This post is from Moms Take Ten episode 109, “Moms in the Bible–Samson’s Mother, part 2”, which you can listen to wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/moms-in-the-bible-samsons-mother-part-2
You might have noticed that this episode of Moms in the Bible is coming out a week later than usual. As I was sitting down to work on it, I realized how much this story has to do with what Erin and I spoke about last week regarding our children’s salvation. For those who haven’t listened, though I recommend you do, here’s a little recap: We discussed the pressure that we see in Christian parenting circles, and can feel as parents ourselves, to ensure that our children are saved. We can take our desire and prayer and effort for our kids to know the Lord, which is good, and begin to think that we are the ones who are ultimately responsible for their faith. That it all rests on us. Our study today of Samson’s mom, whom we will call Mother, has something to say about this. Her story can be found in the book of Judges, chapters 13-16.
You may remember that Mother was visited by the Lord and given a promise. Though she had been barren, she would have a son. This son, the Lord said, would begin to save Israel from the Philistines, under whose rule they were living. His life was not going to be normal. He was going to be a Nazirite from the womb, meaning set apart to the Lord, for a specific purpose. This was an incredible promise for Mother to receive. And she believed it would happen.
When Mother gave birth, for the Lord always does keep his word, she named the boy Samson, which means “like the sun.” What an applicable name. The sun is hot, blazing, burning. If you get too close to it, you will get burned yourself. The sun is strong and impacts all it touches. Samson was a lot like the sun. He was strong, willful, and impulsive. He seemed to burn constantly. Samson showed a continued disregard for rules and the input of others. Can you imagine parenting a child like that? Maybe you are in the throes of it yourself. It is not easy!
Mother didn’t know how hard it would be when the Lord came to visit her. At that time, he was a dream, a hope, a promise. With that promise came a command to herself—don’t drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean. Those of you who have carried children in your womb are familiar with adjusting your eating and drinking habits throughout pregnancy. It can feel easy or hard depending on the day and on how many changes you have to make. You do it for the benefit of your child and to protect them from any adverse effects. Though you have little control over the growing process of the child inside of you, you do whatever you can to promote healthy development. When something goes wrong or the child develops in an unexpected way, we can feel confused or even angry.
We can feel this way about many things in life. We put our best efforts into something and yet it goes awry. A school project that resulted in a lower-than-expected grade. A job interview that resulted in no callback. A relationship that fizzled out. A child that walked away from their faith.
Mother was to obey all the Lord had spoken to her so that her son would be set apart for the Lord and his purposes even in the womb. She was to sacrifice some of her comforts for the sake of her child. He was going to begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines! Surely that is a purpose worthy of the sacrifice of a few physical pleasures. And yet, as Samson grew up, that purpose seemed lost in a sea of poor choices and behavior.
“Then he came up and told his father and mother, ‘I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife’…His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.” Judges 14:2, 4
“Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.” Judges 14:6
“He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.” Judges 14:9
“And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.” Judges 14:19
These are the interactions between Mother, her husband Manoah and Samson that are recorded in the Scriptures. In them we see a son who is demanding, dishonest, and angry. Any parent would struggle with such a child. Any parent would wonder how to discipline and instruct him or her. As the child entered adulthood, any parent would wrestle with what they could have done differently. Perhaps Mother wondered what she had done wrong, if she had failed to follow one of the Lord’s instructions to her. Perhaps she questioned what the Lord had spoken to her. Had she heard wrong? Samson was not turning out as Mother hoped or expected. But God was with him and working through him.
Did you hear that in the passages we read? God was present in each situation. Not only present but working in Samson to accomplish his task. The angel of the Lord had told Mother that Samson would “begin to save Israel from the Philistines” As he grew up, “the Lord blessed him” and “the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in him” (Jdg 13:24-25). Now, as a young adult, the Lord was using Samson’s independence and willfulness to do the work he was supposed to do. The Lord can use both our righteous acts and our unrighteous ones to bring about his glory and will.
As mamas, we would vastly prefer that our children are known for their righteous acts, their godliness. When Mother had heard that her son was going to save Israel, she might have thought back to the great heroes of the Israelites. Deborah, Barak and Jael and the victory over Jabin the king of Canaan and Sisera his army general. Gideon and his three hundred men who defeated the Midianites and the Amalekites who were too numerous to count. Tales of heroism, faith, and glorious victory. Instead, she had a son who fell for the wrong women, killed out of anger, made the Philistines furious, and ended up captured and blinded.
Just like Erin and I spoke about last week, we see in Mother’s story that we as moms do have a part to play in the faith journey of our children. Mother herself had specific things she was supposed to do to prepare for and parent her son, which she was faithful to do. But Samson was ultimately in God’s hands. She had to remind herself of that over and over, releasing control and her own desires for her son’s life. As all moms do, she had to choose to stand firm in the Lord and his promises rather than in her own understanding. All of us will feel this tension in our parenting. Our situations might not be as drastic as Mother and Samson’s but all of us will know the pain of unrealized dreams and the fear of future challenges. I love this word from Risen Motherhood’s blog:
“No matter what choices your children make out on their own, cling to what you know about God. Our actions as moms do profoundly shape our children’s lives, so we want to continue taking responsibility, seeking forgiveness for our mistakes, and remaining humble to grow. Yet, we are not ultimately responsible for our children’s wrong choices, and we cannot change their hearts—but we can prayerfully entrust them to the Lord, who proved his love by giving his Child to die in our place.
Mother is not mentioned when Samson died. The text says, “his brothers and all his family” were the ones who came to bury him (Judges 16:31). It is likely that she had passed away by this point. She did not get to hear of the prayer of faith that Samson made right before he died. It was a prayer of humility. A prayer that asked God for the chance to avenge himself rather than implementing a plan on his own. He finally knew that he could not do it without the Lord. And when the Lord answered, though Samson died, he killed even more Philistines than he had when he was alive. He did what the Lord said he would do. He began the work of saving Israel from the Philistines. He was even mentioned in the faith chapter of Hebrews along with Gideon and Barak.
Lyssa Stoyko 