2 Samuel 10

The king of Ammonites died and David sends a delegation to the new king, Hanun, to express sympathy for the death of his father.

The Ammonite commanders advise Hanun that the men are spies sent by David so that David could take their city. From the long list of conquered places, this perspective might be understandable. Their actions, however, are not. They have half of the beard of each man and cut off their garments at the butt. This greatly humiliates David’s emissaries.

This is not the way to avoid a war with a regional powerhouse. In fact, they have to hire 20,000 Aramean mercenaries to prepare for war.

David tells the emissaries to wait in Jericho until their beards have grown back. (side note – Joshua lay a heavy curse on Jericho after it was destroyed. He cursed anyone that lived there again. So, I guess Joshua’s curse did not have a lasting impact)

David sends Joab and the army. During the battle, the Aramean mercenaries flee and the Ammonites decide to hole up in their city.

Joab goes back to David who decides to go with his army after the Aramean homeland. There, they defeat the Arameans who then become subjects to David. After this, the Arameans did not help the Ammonites again.

2 Samuel 9

Remember Mephibosheth? He was Jonathon’s son who could not walk.

David asks a servant of Saul’s household if there is anyone that David could honor on behalf of Jonathon. Since Saul’s household still has a servant, I think this means that Saul’s family has not been eliminated. They seem to still be rich enough to have servants, perhaps the servants are Saul loyalists (Benjamites?) that nostalgic for the glory days of Saul, or maybe they were slaves to Saul’s household that had not been freed yet.

The servant, Ziba, suggests Mephibosheth. David asks for Mephibosheth. When he arrives, he bows low to David and David says to him to not be afraid. This was probably the very first time he ever met David. He probably had heard of the friendship pact between his father and David, but he had no idea if it was still valid. After all, his grandfather Saul had mercilessly pursued David for years and Saul’s death resulted in a 7 year civil war between Mephibosheth’s uncle and David. Mephibosheth is understandably nervous.

David’s reason for bringing Mephibosheth to court was probably the last thing he expected to hear – David wants to restore Saul’s familial lands to Mephibosheth and that Mephibosheth will always eat at David’s table.

David’s stated purpose in returning the land is to ensure that Mephibosheth is always provided for. This is redundant because Mephibosheth was taken care of because he stayed in Jerusalem to eat at David’s table.

The return of the family lands to Saul’s grandson is interesting. Real property always had to be returned to the familial owners every 50 years, but that was in the case of leasing land. The Mosaic Code real property portion had no provisions regarding whether a king could confiscate land and if that would be immune from returning to the original owners every 50 years. David’s action and statements implicitly suggests that – yes, the king can break the 50 year inheritance rule.

2 Samuel 8

The chapter summarizes David’s big military victories. It turns out he defeated all the regional rivals – the Philistines, Amalekites, Moabites, and Edomites. He set garrisons up in the conquered areas and even defeated an army by the Euphrates. I think this is the first military conflict we have seen with the Edomites (descendants of Esau). God wanted the Israelite/Edomite relations to be harmonious up to now.

These victories remind me of various promises to Abraham and Moses where God promised to enlarge the borders of Israel, but only if they were following God. Here, we see some of that potential being fulfill.

By our standards, David was sometimes a brutal warlord when he won battles. When he beat the Moabites, he had 2/3 of them put to death while 1/3 were allowed to live. The survivors then became servants to the Israelites. He also hamstrung 20,000+ horses that were captured in one battle. I am not sure why he would do that, I think it would be better to just kill the horses rather than torture them.

That reminds me of Joshua having the defeated kings impaled.

2 Samuel 7

God finally gives David rest from his enemies. As far as we can tell, he has been in a constant state of war ever since he slew Goliath.

David has time to think. He mentions to Nathan the prophet (Gad's replacement?), “I live in a house of cedar while the ark of God remains in a tent.” Well, David, the tent was God’s idea all along.

Nathan responds, “whatever is on your mind, go ahead and do it.”

That night, God speaks to Nathan. God is highly impressed with what David said, although David’s comment was nothing more than an observation. Nevertheless, God lays out the blessing of the Davidic Covenant. Essentially, David’s throne will rule forever and ever. It is also an interesting use of the word “house”, which comes through despite the translation. David had discussed a literal “house” (home) with Nathan. Here, God turns it around and plans to give David a dynastic “house”. God also says that he will never take his love away from David, as God took his love from Saul.

Well, we know that bond gets tested with the Bathsheba incident. It also is redeemed with Solomon.

David then makes a prayer of thanksgiving and worship and asks God to bless the “house of your servant”, i.e., the House of David.

2 Samuel 6

David decides to bring the ark to Jerusalem.

The first attempt goes horribly wrong. David assembles all Israel to bring the ark in a big procession train/ party. The ark is on a cart that is pulled by oxen, but the animals stumble. A man, Uzzah, grabs the ark to stabilize it and he is immediately struck down by God. Uh oh. What was a big party has now gone off-course.

David decides to leave the ark in the household of a local person, Obed-Edom. The ark is there for three months and God blesses Obed-Edom and his household on account of the presence of the ark.

David hears of the blessing of the ark’s presence for Obed-Edom and decides that the ark should be near him. So, he makes a second attempt. David rejoices and dances around wearing priest underwear in this big procession train when his wife Michal looks out a window, sees David doing this, and despises him.

She challenges David and said that he was making himself look like a fool. David’s response is that he was humiliating himself for the Lord. This appears to have been a public rebuke by her as well. The chapter ends by saying that Michal had no children to the day of her death.

So, was Michal’s anger towards David the reason for not having children? There is a spatial inference that one can make. She is angry at David and the next statement is that she has no kids. I am not convinced that is the case because the does not actually state that it was a cause and effect situation or that God cursed her on account of it. I read it as a sense of pitying - she had a rough life. Her father and many of her brothers have been killed. Her father made her give up her first husband (David) before her half-brother made her give up her second husband to go back to David. Here, David lacks dignity and dances around half-naked in front of the country. She may have just snapped from all that has happened in her life.

That said, the context was one of celebration and she is not joining in. She can be mad at David later and perhaps should have rebuked him in private later. Right now, the ark of God is now coming into the nation’s capital. The whole country is celebrating and her focus is on her anger towards David. I think that’s why this story gets so much attention in the Bible.

2 Samuel 5

Yes, the war is over. All the tribes of Israel came and paid homage to David. David made a covenant with the tribes and is anointed king over Israel.

The chapter covers a few high points of his reign:

David was 30 years old when he became king at Hebron. He reigned there for 7 ½ years before becoming king over all Israel. He reigned in Jerusalem for 33 years.

