A colleague approached me yesterday and said, “I have a good one for you. What’s a Biblical parallel to suicide bombers?” He answered, “Samson.”
Intentionally committing suicide to kill those who are your enemies in recent decades has been almost exclusively associated with Islam. Many are arguing that all forms of terroism have no role or place in true Islam, thus those who claim to be killing themselves to kill others in the name of Allah are not true Muslims. I don’t want to address that topic, right now. I did find a very good article post from Middle East Forum entitled, “The Religious Foundations of Suicide Bombers”, that I believe has done a very fine job of citing early Islamic theologians, the Qur’an, and the Hadiths to demonstrate why we are witnessing suicide attacks in the name of Allah. I want to take the time to find all the citations and then write a post afterwards to show if I agree with the article after reading the citations. Without looking up all of the citations first hand, I think the Middle East Forum presents authoritative Islamic texts that Muslims can use to support terrorism and violent acts against non-Muslims. But that’s not the intent of this blog post. I want to address the point that Samson is a Biblical example that parallels Islamic suicide bombers. Is it justifiable to kill yourself if it is to kill those who are enemies of God? If the Christian says no, how could we respond if someone raises the objection of Samson?
If you are unfamiliar with Samson’s life and death, it can be found in Judges 13-16.
Samson was the product of a miraculous conception. (Judges 13:3) His mother was told that he should be a Nazarite from birth! (Judges 13:5) A Nazarite vow entailed no drinking of alcohol or cutting of your hair from the time the vow was taken, hence, Samson never had his hair cut. Samson is known for his superman strength. Samson attributes his great strength to having been a Nazarite from birth. (Judges 16:17) Once his hair is cut, he loses his strength and is captured by the Philistines. They gouged out his eyes! (Judges 16:21) The Philistines then gathered to offer a sacrifice to their god, Dagon. They had Samson shackled and were entertained by his failure and misery. Samson requested to be able to rest against the pillars that held up the roof of the courtyard. 3,000 Philistines were gathered, men, women, and children. (Judges 16:27) Samson then said, “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.” He then tore down the building by pushing on the two pillars that held up the roof. Scripture says that he died there with them and that he killed more Philistines in his death than during his life. (Judges 16:30)
This passage of Scripture can certainly be troubling. It means that God empowered Samson to kill not only himself, but also women and children. He wasn’t just killing the men who captured him and took his eyes. There are answers to this moral conflict that fit within the Biblical worldview that can ease the tension we sense over this horrible calamity, but outside of the Christian worldview they likely won’t satisfy, and even within the Christian worldview, we may not be satisfied. There are also some very clear ways in which this event is far different from God giving his approval on such acts as suicide bombing!
1st – Samson was a judge over Israel, the people of God. The position he had was appointed by God. Justice needed to be served. The false god and the temple of the Philistines should not prevail against the real God of the universe. Samson prayed to the Lord and asked for vindication against the enemies of God, and he was willing to offer his own life in the process. His death was not a self-righteous vindication either. He was laying his life down for the good of God’s people, that they might be spared from their enemies, even if it cost him his own life.
2nd – Samson’s strength always came from God. He attributed it to his long hair and vow, but in his final prayer, he is acknowledging that his strength was from the Lord. Scripture says that the Philistines were entertained by the spectacle of their enemy, Samson, captured and blinded. How were they entertained, unless they were laughing and mocking him? They likely were calling on him to save himself, to perform a great act of strength as he had done before, many times in his life. Since he was a judge, a representative of God, the Philistines in the house of Dagon were thus mocking and challenging the one true God. Foreshadowing and pointing to Jesus’ death, Samson gave his life to put an end to the enemies of God. Jesus Christ, when he was mocked, delivered a death blow to sin, death, and the devil, and reconciled all of humanity back into a relight relationship with God through the shedding of his own blood.
3rd – Samson’s death was far different from that of a suicide bomber. Samson was captured, his eyes had been taken, he was shackled, and he was likely going to be put death. The taking of his own life was clearly done through supernatural powers given by the Lord that he directly prayed to for help for vengeance against his enemies. A suicide bomber on the other hand is not doing anything supernatural. Bombs are not supernatural, thus cannot be confirmed to be approved by God. Suicide bombers have not been captured, they have not been tortured, and they are not being held captive and mocked in an act of worship towards the god of their enemies. Suicide bombers are not God’s chosen representatives of his judgment amongst his people.
