In the case of Samson the only way I can convince myself that those accounts are real is taking into consideration the holy spirit operating through him. His particular position as a Nazirite from birth, without taking vows, and therefore not being under the law forbidding the touching of dead bodies. The superpowers through the hair. The later makes sense from the perspective of the empowering of the holy spirit, but his entire story reads, to me, like a modern day comic book.
Since Samson was a man born from God with special abilities without having personally chosen his life-course, surely God intended that his activities should teach his people something? What do we glean from the story of Samson? (regardless of the comic book appearance of the story)
First of all he was a "Judge" in Israel and his mother was told that her son who was to be a "Nazirite" from birth and “take the lead in saving Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” (
Judges 13:1-5, 24; 16:17) The very nature of his commission showed that he did not come under the law prescribing that Nazirites not touch dead bodies. (
Numbers 6:2-9) It should also be noted that this law applied to persons who
voluntarily took a vow of Naziriteship; but in Samson’s case, the requirements that applied were those specifically stated to his mother by Jehovah’s angel.
But Samson was also human and he had free will just as we all do. His relationship with Delilah was doomed from the beginning because she was not a worshipper of Jehovah. She schemed for money to betray the secret of his strength. While Samson was sleeping with his head on her lap, Delilah had his hair shaved off. Upon awakening, Samson no longer had Jehovah’s spirit, for he had allowed himself to get into a position that led to the termination of his Naziriteship. Not the hair itself, but what it stood for, that is, Samson’s special relationship with Jehovah as a Nazirite, was the source of his strength. With the end of that relationship, Samson was no different from any other man. Therefore, the Philistines were able to blind him, bind him with copper fetters, and put him to work as a grinder in the prison house. (
Judges 16:4-21)
While Samson languished in prison, the Philistines arranged for a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, to whom they attributed their success in having captured Samson. Great throngs, including all the axis lords, were assembled in the house used for Dagon worship. On the roof alone there were 3,000 men and women. The merry Philistines had Samson, whose hair had meanwhile grown luxuriantly, brought out of prison to provide amusement for them. Upon his arrival, Samson asked the boy who was leading him to let him feel the pillars that supported the structure. He then prayed to Jehovah....Samson braced himself against the two supporting pillars and “bent himself with power,” causing the house to collapse. This resulted in his own death and that of more Philistines than he had killed in his entire lifetime, thus in his death, Samson fulfilled his commission and humiliated the false god that the Philistines had accredited with their victory.
(Info taken from
Samson — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY)
Comic book or not, there are powerful lessons in the account. There is no one like Samson in the scriptures.
The prodigal son is a favorite of mine as well. I'll check that link out. Regarding Lazarus, I know what you mean, but to me I see the points Jesus was making with the illustration as within reason when taken into proper context, and in that way within the realm of reality. Not within that realm as if possibly literal, but obviously making a point through illustration. It doesn't read to me like a comic book like Samson and even Job does.
It is a shame to me that Christendom reads the "rich man and Lazarus" as proof of heaven and hell, when it is no such thing. But they will not have it. It was all totally pictorial, like all of Jesus' other parables.