David’s first order of business – move his capital. His actions are not explained (i.e., why move to Jerusalem?), but he attacks Jerusalem and wrests it from the Jebusites. Afterwards, he takes up residence and builds up the city.

The King of Tyre sends a bunch of building supplies for the construction of David’s palace. David also marries more women and has a lot more children.

That appears to be the highlight reel. Now for the nitty-gritty of David’s reign.

The Philistines heard that David is now king of Israel (yes, he was a turncoat after all), so they move their armies into the Valley of Rephaim. David asks God what he should do (a smart move) and God says go attack the Philistines. David is unleashed on the Philistines. The Philistines abandon their idols and David and his men carry them off. Why is David carrying off the idols as opposed to destroying them on the ground? – I don’t know.

The Philistines move into the Valley of Rephaim again. God gives David a battle strategy to attack from the rear. David does this and defeats the Philistines again.

2 Samuel 4

The news of Abner’s death disillusions Ish-Bosheth and alarms the rest of the country. It is pretty obvious which side has won.

Two of Ish-Bosheth’s men decide to kill Ish-Bosheth and take his head to David. They obviously want a financial reward or at least amnesty from David. David is not pleased with this and has them both executed for killing an innocent man. David has the head of Ish-Bosheth buried in Abner’s tomb.

We are also introduced to Jonathon’s son Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was a child when the battle of Jezreel happened and the Philistines killed his father and grandfather. During the turmoil, his nurse had picked him up to flee, but he fell off her and became lame in both feet.

So, is the war finally over?

2 Samuel 3

The war “lasted a long time” and David grew stronger while the House of Saul became weaker. (v. 1)

At Hebron, David was very busy with other matters. He marries 4 more women and has a male chill with each one of his 6 wives.

Meanwhile, Abner sleeps with one of the concubines of the late king Saul. Later on, during Absalom’s rebellion, this is explained to be a method of asserting control over the throne itself. So, this may have been a power play by Abner. Or, maybe Abner is functionally king of the north.

Ish-Bosheth asks Abner why he did it. Abner responds with a raving tirade about his loyalty to the house of Saul that leaves Ish-Bosheth speechless and afraid of Abner.

Well, Abner’s loyalty is not worth all that much because he starts trying to make peace with David. David agrees but he wants his first wife Michal (Saul’s daughter) back. David even bypasses Abner and makes this demand directly to Ish-Bosheth. Ish-Beshoth orders Michal (his half-sister?) to be taken from her current husband (Paltiel) and sent back to David. Paltiel follows her and weeps until Abner tells him to go back home.

Sweet. David now has 7 wives. When does that officially become a “harem”?

Meanwhile, Abner goes around the rest of Israel, including to the Benjamites (Saul’s tribe), and encourages loyalty to David. He goes back to David and told him that the country is ready to pay homage to David. David has a feast and Abner leaves to arrange the peace.

Joab hears that Abner was at Hebron and David let him go. Joab tracks Abner down and murders him to avenge the death of his brother Asihai from their first battle of Gibeon.

Poor David. David’s underlings are screwing up what may have been a conclusion of the civil war and a peaceful political transition.

David has a long lament for Abner and even curses the family of Joab for this murder. That seems a little over-the-top to me. If anything, it reminds me of David’s lament for when Jonathon died. I think the political situation (i.e., Abner was securing a peace-deal when he was killed) might explain the long lament for Abner. Plus, the lament concludes that no one suspected that David was responsible for Abner’s death. If these are genuine emotions on the part of David, I think it is because of his love for country and/or war exhaustion as opposed to a fondness for Abner personally. David and Abner did not appear to be close friends, but David knows that Joab’s action could mean prolonged warfare.

House of David v. House of Saul (2 Samuel 2)

This is a true civil war now. Before this, David eluded Saul’s army and never actually fought with him. The two sides will fight it out.

Important characters:

Abner – Saul’s former general who still is loyal to the House of Saul (or at least opportunistic enough to know which side serves him best)

Ish-Beshoth – Saul’s 40 year old son who inherits Saul’s throne

Joab – David’s general; based on Chronicles’ genealogy, he appears to be David’s cousin

Abishai and Asahel – both are (half?)brothers of Joab

Eventually, David asks God if it is time to go back to Israel. God tells David to go to Hebron. David, his family, his army, and their families settle in Hebron and the people of Judah anoint David as king of Judah.

Meanwhile, Abner has Ish-Beshoth crowned king of the rest of Israel. Uh oh – two kings in one land.

The first encounter happens at Gibeon. Abner and Saul loyalists sit on one side of a pool while Joab and David loyalists sit on the other side. Abner suggests the idea that a small group from each side should fight it out in a knife-fight. 12 people are selected from each side and they stab each other with daggers. The text is a little unclear, but it sounds like all the initial 24 people are killed or wounded. In the battle that follows, Joab’s men kill over 300 Benjamites while only a handful of Joab’s men die. However, Asahel chases Abner, but Abner kills him with a spear.

Eventually, the sides break off – Saul loyalists head across the Jordan while David’s men return to Hebron.

2 Samuel 1

David is still in Ziklag when a messenger comes from the battle front - Saul and his sons are dead. The man, an Amalekite, brings Saul's crown and his arm band as proof. He also claims that he in fact killed Saul, as opposed to Saul committing suicide. Other than that, his story corresponds to the events in the preceding chapter.

The man was likely looking for a reward from David for killing off his enemy. David is not happy and instead has this man executed for regicide. At this point, there is no indication that David suspects this man is lying but I think the justice is fair under the Mosaic. There actually were not many penalties for lying per se (despite it being in the 10 Commandments). There was one big one - if you lied to frame someone else for a crime, then you could be punished to the same extent for that same crime.

It's not exactly the same scenario, but I think the principal is that lying brings the amount of justice that you're lying about. So, if you lie about killing a person, it would seem that the justice of killing that person would fall on you. That's what happened here. In David's eyes, killing "God's annointed" was punishable by death and the man dies.

Afterwards, David writes a new song lamenting about the death of Saul and Jonathon. I don't think this made it into the book of Psalms although verse 18 says it is in the Book of Jashar.

The most interesting thing about the song - the love of Jonathon was more wonderful than that of women. (verse 26).

Woah!!!! That's a bit far there David. He obviously needed someone to edit his songs before they got published.

