ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 SIULAI 2, 2023

Samson Has the Last Laugh   שחק

Fai Faiva faka‘osi ‘a Samisoni

JUDGES 16:27

NOW THE HOUSE WAS FULL OF MEN AND WOMEN. ALL THE LORDS OF THE PHILISTINES WERE THERE, AND ON THE ROOF THERE WERE ABOUT 3,000 MEN AND WOMEN, WHO LOOKED ON WHILE SAMSON ENTERTAINED.

FAKAMAAU 16:27

Ka ko e fale na‘e fonu ‘i he kakai tangata mo e kakai fefine; pea na‘e ‘i ai ‘a e hou‘eiki hau kotoa ‘o e kau Filisitia; pea na‘e nofo mei he tu‘a fale ha toko tolu afe nai, ‘a tangata mo fafine, ‘o nau mamata ki he fai faiva ‘a Samisoni.

Hebrew is a language of ambiguity, playful at times, winking at possibilities. We see a masterful example in Samson's final act. The letters שׁ (sh) and שֹ (s) are distinguished only by the dot on the upper right or left. In the original scrolls, those dots were absent; the reader just had to know how to pronounce the word. The verb translated here as "entertained," sachaq (with שֹ a ), could also be read as "crushed," with the verb shachaq (with שׁ  a ). So while the Philistines looked on, did Samson entertain them or crush them? Yes! Both. With a clever sort of double entendre, the biblical author is suggesting to us that Samson may have been blinded and mocked, but it was he who had the last laugh.

For all his faults, Samson fulfilled his vocation of delivering Israel with great gusto and sacrifice. He killed more of the enemy by dying than he had killed by living (v. 30). We see here a preview of the Redeemer himself, by whose sacrifice all our foes have been crushed underfoot, so that we, not the devil, have the last laugh. 

Lord of sacrifice and God of joy, stir within our hearts the laughter of faith that rejoices in your saving work.