Anakin and Samson- the REAL Biblical analogy.

A lot is made out of Anakin and Luke being Christ figures, when in fact they better follow the paths of Samson and David, respectively, in the Bible... In this thread I hope to break down the Anakin/Samson comparison with excerpts and commentary... Maybe I'll do Luke/David later... There's a synopsis at the bottom...

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[i][b]Judges 13[/b] (NIV)
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son.[/i]

[hl=skyblue]A sterile woman giving birth... Not quite a virgin birth, but it'll do in a pinch...[/hl]


[i] 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a [b]Nazirite[/b], set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."[/i]

[hl=skyblue]Nazirite's were Israelites who made a special commitment. As part of their pact, they were not allowed to drink wine (or eat grapes), touch dead bodies, or cut their hair. If a Nazirite cut their hair, they would lose the annointing of God, and would not be able to regain it until their hair grew back. Also note the prophecy here- Samson is a "chosen one", so to speak, destined to free his people from the Philistines.[/hl]


[i]24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.[/i]

[i][b]Judges 14[/b][/i] [hl=skyblue]Many years later, when Samson is now a grown man.[/hl]
[i]1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."
...
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her. [/i]

[hl=skyblue]First of all, Samson wants to marry a Philistine woman. This isn't against his Nazirite vow- neither is Anakin's downfall of selfish love- but both display a lack of wisdom. Second, as he is returning to find the woman he wants to marry, we can see from the phrase "he told neither his father nor mother what he had done" that he left his parents before he ran into the lion. He killed the lion with the annointing on him (the Force), but he was going TOWARDS THE VINEYARDS at the time. What is a Nazirite, who cannot eat grapes, in the vineyard for?[/hl]


[i] 8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, 9 which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass.[/i]

[hl=skyblue]First of all, the phrase "he turned aside" reaffirms that going to the vineyard is out of the way. Second of all, he takes the honey from the lion's corpse! A Nazirite cannot touch dead bodies![/hl]

[i][b]Judges 15[/b][/i] [hl=skyblue]Samson did some more bad stuff in the rest of Judges 14, including killing a bunch of Philistines to cover up a mistake of his, and having a big bachelor party with wine, but the flirtation with the "dark side" gets redundent, and I'm trying to stick to the meat of the comparison...[/hl]
[i] 1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her fathe

 

In that case, I would say that when compared to the Bible, Anakin is a mix between Samson and Lucifer.

Great research, Bremerton!



Anakin - he is many
/LM

 

Lucifer isn't redeemed in the end though. I think that's an important aspect to any comparison to Vader.

 

Of course. As I implied, Anakin is a mix of several Biblical characters. If you compare him to another mythology, he'll be a different mix, because it's very uncommon for two different mythologies to have two characters who are exactly alike.
I'm sure there's some myth out there that contains a character who falls from grace and then turns back to the good side.

Whether Anakin is truly redeemed, though, is up for debate.



Palpatine is the devil
/LM

 

I like the fact that Anakin isn't set to parallel one character. It would seem he mimics different characters at different times.

 

This is a point that I didn't bring up, but now that you mention it...

28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

When Anakin chooses to kill Palpy instead of letting Luke die, it may not be an entirely selfless decision. Vader now knows Palpy is going to try to pit him against Leia, to turn HER into his apprentice... It's only with the knowledge that his head is on the chopping block anyways that he chooses to give in to his love for his son...

And though Sampson gains his annointing back due to his hair regrowing, when he prays to God here, we see that he merely wants to take revenge, he's not concerned with fulfilling his destiny...

Remember the working title "Revenge of the Jedi"? Interesting...

