~SAMSON~
FROM THE BOOK OF JUDGES

From the book of Judges
Came Samson, the Nazarite,
Born to a barren woman of Zorah;
From His birth to be a Danite.

As a Nazarite, he was destined
To be a judge, from the Lord.
He would eat no fruit from the vine
Or drink of the wine, if poured.

A man of strength like none other
His hidden strength within his hair;
No razor ever to have it shorn
For his life this way to prepare.

He was called according to God's purpose.
He would lead his people from the Philistine.
Forty years they were captive.
Samson was God's price, to be redeemed.

Samson took a wife from the enemy
And offered a riddle to play.
New garments for each, for the right answer;
Riddle derived from the lion he did slay.

(Samson had slain a lion
With his bare hands, earlier.)

~

The riddle
Out of the eater, something to eat.
Out of the strong, something sweet.

~

As the lion lay dead and rotting
Inside a honey comb the bees had made;
As all but the bones,
The fat and tissue began to fade.

Samson's wife whimpered and cried,
"You trust me not, my husband.
Tell me, as your loving bride."

~

For, she had been persuaded,
By her kinsmen, to deceive
As they plotted (against the mighty Samson)
Their daughter, from the marriage, to retrieve.

Samson, wore by her tears,
Chided her like a child, but told her that day.
she told the wedding guest
For the riddle they would play.

When Samson offered the riddle,
The answer was given from the crowd.
Laughing at his anger, little knowing
Their new garments would become their shroud.

In the aftermath of furry,
Samson's wife now laid dead;
Never truly was his wife.
She had defiled their marriage bed.

He brought the town to ruin.
They rued that day, as well they should.
For they had brought the wrath of Samson.
Their folly had fell to nothing good.

Samson became an outlaw,
Price to bring him back in chains.
The Philistines tortured his people;
Their suffering to bring Samson under reigns.

He surrendered to the soldiers.
But as they came to rocks on the hill,
Might Samson slew the hundreds with the jaw bone of an ass.
Their blood he would spill.

His fame was known throughout the land.
Rewards, offered by the philistines, was amassed
And, soon, Samson would meet his doom
By Delilah; for her beauty unsurpassed.

Samson, beguiled by her beauty,
Gave her the secret of his hair.
She, with shears while he slept,
Brought him to despair.

His eyes were blinded, when he awoke
From sleep: in Delilah's arms, that day.
He would grind wheat for the Philistines,
The debt he had to pay.

Then, to make sport of Him
(In mock sacrifice to Dagon),
Between the pillars of the temple,
He raged and brought the temple down.

"Let me die with mine enemies
As one last work for my Lord,"
As the temple fell and fire from the altars
Over all gathered, fire now was poured.

For twenty years he led Israel and now,
In the tomb of Manoah, his father, was he buried.
With the death of the house of the Philistines,
He was in love in their hearts now carried.

Samson was a picture of grace of the Lord,
A child of purpose for the life he led,
A foreshadow of the coming Christ.
Except, Samson still sleeps among the dead.

He was the hope of his people,
His life taken among the enemy.
Thus is the saga of mighty Samson,
A page from the Bible ~ the story told by me

    Copyright by Sandra Griffin
    http://www.our.homewithgod.com/sandra/
    http://poetrypoem.com/inhimthroughhimforhimsandy