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Judges 16

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1 καὶ ἐπορεύθη σαμψων εἰς γάζαν καὶ εἶδεν ἐκεῖ γυναῖκα πόρνην καὶ εἰσῆλθεν πρὸς αὐτήν

2 καὶ ἀνηγγέλη τοῖς γαζαίοις λέγοντες ἥκει σαμψων ὧδε καὶ ἐκύκλωσαν καὶ ἐνήδρευσαν ἐπ' αὐτὸν ὅλην τὴν νύκτα ἐν τῇ πύλῃ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἐκώφευσαν ὅλην τὴν νύκτα λέγοντες ἕως διαφαύσῃ ὁ ὄρθρος καὶ φονεύσωμεν αὐτόν

3 καὶ ἐκοιμήθη σαμψων ἕως μεσονυκτίου καὶ ἀνέστη ἐν ἡμίσει τῆς νυκτὸς καὶ ἐπελάβετο τῶν θυρῶν τῆς πύλης τῆς πόλεως σὺν τοῖς δυσὶ σταθμοῖς καὶ ἀνεβάστασεν αὐτὰς σὺν τῷ μοχλῷ καὶ ἔθηκεν ἐπ' ὤμων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν κορυφὴν τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ ἐπὶ προσώπου χεβρων καὶ ἔθηκεν αὐτὰ ἐκεῖ

4 καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἠγάπησεν γυναῖκα ἐν αλσωρηχ καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῇ δαλιδα

5 καὶ ἀνέβησαν πρὸς αὐτὴν οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῇ ἀπάτησον αὐτὸν καὶ ἰδὲ ἐν τίνι ἡ ἰσχὺς αὐτοῦ ἡ μεγάλη καὶ ἐν τίνι δυνησόμεθα αὐτῷ καὶ δήσομεν αὐτὸν τοῦ ταπεινῶσαι αὐτόν καὶ ἡμεῖς δώσομέν σοι ἀνὴρ χιλίους καὶ ἑκατὸν ἀργυρίου

6 καὶ εἶπεν δαλιδα πρὸς σαμψων ἀπάγγειλον δή μοι ἐν τίνι ἡ ἰσχύς σου ἡ μεγάλη καὶ ἐν τίνι δεθήσῃ τοῦ ταπεινωθῆναί σε

7 καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὴν σαμψων ἐὰν δήσωσίν με ἐν ἑπτὰ νευρέαις ὑγραῖς μὴ διεφθαρμέναις καὶ ἀσθενήσω καὶ ἔσομαι ὡς εἷς τῶν ἀνθρώπων

8 καὶ ἀνήνεγκαν αὐτῇ οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἑπτὰ νευρὰς ὑγρὰς μὴ διεφθαρμένας καὶ ἔδησεν αὐτὸν ἐν αὐταῖς

9 καὶ τὸ ἔνεδρον αὐτῇ ἐκάθητο ἐν τῷ ταμιείῳ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἀλλόφυλοι ἐπὶ σέ σαμψων καὶ διέσπασεν τὰς νευρέας ὡς εἴ τις ἀποσπάσοι στρέμμα στιππύου ἐν τῷ ὀσφρανθῆναι αὐτὸ πυρός καὶ οὐκ ἐγνώσθη ἡ ἰσχὺς αὐτοῦ

10 καὶ εἶπεν δαλιδα πρὸς σαμψων ἰδοὺ ἐπλάνησάς με καὶ ἐλάλησας πρός με ψευδῆ νῦν οὖν ἀνάγγειλόν μοι ἐν τίνι δεθήσῃ

11 καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτήν ἐὰν δεσμεύοντες δήσωσίν με ἐν καλωδίοις καινοῖς οἷς οὐκ ἐγένετο ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔργον καὶ ἀσθενήσω καὶ ἔσομαι ὡς εἷς τῶν ἀνθρώπων

