Samson: Where Have All the Good Men Gone? | Judges 13-16
When I am the one in charge of selecting a movie at my house, I almost always choose an action movie. My favorite movies have always been centered around brave and mighty deeds of action heroes (Like Superman, Jason Bourne, Aragorn, or Obi wan Kenobi). One of the reasons I loved these stories so much was because I loved imagining myself in the position of the hero. There is something about heroes that captures our awe and attention. A big piece of that is the satisfaction that comes from witnessing one defy all the odds and achieve victory when circumstances look dark and hopeless.
Dark and hopeless would be an accurate picture of where we find ourselves in the book of Judges this morning. As we have worked our way through Judges, you will have noticed that we are on a sort of downward spiral. The Israelites turn further away from God, increase in rebellion, and are placed deeper under the oppressive rule of their enemies. The repeated cycle of rebellion, oppression, crying out to God, deliverance, and then back into rebellion just leaves us longing for a break. Can someone please step in and break the cycle? We are left hoping somebody will come and lead these people to a lasting and glorious deliverance. It leaves us longing for a hero.
It reminds me of that song “holding out for a hero” by Bonnie Tyler. I first heard it from Shrek 2 when Shrek is storming the castle on the giant gingerbread man. Others may recognize it from the movie Footloose, but it goes…
Where have all the good men gone?...
Late at night, I toss and I turn And I dream of what I need
I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon And he's gotta be larger than life
This song captures a picture of the kind of hero we dream of saving the day. He has gotta be fast, gotta be strong, ready to fight, and gotta be larger than life. This is the kind of Hero that Samson embodies. Samson was one of those heroes in stories from Sunday school that fascinated my imagination. Samson is no doubt a larger than life kind of hero, but can he break the cycle and bring about the great deliverance of God’s people? Let’s jump in and find out…
The story of Samson spans 4 chapters, from Judges 13-16. And so, I am not going to make you stand and read the whole thing to you. My plan is to read a few key sections and summarize gaps to help give us an idea of what is going on in the story as a whole.
It helps wrap our minds around this story seeing that the narrative can be nicely divided into 3 acts. I will call Act 1 - the birth of Samson, Act 2 - The rise of Samson, and Act 3 - the fall of Samson.
Act 1 - The Birth of Samson
Act 1 begins in v.1 of Chapter 13. Follow along with me as I read the first 7 verses,
“And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
Before Samson ever steps onto the scene, V. 1 gives us the backdrop for where Israel is as a nation. It says, the people of Israel “again” do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. We have seen this evil before. The people of Israel again abandon Yahweh in exchange for foreign gods. They forsake his good ways for their lives in order to live like the pagan nations around them.
And then, following the familiar cycle, we read that God therefore gave them into the hand of their enemies so that they were under Philistines 40 years. However, there is something missing from the cycle. Do you see how for the first time, there is nobody crying out for Yahweh for help. The people of Israel have succumbed to such darkness, that they no longer even cry out for deliverance.
The story then zooms in on a man, named Manoah, and his barren wife. The fact that she is barren furthers the image of hopelessness. She, like the nation of Israel, is fruitless and without hope. But then, like the sun cracking the horizon at first dawn, We read that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s unnamed, and barren wife to give the promise of a son. Here is hope breaking forth out of darkness!
Following up on the promise of a son, the Angel of the Lord gives some instruction regarding the manner of life and purpose her son Samson must have. Samson was to be set apart in devotion to the Lord. He was to be a Nazirite. The Nazirite vow was taken by individuals voluntarily for a specific length of time in order to be set apart to God. The 3 primary requirements 1) abstain from strong drink, 2) never cut your hair, and 3) never to touch a corpse or dead body. What is unique about Samson is that he is not made a Nazirite voluntarily, but by the call of God. Also, his Nazirite vow is not for a specific length of time, but all his life. As v. 7 reads, “the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death”.
