Usually, Hollywood portrays Samson as being a musclebound
womanizer. They are right as far as the womanizer is concerned but not as
far as his looks are concerned. If he had looked like Arnold Schwartzenegger,
Delilah would not have had to ask where his strength lay. I believe, based
on internal evidence in the story, that Samson was short, fat and wore suspenders.
Obviously, Delilah would be mystified as to his strength. When Samson erred
and let Delilah know that his uncut hair was the source of his strength, he
became short, fat, bald and wore suspenders.
Whenever you hear the story of the downsizing of Gideon's army from 32,000 to 300, that final cut that reduced the army from 10,000 to 300 came at a spring at the base of Mount Tabor. "You know the story," as Jon Courson would say. They were all told to drink and the ones who got down on all fours and drank like a dog were rejected. Those chosen were the ones who, perhaps on one knee, scooped up the water by hand and lifted it to their mouths.
You have always heard that they were chosen because they
were the watchful ones, ready for battle. The internal evidence does not
support that conclusion.
God was reducing this army to the few who would know that they did not win
the battle, the few who were the least likely to claim the glory for the
victory. Therefore, the ones who scooped up the water with one hand were
those who were
too fat or disabled to get on their hands and knees. In fact, they were probably
all short, fat, bald and wore suspenders.
Recent studies have changed
my view of Peter, James and John. I have always thought of them as the
inner circle, the elite three, the ones Jesus
wanted closest to him. But now, after studying them again, I have
come to the
conclusion that they were not the inner circle or the elite, but
instead they were the "remedial group" that
Jesus had to have close to him at all times because they were such
slow learners, and he could not trust them back with the other guys.