4th – From the Biblical worldview, all life comes from God and it is his to give or take. All humans die as punishment for our sin (man, woman, or child). When and how death shall come is a matter left to God. When suicide bombers take their own lives and the lives of the innocent, it means that God has allowed the evil action to occur. It does not mean that he ordains it to be good. Samson’s sacrificial death brought glory to God and confirmed to all the remaining Philistines that the God of Israel is real and he is not to be mocked! The death of the Philistines quite possibly led to others in their community to repent and be brought to saving faith in the one true Lord, turning from Dagon The hope that we have from the Bible is that no matter what occurs, God will work through all situations for the good of his people who love him. (Romans 8:28)
Andy Wrasman 
Good response, Andy!
Thanks for posting on this topic. I haven’t really even thought about it from this perspective. Thanks for sharing with us all.
If I was taught that my death, along with the deaths of certain others (perceived to be opposed to me and my teachers) would guarantee me an immediate place in Paradise full of all I wanted on earth but was forbidden, then I can see the temptation of being a suicide bomber
But motive is all
Samson’s motive was to ‘make a stand’ for the God he had let down – a God who had entrusted to him the safety of His people
The idea of us making a stand for God is not the right corollary. We don’t make stands for God any more than the grass makes a stand for the wind.
But God makes a stand for us and Samson is a prototype of Jesus, the true and better Samson, who dies in His stand for us against the powers of sin and death
Jesus loses His life for others. A suicide bomber loses other peoples’ lives for himself – a true counterfeit
Samson is only excused by your conceit that “God” is real, and anything this entity does is good and just. From any form of rational perspective, absent the moral atavism on display here, Samson is no different than any other zealot who wishes to kill his enemy in the name of his deity.
Samson’s motive is revenge. He was a womanizer and adulterer (Judges 16:1) who married one woman only so he’d have an excuse to kill a bunch of Philistines, and then somehow expected her to still be available to him. He buggered a temptress sent by the enemy, and he behaves like the most abject moron. Oh, and he’s an animal abuser. (Judges 15:4-5) 300 foxes? So he sat there tied each pair of foxes together by the tail and lit them on fire (!) and set them loose in grain fields, thus ensuring the starvation of countless women and children. Thanks, God.
That he is likely just a Hercules parallel, written in a time when the Jews were becoming more and more Hellenized (alas for the psychopathic blood rage of the “holy” Macabees) is largely irrelevant.
Point by point:
1) You claim justification for Samson’s murderous rampages through divine authority. Suicide bombers claim justification through their view of divine authority. You’re both idiots. Also, God’s choice to lead Israel in a time with no king is zealot who’s only qualification is that he never cut his hair and is really super strong. So how did he lead? Rabbit punch those who disagreed? Woot! Rule by bully! Go God!
2) Samson’s miraculous power is the equivalent of a nuclear weapon unleased on these people. If only he weren’t such a blithering idiot. Also, why is it that God is so unbending? As a mere human I can actually forgive someone without someone else having to shed blood. God has to, what, sacrifice himself to himself so that he can forgive the image of himself? I’m scratching my head here…
3) From their perspective, suicide bombers ARE the chosen representative of God to His people. The only proof you have is that you say so. So do they. It’s a gigantic echo chamber without one whit of sense or logic. And you both come from the same filicidal source material! Without Abraham being willing to pull an Andrea Yates on his own son we’d be free of all three of you!
4) The most disgusting point of them all. If God says you should die, it’s okay for his chosen representative to axe murder you. God says these children should die, wee ha! Get the chainsaw, Billy! Seriously, that’s what you’ve just said. How do you actually judge whom God has told to go on a rampage? After all, not one jot, tittle or iota of the law shall change, according to Jesus in Matthew 5:18 (For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.) Theoretically it all still stands from Deuteronomy on down.
Better get to stoning your rebellious offspring. (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)
To your header “they can’t all be true,” I submit that not any one has to be true.
to your last comment: i submit that you are not true and you are a very angry man. You and the suicide bombers are both idiots and you are no better.
Liked this site – Have bookmarked it
As for Samson thing:
Samson
Philistines in the hall and Samson were direct enemies – they were even making fun of them. Very different from terrorists’ act who butcher innocent people who don’t even know them.
Samson did it with supernatural strength.
Samson did it with supernatural strength – like you’ve pointed out.