The death of Saul (1 Samuel 31)

Meanwhile, back at Gilboa, the armies of the Philistines and Hebrews clashed. The Hebrews are routed. Three of Saul's sons are killed, including Jonathon. Saul is critically wounded by archers and he asks his armor-bearer to kill him. Saul expects that the Philistines would kill him, but he does not want to die at their hands. The armor-bearer declines out of fear of Saul, so Saul lunges on a sword and dies. The armor-bearer does the same.

The Philistines display the bodies of Saul and his men on the wall of Beth Anan. The men of Jabesh-Gilead hear of this and remove the bodies at night, burn them, and then bury their bones.

Thus ends the first book of Samuel. Saul and three of his sons may be dead, but Saul's dynasty and the civil war are not over yet.

1 Samuel 30

It's actually a good thing that David was dismissed from the Philistine army - he's needed back in Ziklag.

Three days later, David reaches Ziklag. Unfortunately, he finds the city in smoking ruins.

While the men of Ziklag had gone to fight the Hebrew army, Amalekite raiders sacked and pillaged the town. The Amalekites took all the women and children along with the plunder.

Well...this is actually very similar to what David had been doing to Amalekite cities while he was in Ziklag. However, David killed the population and did not carry away women and children.

David's army is mad and want to stone him (reminds me of Moses a few times). He asks the priest if God wants them to chase after the Amalekites and they get an affirmative.

David's army pursues the Amalekites. 200 of his soldiers are too tired to continue, so he presses on with the remaining 400 men.

He finds an Egyptian who was a prior slave of the same Amalekite army who leads David to the Amalekite camp, which is now a big raging party. David's army attacks them, kills most, and sends the rest scurrying off in camels. David's men recover the plunder and as well as all the women and children, including both of David's wives.

The 400 men do not want to share the recovered plunder with the 200, but David demands that they do.

I read an interesting commentary that Ziklag was Davids's "exile" period. Many of the great leaders in the Bible had "exile" periods - Abraham (always in exile), Jacob (with Laban), Joseph (permant exile in Egypt), Moses (with the Midianites), etc...It continued to the New Testament with Christ in Egypt and Paul spent 3 years in the desert.

It's an interesting connection. Of course, many of the important leaders did not have "exile" periods, at least as far as we know - Gideon, Samuel, Saul, Solomon, etc...

1 Samuel 29

Other Philistine commanders start questioning why Hebrew soldiers are counted among the Philistine soldiers in preparing for battle against Saul. In prior engagements, there were Hebrew conscripts fighting in the Philistine army, such as in Saul's first battles against the Philistines (1 Samuel 14:21).

Achish, the king of Gath, explains that the Hebrews are led by David, who is now a loyal vassel to Gath. This freaks out the other Philistine commanders who remember the saying "Saul killed thousands and David tens of thousands". They believe that David is a double-agent and will fight for Saul when the battle actually happens.

Achish tells the bad news to David: "Sorry bud, you gotta sit this one out. You can't stay and fight."

David: "What did I do wrong?"

Well, David never asks God whether he should fight for the Philistines or turn-coat for the Hebrews during the actual battle. Nor does David explain in the text what he actually would have done, so we are left to speculate about which side David would have fought for. That said, since David was killing Amalekites but telling Achish that they were Hebrews, David would probably not have fought against Saul's army.

Interestingly, during the interaction between David and Achish, Achish refers to "God" and the "Lord". Achish even refers to David as an "angel of the Lord". So I wonder if David had an evangelistic effect on the Philistine king. If so, that's an interesting turnaround - David slew Goliath of Gath; David becomes missionary to Gath.

The Necromancer of Endor (1 Samuel 28)

This is a bizarre and fascinating anecdote. It has interesting implications any way that it is interpreted. I actually had a dream this morning about my dead cousin, which is a little creepy now that I am reading this.

Also, why did George Lucas name the Ewok home world after this incident? I don't know.

The Philistines are mustering their armies. Saul hears of this and grows in fear. Samuel is dead, so Saul gets the idea to use a medium to contact Samuel's ghost.

OK. Contacting the spirits of the dead was one of the big no-nos from the Mosaic law. Chapter 28, verse 3 reminds us of that because Saul had banned all the mediums from the land. However, one still lives in Endor. His people know about her and tell him about her.

Saul and two of his men come to her in disguise. She initially does not want to contact any dead people, thinking that this is a trap and she will be put to death per Saul's order. Saul promises that no harm will befall her and asks for Samuel.

She does her stuff and when she sees Samuel, she somehow knows that her visitor is Saul.

She sees a figure coming out of the earth wearing a robe. Saul cannot see this and after her description, he says it is Samuel and falls prostrate on the ground.

"why have you disturbed my rest?" asks Samuel.

"the philistines are coming and God has abandoned me", said Saul.

"yup, because you did not kill the Amalekites. By the way, you'll die tomorrow."

After this, the medium makes some food, kills the fat calf, and gives food to Saul and his men.

So, what is going on here? I think there are two interpretive camps - Samuel was actually (1) a demonic manifestation or (2) Samuel himself.

One view is that "Samuel" was actually a demonic spirit that appears as Samuel and not actually Samuel. This is consistent with the overwhelming prohibition of contacting dead spirits in the Mosaic law. I also think the implications of Samuel's spirit returning from the dead make people very uncomfortable, so this becomes the de facto alternative. Plus, there is some dispute whether the prediction of Saul dying "tomorrow" is correct or if Saul dies three days later. The problem stems from an interluding story about David that occurs three days later.

Here is the timing:

Chapter 28 - Israel is camped at Guiboa and Saul visits the witch of Endor

Chapter 29 - David is dismissed from the Philistine army (Israelites are camped by the spring in Jezreel)

Chapter 30 - 3 days later, David arrives at Ziklag

Chapter 31 - Israel's army is defeated at Guiboa; Saul dies there

I think a reasonable reading is that the story breaks off from a strict chronological approach and that each chapter describes events happening relatively simultaneously or concurrently. So, the "three days later" in David's journey should not necessarily be added to three days after Saul's visit to the witch. Further, since the Israelites are camped in Guibau (ch. 28) and are defeated there (ch. 31), it would seem that those chapters are connected chronologically. I have no idea where the spring in Jezreel is (ch. 29).

My point is that the prophecy told by the apparation of Samuel actually could have been correct and that Saul died the next day. But to reach that conclusion, the story must be diverging chronologically and instead be discussing simultaneous/concurrent events.

There are several problems with the demonic manifestation theory. First, the text itself clearly says "Samuel" and not "spirit impersonating Samuel". So, you would have to read into the text something that it does not say. The straightforward reading of the text is that it actually is Samuel.

