From Nazirite Vow To Jawbone Justice: What Samson Teaches About Calling, Flaws, And God’s Timing

What if the stories we think we understand are the ones most likely to surprise us? Samson’s arc in Judges 13–15 forces a reckoning with calling, character, and a God who acts with unnerving freedom. We follow the angelic announcement of a Nazirite son, move through the friction of a Philistine marriage, and confront the scenes that unsettle tidy doctrine: a lion torn apart barehanded, honey scooped from a carcass, a riddle that triggers betrayal, and a thousand enemies felled by the jawbone of a donkey. The result is a narrative that makes room for power, failure, and grace to collide without collapsing into cynicism.

We talk about how God can use imperfect people with precise intent, even when choices seem misaligned with vows and rules. The line that Samson’s parents “did not know it was from the Lord” becomes a lens for interpreting divine strategy in uncomfortable places. Along the way, we draw out hard-won insights from military life and leadership: excellence and flaws can coexist, and unaddressed weaknesses eventually collect a bill. Yet the Spirit still rushes in at key moments, ropes fall like burned flax, and deliverance arrives through means we would not choose. Right after victory, thirst returns, and prayer opens a spring in a hollow place—proof that honest dependence is not canceled by imperfect performance.

If you’ve ever felt disqualified by your contradictions, this conversation invites a rethink. We explore responsible takeaways without excusing sin: seek wisdom before conclusions, pray with humility, and resist theological boxes that deny God’s ability to work in surprising ways. Press play to reexamine Samson with fresh eyes, grow a more resilient faith, and join us as we wrestle with the kind of grace that both confronts and carries. 

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Chapters

• 0:01 Sponsor Cold Open: “Delilah’s”
• 1:14 Samson’s Birth And Nazirite Calling
• 6:16 God’s Purposes Beyond Our Boxes
• 10:24 Lion, Honey, And A Troubling Feast
• 15:12 The Riddle, Betrayal, And First Blood
• 19:10 Foxes, Fire, And Escalation
• 22:10 Bound, Empowered, And The Jawbone Battle
• 27:20 Thirst, Provision, And Lessons On Grace
• 31:20 Takeaways And Next Episode Tease

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:01

This episode of the Woe Foyo podcast has been brought to you by Deliless Full Service Harris Alan and Spa. You've been out there all day doing the Lord's work and giving it all you got. Every time you go out to the field, it seems like you're the last man standing. Your old lady can't keep her mouth shut and tells everything you talk about to her folks. You know, sometimes that annoyance can get heavy, and you feel like you got the weight of the world on your shoulders. That's when you need to come on down to Delilah's. She knows just how to put you at ease and has multiple treatments designed to help you let your guard down and just be it. This month's special is half-off dreadlocks with a straight razor shave and steam towel fresh out of the hot water you just got yourself in. You don't have to be strong all the time, boys. Let Delilah take care of you, and you'll be done in before you know it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:13

We are going to hang out a little bit in Judges, and we're going to talk about one of our favorite biblical characters, and that would be Samson.

SPEAKER_01: 1:41

I look at some of this and I go, it's the military man for sure. Some of the behaviors I'm like, uh-huh. Yep.

SPEAKER_02: 1:48

He's a man of battle. Right. So we're going to skim through the first part of this, but there was a man named Manoah.

