Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 8 Lesson 72
This week in Sunday school, we look at the account of mighty Samson from the book of Judges. What deliverance did God accomplish through Samson for Israel? What foolish choices led to Samson’s downfall? And what can we learn from Samson about God’s sovereignty, sinful temptation, and powerful faith? We’ll consider these questions and more.
Our lesson features several sections of Scripture spanning Judges 13:1-16:31.
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well it is time to get started so let me officially say good morning and welcome to that Calvary Community Church Sunday School class I’m David Kenosha I noticed a little change in the background here that’s because as I wrote to the Calvary member list closures are moving will be coming to the East Coast Lord willing pretty soon even though we’ll make our way quite to New Jersey immediately all the way to New Jersey immediately but what willing as the Quinn virus situation calms down we can make that transition but we’ll be on the East Coast so willing soon and so that’s the reason for the moving boxes over there while we’re continuing on this morning in the book of Judges last week we saw how God raised up Gideon to deliver Israel and this week we take a look at another famous judge and that’s Samson now Samson is a striking character in the Bible his feats of personal strength and martial valor are unmatched in the rest of the scripture there’s no warrior like Samson yet Samson himself commits many glaring sins that are recorded in the Bible his life is extinguished partly due to his own foolish and sinful choices so what are we to make of Samson is he a hero or is he a failure what we learn from the accounts of Samson about God’s sovereignty faith and sin well that’s what we want to find out this morning and we’re gonna be looking at judges 13 to 16 to do so before we get into that let me pray Heavenly Father thank you so much for your word and I pray that it might be able to explain it well accurately helpfully and Lord that your spirit would be pleased to use it to transform a listeners God we are meant to be transformed this word so continue to transform me and transform anyone else who’s looking at this word together with us this morning in Jesus name Amen you have your Bibles please open to the book of Judges chapter 13 judges 13 now we’ve got a lot of text to cover and judges 13 to 16 we’re gonna do what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna highlight some verses as we move through and others I’m just gonna summarize paraphrase so that you have an idea of what’s going on we’re starting judges 13 though and this is that first section of Samson’s life describing his birth look at judges 13 verse 1 judges 13 verse 1 says now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord that is Yahweh they did evil evil in the sight of Yahweh so that Yahweh gave them into the hands of the Philistines 40 years all right here we go again in the book of Judges Israel has once again turned from God and this time the chastening oppressor that God sends against Israel is the Philistines they are Israel’s southwestern neighbor by the coast you could see where the Philistines would live here on the map that be primarily in this area the five cities of the Philistines so God is disciplining Israel for once again turning away with the Philistines but is that all that God is doing let’s read on a little bit more in verses two to five judges 13 2 to 5 there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoah and his wife was barren and had borne no children then the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her behold now you are barren and have borne no children but you shall conceive and give birth to a son now therefore be careful not to drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing for behold you shall conceive and give birth to a son and no razor shall come upon his head for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines let’s make a few observations what we just read verse 2 says that we have this special family in the town of Zorah is or is in the sorek valley again I’ll show this you on the map sorek valley in the shephelah of judah schefflera the Fela is the low foothills between the coastal plain you might remember this in the geography lesson it we did the coastal plain and the hill country so the hill country of Judah over here coastal plain to Philistia over here the chef Allah is in between and there are series of valleys in the shephelah and one of those valleys is the sorek valley on the eastern end of that Val and the towns of zorah and eshtaol and we have a family here from the town of Zora than the family of the Danites this by the way just to reiterate know what something I said in the geography class the shephelah is a transition zone between the coastal plain in the hill country you got the low foothills here but it’s also a political transition zone it’s a more Philistia over here this is Israel on this side and there’s a little bit of mixture in between sometimes fatter ization sometimes battle anyways we’re in that buffer zone and that transition zone in this will wreck Valley now I’m knowing his wife are barren his wife is not able to have children but she gets an angel or she gets a visit from the angel of the Lord the angel of Yahweh appears to manoah’s wife and tells her that she will have a child and a special child a son and in verses 4 & 5 the angel gives directions regarding this son and we hear why in the middle of verse 5 he says the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb as right what’s a Nazarite well the term Nazarite literally has the idea of devoted one or separated one one who’s been devoted or dedicated to God but the term has a technical meeting in Hebrew it goes along with a certain set of instructions that Moses gives in numbers 6 number 6 1 to 8 which describe the law of the Nazarite vow the law of the Nazarite vow you see in Israel a man or a woman could take a certain voluntary vow known as a Nazarite vow in which the person sets himself apart to God for a particular period of time as an act of worship and for the duration of this vow a person was to abide by three particular parameters they were to stay away from alcohol or anything that had to do with grapes they couldn’t even eat raisins they were to not shave their hair probably not cut their hair either and they were not to become ceremonially unclean now what do you know these rules from Numbers chapter 6 they correspond with the rules that the angel of Yahweh gives the woman in numbers they’re in judges 13 both what she’s to do even as she’s pregnant with the child but also how the child himself is to act