Second, the woman's actions are more consistent with it being Samuel. We can assume she has done this before. However, she is really surprised different has happened now. What would be different? Perhaps the other times she has contacted the dead, they were in fact demonic manifestations. This time, if it actually was Samuel - a holy man of God appearing before her in spirit - then she would be very surprised and fear for her life. That fear and surprise is precisely what happened.

We also see something similar happening in the New Testament. Moses and Elijah appear with Christ at one point. We have one other episode to gauge this story so it actually is not as much of an outlier as it appears.

If it actually was Samuel, then what are the possible implications? Probably a lot, but here are some I see: (1) ghosts exist, (2) ghosts existed in the pre-Christ era, or (3) spirits of dead people can be summoned (if summoning is required, then it is not exactly a ghost).

Personally, I believed it was a demonic manifestation for a long time. After studying it this time around, I am a lot more comfortable with the fact that it may have actually been Samuel. I would say I lean towards that interpretation now.

Last but not least, the name of Endor is now more associated with Ewoks and not this crazy story.

1 Samuel 26-27

1 Sam 26

Saul is actually not pursuing David when the people of Ziph tell him that David is hiding around Ziph. Then, Saul leaves with his warriors to find David. I think this shows that the prior incident where David spared his life in the cave had an impact on Saul. However, Saul being the wishy-washy ruler that he is, he just needs to be reminded by people who expect him to pursue David that he goes off and pursues David.

At Ziph, Saul's army is in a deep sleep caused by God. David sneaks into Saul's camp and steals a spear and water jug near where Saul was sleeping. He sneaks back out of camp and then starts yelling at Abner, Saul's general. Saul, Abner, and the rest of the army wake up and Saul recognizes David's voice.

It seems to be late at night, so they can't see where the voice is coming from. But anyway Saul apologizes to David and tells him to go home and that Saul won't pursue David anymore.

I think this might be accurate in that there are no more pursuits by Saul to chase David.

Chapter 27

However, David does not trust this promise but rather runs off to hide among the Philistines again. All 600 of David's soldiers and David's two wives settle in the Gath region. Verse 4 says that Saul stopped chasing David because he learned that David was living with the Philistines.

The king of Gath gives David the town of Ziklag to live in. This is mutually beneficial political. David has a private army which would threaten Gath. Plus, David is the renowned slayer of Goliath of Gath. So, there probably was a lot of tension between the people of Gath and this Israelite private army.

While in Ziklag, David acts like a vassal to the king of Gath and builds up trust. He goes on raiding trips and attacks other groups of people (including the Amelekites, who I thought Saul had completely destroyed) but tells the king of Gath that he killed fellow Israelites. Since David left no one alive, no witnesses could tell the king of Gath where David actually was.

David lives among the Philistines for a year and four month and they think he is a turncoat Benedict Arnold. In chapter 28, the king of Gath tells David that he must join them in battle and that David will his personal bodyguard.

1 Samuel 24-25

1 Sam 24

Saul returns from fighting the Philistines (that was fast) to pursue David some more. David is hiding in a cave when Saul enters the same cave to go to bathroom. David's men encourage him to kill Saul, but instead he sneaks up and cuts off a piece of Saul's robe. David reasons that because God anointed Saul king, David does not have the right to kill Saul.

When Saul has left, David shouts down to him that he spared his life. Saul breaks down and cries and begs for mercy on his family when David becomes king.

This is a human moment for Saul. The man who governs by his wrath and jealousy cannot handle this bit of gentleness and mercy. Rather, it makes him break down and cry. But it also makes you wonder - when is Saul going to stop trying to kill David and move on with his life?

In the next chapter, we see a contrasting human moment from David.

Chapter 25

Samuel has died, we still have an entire book of Samuel to read through. The last of the "Judges" has now died.

Meanwhile, David is hiding out in the wilderness and approaches a local wealthy man named Nabal for provisions. David's men protected Nabal's flocks and servants before. So, David is calling in a favor, although Nabal really owes David nothing.

Nabal is mean and responds with insults. The text makes it seem like he was more concerned with his own wealth, but I am a bit sympathetic to Nabal. The nation is in the midst of a civil war and Nabal is deciding not to side with David. I think that is a legitimate perspective for him. Plus, people who help David end up getting killed by Saul. If this were Nabal's motivation, he could certainly have dealt with it better, or at least explained to David that he was afraid of repercussions by Saul.

Nabal handles it poorly and David feels insulted. David now wants revenge. He leads 400 of his 600 soldiers to attack Nabal and his household. In fact, David is planning to kill Nabal's entire household. This act of vengeance is more characteristic of Saul.

Fortunately, Nabal's hot wife Abigail meets David on the road and gives him a ton of provisions and she says her husband is an idiot. David realizes he was about to commit "murder" and this stops him.

Abigail returns home and her husband is drunk at his own party. She tells him the next day she helped David and becomes paralyzed. Ten days later, God struck him dead. David marries Abigail.

We also learn that David has another wife, Ahinoam, and that his first wife, Michal, was given to another man. Giving Michal to another man reminds me of what happened to Samson.

I assume that David and his men are meeting other females in the countryside. Abigail brings a few servant girls when she marries David. But the story with Abigail comes across as if she is the only woman that they come across after years of being in the wilderness. It sounds like she's the only woman on a pirate ship. So, of course the leader of the band David marries her.

I Samuel 22-23

1 Sam 22

David moves from Gath to caves and then to the land of the Moabites. People start flocking to David and soon he has an army of 400 men. A prophet tells him to return to Judah, which he does. Word gets to Saul that David is back in the country. I suppose it is hard to hide 400 people moving around.

Doeg the Edomite also tells Saul about how the priests at Nob helped David. Remember how the Levites had some cities, but not land? It appears that Nob is a Levite city because Saul has 85 priests arrested from Nob. He further goes off the deep end and orders them to be put to death. The Israelite soldiers refrain from this, but then Doeg steps up and kills all 85 of them.

During the discussion, Ahimilek the priest points out the absurdity of the situation. Basically, "you think David is conspiring against you but he is the captain of your royal body guard."

Side note - the French Bible said that Saul's daughter used a "family idol" to create a dummy to allow David to escape. Maybe this indicates that Saul was really losing it faith wise a few chapters ago. Another idea - if he felt rejected by God, maybe he felt he had to find a new god. Regardless, Saul seems to be making up his own rules as he goes along.

Also - Saul is still a relatively common Jewish name. The Apostle Paul was originally named Saul. Looking at Saul's later actions, why would people name their male children after this guy. He goes nuts.

