Question
Judges 16:28-30 tells of Samson asking God to let him die with the Philistines. Why did Samson want to die?

Answer
The fundamental problem with the Israelites throughout the whole period of the judges had been their fatal attraction to other gods (idol worship: 2:10-13). Samson’s great contribution to God’s purpose was to demonstrate, if only in his death, the total supremacy of the Lord (Yahweh) and the utter irrelevance of other gods (represented here by Dagon). In this, Samson’s achievement is not unlike that of Elijah on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings. 18:16-40). The text does not supply a specific answer to the question. Since we cannot read the mind of Samson, we cannot offer a specific answer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2005 at 3:29 pm and is filed under Bible, Bible Q&A, Old Testament.