once born now numbers six verse eight says that the one who is under the Nazarite vow is considered separated and holy to Yahweh but according to the angel here in judges 13 5 he says that this child will be the implication is this child will be separated and holy to God from his birth and will continue that way in his life this is a special child and we also hear a little bit about his destiny in verse 5 it says and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines now this is interesting he’s being raised up like the other judges to deliver Israel from the chastening of pressure that God is sending but notice it says he shall begin to deliver does this mean that someone else is going to finish what this coming one starts hmm now we’re not going to read the rest of chapter 13 I would recommend that you do so later but just look down at the end of the chapter verses 24 and 25 where we see this son actually being born it says in verse 24 then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson and the child grew up yahweh blessed him the spirit of yahweh began to stir him in Muhannad an between zorah and eshtaol now the boy is born in his name Samson and it’s kind of a curious choice for a name because Samson means something like solar or a child of the Sun perhaps his parents believe that Samson would function like a dawn of blessing for Israel we’re here in verse 25 the God’s Spirit is with Samson and it stirs him up to action but what Samson going to do let’s take a look at the next chapter judges 14 I’m going to start with verses 1 to 6 liquor judges 14 1 to 6 the Word of God continues then Samson all grown up now wet down to Timna I saw a woman in Timnath one of the daughters of the Philistines so he came back and told his father and mother I saw a woman in Timnath one of the daughters of the Philistines out there for get her for me as a wife and his father and mother said to him is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives among all our people that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines but Samson said to his father get her for me where she looks good to me however his father and mother did not know that it was of Yahweh for he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel then Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother and came as far as the vineyards of Timnath and behold a young lion came roaring toward him the spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily so that he tore him as one tears a young goat though he had nothing in his hand but he did not tell his father and mother what he had done hmm let’s make some more observations here just briefly notice in verse one that Samson goes to Timna that’s a city in the middle of the soul wreck Valley so right in that transition space and it’s while in Timnath at a certain Philistine woman catches Samson’s eye comes back tells mom and dad that he’d like to arrange or he’d like them to arrange a marriage to obtain this Philistine woman as Samson’s wife remember in those days it was the parents who were responsible for arranging marriages primarily but was it right for an Israelite son to marry a Philistine well no no it wasn’t deuteronomy 7 verses 1 to 6 as we’ve mentioned many times in sunday school god forbids the Israelites from intermarrying with the idolatrous people of the land there’s a chain there God says intermarriage with these pagan peoples will lead to idolatry and your idolatry will lead to you turning away from me and your turning away from me will lead to my judgment on you so God says don’t marry with these people but Samson might have said ah that prohibition in Deuteronomy 7 verses 1 to 6 it specifically forbids intermarry with the canaanites in the land and the philistines are not Canaanites so technically I am not forbid by God from marrying a Philistine what was that right oh I think that’s if that is indeed his reasoning that would not be paying attention to the principle of Deuteronomy seven one two six yes the Canaanites are highlighted in that passage specifically but the reason that they’re highlighted is that they do not serve Yahweh they are an idolatrous people the principle is that if you marry an idolatry you will be led astray from Yahweh so certainly this principle would hold with others who are not Canaanites but who are also idolatrous non Yahweh worshippers or synchronistic worshippers by the way the scripture is totally consistent here Old Testament and New Testament God reiterates multiple times that his people are not to marry those who don’t follow Yahweh who don’t believe in God even in a New Testament one talks about someone getting remarried Paul says only in the Lord that’s the same for us believers today we are not to be joined with idolaters just as Israel was not to be joined because it will lead it tends to lead one astray so back to sampson here we have this rising judge of israel he’s done under this permanent Nazarite vow dedication to god and he wants to marry the daughter of this uncircumcised philistine something wrong with this picture you can understand why his parents protest to his request in verse 3 and notice Samson’s reasoning for this marriage it’s not like he’s saying mom and dad yeah she’s the Philistine but she’s different she loves Yahweh no actually we see his reasoning at the end of verse 3 he simply says she looks good to me in other words I like the way she looks that’s his reason for wanting to marry her for the sake of your beauty it seems and sexual satisfaction Samson is willing to yoke himself with an idolater unfortunately this is the same reasoning of many believers today when pursue a romantic or marital relationship with an unbeliever they say it looks good like their personality so they’re they’re willing to join themselves with someone who doesn’t even know God and it’s not as if there weren’t any good-looking Hebrew women like his parents say this moved this path from Samson is totally unnecessary then notice verse 4 it says this turn of events even Samson’s sinful pursuits of this Philistine bride it was actually from Yahweh why well God was seeking an occasion for conflict between the Philistines and the Israelites well the parents acquiesced of Samson’s request and we see them traveling with Samson in verse 5 but then on the way verse 6 says a young lion attacks Samson what does Samson do he literally tears the lion apart with his bare hands Wow and how did Samson accomplish this great feat notice verse 6 says the spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily that is God empowered Samson to dispatch the lion in this way but what happens next I must summarize this next little section from verses 7 18 and then we’ll look at the end of the passage we hang on to those points