whom came the Pilishtim/Philistines]. The other 4 sons from this intermarriage were Azath, Gerar, Githi and Ekron. These 5 migrated north to settle along the Mediterranean sea coast of Canaan to become collectively known as the Philistines. Their cities were Gaza, Ashkelon [Ascalon], Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron.

Why do some scholars say the Philistines descend from the Aegean island of Crete, anciently known as Caphtor? This could be for a couple of reasons. Caphtor of Genesis 10:14 was the youngest son of Mizraim and brother of Casluhim who fathered Pilish whose tribe became the Philistines. It may be that the Caphtorim migrated to Caphtor/Crete rather than settle in Mizraim/Egypt, and then later crossed the mediterranean to mingle with the Philistines or it could be that the Caphtorim migrated with the 5 sons from the intermarriage of Pathros and Casluhim and then moved further out into the Mediterranean to the island of Caphtor/Crete.

Philistines from Caphtor/Crete are mentioned in Jeremiah and Amos.

Jeremiah 47:4  because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for Yahweh will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.

Amos 9:7  Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says Yahweh. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 

By the time of the prophets, Caphtor/Crete was associated with the Philistines along the Mediterranean coast of Canaan. Either way, we know the Philistines were already in Canaan from before the time of Abraham (Genesis 21:32-34) because Abraham lived among them. That tells us their migration occurred quite early.

The Philistines and Anakim lived together. This is how we got Goliath, and it was that this advantage would be exploited by the Philistines against Israel as a weapon. This will be a pattern in the end of days, as well.

Joshua 11:22  There were none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, did some remain. 

The Israelites regarded the Philistines an uncircumcised people, ones they would rather not deal with. But there was a problem with not dealing with the Philistines. They made it impossible for Israel to something very important – have weapons of war.

Let me go down a rabbi trail here. The Jews make the distinction between themselves and everyone else by whether the man is kosherly circumcised or not, meaning according to rabbinic law. Back in the time of the Judges, circumcision was of the Israelites, not the Jews, and it was determined very simply – either you were or you were not. There was no rabbinic law in those days because there were no rabbis until about 200 BC. So circumcision is of Israel, not Judah, the southern House of Judah AKA the Jews. It is important we understand this for correct doctrine because the Jews regard all our men who believe in Yeshua as “uncircumcised” when most of them are not so. Circumcision is of the heart first, the flesh second. The Jews have no heart circumcision for Yeshua – yet.

The Philistines also were condemned as idol worshipers (1 Samuel 5:1–5) and soothsayers (Isaiah 2:6). This may seem strange that Israel would accuse the Philistines of doing what they, themselves, were doing, but that is the case.

According to scripture, the Philistines had advanced technology, iron swords, which they refused to allow Israel to have (1 Samuel 13:19-22). The first thing an oppressor wants to do is take away the weapons so the people cannot rise up. That’s OK. One day, YHVH will anoint King David and he will subdue the Philistines. However, even he won’t be able to destroy them or drive them out completely. It will take the Babylonians to do that in 604 BC.

So the 2 weapons of the Philistines against Israel which kept them in bondage in their own land was 1) no iron swords and 2) the giants of the Anakim. Just the sight of them scared Israel!

The Philistines had a formidable military because of their iron swords (Judges 14:3; 1 Samuel 13:19–20; Exodus 13:17). A bronze sword, which is what Israel had, against the iron swords of the Philistines was useless and kept Israel from rising up against them. And remember, YHVH said He will not deliver Israel, so they had no choice to serve the Philistines. The Philistines frequently encroached on Israelite territory, most likely to take more territory and to take crops away from Israel. This led to several battles including when David killed Goliath from Gath (1 Samuel 17).

Ham, his sons and grandsons had an agenda which to take Shem’s inheritance from YHVH from the beginning. They have this agenda to this day.

I suspect that Noah’s curse of Canaan caused him to take revenge on Shem by squatting on his inheritance. One of the famous descendants of Canaan is China. The Chinese are descendants of Canaan listed in Genesis 10:17 as the “Sinites”. Today, they sign their modern treaties as “Sino-Whoever” they’re signing with. “Sino” is Canaan’s son’s name. “Sinites” is the family of Sino. Israel is surrounded by Egyptians who hope to conquer the land of YHVH on behalf of Satan.

Just look how China is working so hard today to take back Israel. You won’t see this in the news. You must understand how China woos the current Israeli administration. China built and owns Haifa port. Israel’s imports from China rose over 20% in 2020 alone. The Chinese is pursuing political and diplomatic relations with Israel, too. Why do you think that is? China, the Canaanites, want Shem’s territory. This is one reason they have made military and economic treaties with Iran.

