A Tragic Affair Judges 16 Samson & Delilah Old Testament Characters & Themes Dr. Greg Anderson September 25, 2016 Riverdale Baptist Church Whitehorse, Yukon
Introduction 1 I remember this story from my childhood. It was in a Sunday School classroom much like what is happening right now, downstairs with our children and grandchildren. While both my father and grandfathers served in the Canadian Military in the World Wars, our home was not a militaristic place. There were no guns around, nobody hunted, nobody practiced the various blood sports available in the 1950 s. But, given the times I did play Cowboys & Indians in the woods surrounding our home and I watched the Lone Ranger and Gunsmoke on TV. The story of Samson fascinated me. Tearing apart the lion limb from limb there were cougars about in my childhood days. Tying up the foxes and setting the enemies fields ablaze life was always more exciting when there were enemies to fight with. Taking the jawbone of an ass and slaying hundreds like some TV ninja hero. What little boy would not be inspired with the exploits of Samson! I was too young, too immature, to understand that Samson is likely the most tragic figure in the Christian Bible. Tragedy in classical drama, is a serious account wherein the hero, usually a person who from birth has been granted an unusually privileged place in life someone like a king is drawn to disaster or death by an error or fatal flaw. Tragedy. I believe in our day and age, due to the allure of modern secular life, the tragedy of failed Christian life is perhaps our greatest danger. Samson is a role model for this. A man chosen by God, set apart to be God s person from birth, the leader of the people of God, someone who truly could experience in this life a kind of glory, beauty, and wonder coming from the living God A man who squandered his inheritance. A man who, as in the parable of Jesus, threw his life on the hard soil; upon the rocky soil; among the weedy soil and tragically in his life, in spite of God being glorified through his life, lost his life. As Christian believers we have been chosen to be the people of God and to share in the kind of glory, beauty and wonder we see in the life of Jesus. We have been gifted to have such an inheritance, may we beware to never squander it, rather to fully enjoy it. Text In order to understand Samson s choices it is good to understand the larger context.
2 We cannot be sure of the exact historical circumstances but some of the scholarly research tells us that at this time the people of Israel, the people of God, in their own land, are being dominated by the neighboring Philistines who occupy the western seaboard of Palestine. Now the nature of the domination appears to be not so much militaristic, rather cultural and economic. As in the life of Samson there is widespread intermarriage happening which weakens the culture of the people of God and there is pronounced trade activity, perhaps especially in the alcohol industry, which is also compromising the people of God to be the people of God. (We are talking about 3,000 years ago but some of the themes sound uncomfortably modern when we think about what causes the people of God to lose their witness!) Underlying this central problem of cultural compromise, on the part of God s people, is the root issue of idolatry. At the beginning of the Samson narrative, in Judges chapter 13, we read this: The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. This statement is a standard one, occurring a number of times, in the book of Judges. The first time we come across it is in the second chapter: Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and worshipped the (gods). And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them and bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.... and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies. Now, when I say idolatry, do not be confused by the image of people bowing down to a statue, which we never do, and therefore idolatry no longer being of concern to us. The concern is not a statue; the concern is what we bow down to. We bow down to that which we acknowledge to be worthy of our life efforts; to that which we desire to give our lives to. As the text says: they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them... There are obviously many choices. The problem, if you are a person of God, with bowing down to other gods is that the one true and only God will give you into the power of what you bow down to. And that will actually plunder your life.
It is what happened to Samson. 3 This story of Samson & Delilah is a case study in how the person of God is seduced to abandon the Lord, bow down to other gods, be plundered and delivered into the power of enemies. It is important to note Samson is God s person. His birth, which is among only a handful recorded in history, wherein God intervenes to bring the gift of a child to an otherwise childless woman. This marks him out for a lifetime of unique dedication to God.. He is what the Bible calls a nazirite. I believe the Bible records only one other specific person who is defined this way. In fact, in the initial birth circumstances, Samson, like Isaac born to Sarah, prefigures the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Samson is an unprecedented gift among the people of God. However, tragically, unlike Jesus, Samson does not live up to his inheritance. As Samson enters into his liaison with Delilah it is important to note that his uncut hair demonstrates his faithful worship of the one true God right up to this point. Samson is included in the Hebrews 11 great hall of faithful people. Samson s immorality did not eliminate his faith in God and God s use of him to work good for His people. That is a lesson in itself. Thankfully God is not dependent on our good behavior to accomplish his plans. What did Samson think was right? However we should never think that God s independence, gives us, His people, license to do what we please. That is the famous refrain from the conclusion of the book of Judges: In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes. To satisfy his sexual desires in the same way as was common in his secular world. Whether sexual desire or other desires, here is the first step toward idolatry. Aligning one s desires, both natural and unnatural, not through the guidance of the Word of God but rather, through the solutions offered to us by the people who are all around us. Here is the challenge, turning away from what is right in my own eyes and seeing through the Word of God as explained to me by the people of God. What else did Samson think was right in his own eyes?
To take from the secular world what he thought he could not get from the world of the people of God and particularly against the advice of his godly elders. 4 Very early on in his adult life, his God-fearing parents said to him: Is there not a woman among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the... Philistines? Failure to listen to godly parents, to godly elders is another step on the pathway to abandonment of the Lord and following after the allure of other gods. What else did Samson think was right in his own eyes? Application To play with the fire of temptation (Rather than lead me not into temptation). Presumably Delilah kept upping the ante, kept giving Samson more of what he came to her for and seduced him into playing the game where his fidelity to God alone was at stake. He got deeper and deeper into the relationship and ended up trading his fidelity for his desires. Presumably he trusted in his uncut hair and God s faithfulness to work through him regardless of his personal choices. It is here we Christians should take heed to the counsel of James: You see, for just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. Never presume because your hair is uncut, because your faith in Jesus Christ is secured by his action, that your actions are ultimately not important. Thinking that way gets a person plundered. Well we could go on in analyzing the downfall of Samson. It is one of the saddest narratives in the Bible. How does it speak to us today? First, God is always glorified as his will is fulfilled. God is the only one in the universe who always gets his way! Now that does not mean we, His creatures, always cooperate with him or please him. Obviously not! But nevertheless, even though his people through whom he works fail miserably, the Lord God works his ways in the mysteries of our history At the end of the Samson narrative the enemies of the people of God are crushed. This is a source of great hope and forms the foundation of worshipping God alone. Second, why miss out on partnership with the glory, beauty and wonder of God in his works?
5 This is the height of foolishness and it can only happen because we are beguiled into thinking the fulfilling of desire is best solved through the advertisements of the world. Samson lost his life by giving up everything for what the world advertises. He trusted in his uncut hair and pursued his desires to the uttermost through what his surrounding world offered. But having been lulled to sleep in his satisfactions, through his actions, he abandoned his worship of the one true God. How to avoid this? How to discover rather, the glory, beauty and wonder of partnership with the living God? How to live up to our inheritance? It is so very simple. Faithfully follow Jesus Christ, follow what he says and follow what he does, through the power of the gift of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus gives, and in the company of likeminded people and life is enjoyed! Amen.