Biblical Prophecies Atheists Love Part 4

The fourth (and possibly last one I will address) biblical prophecy that aethists love is found in the Old Testament in the Book of Judges. In Judges 13:5 an angel promises Samson's mother that Samson would "begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." No matter how forgiving you want to be with the facts of Israelite history, there is no way it can be concluded that Samson fulfilled this prophecy!

Not only did Samson fail to free Israel from the Philistines, but

• he consorted with Philistine women,
• he married a Philistine,
• he never led any Israelite troops against the Philistines, and
• the Philistines eventually humiliated him.

Most importantly Israel actually lost ground to the Philistines during Samson's tenure. Judges 13-16 illustrates Philistine encroachment into Hebrew lands. All of this is the opposite of the prophecy uttered by the angel!

So is the angel a false prophet? If we use the standard that critics of the LDS Church use with latter-day prophets then the answer must be yes! If these critics are to be consistent they must declare that the angel was bearing false witness or the Book of Judges/Bible is false!

Of course such a conclusion is silly. Angels sent from on high are not going to be making mistakes. There has to be something else so let's examine this story a little more deeply, using the rules for interpreting prophecy that we frequently reference. Fortunately LDS people can be consistent and still accept this prophecy that failed to come to pass by simply applying the standard that we use for all prophets, both ancient and modern.

The fact that Judges 13:5 failed to come to pass can be placed squarely at the feet of Samson's failure to live according to his calling as a Nazarite. Basically he did not keep the commandments. In addition to his sexual liaisons, he married a Philistine, ate unclean food, drank wine, and allowed his hair to be cut. His behavior (sins) allowed the angel's prophecy to be nullified. The angel is not a false prophet, Samuel's sins did not allow the prophecy to be fulfilled. Samuel's agency left him free to fulfill the prophecy or not; and he chose to do otherwise.

The angel announced what should have happened; what Samson was fore-ordained to accomplish, but Samson was free to live his life as he chose. He chose not to fulfill his divine appointment and the prophecy went unfulfilled. Sin can nullify prophecy the same way that it can nullify priesthood or patriarchal blessings. That in no way reflects on the inspiration behind the prophecy/blessing. Agency always holds the trump card.

Note that the angel placed no conditions on his promise that Samson would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. He simply declared that Samson would do it. Regular readers of this blog will note the parallels between the story of Samson and the story of Oliver Cowdery.