Iran wants Israel, too. But that’s an “Esau” matter. The Tribulation will be a convergence of several conflicts. It is not a matter of just 1 or 2 things YHVH will deal with. No, there will be several things He will deal with as He wraps up mankind’s treachery.

So Iran’s participation in the Tribulation will be an Edomite issue. The Chinese wanting Israel is a “Shem” issue. We know there will be a huge army that marches on Israel prophesied in Revelation 9:16. A large part, or maybe all, of it will be Chinese. The Edomites of Iran and the Canaanites of China are cooperating with each other right now to take back Israel for themselves! What will happen once they achieve their goal is anyone’s guess because both the Edomites and the Chinese are adamant that the tiny little parcel, Israel, will be theirs. We don’t have to worry about that, though, because Yeshua and His Heavenly host will handle that.

The Philistines no longer exist as a people. They were wiped out by the Babylonians in 604 BC. Very little DNA evidence has been recovered from archeological sites. This total destruction of them would be expected since the Philistines presented a real threat to Babylon’s hegemony in Israel. Usually, conquering armies took the nobility and aristocracy but left the poor and less skilled people behind. But in the case of the Philistines, this was not true. Babylon utterly destroyed them.

These reasons, unless YHVH intervened, Israel was helplessly under the oppressing hand of the Philistines with no way out. With all that in mind, the rebellion of the Israelites against the Philistines will begin with Samson but it would be a long and drawn out process.

Philistines As The End Times Enemy

Before I get off the subject of the Philistines, let me explain that they were the worst enemy Israel ever experienced in the land. This relates to the end of days. Let me show you how.

Do you remember I told you earlier that YHVH’s punishment of Israel for disobedience has a mathematical element to it? What do I mean? I am talking about spirals.

YHVH brought a spiral to my mind because I was meditating on Leviticus 26:14-39 in regard to Israel’s sins and their enemy, the Philistines, and trying to figure out how to express the magnitude of difficulty the Philistines were for Israel then and how greatly compounded the Philistines will be for our day. There are no Philistines left for us to encounter today but the spirit of them continues in every empire by every other name all the way to our time. But I couldn’t express when I was feeling until YHVH put a spiral in my mind. I am excited to share what He showed me and I hope you will get the point, too.

In mathematics, a linear spiral sequence is one in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. You will see this plainly in a minute. In other words, it is a compounding. In the case of the Israelites, it is the compounding of sins which then require greater, or compounded, punishment. Spirals show us this from YHVH’s creation. He has encoded His plans for the earth within spirals. I will show you this but first let me read from Leviticus 26 because this is where we first encounter YHVH compounding our punishment for our sins.

Leviticus 26:14  “‘But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments;
Leviticus 26:15  and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant;
Leviticus 26:16  I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
Leviticus 26:17  I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when no one pursues you.
Leviticus 26:18  “‘If you in spite of these things will not listen to me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins.

Leviticus 26:21  “‘If you walk contrary to me, and won’t listen to me, then I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins.

Leviticus 26:24  then I will also walk contrary to you; and I will strike you, even I, seven times for your sins.

Leviticus 26:28  then I will walk contrary to you in wrath. I will also chastise you seven times for your sins.

Finally:

Leviticus 26:38  You will perish among the nations. The land of your enemies will eat you up.
Leviticus 26:39  Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away with them. 

Exile. Perishing among the nations. If Yeshua does not return, all flesh will perish. That is the ultimate compounding situation.

YHVH said – 4 times – He will punish His people 7 times for each of their disobediences. Samson’s generation was facing the worst situation Israel had ever been in spiritually. Remember, I said before that the Israelites were now in their 7^th sin cycle. This is 3 cycles beyond Leviticus’s 4 times that Israel would be punished 7 times more. This is important because 7 is the number of perfection in scripture. The Israelites had reached a perfection of wickedness. Not perfection righteousness, but perfection in wickedness which set in motion a cyclical destruction that reaches to our day.

Leviticus 26:21 uses the word “more”, meaning in addition to the previous punishment. The Leviticus 26:14-39 sin and punishment pattern ends in Leviticus after only 4 rounds of punishment. However, these 4 times 7 times more punishments creates a pattern that is evident in a spiral.

A spiral shows us how much bigger the outside of it is compared to the starting point inside. This spiral begins to tell us about Israel’s past and future but not quite enough because it is 2 dimensional. I needed a 3 dimensional spiral to show the element of time. Time is pivotal to YHVH’s plans for the earth and His Kingdom. Here is another spiral.