just for a second so in verses 7 18 we see that the parents arranged the marriage that Samson wanted Samson later comes back to this Philistine family for the wedding feast but on the way Samson spots some bees making a nest with honey in the carcass of the lion that he killed and besides enjoying a bit of this dead lion honey and sharing it with his parents Sanson gets a great idea for a riddle at the upcoming seven-day wedding feast and he and his wedding companions he’s got 30 wedding companions at the feast these they’re all Philistines they both wager 30 changes of clothing over this riddle by the way that’s kind of a big deal remember a change of clothes was a luxury back then a person might not have one or two might not have only one or two changes of clothes so 30 changes of clothes that’s quite a and the riddle is to guess what the following statement means out of the eater came something to eat out of the strong came something sweet this is from verse 14 Sampson poses this to his guests and says you know tell me what this means well three days go by the wedding guests cannot figure out the riddle so they resort to cheating and even death threats in order to discover the answer they approach Samson’s wife they threatened to burn her and her father she does not procure the answer from Samson so you can imagine she was pretty motivated to discover the answer and so she precious Samson she weeps before him for the rest of the wedding feast you know that month probably was not a really nice celebratory thing certainly not was Samson was expecting she’s weeping before him impressing him saying if you love me why don’t you tell me the secret Samson eventually gives in and tells his wife she in turn tells her kinsman and what do you know the kinsman tell Samson just in the nick of time the last day of the wedding feast and they say oh well strong is a lion and the sweetness is honey you must be talking about honey coming from a lion well pay up Samson uos 30 sets of clothes Samson knows what really happened and how they obtained his their answer and he’s pretty upset look at judges 14 verses 19 to 20 it says then the spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them that is Philistines and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who had told the riddle and his anger burned and he went up to his father’s house but Samson’s wife was given to his companion who had been his friend oh boy Samson in verse 19 says he leaves Timna that’s sitting in the middle of the valley and he goes to Ashkelon which is a Philistine city on the coast so you want some distance he finds thirty Philistines there kills them takes their clothes and then brings the clothes back and gives them to his wedding guests as payment for the riddle now notice again how Samson accomplishes this feat beginning of verse 19 says the spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily now after doing this and hot anger Sampson leaves his new bride he is married to her now but he leaves his new bride behind with the bride’s family and he goes back to his own family place on the eastern end of the valley and then in verse 20 we read that Samson’s father-in-law gives his new wife to someone else as a wife to one of Samson’s friends even I mean this is crazy Samson and his wife have surely already consummated their marriage they had a seven-day wedding feast yet now she’s being given to another man how do you think Samson’s gonna react to that little piece of news let’s read judges 15 judges 15 verses 1 to 8 where we hear about the next little development look at verse 1 but after a while in a time of wheat harvest Samson visited his wife with a young goat and said I will go into my wife in her room but her father did not let him enter her father said I really thought that you hated her intensely so I gave her to your companion it’s not her younger sister more beautiful than sheep please let her be yours instead Samson then said to them this time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches and turned the fox’s tail the tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails when he’d set fire to the torches he release the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines thus burning up both the shocks and the standing rain along with the vineyards and groves then the Philistine said who did this and they said Samson the summon son-in-law of the Tim Knight because he took his wife and gave her to his companion so the Philistines came up and burned her and her father would fire Samson said to them since you act like this I will surely take revenge on you but after that I will quit he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of eaten oh boy things are really heating up between Philadelphia and Israel even literally we’re seeing verses 1 & 2 Samson’s father-in-law attempts to appease Samson after giving away his his wife a piece Samson with another another bride this attempt does not work notice in verse 3 Samson says this time he’s gonna be blameless when he harms the Philistines and then we see how he does so a very remarkable feat Samson first catches 300 foxes don’t skip over that detail detail I’d say it’s pretty hard to catch one Fox I don’t know if any of you have ever tried but he catches 300 of them how did he do it how long did it take to do it and how did you take care of the Foxes until he had enough to unleash on Philistia text doesn’t say but apparently he did it he caught 300 foxes and then second he ties pairs of foxes tails together with a torch between them and then unleashes them in the dry standing reign of the Philistines panic foxes probably ran all over the land with their fire in their tails Philistine crops and vineyards and the tree groves are all devastated destroying the food supplies of the Philistines of course seeing this the Philistines get pretty mad and when they find out the reason for Samson’s action they burn Samson’s wife and his father-in-law to death how does Samson react to that verse 7 now he feels the need to get revenge for this new evil act that the Philistines have committed anniversay we don’t get the particulars but at some location Samson fights alone against the Philistines and says he accomplished a great slaughter before going to hide at a certain rock so what are we seeing unfold between Samson and the Philistines both sides aren’t engaged in a continual war of payback against what one against the other and the results are getting more and more serious now let me summarize the next section here in judges 15 I know we’re moving kind of briskly here but trying to give you the whole accountant and a good amount of time verse 9 to 13 the Philistines decide alright we’re done with Samson it’s time to capture him and so they threatened