[CHAPTER 4] — IF I HAD MY WAY I'D TEAR THE BUILDING DOWN

The music of Willie Johnson

Delilah was a woman fine an' fair

Her pleasant looks-a, her coal black hair

Delilah gained old Samson's mind

A-first saw the woman that looked so fine

There is a legend about Blind Willie Johnson. According to the oral history, Johnson was playing his guitar and singing out front of a New Orleans courthouse one day. As Johnson played a song about the Bible character Samson, a large crowd began to gather and started singing along with the song’s chorus; “If I had my way, I’d tear the building down”. A young police officer in the vicinity thought Johnson was inciting a riot and had him arrested.¹ It makes for an interesting story, but the story in the song is certainly worth thinking long and hard about.

The story of Samson is probably one of the most well-known Bible stories. I certainly grew up as one familiar with the story from a very young age. When I was a young boy, Samson was quite literally the Bible version of a superhero. Like Superman, he had superhuman strength and one weakness that his enemies could use against him; no, not a particular green space rock; for Samson, it was his hair. Unlike Superman, Samson was not clean-cut. We could describe him as a complicated hero, like one of the Marvel Comics characters. He was pretty stupid, immature and lacked self-discipline, which sometimes gave way to excessive violence. Perhaps a cross between Thor and the Hulk. For all his flaws, the Samson presented to me in my youth was still a hero.

I have heard it said that children need stories with archetypes, where the characters are either all good or all bad, like the old-school Disney fairytales. If that is the case, no one told the biblical authors. Not one of the heroes of the faith leading up to Jesus can be considered “all good”, not Noah, Abraham, Moses, or David. They are all either liars or murderers, in some cases both. When you carefully step through the story of Samson, it is hard to point out anything he does as good, but it does not start out that way.

The story of Samson begins in the thirteenth chapter of Judges; this is the most beautiful part of the story. God appears to a childless woman who is given a promise that she will have a son who will be the deliverer of her people. For those of us familiar with the stories of Scripture, this part of the story plays a familiar tune, a message of hope for hurting people. Whilst the parallels are obvious, there are some interesting parts of this story that make it worth taking another look. One thing for sure is that God is very present at the beginning of this story, and as Samson is born, we are told the “Spirit of the Lord” began to stir him.

God’s intentions in the Samson story can feel a little puzzling. As the text says, when Samson was seeking to marry a Philistine woman against his father’s wishes, the narrator tells us this was “from the Lord, who was seeking to confront the Philistines”. Amongst Samson’s clearly foolish activities, we also keep hearing the phrase, “The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him”. After Samson finally gives in to Delilah, telling her the secret of his strength and his head is shaved, it says the Lord has left him. What are we to make of God’s activity in the story? This is an important question, given the way Samson’s story ends.

The hero loses his strength and is captured; the way it happens makes it hard to take seriously. If you were not aware, Samson somehow gave in to a nagging woman who had obviously betrayed him three times already. I suspect, in part, this story is about the temptation to presume on God; perhaps we are not as stupid as Samson, but we probably come close. Samson becomes a prisoner and is put to work by the Philistines. Whilst entertaining them in their temple, Samson gets the bright idea that he is going to pray that God will give him strength one last time in order to bring down the temple of the Philistines. For Samson, this was about getting revenge, and that is exactly what happened.

Lord, If I had my way

Well, if I had a, a wicked world

If I had a, ah Lord, tear this building down

The building came down. About three thousand men and women were watching Samson perform. Presumably, they all died. Samson was a man known for killing people, but as we are told, in this last act, Samson not only killed himself but many more than his previous total. Samson’s motive for this final act was revenge for his eyes that had been gouged out. Is it strange that we are not told anything about the Spirit of the Lord coming powerfully upon Samson on this occasion?

If you take this story seriously, as I do, it will be hard to escape the uncomfortable feelings it evokes. If this is an archetypical story, it would seem that the Philistines were bad guys, and Samson is the victorious hero who dies a noble death. This is surely not what is happening. Quite clearly, the author of this story is doing something else; there is more to it. It is not just that Samson is a modern anti-hero type either, one who has a good heart but has no problem shedding blood to save the day, like Wolverine or the Punisher. Only God can judge someone’s heart, but nothing in the story indicates Samson has a good one.

I think it is important for us to remember Samson was a political leader; he led his nation for twenty years. He was a very powerful man with terrible moral character. If such a man makes himself an enemy of your enemies, there is a temptation to see him as your Messiah. It is a temptation I have seen people give into, sometimes begrudgingly, other times enthusiastically. Some would say Samson achieved a lot; if we consider that true, we may be inclined to see his final act as his greatest achievement. Or perhaps we may view that final act as a redemption moment for Samson. He does pray to God, but his prayer is one of seeking vengeance, and Samson offers nothing like repentance.

Today, if we heard about an act of revenge that resulted in a suicide destroying a place of worship and killing thousands of people, we would no doubt condemn it as an act of terrorism. It would be wrong to equate what Samson does in the story with a suicide bomber; he was, after all, a maimed prisoner at the time. Even still, it was as revenge for his eyes that Samson sought to kill all the people. When I hear this, I cannot help but hear my teacher in my ear telling me, “You have heard it said: eye for eye and tooth for tooth”. Jesus tells us to love our enemies, and I certainly hope no one thinks that what Samson did can be considered an act of love. A story that started with God very present, in unique and fantastical ways, ends with ambiguity about God’s role, will and desire within it.²

What can we say about God in this story? Was Samson’s life what God intended as the leader, delivering his people from oppression? Did empowering Samson mean God was endorsing Samson’s actions? If a Samson arose in our day, would we embrace him as our leader? If he were powerful enough, he could give us the world. Perhaps, but what good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? I like this saying, but I do find myself like Johnson, asking what is The soul of a man?

1. https://www.nodepression.com/dark-was-the-night-the-life-and-times-of-blind-willie-johnson/

2. In the “City of God” Book 1, Chapter 21, Augustine wrote that Samson had received “secret instructions” from the Spirit to bring the house down. For Augustine there was no ambiguity, but I would encourage people to read the Scriptures for themselves and see if they come to that conclusion.