We also see from the Angel of the Lord’s message Samson’s divine call and purpose. That is at the end of v.5, “he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines”. That is God’s purpose for Samson. To be Yahweh’s appointed deliverer who will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
The rest of 13 continues the details around preparations for Samson’s birth. The Wife goes and tells her husband Manoah. They proceed to have a number of interesting interactions that I think almost comically capture how a husband and wife would talk through big news like this. They go back and forth conversing, “Wait, Are you sure?” “Ask him again”, “what are we supposed to do?”, and then once they realize it was really God who had appeared to them the Husband says we are going to die (which is a legitimate thought in light of God’s holiness), but his wife (as we husbands should take note) is more reasonable assuring him - “No, If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”
Like Manoah and his wife who are left marveling at God’s grace in their lives, we ought to marvel at God’s grace. Particularly God’s grace toward people who are not even seeking him, people who are no longer calling out for help. God’s grace in deliverance is grace greater than all our sin and stupidity. If God only poured out grace when we asked, what poor wretches and orphans we would be.
The story of Samson’s birth concludes in v. 24 “the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.” This leaves us with a hopeful expectation for what God is about to do with Samson. The fact that Samson is the final judge in this book, and the only Judge with a birth narrative furthers that expectant hope. This hope is in the air as Act 1 comes to a close and Act 2 begins with the rise of Samson.
Act 2 - The Rise of Samson (Ch. 14-15)
Act 2 begins at the start of Chapter 14, follow along with me as I read the first 4 verses:
“Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.”
The hopeful optimism of a promised savior in ch. 13 is quickly dampened as we read about Samson’s first recorded act as a grown man. Samson goes down to Timnah and he “sees” one of the daughters of the Philistines. As a result, he goes to his parents and demands that they get her for him as a wife. There are a couple of issues here. First, the thing driving his actions is his eyes. They must get her for him because as he says, “she is right in my eyes”. This is the language of lust and possession. It reveals in Samson a disposition that thinks women exist for his pleasure and he has a right to any of them he wants. Second, is his disrespectful demands to his parents, and his complete disregard for their wisdom. (Young people this is a great way to begin making a mess of your life)
And a third issue is that the thing he desires is a woman of the Philistines. Um, excuse me Samson, this is the enemy. These are the people who have been violently oppressing your family and friends for years. You are supposed to be fighting the Philistines, not fraternizing around with in order to marry. Taking foreign wives who will pull your heart from the Lord is the very thing that God warned his people against, and pursuing this is Samson’s first recorded act as a judge.
While this is a discouraging start for Samson, verse 4 leaves a certain optimism for the reader, “His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.” So while Samson is driven by the lust of his eyes, we as the readers are left assured that God is yet sovereignly working to accomplish his secret purpose.
So what takes place? First as they are on their way to Timnah, Samson encounters a wild Lion. The lion comes at Samson, but the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon Samson so that he tears the lion apart with his bare hands. Let's not overlook this event, this is incredible. If you are not amazed by this, go to the zoo this afternoon. I hear they recently got lions. You go and look at those lions and imagine one of them charging you with full strength, but then grabbing it and tearing it apart. It is a gruesome, but awesome scene that gives us an initial picture of the Spirit empowered might of Samson. God is blessing him, even in spite of his foolish, self-serving motives.
Samson then arrives in Timnah, talks to the girl, and again the text says, “she was right in his eyes”. So, the wedding plans are arranged. Traveling back and forth between his home and Timnah to prepare, Samson encounters the dead carcass of the Lion and discovers honey inside. He takes and eats, and even shares some of the honey with his parents without their knowing where it came from. This rather obscure detail, not only sets up the background for the riddle Samson is about to share at his wedding, but demonstrates Samson’s first clear forsaking of his Nazarite vow - that he was not to touch anything dead.
But who has time for rules? we have a party to get to. The story continues on with Samson’s seven day wedding feast. Which no doubt was a drinking party, and so Samson is exposed for his second failure to keep the Nazarite vow. A group of 30 philistine “companions” were invited to the party and served as some entertainment for the high-spirited groom. He makes a bet for 30 linen garments with them over whether or not they can solve the following riddle: “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” Now as the reader, we have knowledge that Samson’s poor guests do not have. They know nothing about the Lion and honey. And so, after 3 days, they cannot solve it. The fun wears off, and the prospect of losing a lot of money turns these desperate, pagan men murderous.
