5.2 Samson And Deja Vu

5-2-1 Repetition In Biblical Narratives

It will be apparent to any regular Bible reader that there is a tremendous repetition within the Biblical narratives. Individuals tend to go through very similar experiences, and often the same words are used in the descriptions of the experience or their response to it. Some of these similarities are so specific and humanly unlikely to be replicated that one can only conclude that there was a higher power over-ruling their situations. It may be that the Angels work in human lives according to some kind of Divine pattern, and this accounts for the sense of repetition and deja vu. But it may also be because it is God's intention that we meditate upon the lives of previous servants to the point where we see their experiences coming through, in principle, in our own lives; and we are urged on to a like victory as they attained. Consider the following of many possible examples of this repetition in Biblical narratives:

- The way Saul returns from pursuing David because of a rumour of invasion is so similar to Rabshakeh’s retreat from Jerusalem after rumours of incursions (1 Sam. 23:27).

- The Ephraimites came over as offended because they weren’t invited to fight in a battle, even though they had shown no inclination; and they did this with both Gideon and Jephthah  (Jud. 8:1; 12:1)

- Mephibosheth eating at David’s table is somehow similar to Jehoiachin being raied to eat at that of the king of Babylon.

- The similarities between the David / Nabal / Abigail experience and those of Jacob, whilst he too kept flocks (1 Sam.  25:35 = Gen. 32:20; 25:18 = Gen. 32:13; 25:27 = Gen. 33:11).

-  The way Abigail asked David to remember her for good when he came in his kingdom, knowing that he was perfect and suffering unjustly....is exactly the spirit of the thief on the cross. And David like Jesus responds that he has “accepted thy person” (1 Sam. 25).

- God created a great wind with which He brought Jonah and his fellows to their knees in Jonah 1:4. God later creates another great wind with which to teach Jonah something else (Jonah 4:8). Jonah ought to have perceived the same hand of the same God at work with him.

- Joash did right before God whilst the priest Jehoiada was alive, and then apostasized; Uzziah did likewise, with Zechariah the priest (2 Chron. 24:2; 26:5). He didn’t reflect upon the personal implications of Divine history. And we too must appreciate that there are Bible characters whose experiences are framed in terms directly relevant to us- for our learning. Interestingly, straight after Jehoiada died, the princes of the land came to Joash with a request, which he wrongly listened to. This has great similarities with the tragic mistake made by Rehoboam after Solomon died (2 Chron. 10:3,4 cp. 24:17). So Joash was given chance after chance to be directed back to previous examples and be instructed by them- but he went on in his own way.

-         The way Peter was given a vision and asked to eat what he had previously thought unclean has many similarities with Ezekiel going through a similar experience (Ez. 4:10-14 cp. Acts 10:14).

-         David sent messengers to Nabal meaning well to him, and they were rudely rebuffed, resulting in his anger which only Abigail’s grace and wisdom saved him from (1 Sam. 25). And yet the same situation repeated in its essence when he sent messengers to Hanun who were likewise misinterpreted and rebuffed (2 Sam. 10:3). Again, David got angry- but there was no Abigail to restrain him, and he did get into an impossible fight… from which by grace God delivered him. Could it not be that David failed to learn from his previous experience…?

-         Balaam is a classic example. His eyes were opened to the Angel blocking his way, and when he realized how he had closed his spiritual vision to the Angel trying to stop him going to Balak, he fell down on his face (Num. 22:31). But when he is later given a vision of Balak’s judgment, the vision which Balaam didn’t want to see, he describes himself as “the man whose eye was closed” and yet had to see the vision with his eyes open (Num. 24:3,4 RV). He didn’t learn the lesson. He closed his eyes so as not to see the vision, and yet God forced him to open his eyes and see it. And again, he fell down upon his face (Num. 24:4,16 RV), as he had when the Angel blocked his path earlier. He wouldn’t learn his lesson, he wouldn’t perceive how circumstances were being repeated in God’s desperate effort to get him to repent.

- Joseph was told to arise and take Jesus to Egypt; and he arose from sleep and did it. And the same double ‘arising’ occurred when he left Egypt to return to Israel (Mt 2:13,14 cp. 20,21).

- The disciples’ eyes were heavy and they fell asleep at the critical moment. But ealier, “having remained awake”, the same disciples were blessed with a vision of the Lord’s glory (Lk. 9:32 RVmg.). If they had remained awake in the garden, they would have seen the Lord being glorified by Angelic visitation. But they didn't perceive how the circumstances were repeating, and thus didn’t find the strength and inspiration which was potentially prepared for them through the similarity of circumstance.  

For other examples of repetition in Biblical narratives see 2 Kings 7:9,11,16; 2 Sam. 10:3 [cp. David sending his men to Nabal- but he doesn’t learn the lesson this time]; 1 Chron. 7:22 [cp. Jacob being comforted by his sons over the loss of Joseph]; Benaiah killed a lion in order to prepare him for killing two lionlike men (1 Chron. 11:22); Peter, James and John were asleep at the transfiguration, but became “fully awake” and therefore beheld the Lord’s glory (Lk. 9:32)- they feel asleep in Gethsemane, and didn’t learn from the transfiguration experience.

One can also recount such instances of repetition in the narratives of our own lives. 

An extended example of this repetition in Biblical narratives is to be found in the remarkable parallels between the sufferings of Stephen and the Lord Jesus, first tabulated by Michael Ashton:

Realizing, sensing how he was living out the sufferings of his Lord, all this really motivated Stephen; when he asked for forgiveness for his tormentors and asked for his spirit to be received (7:59,60), he was so evidently reflecting the words of the Lord in His time of final agony and spiritual and physical extension (Lk. 23:34,46). He saw the similarities between his sufferings and those of the Lord; and therefore he went ahead and let the spirit of the Lord Jesus live in him. He personalized those words of the Lord which he already well knew, and made them his own.  

The record of Samson has a large number of these repetition in Biblical narrative. They are situations where he was connected into the experience of those who had gone before:

- Manoah's desire to detain the Angel (13:15 cp. 6:18; Gen. 18:5)

- " The child grew, and the Lord blessed him" (13:24 cp. Samuel, John, the Lord Jesus- all chosen from the womb)

- The dissapointment of Samson's parents cp. that of Esau's (14:3 cp. Gen. 26:35; 27:46; 28:1)

- Judah also did wrong in Timnath (14:1) with a woman, and was deceived and shamed by her (15:1 = Gen. 38:17). Earlier Scripture, which it seems Samson well knew and appreciated, was crying out to Samson to take heed. But he was blind to the real import of it all.

- Samson slaying Philistines with a jawbone suggests Shamgar slaying Philistines with an ox goad (15:15 cp. 3:31).

- Samson dying of thirst crying desperately for water recalls Hagar's experience (15:19 cp. Gen. 21:19).

- Samson in a foreign city " compassed in" by his enemies recalls Paul (Acts 9:24), David (Ps. 118:10-12; 1 Sam. 23:26), the spies in Jericho .

- Samson suddenly called up out of the prison house (16:25) cp. Joseph (Gen. 41:14), John (Mt. 14:9).

- Gentiles praising their gods, mocking Yahweh, and then suddenly being destroyed (16:24) was a scene repeated in Dan. 5:4. 

The Samson record seems to be framed to repeat the experiences of those who had gone before him: Job,  Jacob and Gideon.