Spirals show us cyclical patterns like the patterns of the seasons, history and prophecy, the annual Feasts of YHVH and sin and punishment which consistently return. The spiral of sin and punishment starts as a pinpoint in time. To us at this time in Earth’s history, that pinpoint begins in the distant past as shown in the above stylized spiral which is drawn pushed forward to show the flow of time stretching forth.

From the start at the pinpoint, each circle, each repeating pattern, returns to its original position but strengthened and increased and having moved forward in time until it is so big it almost cannot be seen anymore. We can still see the pinpoint but the magnitude of the spiral now is so great that it can no longer be viewed in its entirety.

This means, in reference to sin and punishment, humans can no longer fully grasp the magnitude of the punishment to come for their sins. Do you see that? Do you see how big the strength has become as the cycles, the repeating patterns, spiral toward us? This spiral no longer fits on the page because it is so big.

This relates to the Philistines of ancient Israel’s day and also to our own day. Here is what a spiral looks like in a triangular shape the way Blaise Pascal laid it out in the 1600s. Laying out a spiral in triangular shape literally show us YHVH’s plans. Some of you may already know this but I did not and it is incredible because it shows us how YHVH with sin and punishment.

This is called Pascal’s triangle.

Pascal’s triangle is the numeric expression of a 3 dimensional sphere which also expresses a spiral.

The spiral around the sphere reaches its broadest point and then retracts back to a singular point.

Now, back to the triangle.

See the sums of the 2 numbers below each line? See the 28 which is Leviticus 26’s 4 times 7? See the 70? Seventy is an important number in scripture and in this triangle it is outside the red diagonal line of time leading to 144. Seventy reveals the perfection and completeness of YHVH’s Kingdom yet to come.

And then, look at that! 144. Who could that be? The 144,000. The 144,000 show up in YHVH’s spiral! After 11 spirals of sin and punishment comes the 12^th! Twelve. That’s an interesting number, eh? Yes, as it relates to Israel! When the 12^th circle/repeating pattern arrives, so does the 144,000!

The sphere I showed you before is what the Pascal’s triangle looks like 3 dimensionally. But the triangle shows us that YHVH intends to stop prophecy and the sin and punishment cycle once the numbers reach to the largest circumference of the sphere. Yes, the cycles could continue indefinitely but YHVH had put His numbers within the cyclical spiral. This is the mathematical expression of YHVH telling His people in Leviticus 26 what they will suffer for their disobedience. The punishments get stronger and longer over time until we reach the time of the 144,000. This is why the last cycle of punishment has lasted for 2,000 years. Israel’s punishments were, at most, 40 years. Then the punishments became around 500 years (to the time of the Babylonian captivity) and then around 1000 years under Rome. It has been 2000 years since Yeshua went to the cross and about 1600 years since the fall of the Roman empire. All this long while, Israel has been oppressed by various empires but they all have the same spirit of Egypt.

What does this spiral lesson have to do with the Philistines? The Egyptian Philistines’ spirit lives on today. The account of Samson is prophetic in ways I have already expressed with things very significant for our time. The “Philistines” of our day are very much stronger than they were in Samson’s day as the history of the earth nears the biggest bulge of the spiral. Not only that, the spiritual Philistines are now global, not contained in one small area of the land of Israel. See how they have compounded over the Millennia? Unless there is intervention by YHVH, all flesh will die.

The difference between the Philistine’s destruction then and now is that it won’t be Babylon who destroys them. Today’s spiritual Philistines have joined with Babylon and both will be destroyed when YHVH finally does a complete and full deliverance of His people just as He had been doing before He called Samson to battle the Philistines. The 144,000 are YHVH’s strong man like Samson only they won’t die this time.

From the time of Samson to now, there has never been a complete deliverance from Israel’s enemies, not even under the Messianic figure, King David. Isn’t that incredible. Right here, in the story of Samson, YHVH stopped delivering Israel. He has let us struggle with our enemies ever since.

The Philistines of Samson’s day was not just another oppressor. They controlled Israel in every way possible – economically, militarily, spiritually. This is the same oppression we have had for a long time already but which is getting stronger under Donald Trump’s policies. He is the biggest Philistines of all with a Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar similarity. His policies could put the final nails in the prison the New World Order is building for all of us with the final agenda being to take Jerusalem. The Philistines symbolize a spirit of hatred toward YHVH and His people that is incomprehensible in magnitude which is why I could not express it without pictures of spirals and triangles.

The account of Samson is an indepth look at Israel’s then, now and in between.