12 καὶ ἔλαβεν δαλιδα καλώδια καινὰ καὶ ἔδησεν αὐτὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ ἔνεδρα ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ ταμιείου καὶ εἶπεν ἀλλόφυλοι ἐπὶ σέ σαμψων καὶ διέσπασεν αὐτὰ ἀπὸ βραχιόνων αὐτοῦ ὡς σπαρτίον

13 καὶ εἶπεν δαλιδα πρὸς σαμψων ἰδοὺ ἐπλάνησάς με καὶ ἐλάλησας πρὸς ἐμὲ ψευδῆ ἀπάγγειλον δή μοι ἐν τίνι δεθήσῃ καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτήν ἐὰν ὑφάνῃς τὰς ἑπτὰ σειρὰς τῆς κεφαλῆς μου σὺν τῷ διάσματι καὶ ἐγκρούσῃς τῷ πασσάλῳ εἰς τὸν τοῖχον καὶ ἔσομαι ὡς εἷς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀσθενής

14 καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ κοιμᾶσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ ἔλαβεν δαλιδα τὰς ἑπτὰ σειρὰς τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ ὕφανεν ἐν τῷ διάσματι καὶ ἔπηξεν τῷ πασσάλῳ εἰς τὸν τοῖχον καὶ εἶπεν ἀλλόφυλοι ἐπὶ σέ σαμψων καὶ ἐξυπνίσθη ἐκ τοῦ ὕπνου αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐξῆρεν τὸν πάσσαλον τοῦ ὑφάσματος ἐκ τοῦ τοίχου

15 καὶ εἶπεν δαλιδα πρὸς σαμψων πῶς λέγεις ἠγάπηκά σε καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ καρδία σου μετ' ἐμοῦ τοῦτο τρίτον ἐπλάνησάς με καὶ οὐκ ἀπήγγειλάς μοι ἐν τίνι ἡ ἰσχύς σου ἡ μεγάλη

16 καὶ ἐγένετο ὅτε ἐξέθλιψεν αὐτὸν ἐν λόγοις αὐτῆς πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας καὶ ἐστενοχώρησεν αὐτόν καὶ ὠλιγοψύχησεν ἕως τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν

17 καὶ ἀνήγγειλεν αὐτῇ τὴν πᾶσαν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ σίδηρος οὐκ ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλήν μου ὅτι ἅγιος θεοῦ ἐγώ εἰμι ἀπὸ κοιλίας μητρός μου ἐὰν οὖν ξυρήσωμαι ἀποστήσεται ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ἡ ἰσχύς μου καὶ ἀσθενήσω καὶ ἔσομαι ὡς πάντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι

18 καὶ εἶδεν δαλιδα ὅτι ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτῇ πᾶσαν τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπέστειλεν καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τοὺς ἄρχοντας τῶν ἀλλοφύλων λέγουσα ἀνάβητε ἔτι τὸ ἅπαξ τοῦτο ὅτι ἀπήγγειλέν μοι τὴν πᾶσαν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνέβησαν πρὸς αὐτὴν οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἀνήνεγκαν τὸ ἀργύριον ἐν χερσὶν αὐτῶν

19 καὶ ἐκοίμισεν δαλιδα τὸν σαμψων ἐπὶ τὰ γόνατα αὐτῆς καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ἄνδρα καὶ ἐξύρησεν τὰς ἑπτὰ σειρὰς τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἤρξατο ταπεινῶσαι αὐτόν καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ἰσχὺς αὐτοῦ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ

20 καὶ εἶπεν δαλιδα ἀλλόφυλοι ἐπὶ σέ σαμψων καὶ ἐξυπνίσθη ἐκ τοῦ ὕπνου αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν ἐξελεύσομαι ὡς ἅπαξ καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ ἐκτιναχθήσομαι καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἔγνω ὅτι ἀπέστη ὁ κύριος ἀπάνωθεν αὐτοῦ

21 καὶ ἐκράτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι καὶ ἐξέκοψαν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ κατήνεγκαν αὐτὸν εἰς γάζαν καὶ ἐπέδησαν αὐτὸν ἐν πέδαις χαλκείαις καὶ ἦν ἀλήθων ἐν οἴκῳ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου

