But how can that be since the arrival of mashiach would be contingent upon the implementation of Hashem's full plan of Jewish rulership over the world? Therefore, going back to what I was inquiring about in my
post #5, it still seems
"as if Hashem has to maneuver all his doings with the Jews and neighboring nations through the Jewish nation," but there doesn't seem to be a clear reason as to why.
What "full plan of Jewish rulership over the world"?
I don't know where you got this from. As Jews, we are expected to guide and teach the world, but--
rulership?
In any case, focusing on how Hashem's plan works: I'm not sure I entirely understand your question. Let's start from the end: The end goal of the world is to reach the purest spiritual existence, which is referred to by Jews as "Olam Habah" ("the World to Come"). This can be achieved by every person on earth reaching their fullest spiritual potential.
Okay, so those are the main steps. Now, how to reach that? Given that Hashem is infinite, there are any number of ways this could come to pass. In fact, our sages have informed us of some of the missed opportunities that could have brought about this state. For example:
a. Adam and Chavah (Eve) not eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
b. Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah) singing praises to Hashem after the annihilation of the Assyrian army.
c. All of the Jewish people returning to the Land of Israel after the Babylonian Exile instead of a measly few tens of thousands.
Mankind in general and certain people in particular all made their choices, and so we have ended up with the need for more details in the process:
- Redemption of the Jewish people: Arrival of the Mashiach, defeating all of the Jewish people's enemies, unification of the Land of Israel ("Great Israel").
- Rebuilding the Temple
- Establishing a governing Jewish court of justice
These steps are now considered key to setting the stage that will assist people in realizing their fullest spiritual potential:
When the Jews have done all of the above things, they will be able to spread this light into the world and to guide the world towards the better future.
So, what I'm trying to say here is that things have changed, depending on our choices. There's really only one end goal, and that hasn't changed, But the process has, and minute details are still changing all the time.
Now, that raises the interesting question of: How should we read the story of Shimshon? Should we read it with considering that Hashem's plan was a certain way at
that point, or should we read it with considering how Hashem's plan is
today? In my opinion, both are important, but it's up to you, as the OP of this thread.
But if Jewish rulership over the world has to do with the arrival of mashiach, then it doesn't appear as if Jewish rulership has too much to do with the choice of ancient Jews. Therefore, my question still remains.
Having now clarified how the plan works, I hope you understand why almost everything about it hinges on our choices. What Israel needed at the time of Shimshon was to be united under one leader. They were not, although Shimshon tried hard. The Tanach informs us that this was a particular option that Hashem implemented to bring about the unification process. In the short run it did not work, but it's quite possible that it did in the longer run. And of course, nothing that Hashem does is truly for naught. Processes run deep. Let's not forget that Tanach only represents a small collection of stories and speeches. There were many many more. Perhaps some great leaders explicitly stated that Shimshon's rise and fall was what inspired them to do great things? Difficult to know, but not unlikely.
By the way, a lot of Jewish sources are of the opinion that Shimshon is mentioned by Shmuel (Samuel) in the following verse (
Shmuel 1:12:11)
"And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and delivered you from the enemies around you; and you dwelt in security."
Bedan = Shimshon, because there's no Bedan mentioned in Judges and Shimshon was from the tribe of Dan. There are other opinions on the identity of Bedan, though.
So, no answers as to why God used the method of operating behind the scenes and using Samson's anger, emotions, and rage to get his plan accomplished. Because Samson had to resort to some of the worst types of emotions to implement God's plan.
Anger and rage may be negative in general, but that doesn't mean they're bad 100% of the time. Are you a pacifist? If not, then I think you'll agree that when these emotions are used correctly, they can give a person a useful extra boost.
When I was doing advanced training in the army, we had an exercise where we practiced quickly exiting our armored vehicles and then launching a unified squadron attack on practice targets. Each squad did this a couple of times. The first time was for the higher-ranking officer to see our mistakes, and the second time so that we'd be able to fix our mistakes. After our first attempt, the officer listed off several mistakes. But at the end he noted: You did do one thing great - you guys shouted wildly while rushing into the field.
Fury is useful when implemented correctly. It can give an added boost in battle. So, that Shimshon used these emotions to get back at the backstabbing enemies of Israel - not bad. You'll notice that Shimshon always knew who to target. He wasn't killing blindly, until the very end, when he knocked down the columns.
In short, I don't think your criticism here is correct.