I Sam 23

Meanwhile, the Philistines raid the food supply at Keibah. God tells David to attack the Philistines there, which he does but only after a promise from God of victory. Saul hears of this and moves his army there, thinking that David is trapped.

David asks God if Saul is coming and if the people of Keibah will surrender him to Saul. God says yes, to both. David and his now 600 troops run off to the wilderness. Saul chases David through the wilderness when Jonathan leaves Saul's camp and finds David. I actually think this is hilarious. It makes me think that Saul is completely incompetent if his son can find David but Saul's army cannot. It probably also means that God was protecting David from Saul.

Finally, Saul is closing in on David on the same mountain when Saul hears that the Philistines are again attacking. This little civil war will have to wait and Saul backs off from David.

A&Ds - Judges and 1 Sam

Judges 6:11-24 - An angel meets with Gideon. Gideon offers a sacrifice and the angel ignites it with fire.

Juges 13 - an angel foretells the birth of Samson. v. 17-18 - the angel says his name is beyond understanding

I Samuel 16:14; 18:10; 19:9 - God sends an spirit to torment King Saul.

I Samuel 28 - the spirit of "Samuel" is summoned by the necromancer of Endor

I Samuel 29:9 - The king of Gath likens David to an "angel"

I Samuel 20-21

1 Sam 20

Saul is totally crazy at this point. He changes from anger to normal in a flash. However, it is time for the new moon festival and David normally eats with Saul at this time.

Jonathan hatches a plan to protect David and determine what mood Saul is in. The next day, he will shoot practice arrows and his servant will retrieve them. If he shoots him far, then it is dangerous for David to be around.

Saul notices David's absence at the meal. Jonathan explains that David is in Bethlehem, a lie. Saul tries to kill his son Jonathan.

The next day, Jonathan shoots the arrows far. But before David runs off, he greets Jonathan which could be their last time together.

David runs off as a fugitive.

I Sam 21

David runs off to the priests of Nob. Ahimilech, the priest, offers him holy bread which he can only eat if he has not had sex recently. Ahimilech also gives him back the sword of Goliath, the Philistine.

Meanwhile, Doeg, one of Saul's men sees David at Nob.

After this, David carries the sword to Gath, where Goliath was from. The local Gath people don't quite understand this (neither do I) and do not trust David to live among them. So, David pretends he is crazy, scratching doors drooling down his beard.

I Samuel 18-19

I Sam 18

David and Jonathan become friends. Saul appoints David as leader of soldiers during the initial campaign. David does well.

They are returning from the front when Saul hears a song by the women of Israel. The song goes "Saul has killed thousands but David has killed ten thousands". This enrages Saul and he develops a fear and jealousy focused on David.

The tormenting spirit returns and David plays the harp as before. This time, Saul twice tries to kill David with a spear, but David escapes both times.

Saul offers his eldest daughter to David, but David refuses. Meanwhile, Saul's youngest daughter Michal falls in love with David. Saul offers David Michal in marriage, but the bride price is 100 Philistine foreskins. This was intended as a way to get David killed, but David and his men come back with 200.

I Sam 19

Saul tells his men to go kill David, but Jonathan talks Saul into letting David live and stay at court. Time passes and David is at court when the tormenting spirit attacks Saul again. Saul Becomes father in law from he'll and again throws a spear at David, which he dodges. Michal warns David to flee and helps him descend from a window. She makes dummy in David's bed says that he is asleep. This gives David time to escape.

Eventually, the dummy ruse is discovered Michal said that David was going to kill her if she did not help him.

David escapes to Samuel. Saul sends troops after them, but when they get to Samuel, they start prophesying. They also lose all interest in killing David. This happens three times and eventually It happens to Saul as well.

I Samuel 17

The Philistines are not out of the picture. They come back and this time, they have a giant, Goliath of Gath.

The two armies stand apart in the battlefield and for forty days, Goliath comes and taunts the Israelites. It seem like everyone has forgotten that Jonathan and his armor bearer killed 20 before God sent an earthquake.

David is bringing supplies to his brothers who are in Saul's arm. David sees Goliath's taunts and gets mad. He asks around and finds out that whoever kills Goliath will get Saul's daughter in marriage. Woah!

Now we know why David does what follows.

He says to Saul that he will go fight Goliath. Saul initially declines, but David persists and tells the stories how he fought off lions and bears as a shepherd. This convinces Saul and he lets David go off. David declines Saul's armor and heads off with a sling and 5 stones. David throws one shot with his sling and it lands in Goliath's forehead. He falls to the ground. David walks over and cuts off Goliath's head.

The Philistines flee and the Israelites chase them down.

Back at the camp, Saul finally asks David about his father. A chapter before, David played music for Saul and was Saul's armor-bearer. Now, he finally wants to know about David's father. One explanation is Saul now knows that they will be in-laws soon, so he is curious what family his daughter will marry into.

I Samuel 16

God tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem to anoint the next king, a son of Jesse. God tells Samuel to take an animal to sacrifice which will be cover for why Samuel is going to Bethlehem. God tells Samuel not to judge based on appearance alone, but then the text says that David was very dark and handsome.

Meanwhile, Saul is still king. God sends an evil sprit to fill Saul with fear and depression. Woah. What? Is this really happening? My guess is that God is directing the evil spirit to do what the evil spirit already wants to do - torment the king of Israel. Plus, Saul has sinned against God, so the evil spirit is only fulfilling the judgment of God on Saul. Regardless, it is a strange anecdote and comes out of nowhere.

Saul's advisers say they should get a harpist to play nice music to put Saul at ease. They select David, whose music drives away the evil spirit. David now is also getting crucial experience of seeing what a kingly court looks like. Plus, he finds favor before Saul and Saul selects David as his armor-bearer.

I Sam 15

God tells Saul, through Samuel, to go and destroy and the Amalekites. This was payback for the Amalekites being mean to the Israelites as they came out of Egypt. They were to completely destroy the Amalekites - kill all the people and destroy all their possessions.

He follows the orders, but leaves their king alive. He also took plunder from the Amalekites and left alive the best of their sheep.

God tells to Samuel, "I regret making Saul king because he does not follow my instructions.". Uh oh.

Samuel finds Saul leading the army with all the bleating of sheep. Saul says that the sheep are for sacrifices and that he killed all but the Amalekite king, Agog. Samuel relays the message from God. Saul blames it all on his solids, who apparently wanted the plunder and to humiliate Agog. Samuel ends up killing Agog.