22 καὶ ἤρξατο θρὶξ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ βλαστάνειν καθὼς ἐξυρήσατο

23 καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν ἀλλοφύλων συνήχθησαν θῦσαι θυσίασμα μέγα τῷ δαγων θεῷ αὐτῶν καὶ εὐφρανθῆναι καὶ εἶπαν ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς ἐν χειρὶ ἡμῶν τὸν σαμψων τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἡμῶν

24 καὶ εἶδαν αὐτὸν ὁ λαὸς καὶ ὕμνησαν τὸν θεὸν αὐτῶν ὅτι παρέδωκεν ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἡμῶν ἐν χειρὶ ἡμῶν τὸν ἐρημοῦντα τὴν γῆν ἡμῶν καὶ ὃς ἐπλήθυνεν τοὺς τραυματίας ἡμῶν

25 καὶ ὅτε ἠγαθύνθη ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν καὶ εἶπαν καλέσατε τὸν σαμψων ἐξ οἴκου φυλακῆς καὶ παιξάτω ἐνώπιον ἡμῶν καὶ ἐκάλεσαν τὸν σαμψων ἀπὸ οἴκου δεσμωτηρίου καὶ ἔπαιζεν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν καὶ ἐρράπιζον αὐτὸν καὶ ἔστησαν αὐτὸν ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν κιόνων

26 καὶ εἶπεν σαμψων πρὸς τὸν νεανίαν τὸν κρατοῦντα τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἄφες με καὶ ψηλαφήσω τοὺς κίονας ἐφ' οἷς ὁ οἶκος στήκει ἐπ' αὐτούς καὶ ἐπιστηριχθήσομαι ἐπ' αὐτούς

27 καὶ ὁ οἶκος πλήρης τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ ἐκεῖ πάντες οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ δῶμα ὡς ἑπτακόσιοι ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες οἱ θεωροῦντες ἐν παιγνίαις σαμψων

28 καὶ ἔκλαυσεν σαμψων πρὸς κύριον καὶ εἶπεν αδωναιε κύριε μνήσθητι δή μου νῦν καὶ ἐνίσχυσόν με ἔτι τὸ ἅπαξ τοῦτο θεέ καὶ ἀνταποδώσω ἀνταπόδοσιν μίαν περὶ τῶν δύο ὀφθαλμῶν μου τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις

29 καὶ περιέλαβεν σαμψων τοὺς δύο κίονας τοῦ οἴκου ἐφ' οὓς ὁ οἶκος εἱστήκει καὶ ἐπεστηρίχθη ἐπ' αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐκράτησεν ἕνα τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἕνα τῇ ἀριστερᾷ αὐτοῦ

30 καὶ εἶπεν σαμψων ἀποθανέτω ψυχή μου μετὰ ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἐβάσταξεν ἐν ἰσχύι καὶ ἔπεσεν ὁ οἶκος ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν λαὸν τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἦσαν οἱ τεθνηκότες οὓς ἐθανάτωσεν σαμψων ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ πλείους ἢ οὓς ἐθανάτωσεν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ

31 καὶ κατέβησαν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔλαβον αὐτὸν καὶ ἀνέβησαν καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἀνὰ μέσον σαραα καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον εσθαολ ἐν τῷ τάφῳ μανωε τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς ἔκρινεν τὸν ισραηλ εἴκοσι ἔτη

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Judges 16

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Judges 16: Samson and Delilah; Samson dies with the Philistines.

In this final chapter about Samson, he becomes involved with two women, and both episodes lead him to fight for his life.

The first woman was a prostitute from Gaza, a Philistine town. When the men of Gaza heard that Samson was visiting this woman, they lay in wait for him all night, so that they could kill him in the morning. Samson foiled their plot by sneaking out at midnight. As he was leaving, he took the gates of the city and its two posts, put them upon his shoulders, and took them to the top of a hill facing Hebron, a town in Israel.

