JUDGES 13:1-16:31 Today, we re going to be looking at one of the most familiar stories of the Old Testament. It s so familiar that if we re not careful, we ll fail to see what God has for us in it. Judges 13:1 The very first verse of today s lesson sets the stage for the rest of the chapter. We need to understand just a little background about the Philistines before we get into Samson s life. The Philistines had been forced from their homeland in the area of Greece and the Aegean sea. They had become refugees and had migrated and settled in Canaan. They had established five main cities, among which were Gaza, Ashdod, and Gath. (Please remember the names of these cities we ll talk about them later.) So, that s how they came to be in the land that the Lord God had promised to His children. But, we need to also understand how they operated. The Philistines were a great military strength because they had learned to smelt iron. They could have overrun the Jews with their iron implements of war but the Philistines chose another means they decided to defeat Israel in a different way They decided to defeat Israel with trade and intermarriage. If the Israelites wanted a plow or an axe, they had to go to the Philistines to get one. If the Israelites wanted to marry their son or their daughter, the Philistines had no objection. And, in both these ways, the Philistines gained a stranglehold on the Israelites. They were doing this by compromise and assimilation. Israel was not being defeated and enslaved by military dominance, but by spiritual and cultural seduction. Another thing we need to see is that at every point in the Book of Judges so far, when the people turned from God and experienced His judgment of political bondage they would reach a point as a nation where they would cry out to God for deliverance they would repent and God would hear their cry for a deliverer and He would give them a judge to liberate them from their oppressors. But, this never happened against the Philistines. Not once did the people realize their danger and cry out to God to deliver them. WHY? Things were going too well!! It was a time of affluence the economy was good they weren t engaged in war But the Bible says they were in the hands of the enemy!! Beloved, does this sound familiar to you? For forty years these folks were in the hands of the Philistines and they didn t know it or they didn t care!! Is it possible that our nation is in the hands of the enemy and most folks don t know it or don t care??!! The bottom line of what I m trying to say is that the Jews were well on their way to losing their identity. They were well on their way to being assimilated into the Philistine culture. But they Page 1 of 7
were so ignorant of this fact that even when God did send Samson, they were ready to hand Samson over to death rather than upset the Philistines. Let me say one more thing before we get to the Scripture. All the other major judges led a repentant people against the enemy. Not Samson. Samson fought all alone. Not once was he joined in battle by even so much as one man. Bill and I were talking about the lesson this week, and I mentioned this fact, and told him that I had never seen that before. He, of course, had. I told him that I believe this is a man thing, a fact that a man would pick up far quicker than a woman. Kim and I were discussing it and Kim said, Yeah, I believe you re right. A woman would pick up on it if Samson had been a woman cooking dinner all alone for a thousand people Maybe you ve never thought of that, and maybe you have. I said all that to simply say that when we study Samson s life and see his enormous failures, we need to balance our disapproval and disgust with the recognition that Samson singlehandedly fought against the Philistines while his fellow countrymen were content to just intermarry with them and do business with them. One more thing Samson s life s work was not going to be completed. Judges 13:5 He shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. The key word in that statement is the word begin. Because Israel had not repented, the Lord was not yet ready to break the yoke of the Philistines. But neither would He abandon Israel. In grace, God raised up Samson to begin the process of liberation Samson would not know complete military victory but neither would he know complete military defeat. Well, chapter 13 tells us of a couple, Manoah and his wife, who had no children, but who had a heart for God. They must have been unusual in the time of apostasy in which they lived. This chapter tells us that the angel of the LORD came to Manoah s wife and told her she would have a son. Verses 3-5 1) he shall be a Nazirite a) no strong drink b) no razor to his hair c) no defilement no unclean things, no dead animals or people 2) he shall be Israel s deliverer Well, Mrs. Manoah went and told her husband and her husband did a precious thing Verse 8 God sent the angel of the LORD again. He answered Manoah s questions and Manoah prepared an offering to be burnt and verse 19 said when Manoah prepared the kid with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD that the angel of the LORD performed wonders while Manoah and his watched. And then when the flame from the altar went up toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar and look at what they said Verses 12-22 Samson was born and grew and the Lord blessed him. Chapter 14 tells us of Samson s going to Timnah where he saw a daughter of the Philistines and came back and told his mother and father that he wanted her for a wife. Judges 14:3-4 Page 2 of 7
