Samson Part III: The Wielder of the Jawbone

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people. 00:00:02 Speaker 2: Your son shall be a mighty warrior. 00:00:06 Speaker 3: He shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. 00:00:11 Speaker 4: Sampson, have you no sense of your purpose? You are set apart by God for something greater? What purpose? My hair grows long, my lips are dry of wine. Yet I see no wealth, no land, no calling. Until the Lord speaks to me as he once spoke to you, a mother, I will do as I see fit. Now get me that woman. 00:00:35 Speaker 1: A low growl broke the silence, and a lion burst from the underbrush. The beast was lean and golden, its muscles rippling beneath its fur as it leaped upon him. 00:00:47 Speaker 4: Ah, come, beast, Let's see who is stronger. Let me how's a riddle to you? 00:00:57 Speaker 1: He stood his arms wide, commanding the room like an actor on a stage. 00:01:03 Speaker 4: If you tell me the answer within seven days of the feast, I will give you all thirty garments and thirty changes of clothes. 00:01:13 Speaker 2: Let me answer the two questions. 00:01:16 Speaker 4: What is sweeter than play when. 00:01:18 Speaker 2: It is stronger than alone? 00:01:20 Speaker 1: The hall erupted with laughter, but Samson's smile faded. His gaze turned to Lapida. 00:01:28 Speaker 2: Who avoided his eyes. 00:01:30 Speaker 1: Rage burned in his chest, but he masked it with a chilling calm. Taking the torch, Samson set the dry brush at the city's edge of flame. The fire spread quickly, climbing the walls and licking at the fields beyond. He walked away as the city burned behind him, his path lit by the inferno, his shadow cast long against the smoke darkened sky. Samson's path was not one of heroism, but of destruction, a road paved with his unchecked passions and untempered bride. Yet even in his ignorance and folly, the hand of God moved through him. He was not a savior, not a man of noble character or steadfast courage, but a tool sharp and bootle, used to tear down the oppressors of Israel. 00:02:37 Speaker 5: When anger becomes our master, even strength becomes a curse. Shello, my friends, from here in the holy Land of Israel, i'm l Extein with international fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen People. The kingless Kingdom spirals in this land. Vengeance reigns, and justice bleeds into personal grudges. Our people have drifted so far from their calling that even those chosen to protect Israel are driven back by unchecked desire and fury. And here we meet a man with strength beyond measure, But he wields it like a sword in a whirlwind, slashing and cutting without aim, without mercy. Judges fifteen is the story of a man meant to judge, yet consumed by his own wrath. He burns fields, unleashes fire, and turns his vengeance into chaos. But beneath it all, one question hangs, when does justice become nothing more than revenge? 00:03:44 Speaker 1: The sun hung low and heavy in the sky, casting long shadows across the arid path to Timna. Heat rippled in waves over the dry earth. Samson walked with frustrated intention. Rope in his hand was taut, pulling against an obstinate goat at its other end. 00:04:07 Speaker 4: Move you, stubborn beast. 00:04:10 Speaker 1: He growled, giving the rope a sharp tug. The animal balked, digging its hooves into the dust. Samson's patience was already warm thin. He'd had a week to stew in his anger. The debarcle in Ashcalon had left blood on his hands, and his name whispered in fearful tones across the philistine territories. But it was his wife's betrayal, or abandonment, as he saw it, that gnawed at his pride like a dog worrying a bone. She had fled with her father, leaving Samson alone with his fury. He cared little for her beyond her body, but now that she was gone, desire stoked the embers of his indignation. His reputation preceded him as he entered the gates of Timna. Mothers called their children indoors at the sight of his hulking frame, and men watched him with narrowed eyes and white knuckled grips on their spears. The beast of Israel, they called him now, and their fear was tangible. Samson relished it. He reached the familiar door of his father in law's house and pounded on it with a meaty fist. No answer. His jaw clenched. 00:05:28 Speaker 4: I know you're in there. 00:05:29 Speaker 6: Come out, or I'll break this door. 00:05:31 Speaker 1: At two, the door creeped open, revealing his father in law's pale, trembling face. The man looked like he'd seen death itself. 