Investigating the Bible: Overcoming mistakes

By DAVID CARLSON PASTOR

James Keller, in his book, “One Moment Please!” wrote about a corrections officer at a Nebraska jail who received a letter for a man who was not an inmate. He was puzzled until he read the note scribbled on the back of the envelope: “If not in jail yet, please hold until he arrives.” Everyone makes mistakes. One leader in the Bible paid a high price for his mistake.

Samson was a man of great strength given to him by God. Once he was bound with many ropes. When Philistine soldiers surrounded Samson to attack, “…the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. And Samson said, ‘With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.’” (Judges 15:14-16, English Standard Version used throughout.).

Samson’s costly mistake was marriage to Delilah, a beautiful and greedy woman. The Philistines offered her 5,500 pieces of silver, worth more than $100,000 today, if she would discover the secret of Samson’s great strength. At her first requests, Samson told lies, making up stories about binding him with bowstrings, or new ropes, or braiding his long hair. After many requests from Delilah, he finally told her the secret of his strength: “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” (Judges 16:17). While he was sleeping, Delilah had a man cut off Samson’s seven locks.

When she woke him, the “… Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in prison.” (Judges 16:21).

In the end, Samson regained his faith and triumphed over his foes. Some 3,000 Philistines had assembled on the roof of a large building and watched Samson below, mocking him. Samson prayed: “‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.’ And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other … and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his life.” (Judges 16:28-30).

David Adeney was born 1911 in England. His goal from youth was to be a missionary in China. He was dismayed when he read in his evaluation by the board that he was a “poor risk” for work in China for health reasons. In school, he had pushed himself too hard in his studies. He was exhausted and in poor health. On the morning of his interview with the mission board, his daily reading of the Bible led him to this verse: “… as your days, so shall your strength be.” (Deuteronomy 33:25). The board members believed his assurances that he could regain his health. He did and served well for more than 30 years in China, until forced to leave by the Communist Revolution. In Carolyn Armitage’s biography, she quoted the words he often shared with others: “The greatest sin is not falling, but the failure to get up again.” The apostle Paul admitted, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses. So that the power of Christ may rest up on me … For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

David Carlson Pastor (yes, that is his last name, not his profession) is an Oregon resident and graduate of Bethel Theological Seminary in Minnesota (M.Div., M.Th.).