Did Sampson commit suicide?

[Ddavid from NC]

Sampson set up the situation that would most certainly lead to his death and the death of many Philistines. Can his death be interpreted as a suicide or a willingness to die for the cause of Jehovah?

[OneLight]

One could also ask, if he could see, would he of toppled the pillars would of brought the roof down? I think so. But was it because he was pretty upset at both himself and Delila or did he do it for God? I'd have to say both ...

[Guest martin13]

Samson did not commit suicide.

1. He was a judge of Israel born to deliver israel from their enemies,in his death it is recorded to his credit that God through him used the occassion to destroy more of the enemies than even in his lifetime

2.God gave him the power to do what he did after he had prayed. Will God give him power the spirit for that which is sinful? Certainly not but only to accomplish that for which he was called

Hence to say he committed suicide will drag God's honor and glory into the picture.

His death was a glorious death for by it God was glorified and the enemies of his people silenced and weakened in many ways..

[Guest martin13]

Samson did not commit suicide.

1. He was a judge of Israel born to deliver israel from their enemies,in his death it is recorded to his credit that God through him used the occassion to destroy more of the enemies than even in his lifetime

2.God gave him the power to do what he did after he had prayed. Will God give him power the spirit for that which is sinful? Certainly not but only to accomplish that for which he was called

Hence to say he committed suicide will drag God's honor and glory into the picture.

His death was a glorious death for by it God was glorified and the enemies of his people silenced and weakened in many ways..

3. As a follow up to the above, samson did not set up his death, rather he was brought in to mock and celebrate the supposed power of their god dagon Judges 16: 23-25

[Guest shiloh357]

Sampson set up the situation that would most certainly lead to his death and the death of many Philistines. Can his death be interpreted as a suicide or a willingness to die for the cause of Jehovah?

To me, its more like a soldier who goes into a particular combat scenario, knowing his chances of survial are slim, but he does it anyway, knowing that his actions and sacrifice will help to secure a victory for his comrades.

[Guest Jim Hoffman]

If we were to label Samson's actions as suicide, then we would surely have to acuse Jesus of the same. Suicide is a malicious, purposeless ending of one own's life. Samson reached a point of repentance and asked God to use him to judge a wiked people. There is a difference.

[Richard_yaash]

Sampson set up the situation that would most certainly lead to his death and the death of many Philistines. Can his death be interpreted as a suicide or a willingness to die for the cause of Jehovah?

Interesting question. I see several possible angles of looking at this, all of which may contain merit and as such there may be no necessarily right answer.

For myself, I usually prefer or go with the pshat [plain or simple] reading of the text. As such, I see Samson as 'set apart' from [before] birth. Samson was called/used to confront the Philistines, as is testified unto.

We do not know much about Delilah and I will not really speculate upon it. We do know she wore Samson down to the point that he revealed to her his secret. We know that she 'apparently' betrayed him.

I do not know about the rest of us, however if we see Samson as a 'soldier' [so to speak as Shiloh357 related] the loss of his sight would have been a severe blow to him [for some reason, the movie "Scent of a Woman" comes to mind]. Samson's last prayer was to the effect of: Remember me, give me strength one last time and allow me revenge for my eyes. This was not a 'suicide' per se, but rather [if you will pardon the expression] a going out in a "blaze of glory" and in doing so struck a blow to the Philistines that was greater than any other. IMO: Had Samson not been handicapped by the 'apparent' loss of his strength as well as the loss of his sight, the Philistines would never have allowed him within a situation in which in one fell stroke Samson could have inflicted as much harm as he did.

Now: I say 'apparent' in that Samson did lose his strength, it was just not realized that his strength would return as his hair grew back.

Regardless of anything else though: Through this glory was brought to 'God' and His will was done.

[Guest]

Can his death be interpreted as a suicide or a willingness to die for the cause of Jehovah?

Act Of Warfare

[EricH]

Sampson set up the situation that would most certainly lead to his death and the death of many Philistines. Can his death be interpreted as a suicide or a willingness to die for the cause of Jehovah?

To me, its more like a soldier who goes into a particular combat scenario, knowing his chances of survial are slim, but he does it anyway, knowing that his actions and sacrifice will help to secure a victory for his comrades.

I was thining the same thing. If a soldier in combat rushes a machine gun nest and jumps in with a live grenade to take it out, I don't think that would be considered suicide

[Willow325]

One could also ask, if he could see, would he of toppled the pillars would of brought the roof down? I think so. But was it because he was pretty upset at both himself and Delila or did he do it for God? I'd have to say both ...

When the Philistines put Samson on display, after he was blinded and his hair was cut, they were probably more concerned about any stray jawbones laying around, than about Samson bringing their temple down to the ground. What a shock that must have been for them. First, Samson kills off a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, and then he destroys their temple. LOL

Willow325