to attack a certain city in Judah city of Lehi unless the people hand Samson over these Judah heights they go to Sampson at the rock of Edom where he’s at they say hey you know we got to hand you over those Philistine guys they’re our overlords you can’t do this and so he said alright you can hand me over you can buy me with ropes but don’t kill me and they said all right we’ll do that I’m gonna hand you over to the Philistines but let’s see what happens at the moment of prisoner exchange Judges 15 verses 14 to 20 now look at verse 14 it says when he came to Lehigh that Samson the Philistines shouted as they met him and the spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire and his bonds dropped from his hands he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it then Samson said with the jawbone of a donkey heaps upon heaps with a jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men and finished speaking he threw the jawbone from his hand and he named that place ramoth Lehi then he became very thirsty and he called to Yahweh and said you have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised but God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that the water came out of it when he drank his strength returned and he revived he therefore he needed to end Hakurei which is in Lehi to this day so he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines well the Philistines probably thought that they had obtained their desire when they received Samson bound but oh how wrong they were Samson shakes free or snaps these ropes like they’re just brittle threads and he proceeds to trounce the philistines with a weapon he just happened to pick up notice verse 15 says that samson picks up the fresh jawbone of a donkey okay fresh is a little bit of a gross detail there and this is an unconventional weapon to be sure but notice what samson does so that he kills a thousand men a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey and no doubt these men he’s fighting against they’re armed with swords and shields and spears but he’s striking them down with an animal bone and it must have been they must have kept coming at samson he was all by himself you know people continue to love action movies people love to watch just even one person outwit and outfight a horde of enemies all on his own but whereas characters like Rambo or Jason Bourne are fictional here in the scriptures we see a real-life one-man army he can take a thousand people all by himself no one can beat Samson even when he’s tied up or even when he’s only got a jaw bone he is a mighty warrior but how did he do it how is he so mighty again notice what they did what the text says verse 18 actually even before that it talks about the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him mightily but also in verse 18 notice with Samson says to God he says you have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant Samson gets it he says and he indicates that he knows where his strength and victory comes from it comes from God God is the one making Samson so mighty but even Samson has his limits notice that Samson has to cry out to God for water after such an exertion I can imagine getting a little thirsty after fighting and killing a thousand men he cries out to God how does God respond God opens up the earth for Samson and causes water to pour forth out of it Samson revised by the way all of this is taking place in the sight of Israel the Judah heights at lehigh you think they were impressed you think they realized that God was with this great warrior thus verse 20 makes a good deal of sense says Samson judged Israel twenty years and talks about judging it probably has the idea of declaring legal opinions making giving counsel and making pronouncements decisions people were coming to Sampson for his counsel for legal verdicts because they recognize a God is with you you’re a leader worth listening to and he judged Israel for some time let’s move on to judges 16 after this great slaughter of the Philistines do you think the Philistines want some vengeance on Samson we just keep seeing both sides trying to get the other what will the Philistines do next let’s look at judges sixteen verses one to three now we’ll start with just verses one two three this is what it says now Samson went to Gaza saw a harlot there and he went into her it was told to the Gaza eight saying Samson has come here they surrounded the place and laying wait for him all night at the gate of the city and it kept silent all night saying let us wait until the morning light then we will kill him now Samson lay until midnight and at midnight he arose and took hold of the door of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars then he put them on his shoulders and he carried them up to the top of the mountain of witches opposite Hebron Wow now verse one here is a little bit troubling we’re told that God’s judge goes to Gaza which is another Philistine coastal city Philistine City he goes there he encounters a prostitute and he sleeps with her Samson what are you doing seems to hate Philistine men but loves Philistine women the Philistines try to use this immoral rendezvous to ambush Samson what a Samson do it leaves in the middle of the night and he rips out the gate of the city and he carries it all the way to Hebron Hebron by the way is not close by let me see if I can go back to one earlier maps here and just to show you that dudududu okay here on is not close body here’s where it Sampson is over in God Gaza he rips out the city gates and he goes all the way to he brought there’s well there’s a long distance away and first of all he’s going up a substantial amount of elevation to get there this is coastal plane he has to go through the low foothills over here in the shephelah and then he goes up into the hill country of Judah carrying these gates on his shoulders until he gets to the top of a mountain opposite Ebron this guy is insane in his strength what can anyone do to subdue this mighty man well Samson does have a weakness and the Philistines are about to exploit it because look at verses 4 to 6 it says after this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her entice him and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him then we each give you 1,100 pieces of silver so Delilah said to Samson please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you here’s the third woman that Samson has become involved with and we’re told that she also is from the valley of Sorek just like the first woman this is the only woman in the Samson account whose name is given she’s called Delilah a name that means something like thin thread or delicate or even flirtatious is Delilah a Philistine text does not identify her this way