SPEAKER_01: 2:03

Manoah had a wife. They hadn't had any kids. It's from the tribe of Dan. And the angel appears to his wife, the angel of the Lord. He says, Hey, don't drink any wine or strong drink, eat anything unclean. You'll conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head. For a child, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. A Nazarite is someone that was under a vow. They would shave their head once. And then the whole time that they were a Nazirite, they were just dedicated to God and they let their hair grow on. And when the vow was over, then they could shave it. But this angel says, no, he's going to be that way from birth. A little bit of a John the Baptist anointing on this here as well, and the fact that this is the baby leaping in the moon. These kind of things. Right. The woman came and told her husband. So he goes uh, you know, relays the instructions. And Manoa wants a little confirmation, wanting to make sure that she ain't lost it. So he prays for confirmation. The angel comes by and tells him the same thing. They said, Hey, you know, oh, we're having a child, really. He said, Yeah, same thing I told your wife. So may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink or any unclean thing. All that I've commanded her, let her observe. So Manoah says, Well, well, let me feed you. Angel said, I ain't gonna eat nothing. But if you detain me, I will not eat your food. Prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord. I said, Manoah didn't know that it was the angel of the Lord. His wife said, A man came to me. So I think Manoah was trying to also make sure that somebody wasn't making the move, you know, when this happens. I mean, in a very human sense, as guys, that's what we wonder. Hey, we're out, we're out there all day. Some strange dude comes up, talks to our wife, and gonna tell them you're gonna have a have a child, baby. You know, how do I know it wasn't me? You know, and is this those are things that are going to go through any red-blooded uh Hebrew Israelite's mind? And he said, What's your name? We might honor you. And the angel says, Why do why do you ask my name? See, it's wonderful. So he took the goat and the grain offering, offered it on a rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders. And Manoah and his wife were watching, and then a flame went up toward heaven from the altar. The angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. Manoah says, We're going to die. We've done seen the Lord. And his wife says, Ah, if the Lord had meant to kill us, he would have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering. If he was going to kill us, chief, he wouldn't have accepted the offering. Now, the young man, so verse 24, this is we've been reading in Judges 13. And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson, and the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him, and the spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahatnadan between Zora and Eshtel. So there's some miraculous things happening. You see a similarity here with the last judge of Israel, who was Samuel, where he goes to become dedicated to the priesthood and serves there. But you have a real similar situation of a barren woman that's praying and gets the message. You know. So there's also the thing of uh maybe you feel like you're destined to do something, and you seem like you're barren in it. Well, don't let go of the word of the Lord. If you receive the word of the Lord, promise of God, in that, I would also say you you just don't know God's timing, just like we've said several times, bones. I know that's my that's one of my weak spots. Let's start at chapter 14. Get into some Samsonisms. Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife. But his father and mother said to him, Don't you like them nice girls? Now he said, Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives or among all our people that you must go take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? But Samson said to his father, Go get her for me, for she is right in my eyes. And here is one of the things that just jumped out off the page at me. His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.

SPEAKER_02: 7:22

At that time, the Philistines ruled over Israel.

SPEAKER_01: 7:29

And I go, you know, in our limited knowledge, and especially if we put ourselves inside of certain denominational or theological boxes. You know, Bonesy and I have alluded to this a lot over the years, but the Lord won't do that because that violates this theological idea.

SPEAKER_02: 7:55

Which is the very thing that he ends up doing.

SPEAKER_03: 8:03

This is uh this is this is the uh sheep with the unclean uh with the unclean beasts and everything coming down you know to Peter uh you know, telling to arise, kill and eat. Yes. Just when you think God won't do something, he ends up doing it. Um so yeah, I mean you you think you think out the you got the Lord figured out, that's about the time he says, Hold my beer. So better watch out. Um just about the time you say, no, he he won't want to do that, that's not who he is, he don't do that kind of thing. Um just just be careful, just watch out.

SPEAKER_01: 8:43

And to be sure, Samson is not perfect, but he's the man for the hour. Right. He's the man that God called for a certain purpose, and a lot of times we just fail. Number one, I'll tell you what I think it is. I think it's a lack of prayer. I thought I think it's leaning on our own understanding rather than sitting back and asking in prayer, Lord, you know what what are you doing?

SPEAKER_02: 9:18

And a lot of times he doesn't mind being asked.

SPEAKER_01: 9:22

As long as you're doing it with with some humility and sincerity. Um, you know, Lord, what's going on here? I don't understand.

SPEAKER_03: 9:32

I think a lot of it is that I think uh just as much of it is you know, it's it's it's none of your business. Um sometimes. Yeah, it's it's none of your business. I got uh I got a mission to accomplish, and you know, this is a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know right now. Um that happens sometimes too. And that can be a hard place to be in because uh um by golly, we want to know.

SPEAKER_01: 10:00

Yeah you know, so I've had him tell me before, you know, that's I'm not gonna tell you. You know what you need to know, and if I tell you more, you'll mess it up. Well, when the Lord tells you that you would mess it up, you would probably mess it up. So, verse five. Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. They came to the vineyards of Timnah, and behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. Then the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson eyes, Samson's eyes. She was right.

