37 – Samson & The Roaring Lion

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In this chapter, the life of Samson will continue in the messianic theme while simultaneously symbolizing the defiled state of Israel before YHVH.

Judges 14:8  After a while he returned to take her [the woman from Timnah, in the world]…

Samson went to visit his betrothed in Timnah to tell her family it was time for their marriage to commence.

…and he went over to see the carcass of the lion…

Apparently, he was by himself for this trip but, on his way back to Mahaneh Dan, he deliberately turned aside from the main highway to see the carcass of the lion.

…and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.

Judges 14:9  He took it [the honey] into his hands, and went on, eating as he went.

Samson has now touched a dead body which is regarded as him breaking his Nazirite vow. Let’s look again at the Nazirite vow and see if we can determine whether this is true. In order to find out, we will look at 2 other classes of people who are not permitted to touch dead bodies. These are the regular priests and the High Priest. The regular priests have the least restrictions, the Nazirite has the next level of restriction and the High Priest has the highest level of restriction.

Here are the stipulations for regular priests.

Leviticus 21:1  Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ‘A priest shall not defile himself for the dead among his people;
Leviticus 21:2  except for his relatives that are near to him: for his mother, for his father, for his son, for his daughter, for his brother,
Leviticus 21:3  and for his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. 

It is necessary to understand the phrase, “the dead among his people”. Who are his people? The tribes of Israel since it is all Israel the priests serve YHVH for. Only for his personal family may he attend a funeral. If a fellow priest dies, he cannot attend the funeral. If a friend dies, he cannot attend the funeral. This “dead among his people” applies also to the Nazirite and High Priest.

Here are the Nazirite restrictions for the dead.

Numbers 6:6  “‘All the days that he separates himself to Yahweh he shall not go near a dead body.
Numbers 6:7  He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his separation to God is on his head.
Numbers 6:8  All the days of his separation he is holy to Yahweh.
Numbers 6:9  “‘If any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles the head of his separation; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing. On the seventh day he shall shave it. 

Notice that verses 7 and 9 define what is said in verse 6 about the “dead body”. Verse 7 prohibits a Nazirite to be in the presence of the dead body of his father, mother, brother or sister. Unlike the regular priest who can be near their dead bodies, the Nazirite cannot. The Nazirite is not even allowed to be in the same tent or house where there is a dead person. The dead body is a human one, not an animal carcass.

YHVH makes provision for the sudden death of a person who is with the Nazirite. He or she will observe the 3^rd and 7^th day mikvahs and the head will be shaved again on the 7^th day. And then on the 8^th day he or she will bring the required sacrifices.

“The dead among his people” will pertain to Samson when he attacks the Philistines who are not his people and who YHVH’s Spirit comes upon Him to cause him to fight and kill. In war, one does become unclean but the Nazirite’s prohibited uncleanness is for that of his father, mother, brother or sister. It is not for ALL dead bodies. Nazirites are not forbidden to go to war. Here is what applies to warriors after the battle:

Numbers 31:19  “Encamp outside of the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives. 

It is not a sin to become unclean. It is a sin to remain unclean.

Here are the High Priest’s restrictions.

Lev 21:10  “‘He who is the high priest…
Lev 21:11  …must not go in to any dead body, or defile himself for his father, or for his mother. 

“To go in” to a dead body is refencing funerals. Priests, Nazirites and High Priests are not permitted to attend funerals. Usually, the body is held in the tent, house, funeral home or somewhere enclosed for the funeral rites and then they are taken to the grave. A priest, Nazirite or High Priest cannot attend any part of the funeral, even the graveside service. There is no animal for which humans do funerals, at least not in that time.

The High Priest’s restrictions are more stringent than for a Nazirite or regular priest. The regular priest can defile himself for the broader family. The Nazirite cannot defile him or herself even for his or her father, mother, brother or sister. The High Priest cannot defile himself for anyone, not even for his father or mother.

These restrictions are not about the dead bodies of animals. Such a restriction against touching a dead animal would mean priests, Nazirites and the High Priest would be forbidden from slaughtering an animal for food. If this were the case, the priest, Nazirite and High Priest would be mentioned in Deuteronomy 12 where the instructions for slaughtering were given. YHVH would needfully have had to make the 3 exceptions when He gave instructions on proper slaughtering for food, but He did not.  All Israelites become unclean until evening for touching a dead animal (Leviticus 11:8 and 24) including the priest, Nazirite and High Priest. YHVH did not intend the priests, Nazirites and High Priest to be vegetarians. And it is not a sin to be unclean. It is only a sin when we know we are unclean and refuse to mikvah.

Samson did not break his Nazirite vow when he killed the lion. Nor did he break his vow when he touched the lion. He became unclean. It is not a sin to become unclean. It is a sin to not mikvah afterward.