specifically she might not be it would be consistent with Samson’s previous love interest he he loved two different women of the Philistines it would make sense if Delilah was also a Philistine though it doesn’t say that specifically however she is quite willing to work with the Philistines and we see this in verses 5 to 6 the Philistine Lords probably the five Lords of the different main cities of the Philistine they approached Delilah each offering her 1,100 pieces of silver which is an extraordinary amount of money they offer her this money if she can discover the source of Samson’s strength find out how he can be subdued these lords are obviously desperate to get their vengeance on samson and delilah is willing to go along with their plan and verse six we begin to see Delilah price Samson for his secret and haven’t we seen this already this is exactly what like what happened to Samson with his wife in judges 14 remember he had a secret the wife was prime plying him for it but this time it’s not Samson’s wife’s life who is in danger it is his own well Samson end up giving away the secret like he did before I’ll summarize verses 7 to 17 in judges 16 as Delilah goes after Samson Samson tells Delilah three different lies as to how he might be subdued and once Delilah hears it she tries out all three methods on Samson she has Philistines close by waiting in secret to see Samson and then she cries out the Philistines are upon you Samson you got to get up and protect yourself Samson is able each one of these times to free himself from his bindings and the Philistines don’t attack they don’t reveal themselves how you think you’d think that as Samson realized that Delilah is using whatever secret he supposedly gives up to bind him that maybe he’d stopped he’d stopped telling her anything more maybe he’d stopped visiting Delilah she kind of seems to be maybe threatening his life but he continues to visit her and she continues to press Samson and she even tells him you don’t really love me because you haven’t told me the secret again that’s exactly like what his wife said in chapter 14 verse 16 of our chapter judges 16:16 says that Delilah oppressed Samson daily with her words until Samson was annoyed to death this is really getting to him so in verse 17 finally Sampson tells his secret he reveals to Delilah that he has been a Nazarite to God from the mother from his mother’s womb and that if shaved his great strength will leave him it’s now look at verses 18 to 22 judges 16 verse 18 when Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart she sent and called the Lords of the Philistines saying come up once more for he has told me all that is in his heart and the Lords of Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands then the she made him sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair then she began to afflict him that is she bound him and his strength left him she said the Philistines are upon you Samson and he woke from his sleep and said I would go out is that other times and shake myself free but he did not know that Yahweh had departed from him then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains and he was a grinder in the prison however the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off well talked about a precipitous fall when Delilah insincerely warned Samson of the Philistines coming to get him after his hair has been cut off and she has bound him Samson thinks he can easily escape the bindings as before but he didn’t he didn’t know what was revealed at the end of verse 20 Yahweh had departed from him with Samson firmly in their control then the Philistines they don’t destroy Samson but they afflict and humiliate him they couch out his eyes they ripped his eyes out of his sockets and they take him to Gaza and force him to grind grain in a prison this once unstoppable warrior of Yahweh has now been reduced to a blind prisoner doing the work of an animal if you can’t get much lower than Samson is right now notice verse 22 says Samson’s hair began to grow back well you can guess how the Philistines reacted to the news of Samson’s capture we reach now the climax of the story the climax of the account of Samson at the end of chapter 16 judges 16 verses 23 to 31 so now let’s read this last section it says now the Lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to dig on their God and to rejoice for they said our God has given Sampson our enemy into our hands when the people saw him they praised their God for they said our God has given our enemy into our hands even the destroyer of our country who has slain many of us so happened when they were in high spirits that they said call for Samson that he may amuse us so they called for Samson from the prison and he entertained them and they made him stand between the pillars then Samson said to the boy was holding his hand let me feel the pillars on which the house rests that I may lean against them now the house was full of men and women and all the Lords of the Philistines were there and about three thousand men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them and Samson called to Yahweh and said O Lord Yahweh please remember me and please strengthen me just this time O God that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines from my two eyes Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested and braced himself against them the one with his right hand and the other with his left and Samson said let me die with the Philistines and he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the Lord’s and all the people who were in it so the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those he killed but those whom you killed in his life and his brothers and all his father’s household came down took him brought him up and buried him between zorah and eshtaol in the tomb of Manoa his father thus he had judged Israel 20 years really an amazing end in this account the Philistines celebrates Samson’s captured by praising and sacrificing to their God Dagon more than three thousand Philistines including the Philistine Lords probably the five kings of these different cities they come together in a certain large building maybe a temple and they watch art they probably feast and watch blinded Sampson be forced to amuse them as I said this is you can’t get much more humiliated than Samson is right now and at the hands of his enemies even the enemies of God but notice verse 28 Samson stands next to the apparently the two central pillars of this building Samson calls out to God and he addresses God has Yahweh he says o Lord Yahweh please remember me and when somebody asked God to remember him in the Old Testament he’s not saying hey you forgot me bring me back to mind please God doesn’t forget