In the prior chapter, Saul makes a command to his soldiers that no one can eat during the day of battle and here, he says he is afraid of his soldiers. Maybe that partly explains some of his crazier actions. He feels very insecure, but as king, his authority is exercised in weird ways. He reminds of a bully who is actually afraid of the people he bullies.

A thought-provoker - in Samuel's rant when he finds Saul, he says that God does not change his mind like humans do. But we have already seen God change his mind several times in the Old Testament. Likewise, God saying "I regret making Saul king" actually is God changing his mind.

I Sam 14

Saul and his son Jonathan fall into their classic personality patterns here. Saul comes off as an impulsive, rash, and foolish leader while Jonathan displays faith and wisdom that we wish Saul had.

Saul has his 600 men camped near the Philistine camp. Jonathan decides to attack the Philistine camp with his armor bearer. The two men attack the Philistines alone and kill 20 Philistines. As they were approaching, Jonathan says that God can win a battle with many soldiers or a few. So, he demonstrates a strong faith in God. Why has Saul's 600 men not done this?

Panic breaks out among the Philistine camp. God also sends an earthquake which causes more commotion. The Philistines start killing each other and scattering in multiple directions. Saul's army sees this and they finally attack.

At some point, Saul makes the vow/curse that any soldier who eats before evening will be cursed. Jonathan had not heard of this, probably because he snuck off to attack. Jonathan sees a honeycomb and eats of the honey. He later hears of Saul's vow/curse and comments that it is foolish, and that they could kill more enemy soldiers if there strength was up.

The Israelites win and it is later discovered that Jonathan ate the honey. Saul is ready to kill Jonathan when the soldiers step up to protect him. They save Jonathan.

Telling his soldiers not to eat the day that they are fighting strikes me as incredibly stupid. But we have already seen a ton of crazy vows during warfare. I don't get.

That said, Saul did a number of things in this chapter that were right. He ensured the soldiers properly bled the slaughtered animals and he did ask the military priest to enquire about what God had to say.

The chapter concludes by saying that Saul drafted every strong man into his army. I actually respect this since it appears that Saul faced constant warfare throughout his reign.

I Sam 11-13

1 Sam 11

A month later, the Ammonites attack Jabesh in Gilead (east of the Jordan river). The city plans to surrender but the Ammonites king wants to gouge out everyone's right eye. They ask for 7 days to send out messengers to the rest of Israel.

The word reach Saul's hometown of Gibeah and everyone in the town mourns and cries. Saul is plowing the fields and returns to the city to find everyone in tears. He hears about Gilead, so he cuts up two cows into pieces and sends them throughout Israel. Anyone who doesn't come to hope will be treated like the cows.

Through this action, they raise a huge army. They relieve Gilead and defeat the Ammonites. Some of the Israelites ask for the people who doubted Saul and did not want him as king. But Saul says that no one will be put to death for that.

So, Saul's first official action as king is overall positive. He does overreact with the cows and we get a sense of his impetuous wrath.

1 Sam 12

After the victory over the Ammonites, the Israelites have the coronation party that they failed to have a month earlier. Saul was not in the mood for it at the time anyway (hiding among the baggage).

Samuel uses the occasion to complain about being replaced. "whose ox did I steal? Whose money bribed me?" are some of the questions he asked. The Israelites respond that Samuel was fair. Samuel warns them about staying close to God and not straying away. What is interesting is that Samuel tells them that they sinned by even asking for a king, but not worry unless they start worshipping other gods.

1 Sam 13

Saul is 30 years old when he became king.

He keeps 3000 of the soldiers and dismisses the rest of the army. His son, Jonathan, leads an attack at Geba. The Philistines get mad at this and Saul blows his horn around Israel to revolt against the Philistines. My guess is these events span a wide range of time and were not in Saul's first year as king. The reason is because 30 seems too young to have a son that could lead an army. It is possible, but seems young.

Meanwhile, the Philistines return in a huge horde. Seeing this, the Israelite army disperses into caves. Samuel had told Saul to wait for 7 days at Gilgal until Samuel arrived. On the 7th day of waiting, Saul saw his army dispersing, so he did the burnt offerings himself. Samuel arrives and rebukes him. He says that because of this, Saul's family will be cut off as a dynasty.

Unfortunately, we dont get enough details of what exactly Samuel told Saul to do. So, the consequence of the rebuke does not match up with what exactly Saul did wrong. People besides Samuel did burnt offerings all the time, so that cannot be the wrong that Saul did. From Samuel's words, it sounds like God through Samuel intended to do a burnt offering as a blessing for the Israelite army and Saul tried to usurp Samuel's role as representative of God.

This would make the rebuke make sense and justify the consequence. Howeve, I think we need to extrapolate that from the context because Saul's actions otherwise seem fine.

Saul is left with a band of 600 men. The Philistines have set up camp. Saul and Jonathan are the only Israelites with metal weapons because the Philistines do not allow the Israelites to have blacksmiths.

It really sounds like the Israelites are a pathetic little conquered country. If the Philistines did not want them to have blacksmiths, I wonder what was the Philistine reaction to them making Saul their king.

I Sam 9-10

One day, a handsome young man and his servant are looking for his father's donkeys. They spend three days walking around the land of Ephraim when the servant suggests they consult a local seer/prophet.

They go to where the seer/prophet should be, but they cannot find. Eventually, they come across Samuel who identifies himself as the person for whom they search. Samuel tells the handsome man that "your donkeys have been found and by the way, let me anoint you as first king of Israel".

I like the first introduction to Saul. It has a "sword in the stone" feel to it. A young man is selected king and it feels that there is a lot of potential in him.

It quickly goes haywire. When he is officially selected as king in front of Israel, he is found hiding among the baggage and people immediately start asking questions about whether or not he can lead Israel.

I Samuel 5-8

1 Sam 5

The Philistines take the Ark back to their country and place it next to an idol of Dagon. They next day, Dagon is facedown on the ground. They reset Dagon and the next day, Dagon is facedown on the ground again, but his arms and head have broken off as well.

Meanwhile, the local population starts getting plague of something. The French Bible says they got hemorrhoids, but the various English translations say it was tumors. Either way, the population gets scared and they decide to send it Gath. At Gath, an outbreak of tumors/hemorrhoids happens. The people of Gath decide to send it to Escron. Before it even arrives there, the people start getting tumors/hemorrhoids. So, they decide it send back to the Israelites.

1 Sam 6

The Ark has been with the Philistines for 7 months.