00:05:42 Speaker 7: Samson, Why why. 00:05:45 Speaker 3: Are you here? 00:05:46 Speaker 4: I've come from my wife. Open the door. I will have her, and I will bet her in the chamber before the night is done. 00:05:55 Speaker 8: Samson, you must understand I I thought that you hated her. 00:06:01 Speaker 6: You said you never wanted to see her again. 00:06:04 Speaker 9: It doesn't matter what I said, since my wife. 00:06:08 Speaker 4: I'm right now. Step aside before I lose my patience. 00:06:12 Speaker 6: Please, sam said, it was a misunderstanding. 00:06:14 Speaker 4: I thought the marriage was over. 00:06:20 Speaker 7: He gave her. 00:06:21 Speaker 4: I gave her to another. 00:06:23 Speaker 9: Two another, Yes, the man who solved your middle at the feast. 00:06:31 Speaker 4: I have given her to him. Samson. Please, I swear, I swear if I knew you were. 00:06:37 Speaker 8: Coming back, I wouldn't have. 00:06:38 Speaker 4: I thought you thought froll. 00:06:45 Speaker 6: Dick my youngest daughter. 00:06:46 Speaker 8: Instead, she's more beautiful than her sister, more obedient to I'll return the bride price. 00:06:56 Speaker 1: Samson had stopped listening, his case drifted, asked the trembling man passed the house to the city beyond. His lips curled into a grim smile. 00:07:09 Speaker 2: You philistines. 00:07:12 Speaker 4: Last time I killed some of you, my blood men, it was unbanger. 00:07:18 Speaker 1: By this time, Samson turned back to the man. The smile now a cruel and hollow thing. 00:07:28 Speaker 9: This time, the carnage I bring shall be deserved. 00:07:40 Speaker 1: Days turned into nights as Samson hunted through the wilds, his traps filling with snarling, flashing foxes. One by one, he caught them carrying by their tails to a pen he'd made in the forest. Samson was a man driven by vengeance. By the time the moon hung high in the night sky, Samson had gathered three hundred foxes in the hills. Their eyes glinted in the darkness and their growls echoed against the stone walls, who worked methodically tying their tails in pears and affixing torches soaked in oil between them. The first torch fled to life, and Samson released the creatures into the Philistine fields. The dry grain caught like tim duck, and the fire spread hungrily, leaping from stalk to stalk. The night was alive with chaos, flames devouring crops, foxes yelping as they ran blindly, their tails ablaze. The blaze consumed everything grain orchards, vineyards. By dawn, the fields of Timner were reduced to smoldering ruin. From his perch on the mountain, Samson watched the Philistines pour from their homes. 00:08:57 Speaker 4: Who did this? Who is dunst it was Samson. 00:09:02 Speaker 6: His wife is given to another. 00:09:05 Speaker 1: This revengeance, the crowd turned in fury toward the house of Samson's father in law. They dragged him into the field and brought his daughter with him, with Samson's eyes widened as he watched. He watched helplessly as they tied his wife and her father to a charred tree and set them ablaze. By the time Samson reached them, the flames had already done their work. His wife's charred body lay beside her father's. There remained smoldering in the ash of the fields. The entire crowd gasped and recoiled when they saw him. Samson fell to his knees, grief and rage at tempest inside him. When he raised his head, his face was a mask of wrath. 00:09:55 Speaker 9: So this is your answer, cowards. Instead of hunting meal like men, you punish my wife like dogs. 00:10:09 Speaker 1: The Philistines scattered as Samson rose, but there was no escape. He was a lion among lambs, terrior from the most savage, unlaning fury. 00:10:20 Speaker 2: His hands became instruments of rough won by a world destroyed. 00:10:25 Speaker 1: Every Philistine within reach. By the time he stood alone in the bloodstained field, none remained alive. Samson turned his back on Timna and fled to the caves of Ittah, his heart as blackened as the fields he had burned. Night fell upon the Israelite city of Lehigh. All was still and quiet until the Philistines came. Dark riders swarmed the village, bearing fire and steel, descended on the Israeli like towns with the fury of a store. They were after Sampson. Men spilled into the streets and armed with what little they had. But the Philistines remove the spot, d around and dark influenced through the streets. 00:11:15 Speaker 2: That he had an in blue of the ash that fell like a black stone when you were dragged. 00:11:21 Speaker 1: From nouns and children hiding the four books, clinging to each other as the chaos raged above, and then of Judea full valantine. But they were fathers and seckers of water was all those who survived watched. 