Some time later, Samson began to love an Israelite woman called Delilah, whose name means “lustful pining”. The lords of the Philistines bribed her to find out the source of Samson’s strength, so that they could take him prisoner. After deceiving her three times and evading her almost-daily questions, Samson finally admitted that his strength lay in his hair; if it were cut, he would be like any other man.

Delilah told this to the the lords of the Philistines, and they paid her the bribe. She lulled Samson to sleep, and had a man shave off all of Samson’s hair. She called out as she had the first three times: “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke, but he was as weak as a normal man. The Philistines took him captive, gouged out his eyes, and forced him to work as a mill grinder in prison. However, while he was in prison, his hair began to grow back.

When the Philistines gathered to make a great sacrifice in the temple of their god, Dagon, to celebrate the capture of Samson, 3000 Philistine men and women were there, plus all of their kings. Samson was brought in as a spectacle to be mocked. He could feel his strength returning, and asked the boy leading him to let him lean against the two central columns of the temple. Samson prayed to the Lord, and pushed the columns until the temple collapsed, killing everyone there. That day, Samson brought about the death of more Philistines than he had in his life. His family took his body, and buried him between Zorah (“stricken”) and Eshtaol (“supplication”) in his father’s tomb.

*****

This chapter demonstrates the temptations and potential pitfalls of faith-alone spirituality, specifically through the women that Samson was involved with. Both of these episodes - the first with the prostitute from Gaza, and the second with Delilah - highlight Samson’s brazen passions and his apparent faults and weaknesses. Samson represents our determination to overcome the draw of faith alone, which the hells employ in order to ensnare us, and then rule us. The Lord’s teachings through the Word often precipitate a struggle within us between our lusts from the hells and our spiritual intentions (see Swedenborg’s work, Apocalypse Revealed 678[2] and Apocalypse Revealed 798[2]).

Seizing the gates and gateposts stands for changing the focus of our spiritual view. Gates represent the entry and exit points to our hearts and minds, through which we receive the Lord and the Word, but also the influences of hell (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 119). The top of the hill stands for a mind raised up toward God, and ‘facing Hebron’ is representative of a new focus on the unity between us and the Word, for Hebron means ‘joined, brotherhood, unity’.

After three failed attempts, Delilah discovered that Samson’s strength lay in his hair, which had never been cut. Hair stands for the power and beauty of the Word in its literal sense, and our faithfulness in abiding by its truths (see Swedenborg’s works, Arcana Caelestia 9836[2] and Doctrine of the Lord 15[8]).

Samson’s imprisonment and abuse by the Philistines symbolize a period of spiritual turmoil, during which we are misled by the hells. Blindness corresponds to our inability to see or recognize truths; ‘grinding grain at the mill’ is like molding truths from the Word to support our own purposes - in this case, faith alone spirituality (Arcana Caelestia 10303[5] and Arcana Caelestia 10303[6]). Yet all the while, our ability to follow the Lord will gradually restrengthen, represented by Samson’s hair growing back.

In the last moments of his life, Samson brought down the temple of Dagon, killing three thousand of the Philistines at once. The two supporting columns of the Philistine temple stand for what is evil and what is false; when evil and falsity are toppled, the whole system of belief collapses. In sacrificing his life, Samson demonstrated the highest of all divine and heavenly loves (see Arcana Caelestia 2077[2]).

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Exodus 30

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1 "You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.

2 Its length shall be a cubit, and its breadth a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.

3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it.

4 You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it.

5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

6 You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you.

7 Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.

8 When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.

9 You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it.

10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh."

11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

12 "When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh, when you number them; that there be no plague among them when you number them.

13 They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; (the shekel is twenty gerahs;) half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh.

14 Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.

16 You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls."

17 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

18 "You shall also make a basin of brass, and its base of brass, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.

19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.

20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations."

22 Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

23 "Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty;

24 and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil.

25 You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.

26 You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the testimony,

27 the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,

28 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.

29 You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.

30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.

31 You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.

32 It shall not be poured on man's flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you.

33 Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.'"

34 Yahweh said to Moses, "Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be an equal weight;

35 and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy:

36 and you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.

37 The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.

38 Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people."