 

Personally, I think Samson is the character that Anakin most mimics, just because there are many parallel points throughout their stories. The major difference is that when Samson becomes an agent of evil, it isn't willingly, which is where the Lucifer comparison may come in... For this part of his story, though, I would prefer the Saul of Tarsus comparison... Saul did all the wrong things for all the right reasons, just like Anakin... Saul killed people and destroyed churches in the name of God, until God appeared to him one day on the road to Damascus, at which point Saul became Paul and became a great apostle... I like the parallel in the dual names, too, Saul=Vader, Paul=Anakin...

 

Does it really matter?

I don't believe that any being is capable of selflessness. I think that "selflessness" is nothing more than a myth created to put one's species, tribe, or whatever on a pedestal. When we help someone or do a good deed, I believe we do it for selfish reasons. Sometimes, a selfish act can benefit others. Many times, one would harm others. I believe it's called, "acting from the heart".

I feel that to believe that one is capable of selflessness is merely an act of human arrogance. When Anakin told Palpatine that the Jedi were selfless, one could only assume that Obi-Wan taught him that. If that's true, then one could accuse the Jedi Knights of arrogance.

 

*cough*

 

Yes, and Anakin is at his most powerful when he has long hair.

 

This is a great analysis; I can't think of anything in disagreeing with it. Good job!!

 

Brilliant, Bremerton! I doubt anybody's every made that connection between Star Wars and the Bible.

 

Hector and Virgil, thanks!

Shadowplay, I thought that similarity was implied!

 

Bremerton, you said that Samson was not erring per se by falling in love with Delilah. While it may not explicitly be forbidden by Nazirite Law, marrying aliens (you know...Earth aliens ) was forbidden for the Israelites at that time, so marrying Delilah was against the Mosaic Law. Great analysis, though; I'd never noticed the references to Samson journeying to the vineyards, for instance, a great parallel to Anakin visiting Padme and dipping into the Dark Side.

 

Well Delilah was not the woman whom he fell in love with earlier in the story, she was killed by the other Philistines earlier... But the fact you present is true, that was a misstep on my part... He was NOT allowed to marry a Philistine...

That does present an intestesting thought however, Samson was not supposed to marry a Philistine, but his parents were so weak-willed that they went with him to meet her and were going to let him marry her...

 

good comparison. may be good for Bible studying films, which i have had my eye on.

i had thought of Anakin being the chosen one for the sith, being like an antichrist by being born of virgin birth and then being believed to be the Jedi's messiah, while Palpatine or Plagerius (spelling?) actually created him for the purpose of bringing about the destruction of the Jedi and building a new order supposedly promoting peace. and the 'number' of that order to destroy the jedi?: 66. and Palpatine deceives Anakin and acts all nice like Satan is said to appear like an angel of light.

interesting comparison to Samson. both fail becuase they let rush into a relationship they are not ready for, but in the case of King David, both bring forth children that bring about good. Anakin has the redeeming twins, and King David has Solomon who asked God for wisdom.

 

But of course that comparison falls apart when Anakin returns to the good side. The Light Side? Whatever.

I think David and Luke line up better. Both are "chosen ones" who complete the task a past generation of "chosen ones" failed in... Samson never actually freed the Jewish people from the Philistines rule like he was prophesied to, David completed that task... I'd go more in depth, but David's story in the Bible is just too large...

 

Man! Nice work. I completely overlooked that possibilty.

(For a good story in Judges, check out Ehud in chapter 3 or 4)

 

I agree, and I take this as license to view Anakin as somewhat symbolic of humanity in general. Many of his actions reflect those of historical persons and peoples like Eve, Samson, etc., and even us to day. I see him as the human race; the Jedi Order as the Hebrews, with its masters being the overly dogmatic Pharisees who have lost the true meaning of the Force/God in their ordered structure; the Empire as the Roman Empire; Luke as Christ, not so much David, because David redeemed no one; Luke/Christ redeemed everyone, which makes sense if you think of Vader as fallen man. I think this is part of the significance of Luke being a "son" as well.

So in a way I agree with the Samson analogy, but only insomuch as it goes to show that Anakin is no one in particular biblically.