They threaten Samson’s wife to get the secret of Samson’s riddle or else they will burn her and her family to death. The next sequence of events moves quickly. Samson’s wife pleads with him for the answer, he eventually gives in and tells her. She tells the men, and they answer Samson’s riddle. Samson knows they could not have figured it out unless they had “plowed with his heifer”. Then we see the Spirit of Lord rush upon him for strength and Samson goes out in hot anger and slayed thirty men of the Philistines, took their garments, and then gave them to those who had answered the riddle. Then he returns home.
We could write all this off as a bloodthirsty temper-tantrum for Samson. However, while not condoning his motivations and acts, we are to see that in his rage against this group of 30 Philistines we see Samson is actually beginning to fulfill his God given purpose. That is to “begin to deliver the people of Israel from the hand of the Philistines”. (Here also is a picture of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility)
At the start of Chapter 15, a giddy Samson returns to Timnah to visit his wife carrying a young goat (i spose, the modern equivalent to flowers and a box of chocolates), He has one thing on his mind. But when he gets there, he discovers that her father had given her to his best man. At this, Samson is inconsolable. Feeling justified to take revenge, He declares, “now I will be innocent against the philistines when I do them harm.”
Samson then goes out and catches 300 foxes. That’s right. Don’t read past that too fast. I can hardly imagine going out and catching one or two foxes. Samson manages to catch 300 of them. This is the point where Vikings fans will wish they could recruit Samson to come play Defensive end, he would put any NFL star to shame. After catching the foxes he ties torches to their tails and sets them loose in the fields of the Philistines. In this way, Samson effectively wipes out an entire crop, dealing a major blow to the Philistine economy.
The Philistines discover Samson did this in response to his father-in-law giving away his wife, So, they go and burn her and her family. In a form of tragic irony, the very thing which she tried to avoid by getting Samson to tell her the riddle, tragically comes to pass anyway. Samson then responds in kind, continuing the cycle of revenge, Samson goes out and “struck them hip and thigh” with a great blow. I am not sure what the proverbially phrase “struck them hip and thigh” means, but indicates a merciless slaughter (Perhaps a dismembering of parts). After this, Samson departs to try to lay low and hide out for a bit.
But the Philistines will have none of that. Samson does not get to have the last word. Their plan of revenge is put forth in 15 v. 9,
Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” 12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
Here we see a telling picture of how far Israel had fallen. The Philistines make a raid, and the men of Judah go out to grovel and try to keep peace with them. The Philistines simply want Samson. So rather, than taking the 3000 men of Judah to battle against their enemy, the Philistines, they take the 3000 men to confront Samson. Remember these are the “great men of Judah” from ch. 1 who fought valiantly to conquer pagan lands. Now, they view the Philistines as their rulers and Samson as their enemy. It is a dark day in the history of God’s people when they are content with their enemies' rule and the flourishing of sin. It is a dark day when God’s people no longer feel enmity with the pagan, sinful culture around them.
For the men of Judah, Samson is the problem, and so they are ready to hand over their God appointed deliverer. But at least they make it sound nice when Samson just asks them not to kill him. They say “oh, Don’t worry Samson, we Won’t kill you. We will just bind you and give you over to the Philistines so they can kill you. These acts of cowardice, revenge, and indifference toward God and indifference toward his enemies sets the table for the Climax of Act 2.
This takes place in Chapter 15:14-20, follow along with me as I read;
“When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. 16 And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.”
As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.
