Two love stories; two different methods; two very different outcomes; such are the tales of Samson and Jacob in the Old Testament portion of the Bible. Both men were looking for one of the most elusive things on earth, the enigma that is love. As we study these two love stories, there are similarities between the two but there are also several differences that emerge between Samson and Jacob.
On the surface of these two stories we see some apparent similarities. Both were young single men looking for a beautiful wife. They also both had certain restrictions on them and blessings available to them as descendants of Abraham. The fundamental similarity between the two men was their worldview. Both of them seem to be precursors of sorts to the postmodern philosophy that says there are no absolutes and man is the ultimate judge of morality. In Isaiah 5:21, the prophet wrote, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eye and clever in their own sight.” Samson and Jacob shared a serious flaw in that they both attempted to engineer their own world by their own schemes. This method had worked for both of them so many times before but both met their match in the stories related to us in the Bible.
Although they certainly shared similarities, there are also several differences that come into view as we examine these two men. The first area of difference is in the area of obedience to God’s law. In Deuteronomy 7:3-4, God warns his people not to intermarry (Although this was written after the time of Jacob, it seems that this concept was already in place during the time of the patriarchs – Genesis 28:1). Jacob obeyed this edict, Samson ignored it. This sets their stories down two different roads from the very beginning. It allows Jacob the luxury of being able to trust the women he is dealing with (not that they were perfect), while the same cannot be said about Samson’s women.
Another area of difference is that Samson seemed to be constantly focused only on the very shallow, external qualities that appealed to his sensuous side. Granted, Jacob was also struck by Rachel’s beauty, but it seems that he was drawn to more than that; he had true feeling for Rachel (Genesis 29:18); Jacob went beyond mere external qualities.
The third area of difference between these two men is in the arena of their self-control. Jacob showed an incredible amount of patience and perseverance in working for 14 years with no compensation for the right to marry his beloved Rachel. In Samson, however, we constantly see someone who behaves rashly and loses his temper (Judges 14:3, 17; 15:3; 16:1, 4, etc.). This demonstrates a very practical principle: love is willing to wait, lust is not. How much different would our country look today if teenagers would grasp this principle from the lives of Jacob and Samson.
One final difference we see is that although both men were tricked by others scheming against them, Samson seems to never have learned his lesson. We see him making the same mistakes with women over and over again. The text of Genesis never explicitly says that Jacob learned his lesson, but he definitely seems to have been humbled by his interaction with Laban, and he is never tricked in the same way again.
There are some very clear lessons that we can learn from both of these love stories. From the similar elements we can glean the lesson of trusting in the plan of God rather than ourselves to fulfill our needs. These stories also teach us, however, from the elements of contrast within them. We can see that although life was not perfect for Jacob, that following the law of God will make a man’s path much easier in the long run. We also see through Jacob the wisdom of patience of looking beyond mere superficialities.
No comments:
Post a Comment