Rising Darkness (13 page)

Samson’s mother followed along a few paces behind her husband and son as they made their way to Timnah. She was saddened in her heart that he liked the company of a Philistine woman, but she no longer wanted to contend with her son. She and her husband had tried reasoning with him to the point of outright arguments, but nothing could deter Samson from his intention to see this Philistine woman. Samson’s father, however, still would have none of it, and continued the discussion vigorously, even as they neared Timnah.

“Can you find no woman among our own people?” he pleaded. “This is an offense to our people…to our God! He will never bless such a thing!”

On and on he went. Samson remained silent, long numb to his father’s opinion. He kept his eyes straight on the road, resolute in his decision. And then, kicking his donkey, he trotted along ahead of his parents, deciding to meet them at Timnah rather than remain with them along the way. Perhaps when they actually met the girl they would become more agreeable….

Dheer arrived as Samson neared the vineyards just outside Timnah. His conversation with Crispin had done little to encourage him. Humans were prone to failure, it seemed—even those called of the Lord, such as Samson. But the Most High knew what He was doing in all of this; for that Dheer was grateful.

As they rounded a curve in the road, Dheer had just enough time to catch a glimpse of Shawa before that demon disappeared into a young lion. The lion, which had been lazily sunning himself on the side of the road, suddenly became enraged. Shawa goaded the animal, controlling him now, and making him jump out into the road. Shawa’s plan was to kill Samson and his parents and finish with this deliverer business once and for all.

As the lion snarled, Samson jumped off the donkey, having just enough time to catch his balance before the lion was on him. Samson’s first thought was to look for a weapon, but before he knew it the lion had a lock on his throat. Shawa was laughing aloud, feeling the hate and fear of the animal that he was driving. He would kill Samson slowly, he had decided.

Dheer ordered Shawa out of the lion, but, of course, Shawa ignored the angel. Then, just as at Mahaneh Dan, the Spirit of God came upon Samson. He grabbed the lion’s mouth and pulled the beast off himself. Samson felt strength coursing through his body, like a heat emerging from within and welling up through his heart, filling his whole being. Shawa, realizing what was happening, shrieked frightfully at the Lord’s Presence, as he too felt the power of God working through Samson. He quickly abandoned the confused animal in Samson’s hands. Samson killed the lion, choking it with his hands, and tossed the carcass on the side of the road.

Dheer looked at the lion and then back at Samson, amazed at what he had just seen. But he was reminded that this was a man called of the Lord by the Lord’s own Angel. The incident only confirmed what Dheer had always believed about Samson—that he would one day avenge the people in God’s mighty power!

He glanced at the dead lion on the side of the road. God was with Samson. Perhaps the marriage in Timnah would be alright after all!

Chronicles of the Host

Bethlehem, 4 B.C.

“The riddle! The riddle!” exclaimed Jarod, suddenly breaking into Eli’s story. “Is this where he tells them the riddle?”

Eli grinned at the boy.

“Yes, Jarod,” the old man said. “Samson knew that the Philistine men were only there to cause him trouble. So he told them a riddle.”

Daniel looked up at Eli.

“You have been speaking in riddles all night long, Eli,” he said. “Riddles are apparently not new among our people!”

“No, Daniel,” Eli agreed. “As your attitude this evening indicates, we are a people filled with riddles.”

Some of the shepherds laughed at this. Daniel smirked at Eli and casually tossed a small stick into the fire.

“Riddles don’t deliver a people, boys,” said Daniel, leaning back. “Cold steel and blood are all that will throw off that yoke!”

Jarod and Joshua glanced over at Daniel, a puzzled look on their faces. Some of the shepherd men also glanced his way. They were beginning to have enough of this man and his spiteful talk.

“Riddles do not deliver indeed,” said Eli. “But God used a riddle that day to provoke the Philistines. Samson told the men that if they could guess the answer within the seven days of the marriage feast, he would give each of them a new cloak. Do you recall the riddle, Jarod?”

“I do!” Joshua said excitedly. Eli indicated that he should tell it. Joshua proudly stood among the men as if he were Samson, telling the riddle to the Philistine men: “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet!”