00:11:35 Speaker 10: Locklessly because the labor of rays their city, each cracking in flame and dagger to their hearts. The Philistine come on the road through the chaos. Astridu massed black horse. 00:11:48 Speaker 2: His arm a clearing in the firelight. His face was hard a pull color from a stone and shadow. 00:11:57 Speaker 6: I sirch every house, every on every shadow, he must be here. 00:12:04 Speaker 1: His soldiers obeyed with a bootle efficiency, battering down doors and dragging frightened families into the streets. 00:12:13 Speaker 2: You do come against us with such cruelty. 00:12:17 Speaker 3: What have we done to the mornstous? 00:12:20 Speaker 2: Why? 00:12:21 Speaker 6: Because your beast has done the same to us, samst burden means sam Send destroyed our orchards. Samson slaughtered our people you like cattle. 00:12:33 Speaker 2: He was yours leader, like l But he's no more than a rabbit. 00:12:40 Speaker 3: Door. 00:12:45 Speaker 6: Surrender him to us. 00:12:47 Speaker 2: You'll be the n to the suffer for his sins. 00:12:51 Speaker 1: The commander straightened and raised his voice to the gathered survivors. 00:12:57 Speaker 11: There may you, wretched swile, this is but the beginning to night. It is Lehi that growns tomorrow another town. We will not stop until we have served every house, until every corner of your precious Silda is laid bare to us. 00:13:16 Speaker 6: Bring us, Samson, of what your entire nation reduced to ash? 00:13:23 Speaker 1: Is that the Philistines rode out, leaving behind nothing but proofs and despair. The people of Lehigh gathered what they could from the smoldering wreckage, tending to the wounded and weeping over the dead, the elders of the town sent word to the elders of Judah. The message was simple, but heavy as a tombstone. Samson's vengeance had drawn the wrath of the Philistines upon them, and if he was not handed over, all of Judah would pay the price. Samson stirred as sunlight it crept into the cave, soft and golden, painting the rough stone walls with its warmth. The chirping of unseen birds echoed faintly from the trees, and for a fleeting moment, the wilderness seemed almost serene. He rose slowly, stretching until his joints cracked. The morning air was cool against his bare skin. He stepped outside the cave's mouth, yawning behind him as he descended toward the stream. Samson knelt by the bank, placing his hands into the cold, clear current. He splashed water over his face, letting it run down his neck and chest. He breathed deeply, savoring the peace that seemed so rare these days. But peace is a fragile thing. The sound of boots on gravel, marching rhythmic and relentless. Cut through the quiet, Samson stilled, his body, taught, his breath held. He crouched low and scaled the backside of the cave. From his vantage point, he looked down onto the trail below an army. Samson's brow furrowed as he counted one hundred, five hundred, a thousand more. The host stretched along the winding path like a serpent, their banners snapping in the wind. These were not Philistines, These were his own people. The men of Judah, armed and armored. The army rounded the bend, and Samson dropped from the rocks, landing before them with a thunderous impact. Dust rose around him, and the front ranks stumbled to alt. Thousands of eyes fell on him. The wilderness had shaped him into something otherworldly. His towering frame, his wild hair, his sun darkened skinned. He looked more like a beast than. 00:15:59 Speaker 4: A lad Roberts, Why have you come here? 00:16:04 Speaker 3: Do you not know what you've done? Samson? 00:16:07 Speaker 1: Have you no sense? 00:16:09 Speaker 4: Enlighten me? 00:16:11 Speaker 3: The Philistines have held their boots to our necks for years, and you've provoked them, burned their fields, you slaughtered their men. Now they took their vengeance sevenfold on us. 00:16:26 Speaker 4: I gave them what they deserve, I and claypher and I. 00:16:32 Speaker 3: You took their eyes, Sampson, But they've taken our limbs, ladies and ashes, women, taking children, saying, and now you stand here as those you've done nothing wrong. 00:16:46 Speaker 4: Ah, So that's why you're here. You've come to hand me over. 00:16:52 Speaker 3: If we do not, they will destroy us all. They will not stop, Samson, not until every village and Judah burns. 00:17:02 Speaker 1: Samson took a step forward, and the entire line flinched. He laughed a deep and unsettling sound. 