this is actually a statement asking for mercy it’s a plea for God’s mercy and favor Lord remember me please show special and undeserved grace to me and he requests of God please strengthen me this one last time that I may be a vanished on the Philistines from my two eyes he says also in verse 30 let me die with the Philistines Samson pushes all his might on the pillars they break and the whole structure collapses it’s possible that this structure had a courtyard as well as a as a an inside area but everything collapses and those on the roof and those inside are all destroyed verse 30 says Samson killed more at his death than he did in his whole life what a life what a death but what do we make of it what are we to make of it let’s finally look at interpretation assassin questions and interpretation based on the various sections that we read and observed all this came about because Samson sinned oh sorry that that’s a little bit cut off there Samson sinned and wanting to marry a Philistine woman all this came about because he wanted that but judges 1404 says that this actually came about from Yahweh Yahweh ordained this so how can a good God want or ordain a sinful act to be done even if it results in the accomplishment of a good purpose this is Cooley against God’s will for Samson to desire this marriage and yet God said in certain sense he wanted it how can that be well this is basically another version of the problem of evil question how can a good God ordained evil in the world and we won’t take time now to fully discuss that question and its answer but in short there is apply the necessary apply from Scripture is this God because He is God he is able to ordain evil for his own good purposes without approving evil being blamable for evil or coercing the will of man to do evil God is able to do that we might not be able to fully comprehend that there’s certainly some mystery in this truth but it’s what the Bible teaches throughout this account we see Samson making sinful and foolish choices and he’s responsible for those choices nobody forced him to do that yet what Samson chose to do came about from Yahweh and it was accomplishing God’s good purposes everything’s under God’s control you sovereign and we see that in this account another question many of Samson’s actions appear to be motivated by vengeance but isn’t seeking vengeance sinful well it’s true God does say Deuteronomy 32 verse 35 that vengeance is mine I will repay certainly God’s people are instructed in the scriptures not to repay evil with evil still seeking vengeance can be a appropriate in certain unique contexts for example those who got places in authority over nation’s leaders rulers judges they are in a sense to seek vengeance to seek justice against those who commit crimes so not something that people are normally allowed to do but those who replace an authority they in a sense are commanded to seek vengeance also war war is a bit of an exception when it comes to vengeance when a nation unjustly attacks another nation it is fitting for the attacked nation to fight back and punish the aggressor now it’s not impossible that Samson sought an ungodly type of vengeance at times in these accounts are in this account but considering the wartime situation in which Samson finds himself basically the war between Philistia and Israel I think we should not be too hard on him when it comes to seeking vengeance remember that even Moses is commended in the books of Acts for seeking vengeance on behalf of the oppressed so I think there is a sense in which Samson at least in part is seeking a godly vengeance against the Philistines here’s another question wasn’t God and not Samson’s hair the source of Samson’s strength why then does Sampson lose his strength when his hair is cut off is the strength really in the hair but certainly it is God and not the hair that is the source of Samson’s strength and Samson himself acknowledges this nevertheless Samson’s hair was important because his hair was a symbol of that set apart that devoted relationship that Samson had with Yahweh it was the the most obvious symbol of his Nazarite now is right now is permanent now is right now therefore in Samson’s allowing his hair to be cut off Samson was really showing contempt for his relationship with God as the MacArthur Study Bible puts it it’s like Samson in allowing that act was saying that Delilah was more important to him than God and thus with the action that his hair being cut off symbolized or him epitomized God left Sampson and no longer strengthened him as a sign that their relationship was no longer being held special by Samson but the regrowth of Samson’s hair in verse 16 of Judges 16 is significant because though assuredly Samson even in the last scene that we see him he surely did not have the full head of hair like he did before even a little bit of regrowth was emblematic of a restored relationship of devotion to God Samson’s Prayer at the very end it’s not very extensive in its wording but his cry for remembrance before God it is consistent with a humble heart of repentance he’s seeking a restored relationship with God simply on the basis of God’s mercy now think of the parallel with the thief on the cross in the New Testament he says to Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom which is like just asking for mercy I don’t deserve it but but please show me mercy have pity on me when you when you do come into your kingdom and Samson is saying something similar here it’s really a sign of repentance and so with this prayer God indeed remembers Samson and as before he strengthened Samson for one more mighty act so yes the strength came from God but that hair symbolized Samson’s special relationship with God even devotion to God now speaking of it Samson’s last act did Samson commit suicide I would say no Samson’s cry when he says let me die with the Philistines I don’t take that to be a cry of despair saying I just want to die I think that’s an acknowledgment that as he pursues this last valorous act against the Philistines that he’s not going to survive I think he accepted that he said if I have to die that’s fine but let me take down these fellows – so I don’t believe he was committing suicide there just to give it like a parallel to show the difference not too much later in the Bible as we move up forward we’re gonna see someone else commit suicide King Saul when he’s defeated in battle and he’s wounded because he doesn’t want to be captured by the Philistines he will fall on his own sword now that looks like suicide but here we have Samson trying to destroy his enemies and he just recognizes that he’s going to die in the process well Samson really a man of faith one obvious truth in the passages we’ve looked at I’m sure you’re