And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived…
This is Samson in all his glory, bursting out of his bonds and slaying Philistines left and right. He kills 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey (that is more than 2-3x the number of people in this room), and he is writing songs and making puns while doing it. But when the massacre ends, Samson is struck with thirst. This mighty, unstoppable force of a man who has seemed so self sufficient to this point, shows his first sign of physical weakness in the whole story. And in it, we see Samson's true dependence on God. He is not self sufficient, whether he is aware of it or not. Even the strongest of people are dependent on God. Nobody can sustain themselves or live and act apart from God’s sustaining power. Doesn’t matter how strong you think you are. And so, Thirsty to the point of death, Samson calls out to the Lord for a drink so that his life may be saved (sounds eerily similar to the foxhole kind of faith Ryan talked about last week). And God graciously responds, providing water for Samson from the rock.
Acts 2 then ends with a classic summary statement commonly used throughout the book of Judges, Samson “judged Israel in the days of the Philistines 20 years”.
Act 3 - The Fall of Samson
The third and final act starts in a similar way to act 2. But this time instead of going down to Timnah, we read at the Start of Chapter 16, “Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her”. Again, Samson encounters another woman, a prostitute, who has caught his eye. And Again, being led by his eyes, Samson goes in to visit the Prostitute by night. This time, Samson is not looking for a relationship, but merely acting to satisfy his lustful cravings. In this second relationship to a woman, Samson doesn’t demand her. It is more of a business transaction, with set limits to what can be expected. He goes in to be with her and it is over in a night.
Word spreads that Samson is in Gaza, and so Philistines come to capture him. They station guards at the gate of the city in order to ambush him if he tries to leave. Their plan is to kill him in the morning, but Samson gets out of town that night. It is apparently not beneath Samson to leave a woman in bed in order to save his own skin. The story does not give us all the details, but somehow all the guards at the city gate can do nothing to stop Samson. Samson leaves in a way that demonstrates his own might while exposing the foolishness of his attempted captors. As he exits the city, he doesn’t just sneak out. No, he rips the entire city gate off its hinges and hoists the whole thing on his back, carrying it nearly 40 miles.
At this point in the story, it is clear that no army or ambush of men could gain victory over Samson. He seems entirely unbeatable. But all this sets the stage for his 3rd encounter with a woman - this time Samson meets Delilah. We read in 16:4, “After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.” This is the first woman in Samson’s story who is given a name, and we are told that Samson “loved” her. He doesn’t come with demands or money, but simply wants to be with her because he loves her. It is really the most noble of Samson’s dispositions toward a woman yet. Samson has sown his wild oats in his youth, and it seems that Samson is now ready to settle down, and begin a lasting relationship.
Like the first 2 women, Delilah is almost certainly a Philistine woman. Samson clearly has no problem taking up a wife from among his enemies. There seems to be a real sense in which Samson would rather settle down and live at peace with the Philistines, than fight them. In fact, all of Samson’s actions against the Philistine to this point were because he had been provoked, not because he was looking for a fight. And now Samson just wants to settle down with this woman (from the Philistines) whom he loves. Unfortunately for him, the feeling is not really mutual.
Delilah is approached by leaders of the Philistines to find out the secret of Samson’s strength and betray him. They offer her a ridiculous amount of money, and she is all in. She has no problem selling out this great enemy of the Philistines to fill her pockets. And so she lures Samson in with her seductive charm, and Samson falls headlong under her spell. To pull out his secret, she begins a game we could call, “Samson the Philistines are upon you!” Each round she tries to get Samson to tell her his secret, and he gives her some fake answer. The first round he says binding him with 7 fresh bowstrings will make him like any ordinary man. She calls out, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He busts out of the bonds no problem. This obviously did not work.
Then Delilah would go at him again, using her manipulative charm to get him to spill his secret. He then says binding him with new ropes should do the trick. He falls asleep, She calls to him again and he busts out no problem. The third time she begs him for his secret, he tells her to weave seven locks of his hair into a weaver’s loom and he will become “like any ordinary man”. If you are familiar with the story, you may gulp thinking Samson, that is getting dangerously close! That is right, he is slowly being lured in by her charm and ready to give up everything for this woman he loves. And finally in the fourth round, Delilah lays it on thick, questioning his love if he is willing to mock her by lying to her. It says, his soul was vexed to death, that is the strength of his desire for her. And so, Samson gives in and tells her all his heart and the secret of his strength - that he has been called as a Nazirite to God and that if he were to shave his head he would lose all his strength.