“Well done, Joshua!” said Eli, as the boy sat down. Joshua’s dad winked at him proudly. “And indeed the men could not understand the riddle. For several days they tried to come up with the answer. Finally, they talked Samson’s wife-to-be into getting the answer from him so they might not be taken in by this mere Danite. Do you recall the solution to the riddle?”

“Well,” said Joshua, “when Samson had gone back home one time, he saw the body of the lion that he had killed. Some bees had made a hive in it, and he ate some honey they had made.”

“Right!” said Eli. “Out of the eater came something to eat and out of the strong something sweet! It was a marvelous riddle. But when the men guessed it, Samson discovered that his wife had told them and he became furious. He went out and killed 30 men of the Philistines, taking their cloaks to give to the men at the party as he had promised. Samson then left for his father’s house, and his new wife was given to another man. That began the deliverance of God’s people as war broke out between Samson and the Philistines.

“Samson was killing many of the Philistines’ best men and they didn’t know how to stop him. Finally, they were able to force Samson’s own people to turn him over, who bound Samson to take him to the Philistines. But as they approached Lehi, where the Philistines had come to collect him with over three thousand men, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson. There he killed over one thousand of his enemies that day.”

Eli looked at the two boys.

“Do you know what weapon he used?” he asked them.

The boys tried to remember, looking at some of the other men, who made faces as if they could not remember either.

“God used a weapon to humble the pride of the Philistines—something that would show them and Samson that the Most High is not bound by the strategies or ways of men. He used the jawbone of a donkey! He killed a thousand men that day with the jawbone of a donkey!”

The men watched in amusement as the two boys jumped up pretending to be Samson, smashing in the skulls of invisible Philistine soldiers with a log that had become a makeshift jawbone. When they sat down again, Eli continued talking.

“Samson seemed unstoppable,” he said. “And the lords of the Philistines were determined to discover the secret of his strength so they could destroy him…”

Gaza, 1074 B.C.

Since its occupation, Gaza had become one of the main centers of commerce and faith among the Philistines. It had always been a crossroad of the empire in the region; now it had developed into one of the chief centers for the manufacture of the weapons with which the Philistines had subdued their enemies. And with the newly completed temple of Dagon, Gaza had also taken its place among the other cities as a premier place of religious expression. Today, however, the streets seemed abandoned, as most of the people were either in the temple on the end of town, or standing outside its walls selling food and drink to the adherents who had gathered for a great celebration to Dagon.

Three figures, unseen by human eyes, strolled casually down the streets of Gaza. They too were in something of a celebrative mood, drinking in the success that they had enjoyed of late in keeping the people of God under the Philistine heel.

“I am something of an expert when it comes to the weakness of humans,” said Lucifer. “All of them have their price—their point of compromise. Samson was no different.”

He was strolling with Kara and Pellecus on a street near the edge of the city. From the temple went up a roar that could be heard throughout the city. They observed a drunken man stumbling his way toward the temple.

“Happy worship!” called out Lucifer, laughing at the man. The other two angels laughed as well. “The fool!”

“Look at these simple people,” Kara said. “Happily content in their folly. That is the way of men.”

“You know,” said Lucifer, “of all the passions we stir among men, it is their need for religion which has proven most useful to us. What better way to get a human mind away from the Most High than to train it upon a god that we manufacture.”

“Shawa was certainly grateful when you awarded him Dagon,” said Pellecus. “He has done a fabulous job developing the cult around himself. Although I must admit Dagon is a bit crude.”

“So are the Philistines,” said Lucifer.

They walked down a street in front of a smaller temple that had been dedicated to Dagon years before the great temple had been built. Since assuming the deity, Shawa had seen to it that the priests of Dagon had heard from the god and constructed the temple in which the people were now worshiping.

“Of course Shawa deserved the honor,” said Kara, who always felt it necessary to defend an angel who was under his authority. “It was, after all, his work through Delilah that delivered Samson into the hands of the Philistines.”

“She had some help,” said Pellecus. “Don’t forget that it was Samson’s own failures that placed himself in Delilah’s hands.”