SPEAKER_02: 10:57

She was right, baby. So yeah, going down to see my girl. Might have to kill a lion, feeling a little bit froggy, I don't know. And in a gruesome manner, nonetheless.

SPEAKER_01: 11:17

Verse eight. After some days he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey, and he scraped it out into his hands and went on eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave them and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion. This honey would have been unclean, by the way. Yeah, because it's you you weren't supposed to touch the carcass of a dead thing. Yep. So here he is. Here's a little bit of a violation of the rules here.

SPEAKER_03: 12:01

No, it's some unclean things here. I think it's interesting here now because we gotta go back to verse four. Um his parents did not know that this was from the Lord. So if this is from the Lord talking about, you know, this this woman, this girl, and everything, then everything that is involved with this, everything that comes after this is going to be from the Lord. From the Lord.

SPEAKER_01: 12:29

Yeah. So He has his plan. And he's using an anointed yet imperfect person to do exploits. Yeah. And to be sure, Samson's imperfections and flaws catch up with them. One of the reasons I love the story. And I can't tell you how many times you see somebody, a couple of different arenas that I've been involved in, whether it's my current job in that field, or if it's been in the military, um, even in some churches, seen some civic leaders and stuff, you go, these people are absolutely great at what they do, but they got a flaw. And sooner or later it comes to get them. Don't mean that they wasn't anointed and gifted to do what what they what they were doing. And not only that, uh, the anointing confers a calling. They were called to do what they were going to do. Yeah, they were no less called just because of their floor. Right. Verse 10. He went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.

SPEAKER_02: 13:49

Middle Eastern weddings were an ordeal. It took up to a year.

SPEAKER_01: 13:56

There was a whole process laid out that you had to abide by. As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. Bachelor party. And Samson said to them, Let me put let me now put a riddle to you, if you can tell me what it is. Within seven days of the feast and find out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. But if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. And they said to him, Put your riddle that we may hear it. And he said of them, Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet. And in three days they could not solve the riddle. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you in your father's house with fire. These are some really good companions for them to get for Samson. Have you invited us here to impoverish us? And Samson's wife wept over him and said, You only hate me, you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is. And he said to her, Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother. Shall I tell you? She wept before him seven days, and that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, Because she pressed him hard. And then she told the riddle to her people, and the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle. And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town, and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house, and Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man. That those companions there, which they're companions for hire. It reminds me of people going to a Vegas wedding or honeymoon and then getting pissed off because they lost all their money gambling. Just a little tidbit. So God uses this whole thing, like you said, this whole thing is laying out to where He's using it to judge the Philistines. Not by Samson's righteousness. By Samson's anointing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 16:33

But not by Samson's righteousness. That's that's that's very important to remember that it's not by Samson's righteousness, just as it's not by our own righteousness when he uses us for for anything, matter of fact. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 16:52

I I look at this, people are like, well, this is old testament. Well, you can go on with your dispensationalism, but I think this this is a pertinent word or a pertinent story, that is, because you could take this to the New Testament.

SPEAKER_02: 17:10

And Paul's just the son of a gun. Until he starts to walk in it.

SPEAKER_01: 17:19

You know, the the was Paul, was Saul of Tarsus any less called when he was doing all this other stuff? Nope, still called. Right. Still called.

SPEAKER_03: 17:35

I think if anybody, if anybody was writing after the fact, um talking about Saul and Paul and whatnot, if anybody were writing after the fact, then they would be they would be writing a story very much like this. There was a man named Saul. And Saul was called by God to do A, B, and C, who then became Paul, and yada, yada, yada. The story would be laid out much like this. But because uh because Paul is writing his own story, or actually, I guess Luke is writing it for him, um, you don't get it written exactly like that. So so yeah, this is Old Testament, but it's still a precept that that you can find in a New Testament. This guy's this guy's one of the heroes of the faith.

SPEAKER_01: 18:29

Yeah, it works. Flawed, hero of the faith. Yeah. Chapter 15. After some days at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat, and he said, I will go to my wife in the chamber.

