Bible Time

The Death of Samson

The death of Samson was expected at July 12, 2001. That date witnessed Bashar Assad travel to Europe, but it did not see two columns pushed over by a suicidal Samson. The story contained the details needed to discover when it would happen, 60 days later, at September 11, 2001. This article explores.

Syria's Bashar Assad

We start this story by backing up to June of 2000. The month included two dates, on that seemed to matter in the headlines. That event was the day-for-a-year replay of the birth of Caleb and the first year of his life. Of course we know the overall chronology of the Bible and we know were that chronlogy lands prophetically so the modern day for the replay of Caleb's first year can be known. The following date report provides the details:

Day-for-a-year replay of the first year of Caleb's life.
ET Number	Day	Modern Date	Bible Date	AA Number
ET:9463	Sat	24 Jun 2000 NS	3491/6/17 FE	AA:4738877

Headlines that June had focused on the death of Hafez Assad, on June 10, 2000. Hafez had attempted an attack on Israel in 1973. His army lost that war and the king, though hostile to Israel, would not attack again. (Syria had lost so badly that parts of the Golan had become a tank graveyard. Israeli military power so overpowered Syria.) Hafez had not particularly warmed to Israel, but he had not attempted any further invasions. Now he was gone.

Over the following several weeks the Syrians replaced the dead king with his son, Bashar Assad. Key days included June 20, 2000, when he was nominated as the new leader and June 27, 2000, when the full parliament of Syria voted him in as king.

The week between these two dates was so filled with activity it is hard to fix a specific event that landed directly on the prophetic date. The political machinery in Syria was moving through various steps of succession and the western reports were just trickling out. We can confirm this as the key headline through a match in the stories details. Keep reading.

Bashar Assad's Medical Training

Bashar was not the original planned successor to his father. Bashar had an older brother who had been groomed from birth to eventually sit on the throne. Bashar's plan was to become a medical doctor, specifically an eye doctor or eye surgeon. (Differing reports used different terms, probably an issue of translation.) Bashar had studied eye surgery in Europe and had returned to Syria to prace medicine in the army.

Plans changed when his older brother died in a traffic accident leaving Bashar as successor to the throne. At this point he abandoned his medical practice and began taking positions in the Syrian army. He had been the head Syrian commander in Lebanon when Israel had abandoned south Lebanon on a prophetic date in May of 2000. He was now ready to take the throne.

The prophetic stor we are looking for here is the birth, usually a political birth, of someone who is like Caleb. Caleb is known in the Bible for two things. 1) He was a spy who went into the lands of ancient Canaan and brought back a good report. (Joshua was the other spy with a good report.) 2) Caleb lead the invasion of ancient Caanan, being one who was not killed off in the desert over the 40 years of wandering.

The linkage from Bashar Assad to Caleb comes from the first event in Caleb's life, the spying. Bashar's training as an eye surgeon is the prophetic fulfillment of Caleb the spy. The focus of both is on sight.

The successful withdrawal of Israel from south Lebanon may be the fulfillment of Caleb's military conquest of Canaan, but it is more likely that Bashar Assad will play this out at some future time. Of course they must remove the United States as a supporter of Israel before that can happen, something that has not happened yet.

The invasion Generation

The Day-for-a-year timeline has a date suggested by the stories surrounding the invasion of ancient Canaan. The generation that was under age at the time of the Exodus from Egypt was not killed off in the desert. They become a key part of the invasion generation that would take ancient Canaan. Since we know the age to be included in the census counts we can deduce the year after which the invasion generation was born. That year replays on a know place as indicated by the following report:

Last year before invasion Generation is born.
ET Number	Day	Modern Date	Bible Date	AA Number
ET:9481	Wed	12 Jul 2000 NS	3491/7/5 FE	AA:4738895

The process of putting Bashar Assad in as Syria's new King culminated with a national vote. The vote was taken on July 13, 2000 with a national reforendum. Though Bashar was the only candidate, the public voted for Bashar as the new King.

The focus of both stories in on the people, or generation, at large. In the ancient case it was the birth of a generation. In the modern case it was the Syrian people who voted on a new generation of national leader. That leader was Bashar Assad, prophetic Caleb.

Understanding this history with Bashar matters to our story in the summer of 2001. We turn now to the story of Samson.

Samson's Story

Samson was one of the Judges of ancient Israel. He was judge for 20 years and that period can be dated in the overall chronology. Since we know when the period replays we can date the modern prophetic replay of Samson's judgeship. Our interest here is on Samson's death, the following report gives the date:

Day-for-a-year replay of the last year of Samson's life.
ET Number	Day	Modern Date	Bible Date	AA Number
ET:9846	Thu	12 Jul 2001 NS	3492/7/10 FE	AA:4739260

This particular date is important because the Bible includes a long intricate story dealing with the death of Samson. Samson had lost his strength when he lost his hair because of Delilah's deception. He had been blinded and put in prision. There his hair grew back and he regained his strength, though not his sight.