Let’s talk about honey that comes from animal carcasses. Did you know that there is a type of bee that only makes hives in animal carcasses? Neither did I. They are called vulture bees. They are stingless bees so if someone found honey in a carcass one would become unclean for a day just to get to it.

The honey from the carcass of the lion prophesies about the sweet victory Yeshua got over Satan and over death because life came and sweetness came out of the carcass. The bees prophesy further about the sweetness of the final war, Armageddon, when the vultures will eat the flesh of YHVH’s enemies.

Matthew 24:28 and Luke 17:37 tell us about them. “For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.”

Revelation 19:17  I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the sky, “Come! Be gathered together to the great supper of God,
Rev 19:18  that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, small and great.” 

Here is where we come to a problem.

Judges 14:9  …He came to his father and mother, and gave to them, and they ate, but he didn’t tell them that he had taken the honey out of the lion’s body. 

Remember it is not a sin to be unclean. Samson knew he was unclean and would no doubt mikvah, but what his parents?

Leviticus 5:17  “If anyone sins, and does any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done; though he didn’t know it, yet he is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.

Yet…

Leviticus 4:27  “‘If anyone of the common people sins unwittingly, in doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and is guilty;
Leviticus 4:28  if his sin, which he has sinned, is made known to him, then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without defect, for his sin which he has sinned. 

Samson’s parents were not aware of the sin that was on them the next day because they did not mikvah. Should Samson have told them where the honey came from? Did Samson sin in not telling them?

Leviticus 5:1  “‘If anyone sins, in that he hears the voice of adjuration, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he doesn’t report it, then he shall bear his iniquity.

This verse applies both to being called to be a witness or knowing something that you don’t report. Either way, Samson sinned in what he did to his parents. This is where the paradoxical life of Samson begins. While he has remained to true to the vow he was called to from before conception, he now begins to embody the deliberate sins of Israel all the while that his life parallels Israel’s Messiah who must come to restore them back to the original covenant at Mt. Sinai.

Judges 14:10  His father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men used to do so. 

Samson’s father went down to Timnah with Samson preparing to get the Philistine/worldly woman for his wife. Yeshua also went from His throne in Heaven to Mt. Sinai. His Father’s Spirit was with Him preparing to take Israel for His wife.

There was a feast made by Yeshua with His Father present at Mt. Sinai where the elders and Moses sat at YHVH’s table to eat and seal the marriage covenant with Him. Likewise, there was a feast made by Samson with his father present. It was the groom’s responsibility to make the feast, not the father of the groom which is one reason we know it was pre-incarnate Yeshua the men saw.

By the way, if everything had worked out correctly, the Philistine woman would be going with Samson to Samson’s father’s house just as Yeshua’s Bride will go to be in His Father’s house.

Judges 14:11  When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 

The Philistines brought the companions to guard Samson through intimidation. It seems they were against the marriage and did not trust the situation. They had not yet seen Samson in action. It was under this duress that Samson gave his riddle.

Who do the 30 Philistine companions symbolize? They are the world’s other gods. Yeshua was surrounded by doctrines of other gods. Some of the Jews worshiped Greek deities, some worshiped Roman deities. The Jews knew who Beelzebub was and it wasn’t just from their history books that they knew about him. The doctrines of other gods seep into religious doctrines like Judaism and Christianity.

Judges 14:12  Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle now.
Judges 14:13  but if you can’t tell me the answer, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” They said to him, “Tell us your riddle, that we may hear it.”
Judges 14:14  He said to them, “Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness.” They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle. 

Commentators accuse Samson of trying to deceive the Philistines with this riddle. They also say it indicates his arrogance. Answering riddles was a form of entertainment in those days. Was Samson’s riddle one that could not be answered? Not necessarily. Was he arrogant or trying to make friends of his companions? Was the riddle unknowable? Let’s answer the last question first.

Riddles were games. Friends and foes alike play games with each other. King Solomon and King Hiram are historically known to have played this riddle game sending riddles to each for many years. Let me jump to the conclusion. It turns out that Samson’s companions were actually the ones trying to deceive because they knew they could not afford 30 changes of clothing. Even before the riddle was spoken, if they were honest men, they would have said the price was too high. But they did not because it was they who were arrogant! They had to cheat to get the answer. Rather than just paying the price, they cheated. Samson did not cheat nor did he deceive.

There were lions in Israel in those days and lions were eaters of man. So, they needed to think about the strongest eater that stalked in their wilderness. Honey was a great prize when you found it and it is sweet. In fact, honey was sweeter than dates. The answer might not have made sense to them but a strong eater and something sweet were common things in Israel at that time. So it was not impossible for someone to put the two pieces together to come up with lion and honey. The problem was understanding what it meant.