realizing this yourself is that Samson was a sinner his most obvious sin is his lust for women he’s because he just wants Beauty around him sexual fulfillment he engages in three sinful relationships with women and to his own hurt he sin in other ways too probably having vain glory or selfish ambition at times certainly he seems to violate his Nazarite vow by touching what is unclean perhaps the honey perhaps the jawbone so was he really a man of faith I’ll listen to Hebrews book of Hebrews in the New Testament chapter 11 verses 32 to 34 it says and what more shall I say for time will fail me if I tell of gideon barrack samson jephthah of david and samuel and the prophets who by faith conquered kingdoms performed acts of righteousness obtained promises shut the mouths of lions quenched the power of fire escaped the edge of the sword from weakness were made strong became mighty in war put foreign armies to flight book of Hebrews the Spirit of God speaking through an apostolic representative it commends Samson yes Samson as a man of faith now how did Samson demonstrate his faith I would say mostly in battle we probably don’t consider fighting to be a usual or a great sign of faith but I think part of the reason is that we don’t live in a society like the ancient Hebrews did we don’t live in a society where nearly every man has to participate in war and not just war hand-to-hand combat I think that’s a little bit daunting frightening certainly we admire David when he goes against Goliath for David’s faith it was demonstrated in battle I think the same thing is really happening with Samson he was going against the enemies of God going into this scary experience of battle by faith and on behalf of Israel trusting God to empower him and to grant the victory and deliverance Samson was relying on God in his battles and we Steven hear him tell God that it’s God who is granting the victory he gives the credit to God what is that that’s faith in action even in war in battle it’s totally consistent with even what the end of that section I read from Hebrews 11 says it says he some of those in the scriptures by faith were made mighty in war and that’s exactly what Samson is he’s a man by faith who has made mighty in war of course she’s imperfect in many other ways but he is a man of faith and it shows up in his mighty mighty acts of war finally what does this account teach us about God I think we can point to a number of different different ways first of all we see that God is active God is working even when he doesn’t seem to be working you say where’s that from go back to judges chapter 13 it’s interesting there it says Israel turned away from God but it doesn’t mention anything about Israel’s repentance in fact we’re not gonna see Israel repents of their idolatry before God until actually the next book or several books later first Samuel 7 when we get to the judge samuel finally israel repents and finally israel is fully delivered from the Philistines but that isn’t hasn’t happened with Sampson yet what is God doing he approaches this couple this pairing couple and he says I’m gonna start raising up a deliverer through you I’m gonna bring this boy Sampson into the world and he’s gonna go against the Philistines he’s gonna begin the deliverance now again this is the same truth we saw with Gideon this visit from the angel of Yahweh it shows Yahweh is paying attention he always sees the oppression of his people and he’s already working to deliver them from it this is because God is always at work even when we don’t see it something that this passage shows us I also see the goodness of God we see that God is good he shows patience he shows mercy and he shows compassion to the undeserving I mean look at Sampson experience he was blessed by God in so many ways even though he was not really totally faithful to God he’s committing this immorality he’s not taking his knives right now entirely seriously and yet God blesses and uses Sampson that is the mercy of God that is the grace of God in me and after Sampson is experiences the consequences of his sin when Sampson cries out to God again Yan and mercy does remember Sampson it’s because God is a merciful God he was back then he is still today see also that God is good to command us to stay away from sin we see the ruinous nature of sin especially immorality in this passage God is good to say don’t go there I don’t want that to happen to you don’t do don’t be foolish in pursuing sin we see that in this passage we see God’s sovereignty God is able and he clearly does here use he’s able to use the evil acts of men even the disobedience of his own people to accomplish it grand and good purposes we don’t take that as a yes someone hypothetically does the New Testament says oh well let’s just do evil so that God may bring good out of it no no we are – we are commanded to do good and to obey God nevertheless we see the amazingness of God’s rule God’s sovereignty when he uses even evil to accomplish his good purposes you cannot support the purposes of God these in firm control and that just goes along with the next thing we see in this passage and then as God is power where does Samson’s strength come from it comes from God and it’s an insane strength no one in the scriptures does the kind of strength acts that Samson does carrying gates around killing a thousand people by himself tearing a line apart with his bare hands this is amazing power but it’s just God’s power and this is so easy for God he is able to empower Sampson this way because God Himself is powerful there is no God what might like the true God he empowered Samson he can empower other believers in him to canty he’s not gonna do it in a miraculous way there’s no reason to expect he’s gonna do that in miraculous way today like he did with Samson that doesn’t seem to be what God is doing now but he he is able to empower in a variety of ways just as he empowered Samson even us for the work set before us so see God is good we see he’s active we see sovereign he’s powerful we see he’s merciful you see he’s also faithful he remains faithful to Samson he’s able to provide perfectly for those who call upon him even us and we also see that God is holy God is holy and just when Samson turned against God in a very obvious way God left Samson not that Samson lost salvation but God no longer was fellowshipping with or empowering Samson and he will chasten us to when we turn away from him so that we come back to him and think about what God does with the Philistines here the Israel has not repented yet God says I’m not gonna let the Philistines get away with what they’re doing I’m gonna bring judgment on them even through this one man Samson it’s because God is a God who cannot stand sin he’s holy he’s just he doesn’t they