SPEAKER_02: 18:45

He said, Okay, done being P.O.'d.

SPEAKER_01: 18:50

Gonna go, gonna go consummate this thing. But her father would not allow him to go in, and her father said, I really thought that you utterly hated her. So I gave her to your companion. Isn't not her younger sister more beautiful than than she? Samson's going to have a little makeup sex, is what he's doing.

SPEAKER_03: 19:11

Well, yeah, he's he's he's full of piss and vinegar now. Oh, yeah. He done went out and whipped 30 dudes, took their clothes and underwear, and you know, he's now he's coming back feeling good about himself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 19:24

Yeah. Good NCO.

SPEAKER_03: 19:28

Yeah. He's he's King David dancing around in his in his in his breeches.

SPEAKER_01: 19:33

Yeah, he's a man of war, he's a man of battle. Right. Uh so the father-in-law said, Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead. Samson said to them, This time I should be innocent in regard to the Philistines while I do them harm. So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches, and he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each. Pair of tails. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stack grain and the standing grain as well as the olive orchards. Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Temnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

SPEAKER_03: 20:30

First of all, I want to see how Samson caught 300 boxes. And then I gotta see how he tied their tails together and fixed fixed the fire to their tails. Um this is I mean, when you really stop and think about it and think about what's going on, what he's doing. This is funny. I mean, it's hilarious. Yeah. Well, this is hilarious.

SPEAKER_01: 21:00

Here's uh another thing that I've wondered. And you just don't know.

SPEAKER_02: 21:06

Samson is a judge of Israel.

SPEAKER_01: 21:09

Do you think he doesn't have people that answer to him? Oh, yeah. So he might have delegated this and done some of it itself and had, hey, I need 300 foxes. Get them to me. Yeah. So as long as you got them in one place, I imagine you could do the other. I wonder what was going through the mind of the foxes. The other thing I always wondered, why didn't he just take him over to McClellan's fur trading company? Cross the tracks and plasky. See what he could get. Get five bucks a pelt for him. If you know, you know. Goodness gracious. Oh yeah. Yeah, not a very spiritual take on it, but oh well, it's a very Villa Ridge take.

SPEAKER_03: 21:58

I mean, we're just paint painting a picture of how somebody catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together, lights them on fire. I mean, it's funny. It just is.

SPEAKER_01: 22:09

And Samson said to them, If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit. And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Edom. E-T-A-M. It's not E-D-O-M. Pardon the pronunciation. Here's Ted for Ted. You done burned his father-in-law, you done burned his wife.

SPEAKER_03: 22:38

Have you ever been hit there in the in the hip and thigh area? That is that does not feel good. It's a it's a parasympathetic nerve bundle right there. Um if you're if someone smacks you on your right leg, it's your left leg that buckles. It's really, really weird. And it it rocks your whole body.

SPEAKER_01: 22:59

But it all goes right there in that tailbone up into your spinal column. And uh, oh yeah, because you have I'll tell you what, just on the outside, I always hated training when I was doing taekwondo and and training. I always hated training with newbies, training with them white belts, because they didn't, they weren't good enough to place their kicks yet. They couldn't get them high enough. Yeah, and you let somebody hit you right along that thigh area and that doggone peronial nerve, and it'd drop you, bud. It'd drop you in a like a dirty shirt. I don't care how manly you are. You gotta build up to be able to take that. Or it's if you if any of y'all ever had sciatic pain, peronial nerve is just as bad. It's just on the outside, whereas the uh sciatic's on the inside. But yeah, that's uh that's a that's a that's a heck of strike. That's a heck of a strike with a baton as well. Yes, it is. Uh no, actually, as far as batons though, that's uh that's a major muscle group, so that is that that's a primary area that you would uh um uh place any kind of contact. And also if people are behaving, then you don't have to place the contact. Minnesota. Uh Judah see what they did. Yeah, this textbook. Chapter 15, verse 9. Then the Philistines came up and camped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. And the men of Judah said, Why did why have you come up against us? And they said, We've come up to bind Samson due to him as he did to us. Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Edom and said to Samson, Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? Sounds like congressional Republicans. And then, what is this then that you have done to us? And he said to them, as they did to me, so I've done unto them. And they said, they said to him, We have come down to bind you that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines. Let me let me just point something out, because I may I made a joke there, but here's the thing.