The parallel to Yeshua is that he spoke in parables which are much like riddles. He spoke in parables to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy (which, by the way, Yeshua had given to Isaiah). Parables are really a spiritual riddle. Samson spoke in this riddle. Yeshua spoke in parables. Why did Yeshua speak in parables?

Matthew 13:10  The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Matthew 13:11  He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
Matthew 13:12  For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.
Matthew 13:13  Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.
Matthew 13:14  In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:
Matthew 13:15  for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’
Matthew 13:16  “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.
Matthew 13:17  For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them. 

The parables are designed to challenge the understanding. Did Yeshua deceive people? No! The people deceived themselves by refusing to look beyond their worldly and religious doctrines. Once we relinquish the world and religion to come to YHVH in His Kingdom, we then begin to understand Yeshua’s parables, don’t we?  

Yeshua also said the religious leaders could not understand him because their father was the devil, Samson’s lion.

John 8:42  Therefore Jesus said to them [the religious men], “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.
John 8:43  Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.
John 8:44  You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

Samson’s riddle paralleled Yeshua’s parables. Samson’s companions were enemies used by the Philistines to intimidate and guard him because they did not trust him. Had they become friends with Samson, which groomsmen are supposed to be (like Yeshua’s disciples), this would not have been used by them as a way to cheat Samson. Either get the answer or admit defeat. His companions were the ones who cheated, not Samson!

Furthermore, if the companions had understood the riddle, they would have known who Samson was – a man filled with YHVH’s Spirit. If the religious leaders had understood Yeshua’s parables, they would have known who Yeshua is – YHVH who gives His Spirit to all who believe in Him.

Let’s discuss the thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. 

The changes of clothing are not about the number 30. This is not a gematria challenge. Rather, the changes of clothing are about those who will either wash their garments in the blood of the lamb and enter the Kingdom or those who will get improper garments and will be cast out of the wedding feast.

With the garments, Samson offered the worldly Philistine companions the chance to know him and to get their new garments as a gift from him! The same goes for Yeshua who offers the world the chance to know Him and so He can give them new garments which they will wash in His blood.

Isaiah 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 

Revelation 7:14  I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.

But we first must seek, find and enter the Kingdom while we yet live in order to get our new garments.

Let’s talk about them not being able to answer the riddle by the 3^rd day. YHVH’s people were supposed to have understood things they could not because of their spiritual state. Samson and his riddle reflect this state.

The 3^rd day is the 3^rd millennium. Yeshua arrived at the beginning of the 4^th millennium because His people still did not understand the instructions, the “riddle of the Law”, which came to them through Moses at Mt. Sinai.

Let’s now see the arrogant companions’ plan. Rather than admit defeat, they will cheat!

Judges 14:15  On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you called us to impoverish us? Isn’t that so?” 

‘Haven’t you, oh worldly wife, called us to be gods alongside Samson/Yeshua in order to impoverish us?’ It’s always about the money, isn’t it?

What was the companions’ plan? Kill the worldly wife on the 7^th day, in the 7^th millennium! The companions know nothing of Samson or Yeshua and neither does the wife who is in the world! Yet it will be she who they will burn! We call this the Great Tribulation. It isn’t YHVH who brings this, it is the world who brings it. Yeshua will come to rescue His true bride who DOES know Him and understands His ways unlike the worldly wife who doesn’t, and to prevent all of His creation from total annihilation.

“On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife”, get the secret of this riddle for us so we won’t owe the purchase of garments for this bet! That’s what the world does. The world cheats its way into victory and they do it by enticing Samson’s and Yeshua’s wife to betray them.

Remembering that Samson’s life symbolized the poor state of Israel’s relationship with YHVH from the beginning, Samson’s wedding is significant for our understanding. It also prophesies about what will happen to YHVH’s people in the future. Yeshua used weddings as prophecy. Samson’s wedding was “wedding prophecy” in action. Yeshua had parables about weddings.

Here is one of Yeshua’s parables.

Matthew 25:1  “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Matthew 25:2  Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
Matthew 25:3  Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,
Matthew 25:4  but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Matthew 25:5  Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
Matthew 25:6  But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’
Matthew 25:7  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Matthew 25:8  The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
Matthew 25:9  But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
Matthew 25:10  While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
Matthew 25:11  Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’
Matthew 25:12  But he answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
Matthew 25:13  Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. 

Who are the wise virgins? Those people who know Yeshua YHVH and they “get Him”, they understand Him. Who are the foolish virgins? Those people who know ABOUT Yeshua but they don’t “get Him”, they don’t understand Him because they gambled with their oil and they played around with other companions, other gods. They did not prepare themselves for Him by getting to know Him just as Samson’s Philistine wife had not spent time trying to get to know him.