Samson was a man who allowed the flesh to overrule the Spirit. He saw a beautiful Philistine girl and he didn t care what his mother and father thought. He didn t care what God had already decreed. Samson wanted that girl for his wife, and that s all there was to that!! One commentator said that it is Samson who is seeking an occasion against the Philistines. I don t believe that. (For one thing, my NAS has He capitalized. Let me just read you what Matthew Henry says about this, and bear in mind Matthew Henry s commentary was written in 1710, so the English is a little old. : perhaps the expression only means, that it please God to leave Samson to follow his own inclinations, intending in His infinite wisdom to bring out good from his misconduct, and his parents, because he was bent on it. However, his example is not recorded for our imitation. This marriage would bring Samson into acquaintance and converse with the Philistines, by which he might be a thorn in their sides. But this circumstance does not necessarily make the action good; it may be that God only overruled the propensities of Samson to accomplish His own purposes against the oppressors of His people. Even though Samson had chosen that which God had forbidden God can still use it for good. Verse 4 God is not limited! He doesn t say, You know, I told the Jews they couldn t intermarry. And here Samson comes along and chooses a Philistine woman. Now, what am I gonna do? I chose Samson. Samson chose her. Now I can t use Samson. I guess I ll have to go to Plan B. No! God can and does use folks all the time who have strayed from His perfect will. God s purposes will be accomplished in spite of my disobedience and your disobedience, but you and I can never use His purposes to justify our disobedience! And here is Samson, a Nazirite someone whose life is to be characterized by selfdenial saying, Get her for me she looks good to me! Well, we know the story. He went down to Timnah and on the way, he encountered a lion. We have to understand that God has endowed Samson with supernatural strength and ability. Samson would make Superman look like a wimp! Samson slew the lion with his bare hands and later he saw that there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion, so he went and got some of it and ate and gave some to his parents. This is another violation of the vow he has taken as a Nazirite. Verses 10-14 Samson used the lion and the honey to propound a riddle at his marriage feast. By the way, have you noticed the downward path Samson is on? Normally, in Jewish custom, a marriage would be held in the groom s parents home but Samson has compromised again and he is at Timnah, the home of his wife instead of being at the home of Manoah. The men threatened Samson s wife with burning her father s house down if she didn t come up with the answer to the riddle. So, Samson lost the bet and he also lost his wife Judges 15:1-3 In retaliation, Samson went and caught 300 foxes and tied them together tail to tail and set fire to their tails and let them loose in the midst of the standing shocks of grain of the Philistines. Now, Page 3 of 7
can you imagine anyone catching 300 foxes, let alone tying them together? But God had given Samson supernatural abilites! Anyway, this didn t go over real big with the Philistines, and they retaliated by burning Samson s ex-wife and her father with fire, and the Bible says that Samson struck them with a great slaughter. Then, 3,000 of his own men came against him verses 11-13 Then, the Spirit of the LORD came upon Samson and he killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. Verse 20 Well, don t you wish Samson s story ended here? But it doesn t. Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot named Delilah and he went in to her. The Philistines paid Delilah to find out the source of Samson s strength. First, Samson told her that if he were bound with 7 fresh cords that had not been dried, then his strength would be no more than any other man s, and Delilah bound him with 7 fresh cords that had not been dried and when the Philistines came, Samson just snapped those cords just like that! Next, Samson told Delilah that if he were bound tightly with new ropes which have not been used, then he would become weak like other men, and Delilah did this and when the Philistines came, Samson snapped the ropes like a thread. Then, Samson told Delilah if she wove the seven locks of his long hair and fastened it with a pin, then his strength would be gone, but that didn t work either. Judges 16:15-20 How presumptuous of Samson! Did he think God would overlook all his compromising ways? The Philistine didn t kill him, but they gouged out his eyes and he became a grinder of wheat in their prison. Hundreds of years later, Jesus said, If your eye offend you, pluck it out. Well, Samson s eyes had gotten him into trouble, hadn t they? Remember, when he said to his mom and dad Get her for me she looks good to me? Then, he saw Delilah and she looked good to him, too. Sometimes, God just takes away that which keeps getting us into trouble. He took away Samson s eyes God doesn t want us to miss this picture with all our potential and strength and talent and accomplishment we can end up like Samson if we don t learn that we cannot live a life of compromise. God didn t leave Samson in that prison grinding the wheat of the Philistines the rest of his life, did He? Even in prison, a total failure, a total victim of compromise, God had not abandoned Samson. Verse 22 Even in the midst of the worst kind of failure, God was present, working to restore Samson. I truly believe Samson had time in that prison to truly repent of his wasted life. I believe Samson cried out to Jehovah and asked His forgiveness. God refused to give up on Samson and Samson finally came to his senses. Page 4 of 7