SPEAKER_02: 25:17

The Philistines are not used to having pushback. Right.

unknown: 25:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 25:23

They've they've gotten comfortable, and not only have the Philistines gotten used to not having any pushback, but the Israelites have gotten used to not pushing back. Can you think of any parallels there in this day and age? So when they actually have to push back, it scares them so bad that they're willing to sell Samson out so things can go back and be as they were. People want to gripe and moan, but they don't want to make the change.

SPEAKER_03: 25:56

This sounds a lot like some fights we got into at the NCL Club with uh with off-duty MPs that were there drinking, but forgot they were off-duty and then we fought them. And they ran back to the barracks, got all their other MP buddies, and they all wanted to come in and get get their retribution for attacking their MP buddies. But at the same time, we were gathering our forces as well. Uh this kind of this is just what it reminds me of.

SPEAKER_01: 26:27

Uh that can never happen on a military base today. No.

SPEAKER_03: 26:34

Have it every weekend in Panama. Yeah. But that's just kind of what it reminds me of. It's uh, well, we're gonna you've done whooped us. I'm gonna go get uh some more friends and come back and whoop you because you whooped us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 26:49

Yeah. A lot of tit for tat. Samson said to them, Swear, swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves. They said unto him, No, we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you. So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and 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 went and with this he struck one thousand men. And Samson said, With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I've struck down a thousand men. As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand, and that place was called Ramath Lehi, also known as the hill of the jawbone. And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord, said, You've granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and now I shall die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised. And God split the rock open in the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came from it, and when he drank his spirit returned, and he revived. So therefore, the name of it was called En Hakor, or the spring of him who called, as it is in Lehi to this day, and he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. So, what what does he do after a mighty battle? He adapts, he sets up an ambush by looking vulnerable. He he knew what that he knew where that jawbone was.

SPEAKER_03: 28:49

Once again, jawbone of a dead animal that you're not supposed to be touching.

SPEAKER_01: 28:53

Yep. And then chucks it away. You get style points for that. Might drop. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 29:01

But then he goes, Man, I'm thirsty.

SPEAKER_01: 29:05

Well, you a little bit different scenario, but I think about man, a after after a busy day of doing what you're supposed to be doing, busy day of training, you get back. If you were a soldier, what did you do? Need some refreshment. Need a ice cold beverage. So in in addition, although he might have touched an unclean thing, and although he has his flaws, and although he likes his foreign women, he calls upon the Lord, and the Lord splits open a rock just to give him water.

SPEAKER_02: 29:47

Adjust your theology, folks.

SPEAKER_03: 29:55

No, and what I really like about Samson here is that he he knew I think he's he knew where he stood with God. Um he knew that he he touched the unclean thing. He knew that in doing so, he he broke a vow. Um but I like the fact that it doesn't prevent him from calling on God. Um I think a lot of us, um, a lot of us can get to a point where maybe we've broken a vow, maybe we've we've sinned, uh, we've done something, but now we have we have a pity party and we feel like we can't talk to God about it now. Um and we gotta get out of that. We really gotta get out of that mentality. Um I'm not saying that we gotta go out and and sin just for the sake of sinning, but none of that, once you're saved and and whatnot, none of that breaks the line of communication between you and God. There's still that open line of communication. I like to see, I like the fact that Samson is still communicating with God.

SPEAKER_01: 31:06

You don't have to go out and sin and all that, and especially try and make stuff happen that way. Right. Not what we're saying, but I'll I will be honest. That's been some of the best teaching moments that I've ever received from the Lord. It was after my mistakes, uh, after my shortcomings that I didn't think I had at the time.

SPEAKER_03: 31:27

God's not done using him yet.

SPEAKER_01: 31:29

Hey folks, thanks for listening. We are going to pick up lessons we learned from Samson as well as some from Paul on our next episode. You can always check us out at bofoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you want to grow, you got a bofo yo. Get in the word for yourself.