00:17:14 Speaker 4: Bind me them, only swear to me, and you will not harm me yourselves, we swam. 00:17:24 Speaker 3: We will only deliver you to the Philistines. Your blood will not be on our hands. 00:17:31 Speaker 4: You couldn't kill me if you drive very well. Bind me in your finest robes. 00:17:38 Speaker 1: They approached him, cautiously, weaving thick cords around his arms and chest, and they trembled the whole time. Samson watched them, amused. They didn't know that the Lord had plans for the Philistines, nor did they understand the weapon they were about to unleash onto them. By the time they reached the Philistine army. 00:18:04 Speaker 2: Dark clothes gathered her head. 00:18:06 Speaker 1: Thunder rumble in the distance, and a cool wind stirred the air. The ropes chafed against Samson's skin, but he walked silently, unperturbed. The Philistine commander waited at the head of his army, seated on a towering black horse. He leaned forward in his saddle as Samson approached, his contempt palpable. 00:18:30 Speaker 8: This is the one who burned our fields. I expected more taller than a fiercer. Instead, I see israelized dum. 00:18:47 Speaker 1: He dismounted and strode confidently towards Samson. The man's gloating laughter echoed across the hillside. 00:18:56 Speaker 7: So strong, so my see, yet abandoned by our own people said if it? 00:19:08 Speaker 1: Samson said nothing. 00:19:10 Speaker 2: His head bowed. 00:19:13 Speaker 4: Does the dog have no bark left in him? 00:19:19 Speaker 11: My brothers, today we've ceased on ventures. 00:19:23 Speaker 7: Each of you will have your turn to humiliate this. 00:19:28 Speaker 2: With animal. 00:19:30 Speaker 1: The men of Judah began to withdraw. Their task was complete, and they each had a sinking feeling that something awful was about to take place. Samson glanced at them as they disappeared into the distance. Good, we'll be safe, Samson looked to the heavens. The clouds above churned, dark and restless. Rain began to fall, soft at first, then harder, drenching the earth. Samson closed his eyes and felt it, the spirit of the Lord rushing upon him like a storm. His heart thumbled in his chest, his veins alive with divine power. The rose snapped as though made of thread, and the chains melted away from his wrists. Samson roared in a sound. 00:20:22 Speaker 2: That they knewed like the warmth of God. 00:20:24 Speaker 1: In Turndon with the thunder, he seized the Philistine commander by the throat, lifting him like a dog, and with one motion snapped his neck, and the man's body fell into the ground. Lifeless eyes staring skyward, the Philistines froze, stunned into silence. Samson turned to them, his gaze alight with fury, and they did. The first wave of Philistine surged forward, and Samson and retreated up a narrow path. He spotted a donkey carcass on the path, and with a mighty match, he tore its jawbone folly, and the weapon was crimmed. But in his hand he began an instrument of destruction. The narrow pass forced the philistines to funnel toward him, and Samson met them with yolenting fury. He swung the jaw boning wide arcs and shattering bones, and spoon brooding time before him a groups that barricade, that unenslayed their appears. 00:21:34 Speaker 2: The wave of the way lame. 00:21:36 Speaker 1: But the spirit of the door did not blade. 00:21:39 Speaker 2: Each swing of the jewel bone. 00:21:41 Speaker 1: Was a judgment which fallen soldier attestament took God's light. 00:21:47 Speaker 2: By the end of the ground was littered with. 00:21:49 Speaker 1: A thousand corpses. Samson stood among them, drenched in blood, and the jawbone still clutched in his hand. He raised it high in his voice, booming across the battlefield. 00:22:03 Speaker 4: Worth a job of a donkey hi. 00:22:11 Speaker 11: Hard. 00:22:16 Speaker 1: The rain fell harder or she worked out from his skin, and the terror from the hearts of those who watched. 00:22:23 Speaker 2: From a fire, Samson would. 00:22:25 Speaker 1: Say to the mountain, a lone figure against the storm. He was no hero, he was a reckoning. And for twenty years Samson judged Israel not as a leader or a savior, but as a mirror of their chaos and sin. Yet in the midst of it all, the Lord would have his way with Samson. 