As Samson’s betrothed, she had the right to ask her father to contact Samson so they could get to know each other but she had not done that. Samson was always in pursuit of her but she never pursued him. Yeshua has always been in pursuit of a pure wife for Himself but His wife, historically in ancient Israel, never pursued Him!

In the world, the wedding is all about the bride and nothing about the groom. In the Kingdom, the wedding is all about the groom with the bride being the one who must learn to conform to Him BEFORE they are married! This takes Holy Spirit oil which is lacking in those believers who remain at arm’s length from Yeshua in the world, playing with companions/gods, just like Samson’s bride had done to Samson playing with his companions.

Because the men could not understand the riddle, they decided to steal it from Samson through his wife. This is like the thief who tried to enter YHVH’s Kingdom by climbing over the wall, sneaking through the back door or climbing through a window. Yeshua said:

John 10:1  “Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 

Judges 14:16  Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me, and don’t love me.

Sounds like the Israelites in the wilderness after they’d been brought out of Egypt. She sniveled and whined to get her way instead of standing with her man!

Exodus  16:3  and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Exodus  17:3  The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

Judges 14:16  “You’ve told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven’t told it to me.”

She wants Samson’s secret but not Samson himself.

Judges 14:16 He said to her, “Behold, I haven’t told my father or my mother, so why should I tell you?”
Judges 14:17  She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and on the seventh day, he told her, because she pressed him severely; and she told the riddle to the children of her people. 

He trusted his wife. She cheated him. Samson was cheated by the Philistines companions hired by the bride’s father and by the bride. We have read how the Israelites sniveled in the wilderness, acting like petulant children instead of mature adults with a relationship with YHVH. And then we see how they cheated on YHVH with the golden calf. The world seeks to get YHVH’s “secrets” while still staying in the world to be governed by Satan instead of YHVH. In fact, this really is Satan’s espionage attempt, isn’t it? Satan wants those secrets who he can use them against Yeshua! That is why YHVH does not reveal all the details of His plans!

Judges 14:18  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?” He said to them, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have found out my riddle.” 

To “plow with my heifer” is a reference to adultery. Samuel, the author of Judges, did not say Samson’s wife had been unfaithful to him in body but she certainly had been unfaithful in spirit. In other words, she had committed idolatry against Samson as Israel committed idolatry against Yeshua.

The 7^th day is a prophetic reference to the 7^th Millennium when, by the end and before the Millenium ends (the sun not down yet), the wicked religious ones who still refuse to enter into Yeshua’s Kingdom, will think they have figured it all out. They will think they now have all the answers, all the secrets.

The New World Order elites of today think they’ve figured out the riddle of creation, how to “hack” humans so they can steal YHVH’s creation to become gods themselves! There will be people like these that make it into the Millennial Kingdom among the nations over whom Yeshua rules and reigns. Thus, there will be one last war perpetrated by those who still don’t get it because they don’t want a relationship with Yeshua. They will have spent the Millennium without temptation from their father, Satan, because he will have been bound away from them in the pit. So they won’t be able to blame Satan for their wickedness. They will have to admit their wickedness comes from their flesh. But Satan will be released at the end of the Millennium and he will show them a plan to defeat Yeshua. You know, he will have 1 thousand years of uninterrupted time to think about this while his “woman”, who sits enjoying the fruits of Yeshua’s Kingdom, plots to destroy it! It won’t work. Here’s why.

Judges 14:19  YHVH’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them, and took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. 

We can speculate all day why Samson went to Ashkelon. YHVH alone knows why it was Ashkelon who bore the brunt of Samson’s anger because it was ONLY when YHVH’s Spirit came on him that he went there. Some speculate it was for anonymity. Timnah was far away from Ashkelon. Samson chose a different part of the Philistine world to attack. It was a place from where he took the plunder of dead men’s garments, the kind of garments people will get if they decide to not be part of Yeshua’s Kingdom.

Samson did not break his Nazirite vow here. The men he killed were not the “dead of his people”.

Judges 14:20  But Samson’s wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.

Who was the companion that had been Samson’s friend? We don’t know. Who was the companion that was Yeshua’s friend who also got His wife? Adam! All Mankind went the way of Adam. He represents the world as an antithesis to Yeshua. Yeshua lost His wife at the golden calf when she cheated on him and what a fall that was, too! One from which ancient Israel never recovered.  

We can see how the “Nazirite Samson” and the “man Samson” are paradoxes in 1 body. The Nazirite is the “messiah” part of Samson while the “man Samson” is the sinning part, the part that embodies Israel’s spiritual condition. Samson did not break his Nazirite vow by killing the lion nor eating honey from it. But he did sin against his parents. Israel sinned against their Father in Heaven and are still doing so to this day.