The Philistines send the Ark back with a guilt offering of 5 golden tumors/hemorrhoids and 5 golden rats (the French Bible said mice). The guilt offering represents the plagues, so it appears a plague of rats ravaged the land along with tumors/hemorrhoids. However, later on it says that the rats represent the areas surrounding the 5 main Philistine cities.

They put the Ark on a cart with oxen and let the oxen go wherever they wanted. The oxen take the Ark to an Israelite city, Beth-shemesh.

At Beth-shemesh, the people rejoice when the Ark arrives and sacrifice the cows. They were harvesting wheat, so that means the fall festivals were approaching. So, the Ark is back for the fall festivals. Yay.

However, in a scene reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark, 70 people die at Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark.

1 Sam 7

The Ark is moved to Kiriah-jeream where it stays for 20 years and the Israelites feel that God abandoned them.

Samuel leads a movement to get rid of their idols. He also gets them to assemble their army by Mispah. Here, Samuel is recognized as judge of the Israelites.

Meanwhile, the Philistines here of the army by Mispah, so they come and attack. God speaks with thunder and confuses the Philistines. The Israelites defeat the Philistines and recover some of the cities that had been taken by the Philistines.

Samuel remains judge for the remainder of his life. He travels around the country setting up court in various cities to hear the cases.

1 Sam 8

Samuel gets older and his 2 sons do not follow in his example. Rather, they are greedy judges. So, the Israelites request a king. Uh oh. Samuel has even their judge for a long time and now they want a king.

God tells Samuel that it is in fact God that they are rejecting, not Samuel. For after all, God selected among the people who should be judge. There was no dynastic line. Here though, their complaint and solution does not make sense. They are concerned that Samuel's sons are greedy and do not have the same heart as Samuel. So, they request a king. This would not solve the problem as a king would have a son that could easily be corrupt, but this would actually be worse because now this son is king.

I think this why Samuel warns them. He warns them with various examples how a king could be corrupt and take away their daughters and property for his own use.

But they still want a king. The advantage of a king is that he would leave them into battle. I suppose Samuel did not do that.

God tells Samuel that they can have a king. Yay!

I Sam 3-4

1 Sam 3

God speaks to Samuel in the middle of the night. Samuel thinks it is Eli, so he runs to Eli who says he did not call for Samuel. This happens several times and eventually Eli thinks it might be God calling Samuel, so he instructs Samuel to “Here I am, God”. This happens and Samuel get a prophecy that is very anti-Eli.

The next morning, Samuel is terrified about what God said about Eli. Eli asks Samuel what God said, which Samuel says. Eli knows this is from God.

1 Sam 4

The story takes a darker turn as the prophecies against Eli become fulfilled.

The Philistines are still the main enemy (like during Samson) and they defeat the Israelites in battle. The Israelites send for the Ark in the hopes this will help defeat the Philistines. Eli’s sons accompany the Ark to this battle.

However, the Philistines win again. They even killed Eli’s sons and captured the Ark. Word of this gets back to Eli, who falls over and breaks his neck. The text says he had “judged” Israel for 40 years, so I guess he was the current Judge.

Eli’s daughter-in-law is in labor at the time she hears of the news. She dies in childbirth but not before naming her son “Ichabod” because the glory has departed from Israel.

I Samuel 2

Samuel is brought into Eli’s household and raised among the priests. Every year, his parents visit him in Shiloh and Eli blesses his parents. Later, Hannah has 3 more sons and 2 daughters.

Meanwhile, Eli’s sons abuse their positions as priests. They take extra portions of the meat without letting it properly burn as a “burnt” offering. They also used their position to sleep with women who were near the offering entrance.

Eli hears about this and chastises them, but they continue to do so. Finally, a unnamed person prophecies against Eli that his household will be cut off from the priesthood.

I Sam 1

Another relatively happy(ier) story.

It is still the time of the Judges. There probably was no current “judge”, although it is not stated either way. The Ark is still in Shiloh.

A woman named Hannah cannot have children. She is the favored wife of an Ephraimite man with two wives and her "rival" wife pops out children. Hannah grieves and weeps. One day, she prays at the festival in Shiloh and the priest Eli sees her mouth moving, but no words come out. He accuses her of being drunk, but she is doing a weeping-prayer. He blesses her that her prayer might be answered.

Her prayer was to have a child, whom she vows to make a Nazarite. Similar to Samson, no razor will cut his head and she will dedicate him to God.

God hears her prayer and gives her a child. One of the greatest prophets in the Bible is born. His name is Samuel.

His mother dedicates Samuel in Shiloh after he is weaned.

Chronicles 2:9-55 and 4:1-23

Most of these cover the main families of Judah, including David's family. Boaz was David's grandfather. David had 6 brothers and 2 sisters. It looks like Joab (as in David's general) was a cousin to David himself.

Chapter 2 also covers the geneology of Caleb.

Chapter 4 has the relatively famous account of Jabez. His mother named him Jabez because he caused her a lot of pain during childbirth. Jabez makes a prayer to God to not cause further pain to people, which God grants Jabez.

Other than that, nothing else stands out to me.

The Book of Ruth

Ruth is a breath of fresh air after all the chaotic violence of Judges. This is more a sitcom at times.

During the time of the Judges, a severe famine ravaged Israel. A family moves from Bethlehem to the Moabites to escape the famine. In the land of the Moabites, the sons of the family marry Moabite women. Then, the father and both sons die, leaving three widows. Meanwhile, the famine in Israel is over, and Noami (the wife of the father) decides to return to Bethlehem. One of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, goes back with her.

There in Bethlehem, Ruth works the fields as a poor person harvesting the leftover crops. She is noticed by the field's owner, Boaz who lets her work the fields alongside his main harvester and take the grain back on her own. Boaz, as it turns out, is a relative of Naomi's late husband. If we remember, male relatives of the deceased were supposed to marry their widows.

Eventually, Naomi can see that Boaz has a thing for Ruth, so she hatches plan to take it to the next level. She tells Ruth to bathe, wear her best clothes, put on perfume, and then sleep at Boaz's feet. This would be quite forward even in America today.

Boaz wakes up, sees Ruth, and we can only imagine what's in his mind. He agrees that he will redeem (marry in the sense of marrying a widow of a relative) Ruth, but there is a closer male relative to the deceased man, who has the right of first refusal of Ruth.

Boaz then hatches a plan to tie the marriage of Ruth with the purchase of the field of the man who died. If the other relative wants to buy the field, he must also redeem Ruth. I am not quite sure how exactly that works, but the other relative declines the field because marriage to Ruth would mess up his estate planning. That I understand.