00:22:54 Speaker 5: What a fierce, brutal story. We've seen Samson's strength before, but this time we see it as something darker. Anger consumes him, a rage that twists his power into violence, turning his role as a judge into something wild and uncontrolled. His wife is taken, his pride wounded, and his fury he lashes out, foxes fields fire. It's raw and dangerous, a blaze that consumes everything in sight. But what does it really accomplish? In the Hebrew Bible, the role of a judge isn't just about enforcing laws. Rather, it's about restoring balance and guiding our people back to the ways of God. Justice and Jewish tradition is deeply tied to mercy. It's the balance of both, a reflection of God's own heart. But here we see a man entrusted with that role who instead lets his anger take control. His wife is given to another man, his pride is struck, his heart wounded, and what does he do. He sets fire to the philistines fields. He unleashes chaos, and he seeks not justice but retribution. Anger is like a fire within the soul. It's a power, but one that can consume us if we let it burn without restraint. In Samson, we see what happens when that fire is fed. His strength, his calling, his purpose, all of these become weapons of wrath. But what kind of leader can he be when his strength is bent by vengeance? The prophet Mika says it, Well, he has shown you, oh mortal, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. This story teaches us something else, too, teaches us how hard it is to define success. This chapter ends by telling us that Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines. Now this is different than how the Bible might usually explain a judge's term, right, why does the Scripture say in the Days of the Philistines. Well, the Jewish ages explained that Samson was only partially successful in his victory over the Philistines. You see, at that time, the Chosen People did not merit full salvation, which would have meant total victory over the Philistines. Instead, Samson only weakened them significantly. And yet Samson, despite all of his faults, is considered a hero and the Bible still calls him a judge of Israel. Sometimes we can only expect partial salvation. Not every leader is a Moses or a Joshua, but God still speaks to them and acts through them, and they do bring relief to the chosen people. I think this concept very much still applies to us today, especially here in the Holy Land. With God's help, we are victorious in our wars, which means we're still here today. We haven't been destroyed or defeated. But we all know that Israel's enemies are very much still alive. They have not been totally defeated. Israel still face threats for our survival. Israel still faces wars that threaten our survival, and so our enemies haven't been defeated. And yet we thank God for even the partial salvation that he has brought to us. Samson's story shows us something uncomfortable, the dark side of human anger, how quickly it can turn strength into violence and leadership into tyranny. And here's the tragedy. Though Samson is called by God to be Israel's judge, he's not serving God. Rather, he's serving his own wounded pride and his fleet passions. And here lies the warning for us all. When we act out of anger. We may think that we're bringing justice, but often we're only feeding our own egos and satisfying our own need for control. You see in a kingdom without a king, we see very clearly the cost of this kind of leadership. A man chosen by God who has let his grudges become his God, and it only leads to destruction. Samson's Life is a cautionary tale about the seductive power of anger, how it can twist even the best intentions and the strongest gifts. The truth is anger is a force. It can be righteous, yes, but without restraint it becomes the opposite. This story asks us to look at ourselves and to ask hard questions. When I'm hurt, what I'm wronged? What do I seek? Do I seek justice or do I seek revel? Am I guided by righteousness or by resentment? Let's remember that true justice, the kind of justice that God desires, cannot live without mercy. It's humble, patient and seeks the good of all, not just the satisfaction of ourselves. And may we pray for the wisdom to let go of our grudges because it comes from God. May we yield our strength to the one who holds true justice, and may we seek mercy over vengeance, because a kingdom without mercy is no kingdom at all. 00:28:43 Speaker 1: You can listen to The Chosen People with the Isle Exstein ad free by downloading and subscribing to the Pray dot Com app today. This prey dot Com production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max bod Zach Shone, Jellabaga and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yiele Eckstein, edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotten, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvado, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. 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