I can’t recall whether I spoke on this subject before – the subject of the “Samson Option.” It is a war doctrine of the present Israeli government. When I say the present Israeli government I do not mean this is a new doctrine. It was considered during the Yom Kippur War in 1973 when Golda Mair was prime minister of Israel.
This doctrine gets its name from the 16th chapter of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. You probably recall the story of how Samson was taken prisoner by the Philistines and held in a prison in Gaza after having his eyes put out. “Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.” And, of course, that was where his strength was. The Philistines had Samson brought out of the prison to the amphitheater where they were offering praise to their god Dagon. Samson told the young lad that led him into the theater to place him between the two pillars that supported that structure. Praying to God to give him strength, Samson took hold of the two pillars as he cried to God, “Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he killed at his death were more than they which he killed in his life.” (See Judges 16, verses 21-30).
The “Samson Option” refers to the nuclear military strategy the Israelis will launch in a massive nuclear retaliatory strike if the state of Israel is overrun by her Arab neighbors or anyone else. (Estimates of Israel’s stockpile of nuclear weapons range between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads. It is believed Israel has the capacity to deliver them by several methods, including aircraft, as submarine launched cruise missiles, and via the Jericho series of intermediate to intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Oh, they wouldn’t do that, you think? In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Arab forces were overwhelming Israel, Prime Minister Golda Mair authorized a nuclear alert and ordered 13 atomic bombs be readied for use by missiles and aircraft.
There are 21 Arab states with a population of almost 465 million. There is one Jewish state, Israel, with a population of 6.9 million. Those Arab nations have repeatedly declared, “Israel has no right to exist!”
Like it or not, you are living in an era when nuclear war is not only a possibility but more and more like a probability. For several years now Putin has had Russia conduct a nuclear war test twice a year. The sounding of the nuclear threat sirens alerts all Russian citizens to hasten to their nearest bunkers and prepare for nuclear war.
It pays to keep up on the news of the world, especially in this time of national distress among so many nations. My suggestion? Get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as you can and maintain that close relationship 24/7.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley