Chapter 20 Samson kills the lion

The following story is very plain, but before long, the Philistines and the Jews had another life-and-death duel, and the battle was more brutal, and the Jewish state was wiped out. But Samson, the great hero of the Jewish nation, appeared.His divine power is like Achilles, and he is as brave as Roland.But not as smart as famous leaders in history. He is the son of Maya, who has been famous for his strength since he was a child. He wasn't very good looking, with unkempt hair, a beard, and casual attire.But his hands were like a pair of hammers, and he never knew what danger was. He got his father into trouble a lot.At eighteen or nineteen he fell in love with a Felix girl and insisted on marrying her, and his own people were horrified by the idea, for he married a foreign woman.Samson didn't have so many scruples, he went to Timnah alone to get married.

On the way, he met a ferocious lion. He lifted it up with both hands like a kitten, killed it, and threw him into the bushes passing by.After a while, he saw a swarm of bees building a nest in the lion's mouth. Samson took out the honey, ate it, and continued on his way. At last they arrived at the bride's village, and a banquet was held for the couple.Samson struggles to play the part of a happy groom.Although he was not very used to the occasion, he tried not to disappoint everyone.One night, the guests were guessing a riddle, and Samson also told a riddle. He promised to give clothes to whoever guessed it correctly, but no one could guess it.

Samson's riddle is: "Animals that eat others become food themselves, and a sweet taste comes out of the mouth of the strong. What is this?" The people of Timnah couldn't figure out the answer to Samson's riddle no matter how they guessed.They didn't want to lose face in front of this stupid stranger from the poor Jewish quarter.So they found Samson's bride and said to her, "This boy loves you to death and will do anything for you. Let him tell you what the answer is." This woman is not smart enough, otherwise she should have expected the consequences.She was soft and hard, and Samson was impatient, and told her that the answer to the riddle was a dead lion, whose carcass became food for other animals, and its mouth became a honeycomb.

The Philistines laughed, and they shouted to Samson, "Your riddle is so simple that we can all guess it. What is stronger than a lion and sweeter than honey?" Then Samson understood their trick, and was so angry that he went away without a word, leaving his bride behind. He went to the city of Abingeron and met a group of innocent Philistines. He killed thirty people, stripped their clothes, and gave them as prizes to the guests who answered the riddle.Then I went back to my parents' house and sat in silence all day. But he loved the girl Felix deeply, and couldn't leave her in his heart. When he couldn't bear the pain of separation, he ran back, hoping that everything would be the same as before.

But he was late, as his bride had married another member of the tribe a few days earlier.Samson felt abandoned, it hurt his pride so much, and he was determined to get revenge. He went to the mountains to catch three hundred foxes, tied their tails together in pairs, and then tied a lighted torch to their tails to make them run away.The poor animals, terribly burned by the fire, were running about in the fields, rolling in the corn-fields that were about to be harvested. The dry wheat caught fire, and the fire spread to the vineyards and olive groves, and overnight the land of the Philistines was burned clean.

The Philistines did something stupid in their anger, and they blamed Samson's former bride.They stormed her home and executed her and her father. When Samson heard this, he gathered his supporters and attacked the Philistines, killing hundreds of them for his own amusement. At this time, the border was in a time of peace, and the Jews living on the border hoped to maintain a good relationship with Felix.So dissatisfied with Samson's private war, they seized Samson, bound his hands, and handed him over to the Philistines.They didn't want to be charged with murdering their own countrymen, and it would be better for the Philistines to execute him while they stood by and watched.

The Philistines jumped for joy when they saw the Jews coming down the road with the prisoner in their charge.Samson waited calmly, and when they were closing in on him, he snapped the rope, picked up a donkey's jawbone by the side of the road, charged into the crowd, and killed the Philistines from left to right. This time, Samson's enemies completely understood: it is impossible to harm Samson. They couldn't beat him in battle. Only by finding a way to murder secretly can it be successful. It wasn't easy either, but the worst part was that Samson had his worst enemy - himself.

He was always going to fall in love with this or that woman, and once he was in love he put everything aside.For his own pleasure, he is willing to take any risk, even sacrifice the security of the country. One night, Samson was staying at the house of a girlfriend in the city of Gaza, and the Philistines found out. "He can't run this time," they said. They shut the gates of the city, judging that Samson must pass by on his way home next morning, where fifty armed Philistines awaited him. Samson may have heard something, he got up in the middle of the night and left his friend's house.When they reached the city, they took down the heavy gate and carried it from Gaza to Hebron.Then put it up there as a warning.

There was no doubt that this man was invincible, and though the Jews disliked his rashness, they could not but admit that he was qualified to be their leader.So Samson was elected as a judge, and Samson ruled Israel for twenty years.Originally he could go down in history as a strong man and a brave warrior, but in his later years, he fell in love with a Felix girl again, which was a fatal mistake. The girl's name is Delilah. She doesn't love Samson at all, but her tribe threatens her to kill her if she doesn't marry Samson. The Philistines want to find out the secret of Samson's great strength through her.

They said that if Delilac would sell her husband, she would get a thousand philistines, and if she did not agree, she would be stoned to death. Immediately after the wedding, Delilah flattered Samson, boasting that he was much stronger than the others.But, she wondered, why his lovely husband had such broad shoulders, such thick arms.Samson just smiled, and made up a lie to coax her, saying that if you tie him up with seven green ropes, he will have no strength. Delilah believed it, and at night, while Samson was asleep, she let the Philistines come in and bound her husband with seven green ropes.

They woke up Samson, and when Samson saw that there were enemies on all sides, he broke free from the rope with all his strength, and the Philistines scattered and fled in all directions.Samson went to bed and continued to sleep. This game was repeated again and again, and Samson seemed to find it very interesting that the Philistines could not catch him. Like a rash young man, he invented all kinds of lies to deceive Delilah. It would have been nice if he had left this woman who loved her people instead of him, but he was too attached to love to do something like that, so he stayed.At last Delilah got so impatient that he told the truth one evening that if he had only to shave his hair he would lose his strength. Delilah finally got the thousand silver coins.She let the Philistine in, and Delilah cut off his hair while Samson was asleep. Then she called out to her husband, "Wake up, the Philistines are coming." Samson laughed, he had heard this sentence a lot, as long as he stared, the enemy would run away like a mouse after seeing a cat. However, this time was different, he had no strength left.Unable to lift his arms, the Philistines tied him up, gouged out his eyes, and threw him into a mill in Gaza to grind corn for those whom he had terrified. During the long darkness, Samson had ample time to repent of his rashness and pray to the Lord. During his imprisonment, his hair grew longer and longer, but the Philistines were too happy to notice such trivial things. One day, the Philistines held a major celebration to sacrifice to their god (Dagon).