We know what happened the Philistines were having a huge assembly to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon and to thank their god for delivering Samson into their hands. Verses 15-31 Well, what lessons can we take home today from this passage about Samson? Let s just spend the rest of our time together thinking about a few Remember when I told you to remember Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. Well, way back in the Book of Joshua, there is a little verse that says that in Gaza and Gath and Ashdod the sons of Israel allowed some of the enemy to remain. These enemies were Philistines, Beloved. They should have been driven out. 1) God expects His children (you and me) to drive out the enemies in our lives. God has promised He will fight for us, but we must come against our enemies in His strength and His power and His name. If we don t drive the enemies of pride, lust, criticism, jealousy whatever out of our lives, we ll do exactly what the Jews did we ll simply settle down and do business with them, and intermarry with them! 2) God has called His children to live a separated life. Jesus told us to be in the world but not of the world. The Jews were well on their way to being completely assimilated by the Philistines and would have been if God had not intervened. 3) God has called us to a life of commitment, not compromise. Samson compromised every part of his Nazirite vow, didn t he? Compromise is a gradual thing. We compromise a little here and a little there and before you know it, Satan has us right where he wants us. 4) Temptation comes in attractive packages. Oscar Wilde said, I can resist anything except temptation. The Philistines didn t send Tugboat Annie to Samson. They sent a beautiful harlot who knew exactly how to seduce a man and poor old Samson fell for her like a ton of bricks. Satan tempts us with attractive things and if we re not listening to the Lord, we ll fall in love just as Satan did! 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. Samson didn t fail because the temptation was too strong, and he didn t fail because the temptation was inescapable he failed because he toyed and trifled with sin. The early Christian writer, Ambrose put it so well when he said, Samson, when brave, strangled a lion; but he could not strangle his own love. He burst the fetters of his foes, but not the cords of his own lusts. He burned the crops of others, and lost the fruit of his own virtue when burning with the flame enkindled by a single woman. Page 5 of 7
5) We cannot presume upon God s goodness nor become complacent in our Christian walk. For 20 years, Samson was victorious. He had broken each vow he had made except the one forbidding the cutting of his hair and God was still looking after him. He had sinned sexually and still had great physical strength. He no doubt had drunk strong drink at his wedding feast he had defiled himself with dead bodies and still, God had not intervened. There had been no voice from heaven, no sudden disaster. The more he sinned, the more of God s grace he experienced. To Paul s question, Should we continue in sin so that grace might abound? Samson would have given a ringing YES!! But, Beloved, God has a line we cannot cross. He may appear to be looking the other way but He s not! Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. And, Samson reaped the bitter fruit of his sin he lost his eyes and he lost his freedom. One last thing and we ll be through 6) God never leaves nor forsakes His children. It may be that you know all too well what it is to fail as Samson failed. You ve fallen under temptation, and you d be so ashamed if anyone knew the details. There s a bumper sticker that says, Christians aren t perfect, they re forgiven. Beloved, the hair can grown again!! Even in your failure, He will not abandon you!! God can use you again!! Hallelujah!!! Let me just end with this The great blessing of being a child of God is that we are eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in Christ, Suppose I take this piece of paper and place it in my Bible. To see that paper, I must first look at my Bible. To deal with it, I must first touch my Bible. This illustrates my position in Christ Jesus. The Father never sees me without first seeing the Son He loves. He never deals with me without first dealing with the Lord Jesus. My life has been hidden with Christ in God and God the Father always deals with me on the basis of my relation to the Lord Jesus. There is one great weakness with my illustration, however. This piece of paper can fall out of my Bible. It can be separated from it. But, praise God, I cannot fall out of Christ. I am intimately and permanently one with Him. I am in Him forever by His grace! It is wonderful that I am in Christ, but God s Word goes further to tell me that He is in me, and He is in me to be my Resource for life. Whatever I need, He supplies. Paul said, My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Paul also said, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Page 6 of 7
Samson had a constant resource of physical strength by God s Holy Spirit. But, we have something far more than that we have God s Spirit indwelling us constantly to make available God s resurrection power in every area of our lives. Peter said, His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. My prayer is that we will not waste our Resources. May we allow the Holy Spirit to have full control of our lives all the time. If we do that, we won t live a life of regret as Samson did. We won t have to have our eyes gouged out and be put in prison to come to our senses. Page 7 of 7