Delilah’s intuition rightly perceives that this time Samson told her the truth. So she assembles the Philistines with confidence, and lulls him to sleep. She cuts off all his hair, and then calls for the last time in verse 20, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep” and he says, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” (optimistically confident and bold as Samson always was) But he did not know that the LORD had left him.” …here is the most tragic phrase in the whole story
Samson had grown so dulled by feeding his lustful appetites, and so presumptuous of God’s presence with him that he was not even aware that Yahweh had left him. He had lived his whole life enjoying God’s favor and blessing, and has grown so callous and presumptuous of God that he has no category for God leaving him. Cutting his hair was the third explicit failure to his Nazarite vow. Samson had forsaken the Lord, rejecting God’s call and purpose for his life. Given the way that Samson lived, it is clear that he was not all that concerned with God’s purpose at all for him. Based on his interactions with Delilah, One could argue that he almost wanted to be like an ordinary man. Like other men who could live however they wanted, with no respect to God. Beware oh Christian of this lurking desire to be like the rest of the world!
Continuing to read then in v. 21, “And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.” Samson has no strength left to fight the Philistines, so they seize him, gouge out his eyes, and put him to forced labor. This is a tragic turn in Samson’s life, the care-free and optimistic hero who could escape an army or ambush or men is taken out by his love for a foreign woman. Now he is blinded and imprisoned, but Samson was spiritually blind long before the Philistines took his eyes.
Samson's eyes had led him his entire life, pursuing whatever desire he saw. The concluding chapters of the book of Judges describes this whole time period this way - “everyone did what was right in their own eyes” - even this God appointed deliver of Israel. In his pride and desire for other things, Samson had a spiritual blindness so deep that he couldn’t see the threat of his foolish living, the deceit of Delilah, and his hardness toward God. This is the deadly blindness that led to Samson’s demise
But even in the midst of this tragedy, the end of v.22 leaves us with a glimmer of hope. “But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.” Just maybe, Yahweh is not done with our hero yet… Follow with me at end of ch. 16, v. 23
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.
Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. 31 Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.
Here, Samson is brought into the temple of Dagon. He is surrounded by all the top leaders of the Philistines and thousands of important Philistine men and women. It is a blasphemous display of proud arrogance against Yahweh. They praise their pagan god Dagon for delivering Samson into their hands. The dark irony is that they praise this false god, who does not exist, when it was actually Yahweh who had given Samson into their hands. And here they are mocking the one true God and his appointed deliverer. In this context, Samson calls out to God again, this is only the second time in the whole narrative. Samson calls out for vengeance, not primarily concerned with defending the glory and honor of Yahweh, but his own. He says, “that I may be avenged for my two eyes”. We still see a pretty self-centered Samson. Evenso, God responds and strengthens him one last time. When Samson is called out of his prison cell to put on a show, he brings the house down (literally). In doing so, he effectively wipes out all the leadership and important people of the Philistines in one final blow. He takes out more Philistines here at his death than he had in his entire life. This is an important line that notes the tragedy of Samson’s life. He was more useful to fulfill God’s purpose in his death than he was in his life. Just imagine what he could have done if he had been wholly devoted to God.
So, what are we to make of Samson? 2 Big takeaways. A warning and a comfort.
A Warning against spiritual adultery:
No army of men could oppose and defeat Samson. His brute strength was too much for any physical enemies. The thing that took Samson out was an unfaithful heart to the God who called him. Yes, women proved to play a role in leading him astray. But Samson was led astray long before Delilah by the controlling passions and sinful appetites that ruled his heart. He had turned away from God in order to be satisfied by other things. He returned God’s kindness and loving faithfulness with unfaithfulness - this is Spiritual Adultery.
