located in the Shephelah
the shephelah is a 12-15 mile-wide region in Judea
located between the coastal plains to the west & the Judea mountains to the east
the main trade route of the ancient world
crossroads for commerce & culture
linked the major powers of the day- Rome & Egypt with Persia, Babylon, & Assyria
whoever controlled the foothills, dominated the relationship between these powers
almost every biblical battle happened here
people frequently clashed for control of these strategic valleys
most israelite-philistine conflicts revolve around control of the shephelah valley
the tribal area of Judah & Dan
cities in the shephelah valley: tel Gezer, Azekah, Beth Shemesh, Timnah, Z’ora, Lachish
at the time of Samson, the philistines had position of this area, although a transition was happening
israelites vs philistines
philistines: sea people from the greek islands; very sophisticated; had chariots & iron; the newest technology; olive processing (=$$$); worshipped fertility gods- dagon & Ashtoreth
israelites lived simply but were becoming attracted to the advanced culture of the philistines; adopted their lifestyles
...which brings us to Samson...
samson was born to be set apart from his culture
he was to be raised in accordance with nazarite vows
1) don’t cut hair
2) don’t drink wine
3) don’t touch anything dead (don’t eat meat)
this was a lifetime vow intended to be a visual reminder to the israelite people that they were to be set apart. these three things are not significant in & of themselves, but serve as a word picture for the people. samson lived in a culture where wine was the standard beverage & grapes were a staple of the people’s diet. he also lived in a meat-eating society so a vegetarian would be unusual. abstaining from wine & meat would make him different from those around him. people would notice he was unusual.
i think there is cultural significance in the requirements of the nazarite vow, but the point is that he was supposed to be a walking word picture for the people, reminding them of their calling to be set apart. set apart from the philistine lifestyle that was surrounding them. i remember growing up not understanding why god cared so much if samson cut his hair or ate meat or drank wine. I thought if I was samson i would probably break all those rules too. but now i realize that i was completely missing the point- its not that god actually cared about the particular rules, but the vow represented something bigger. & samson’s responsibility was to visually remind people who were being tempted with conforming to the philistine lifestyle that god had called them to live differently. failure to uphold these vows represented samson’s struggle to set himself apart & be the example god had called him to be.
samson became attracted to philistine culture. he went down to timnah to marry a philistine woman….
[rabbai john reminded us here about the size of timnah. a tiny town. whom is influencing whom? lesson- it doesn’t take much to get us going in the wrong direction]
...killed a lion, drank wine at a wedding party, burned philistine wheat fields, killed 3,000 philistines, slept with a prostitute in gaza. he fought in god’s name, but not in god’s way.
& yet, in Hebrews, paul places him in the faith hall of fame…
[samson's tomb]
samson is a story about a very talented & gifted individual who lacked accountability & community. his downfall was his eyes. he was deceived by what he saw & lacked the community needed to hold him accountable for his decisions.
this story is a small representation of the bigger picture. the israelites as a people group were also failing to live out their distinctiveness. they also became weak & ineffective when they compromised with the evil they were called to confront. instead of using their strategic position in the Shephelah to influence pagan culture, they allowed the ungodly values to influence them.
i think the danger here is to fail to see ourselves in samson & the israelites. We immediately think ‘how could he do all those things? i would never….” but we do. samson failed to set himself apart. as a church, we have failed to set ourselves apart. or we have tried to, but do it in ways that contradict how jesus has called us to live. we come up with our own ideas of how we want to be different, slap some verses out of context onto the ideas, & then hold every person claiming to follow Christ to these standards & judge them when they fall short. probably not what god had in mind.
it’s a paradox in sorts, holiness & inclusion. how can i be set apart, yet still open & inclusive to the world around me?
i’ve heard many sermons & been to many chapels on holiness, being different, being set apart, etc etc. but what they have all failed to do, in my opinion, is create a multi-colored picture of what that looks like. the only picture i’ve seen is black & white. this picture communicates a list of things one can do to ‘set themselves apart from the secular world.’ i question this list because
1) im naturally cynical of lists or outlines used in the context of teaching us how to live
& 2) the bullet points on this list tend to be a bit legalistic & exclusive in their nature
in other words, can a list (even the greatest of all great lists) ever show us how we are to be set apart in our world? (although I am a huge fan of lists, logic gets the best of me here). & who are the ones deciding what should be on this list?
being set apart, it’s got to be something more, i know it’s something more, but what does it look like on a regular basis?
how does God call us to be different?
what are the things God is really calling us to set ourselves apart from?
our lifestyles should be set apart, yet welcoming, inviting, & inclusive.
& people can help us see these things
samson didn’t use the community of people he had around him to talk through struggles with & open up his eyes to the significance of the situation
We need community to wrestle through the questions with, challenge, support, & hold accountable
people help us see & protect our eyes from the attractiveness of this world. they remind us that we cannot stare lustfully at the advanced culture & philistine lifestyle, for then we will forget our responsibility & lose control of the crossroads.
we need each other as reminders
to protect our eyes from the temptations of our culture
to be different
to wrestle through struggles & questions
to influence the shephelah
[community]
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