So then Boaz buys the field and marries this hot Moabite woman, Ruth. They become ancestors of King David.

The story of Ruth provides some necessary comic relief coming off the book of Judges. It also seems to function as a transition from the Judges, which ends with "there was no king in Israel" to a story of the ancestors of Israel's two greatest kings David and Solomon, and hence Jesus.

The story also gives us some indication of what everyday life was like during the time of Judges. We also see several Mosaic laws in action that are critical to the story - poor people collecting leftovers and "redeeming" widows of relatives.

Judges 19-21

These chapters tell one long heartbreaking story filled with murder, rape, foolish vows, and a civil war that decimates the tribe of Benjamin. Their solution to the decimation of Benjamin is more murder and rape.

We get a time stamp in this as well. It turns out that Aaron's grandson is still alive, so this probably occurred relatively soon after the Conquest.

This story begins and ends with the Bible saying that there was no king in Israel and people did what they wanted.

It all begins because a Levite's concubine leaves him and goes back to her dad. He goes to her father's place to convince her to come back to him. She does, but her father keeps pressuring them to stay longer. Finally, they leave but it is late in the day.

Darkness falls as they pass through Gilead, a Benjamite city. No one will take them in except an old man. That night, townspeople from Gilead pound on the old man's door demanding the privilege of raping the male visitor. The old man refuses and offers his virgin daughter and the visitor's concubine. The visitor ends up pushing his concubine out the door. The townspeople rape her all night long and she is found dead on the doorstep the next morning. So, her husband cuts her into 12 pieces and sends a piece to each tribe of Israel.

It gets worse.

Israel unites to punish Gilead, but the people of Benjamin coalesce to defend Gilead. The Israelites lay siege to Gilead and are beaten in two days of fighting, despite asking God which tribe should lead. God did not predict a positive outcome.

On the third day of fighting, the Israelites win, destroy Gilead, and then go on a rampage destroying the cities of Benjamin. Finally, they stop and realize what they have done - the tribe of Benjamin is nearly extinct.

So, now they want to repopulate Benjamin. They had previously taken vow that (1) they would not give their daughters to Benjamin and (2) whoever did not attack Benjamin would die. A city (Jabesh-Gilead) did not provide soldiers for the war, so they attack the city, killing all except 400 virgin girls. They give these girls to the survivors of Benjamin, but they are not enough for every surviving man of Benjamin. So, they hatch the idea to let the Benjamites take the young girls of Shiloh during the annual feast. In this way, the people of Shiloh do not "give" their daughters, so the people of Shiloh would not break their vow to not "give" their daughters.

That's how the book of Judges end. There was no king in Israel and people did whatever they wanted.

To me, it is remarkable how they feel that vows should be fulfilled, regardless how bad it would be to fulfill the vow.

Judges 17-18

These chapters tell another bizarre story. The Bible gives us clues that these are bizarre stories by repeating "that there was no king in Israel" and that "everyone did what they thought was right in their own eyes."

A named Micah stole 1,100 silver coins from his mother and she puts a curse on whoever stole it. He confesses it (probably because he did not want the curse) and returns the money. His mom then says she will dedicate the money to God. So, she uses 200 of the coins to make a silver idol. A Levite passing through later agrees to be their "priest".

No way. Is this really happening. It gets crazier.

In chapter 18, scouts from the tribe of Dan come across this home that doubles as an idolatrous temple. When warriors of Dan come, they confiscate the idol and its priest before attacking a neighboring city. They win the battle and the silver idol is worshipped in Dan as long as the ark remained in Shiloh.

I think this story is not chronologically after Samson, but rather it happened relatively soon after Joshua's death because the tribe of Dan is still trying to settle.

Other than that, I don't have much to say about this story other than it is completely messed up. Like I said, the Bible warns us it is weird by saying that "there was no king of Israel at the time". The story does fit the pattern of the book of Judges though as we see some really crazy anecdotes.

Judges 16

Samson has a weakness - Philistine women. To him, they are blond cheerleaders who become masseuses, like to cook, and don't mind going to the store just to buy you beer.

He goes to the Philistine city of Gaza to visit a prostitute. Samson, you know they want to kill you, right? Samson waxes between arrogance and extreme fear, this is a moment of arrogance.

Word spreads around the city that he is there and they plan to attack him at dawn. He either gets wind of this or wants to demonstrate to the Philistines, so he gets up at midnight, tears the gates of the city off their hinges and drags them to the top of a hill.

At some point, Samson falls in love with a woman named Delilah. I think it is assumed that she is Philistine, but it is not stated as such. Her being Philistine would fit a pattern, but also her later actions seem to suggest she is not Hebrew. But who knows.

The Philistines hatch a plan to give her money if she can figure out the secret of his strength. She nags him and he tells her various lies, each of which she tries and his strength do not leave him.

Women can make otherwise intelligent guys do really stupid things.

Eventually, he gives in - a haircut will make him weak. Uh oh. Does he not know that she will do this?

She cajoles him to sleep on her lap. She summons in a barber who cuts his hair and he becomes like a normal human. The Philistines arrest him, drag him off as a prison, and blind him.

Later on, the Philistines make him the showcase at a temple to Dagon (their god) during a big festival. They claim that Dagon delivered Samson. No, you found his weakness for women and bribed the one he liked. Meanwhile, his hair has grown back.

He has an assistant help put his hands on the supporting columns of the temple. He asks God for strength one last time. He breaks the columns and the temple collapses, killing Sampson and 3,000 Philistines.

About his hair, he loses his strength if he gets a haircut. In the discussion with Delilah, he says that a razor has "never" cut his hair. I think this is a half-truth. It is true he never gets normal haircuts. However, as a Nazarite, he actually must cut his hair if he comes in contact with a dead body. I think this explains why Samson disappears after killing groups of Philistines.

The first record of that is when he kills 30 people at the wedding feast. He then disappears for an unknown period of time and then reappears at harvest time and wants his wife back. I think what is unstated is that he has had to cut his hair in the meantime as part of the Nazarite ritual and then waited for it to grow back before reappearing among the Philistines. Otherwise, he has regular human strength and an easy target for the Philistines. Something similar happened when he killed the 1,000 with the donkey jawbone. He goes into hiding and cannot find water, so God splits the rock.

It also might explain why he chooses to burn the fields with the foxes with torches tied to them. There is nothing "unclean" in that so he would not have to cut his hair and lose his strength.

It also would explain his seeming cowardice at times. I think those moments happen when he has had to cut his hair and is waiting for it to grow back. At those times, he is vulnerable and he knows the Philistines are hunting for him.