Samson is a potent picture. He is a picture of the nation Israel - one raised up out of nothing, richly gifted and blessed by God, but then panders around with other loves, and yet always expects to “have” Yahweh. Like Israel, Samson used the gifts God has blessed him with to serve his own ends. In response to God’s faithfulness, they were faithless. Samson struggles against God’s call on his life, so did the nation of Israel. And if we are honest with ourselves, Samson is really a picture of each of us. Blessed richly by God, and called to love and serve him, but each of us go after other loves (desiring other things more and above him - Career, relationships, comfort, people’s approval).
You see, the people of God are facing a much deeper problem than the Philistines who oppress them. We are all facing a much deeper problem than all the turmoil out there in our society or in the circumstances in your life. The greatest danger to your life is to turn away from the living God who loves you and created you. Spiritual adultery is the great threat to you, your family, and the world. It is at the root of all sin.
The story of Samson is meant to show and warn us concerning this danger. It issues a warning to God’s people everywhere - “Watch out, lest you abandon the divine call, leave your first love, and forfeit the divine presence.” (Davis) That is the warning…
The Comfort of God’s Faithfulness to an Unfaithful people
In this dark period of Israel’s History, God raises up a deliverer who no one asked for. God enters into this story to save people who don’t deserve or even seek his deliverance. In spite of Samson’s selfish motives and actions, God does begin to deliver his people. In the end, God vindicates his messy servant and brings a mighty blow against his enemies
Somehow, Samson even finds his way into the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. How does this man who wasted his life by squandering his gifts and living unfaithfully to God end up in the hall of faith? While Samson was unfaithful to God in the way he lived, he did trust God to be faithful on his part. He trusted God to be faithful to his word. Albeit a bit presumptuous at times, Samson trusted God’s empowering presence to be with him as he boldly went out to fight against the Philistines. And by faith he called upon the Lord at the end. By this sliver of faith is evident in the way he boldly went out against the Philistines, and called upon the Lord at his end. By this sliver of faith, he accomplished God’s purpose for him - wiping out Philistines and provoking a proper enmity between Israel and their pagan rulers. None of this is to condone Samson’s evil motives and actions, but is to bring us encouragement regarding the servant God is able to use. It was not the quality of Samson’s faithfulness which brought about his vindication, but the object of his faith - That is, the faithfulness of God. (and so it is with us
Like Samson, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. On the basis of your rejection of God, he has every right to leave you. To leave you alone to drink the bitter cup (or have our eyes gouged out by philistines) as a result of your sin. But also like Samson we can have hope. God hears Samson cry out from the Temple of Dagon, and responds. Maybe you find yourself in the metaphorical temple of Dagon this morning, far from God, steeped in your sin, and feel without hope. Cry out to God who is able to hear and save you out of the darkest places. He is merciful and gracious, eager to save all who call on him in faith. Samson could call out to God in faith, how much more can we, knowing God’s faithfulness revealed in Jesus Christ.
Samson was not only a picture of Israel and of Us, he was also a foreshadow of a greater deliverer to come. Like Samson, Jesus came into the world with an anticipated birth and promise of salvation to a people who would reject him. Jesus did not come as a flashy hero, but humbly and non impressive by worldly standards. Samson used his life to please his flesh. Jesus faithfully lived to please God in every way. When Samson is thirsty after striking down his enemies he must drink water from the rock. Jesus is the Rock from which living water comes. Samson is justly given over to his enemies. Jesus is led away like an innocent lamb. Samson cries out to God in the face of death and God answers. Jesus cries out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me. In Samson’s death, he brought a momentary deliverance from the Philistines. In Jesus’s death, he brought an eternal deliverance to save the World from Sin.
Throughout Judges, the people of God have been on a downward cycle of deliverance, rebellion, oppression, and then calling out for deliverance. And Samson is at the bottom. You may feel on a similar cycle in your own life and battle against sin. But, if you are trusting Christ that cycle is no longer downward. Because of what Christ has done to save you and because of his Spirit within you the cycle is reversed. It is now a spiral ever upward toward greater Christ-likeness. What a great Salvation!