Headlines

On the indicated date headlines were reporting on Bashar Assad's diplomatic trip to Europe. The man of sight, the spy, the leader of the invasion generation, was back in the news. The Europeans were attempting to get Bashar to give up on his plan to invade Israel. Bashar's mind was not changed and he returned to Syria.

The curious feature of the headlines at July 12, 2001, involved sorry state of Syria's conventional forces. Why, we wondered, would Assad think he could invade the nation without an up to date military? An invasion, to be successful, would appear to need alot of ground troops, probably in top condition. He had none of that which made his position all the harder to understand. Of course with help, an alliance, or partnership with other nations this would be possible.

Of course Syria tried and failed at a conventional invasion of Israel once before, having lost a conventional war over the Golan heights. What looked like irrationality must have been covering plans for an unconventional war. A war that had to involve the United State since any on-the-ground war would surely draw American support for Israel.

This was a great fulfillment already, but it did not come close to a blind and suicidal Samson pushing over two columns and causing a great deal of death. The offset was contained in the story.

Samson's death

The death of Samson is rather remarkable in its details. Samson committed suicide as he pushed over two towers that supported the Philistine temple of Dagon. Someone with sight showed Samson where to place his hands on the columns so he could push them over.

Like the story of Sodom and like the story of the time of Trumpets, this story too included the details that offset the story to the 11th of September.

As with many other stories, the interpretive rule are following here is the rule layed down by Joseph when he interpreted the cup bearer and baker's dreams. Whenever God speaks a number, whatever else it may be, it is also a reference to time. The numbers we care about here are in the story of Samson and Delilah. The following table explores.

text	Amount	Sub Total
...1100 shekels...1	4	4
...seven fresh thongs...2	7	11
...seven fresh thongs...3	7	18
...seven braids...4	7	25
...seven braids...5	7	32
...third time...6	3	35
...day after day...7	2	37
...seven braids...8	7	44
...the one...9	1	45
...3000 men...10	9	54
...two eyes...11	2	56
...once more...12	1	57
...two eyes...13	1	58
...two pillars...14	2	60
Total:	60

This list references 60 counts of things, and if we take the original theoretical date and add 60 days we get the 11th of September. The following is the date report.

Day-for-a-year replay of the last year of Samson's life + 60 days.
ET Number	Day	Modern Date	Bible Date	AA Number
ET:9906	Mon	10 Sep 2001 NS	3492/9/10 FE	AA:4739320

Again, like the Trumpets story the period finished at the close of the 10th of September, likely a time of devine protection, lost when the 11th begins.

A second way to figure

Samson's story contains two different ways to figure the offset from the theoretical death of Samson through to September 11. A second involves the death toll. At the time there were about 3000 philistines in the temple, all killed at the temple collapse.

At Saul's anointing a reference is made to 1000s broken down into groups of 50s. All military units in the Bible are broken down this way, the divisional system is rather common. The "50" used in this reference provides the divisor needed to crack the puzzle to find out when the columns and Dagon would come tumbling down.

In this case 3000 men / (50 men/day) yields 60 days, the same count as we get from a careful read of the text.

Add Syria to the anti-western alliance

The sighted one, the one who gave the suiciders the grip on the towers is likely to be Bashar Assad of Syria. This is consistent with the opening of the border between Iraq and Syria we watched prophetically August 21, 2001, following other prophetic stories.

Putting Assad into the anti-western alliance is something not yet seen with headlines in the media. Either way, the death of Samson, the collapse of the temple by pushing over two columns, is the prophetic event this story suggests at September 11, 2001.

Additional Notes

Samson killed 3000 Philistines when he knocked over the two columns. The WTC Attack death toll was initial stated over 5000 but as the city eliminated duplicates on the lists of people missing the totals began to drop. Independent news sources could never get the totals over about 2700 and the New York City official list of those missing or killed has dropped under 3500. This story suggests the total killed in New York City will eventually approach 3000. Likely the exact number cannot be measured accurately by city officials. This prophetic total is probably the true number, God usually keeps his word.

The price of 1100 pieces of silver echos the number of floors in the World Trade Centers.

Phil Stone
Updated December 8, 2006

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¹Judges 16:6 at 1/historical day   
²Judges 16:7    
³Judges 16:8    
⁴Judges 16:13    
⁵Judges 16:13    
⁶Judges 16:15    
⁷Judges 16:16    
⁸Judges 16:19    
⁹Judges 16:24    
¹⁰Judges 16:27 at 1/historical day   
¹¹Judges 16:28    
¹²Judges 16:28    
¹³Judges 16:28    
¹⁴Judges 16:29