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.

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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]).

9277. 'In like manner you shall do with your vineyard, with your olive grove' means that this is to be so with spiritual good and with celestial good. This is clear from the meaning of 'vineyard' as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 1069, 9139, and so spiritual good, which is the good of charity towards the neighbour, since this good constitutes the spiritual Church; and from the meaning of 'olive grove' as the celestial Church, and so celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, since this good constitutes the celestial Church. What the spiritual Church and its good are, and what the celestial Church and its good are, and also what the difference is, see 2046, 2227, 2669, 2708 (end), 2715, 2718, 2935, 2937, 2954, 3166, 3235, 3236, 3240, 3246, 3374, 3833, 3887, 3969, 4138, 4286, 4493, 4585, 4938, 5113, 5150, 5922, 6289, 6296, 6366, 6427, 6435, 6500, 6647, 6648, 7091, 7233, 7474, 7977, 7992, 8042, 8152, 8234, 8521.

[2] The fact that 'olive grove' means the celestial Church and so celestial good is clear from places in the Word in which 'the olive tree' is mentioned, such as in Moses,

You will plant and dress vineyards, but you will not drink wine or gather [the fruit], for the worm will devour it. You will have olive trees within all your borders, but you will not anoint yourself with oil, because your olive tree will be shaken bare. Deuteronomy 28:39-40.

This describes the curse if other gods were worshipped and if statutes and judgements were not kept. 'Olive trees within all the borders' are forms of the good of celestial love within the whole Church, which come from the Lord through the Word. 'Not being anointed with oil' stands for nevertheless remaining untouched by that good. 'The olive tree will be shaken bare' stands for a warning that this good will perish. Something similar occurs in Micah,

You will tread olives but not anoint yourself with oil, and tread the new wine but not drink wine. Micah 6:15.

[3] In Amos,

I struck you with blight and mildew; your very many gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive trees the caterpillar devoured. Yet you did not return to Me. Amos 4:9.

'Vineyards' stands for forms of the good of faith, 'olive trees' for forms of the good of love. Being punished for not welcoming those forms of good is meant by the caterpillar devouring the olive trees. In Habakkuk,

The fig tree will not blossom, neither will there be any produce on the vines; the olive crop will fail, ¹ and the field will not produce food. Habakkuk 3:17.

'The fig tree' stands for natural good, 'the vine' for spiritual good, 'the olive' for celestial good, and 'the field' for the Church. In Zechariah,

Two olive trees are beside the lampstand, one on the right of the bowl and one on the left of it. These are the two sons of pure oil, standing beside the Lord of the whole earth. Zechariah 4:3, 11, 14.

'Two olive trees beside the lampstand' stands for celestial and spiritual good, which are to the right and to the left of the Lord. 'The lampstand' means the Lord in respect of Divine Truth.

[4] In the Book of Judges,

Jotham said to the citizens of Shechem who made Abimelech king, The trees went out to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive tree, Reign over us. But the olive tree said to them, Shall I stop producing my oil ² which God and men honour in me, and go to sway ³ over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, You come [and] reign over us. But the fig tree said to them, Shall I stop producing ⁴ my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to sway ³ over the trees? Then the trees said to the vine, You come [and] reign over us. But the vine said to them, Shall I stop producing ⁴ my new wine, cheering God and men, and go to sway ³ over the trees? And all the trees said to the thornbush, You come [and] reign over us. And the thornbush said to the trees, If you are in truth anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge ⁵ in my shade. But if not, let fire come out of the thornbush and devour the cedars of Lebanon. Judges 9:7-16.

None can know what is implied specifically by the things said here unless they know what 'the olive tree', 'the fig tree', 'the vine', and 'the thornbush' mean. 'The olive tree' means the internal good of the celestial Church, 'the fig tree' the external good of that Church, 4231, 5113, 'the vine' the good of the spiritual Church, but 'the thornbush' spurious good. The things that are said therefore imply that the people, who are 'the trees' here, did not want celestial good or spiritual good to 'reign over them', but spurious good, and that the people chose the spurious in preference to celestial or spiritual good. The 'fire' coming out of the spurious good is the harmfulness of evil cravings, 'the cedars of Lebanon' which it would devour being the truths of good.

[5] Since 'the olive tree' was a sign of the good of love received from the Lord and offered to the Lord, the cherubs in the middle of the house or temple were made of olive wood, as were the doors to the sanctuary, 1 Kings 6:23-33. For 'the cherubs', and also 'the doors of the sanctuary', were signs of the Lord's protection and providence, guarding against access to Him except through the good of celestial love. This was why they were made of olive wood. All this shows why it was that the tabernacle and the altar were anointed with oil, also the priests, and at a later time the kings, and why it was that olive oil was used in lamps. For 'oil' was a sign of the good of love from the Lord, see 886, 3728, 4582, 4638, and 'anointing' was a sign that they should accordingly represent the Lord.

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