cannot allow evil to get away with itself he must judge evil he must judge sinners and he will he will recompense sinners partly in this life but certainly in the life to come and this is why the Bible calls us again and again to be reconciled to God that we might experience mercy like Samson does and not a judgment like the Philistines do this count has much to show us about hunt and I think we could even say much more about this passage you know I’ve kind of moved quickly through it and maybe you you felt like oh I want to take more time with this well I hope that you do and I hope that you will I hope that you’ll come back to these passages that we’ve moved through judges 13 to 16 read them again study them more talk about them together because there’s a lot to see here now this in summary this account of Samson is a clear depiction of the sovereignty of God the folly of sin and the empowerment and blessing that comes from God to those who are following God and are doing God’s work we’re not going to be grabbing a jawbone and fighting a thousand enemies but we do have work of sanctification and evangelism and service set before us and where’s the power for that going to come from it’s gonna come from God so we are to obey by faith in that way well what are some other specific applications that we can draw from this passage I’m gonna give you four again these aren’t the only applications but they’re four that come to my mind as I read and as I go through this text with you and I’ll start with the low-hanging fruit what’s a specific way we can apply this passage number one flee sinful romantic and sexual entanglement isn’t this the thing that brings down even mighty Samson I’ve loved women and he loved women who didn’t love God this is what brought him down there brothers and sisters I know it’s going to be a continual temptation even a continual problem that some so I’m even the church are going to say yes I know he’s not a believer I know she’s not a believer but I love him and I think this is the Lord’s will sorry that’s just not true from the scriptures and that’s a way that you were gonna bring trouble suffering even ruin into your life don’t date unbelievers don’t marry unbelievers and you sin against God when you do so and you bring trouble on yourself and Samson is a perfect picture of that moreover Reni anyone who might be listening who’s dabbling and sexual immorality or maintaining an immoral relationship or lifestyle again look at Samson he is like the poster child of Proverbs five in Proverbs seven those passages that warn about how sexual immorality ruins that’s exactly what happened with Samson now I’m sure he didn’t intend to be ruined but he wasn’t guarding himself I mean look especially even with what happens with Delilah he sees Delilah doing kind of suspicious things working for his harm and yet he keeps visiting her I need to learn from Samson’s negative experience we ought to not just not participate but flee potential romantic entanglements or sexual sin when an avenue for that appears don’t just go near it or see how close you can get to it run away from it if you’re wise if you want to experience the blessing of God you’ll do that now if you have sinned in these ways as you repent the Lord is merciful there is some restoration possible there but the Bible warns us even through Samson don’t even go near that path that’s one application another is make sure that you’re angry about the right things in the right way now it’s true often as Christians we get angry over the wrong things in the wrong way we’re usually prone to sinful anger and that’s why the Bible talks about anger being a sin but remember not all anger is a sin there is such a thing as righteous indignation and we ought to have it where appropriate we shouldn’t be okay with sin and idolatry and blasphemy in the world I mean consider Paul’s own example in Acts chapter 17 he’s walking through the streets of Athens he’s seeing all these idols around him and what’s his response doesn’t say oh oh you know that’s interesting or yeah well you know pagans what are they gonna do he says it says his spirit was provoked within him because of the idols and the idolatry around it in a certain sense we should be provoked to by the evil that we see around us we should be provoked when we see oppression of people in sin now what’s that motivate us to do well righteous anger always leads to righteous action should not provoke us to be like I’m gonna go kill some people you know I’m gonna go commit murder I’m gonna go blow up an abortion facility no no that is not what righteous anger does righteous anger leads to righteous action especially the proclamation of the gospel isn’t that what it did with Paul confrontation of sin proclamation of the saving gospel that’s what your righteous anger should lead to we ought to have that just as I think Sampson did in part that’s another application it’s being a little bit more generally here a third application is obey the Lord as you rely on his empowerment the temptation we often experience those Christians is to be like oh but I just won’t have the strength to do it God you call me to do this thing but I just don’t think I’ll be able well if God called you to it where do you think the empowerment’s gonna come from not from you from him and remember what we said last time with Gideon God takes the weak and he makes them strong and he glorifies himself by using them to accomplish his purposes that’s what he does even with you go back to 1st Corinthians 1 God uses the weak things of the world to shame the strong that’s what he’s gonna do in your life so don’t be surprised when you feel like it’s beyond you yes it is beyond you but that’s how God’s gonna glorify himself even Sampson realized this the strength didn’t come from himself it came from God and so you too as you pursue the Lord in obedience you will be empowered by him maybe not always in the way you expect or in the proportion that you expect but it will be enough he will be sufficient for you just as he was first people in the scriptures and then finally wherever you do experience the Grace and victory of God give God the glory for it give him thanks don’t take credit for yourself let all the honor and glory go to God you overcome a sin you say no to certain temptation don’t pat yourself on the back say lord thank you thank you for your graciousness in sanctifying me and giving me the victory here or you you shared the gospel with somebody or you were moved to confront sin and a loving and yet firm way praise God for that he’s the one doing that work in your life any victory that you experience or that we experience as a church all the glory is to go to God we had to give him thanks we are to praise him for it even publicly that’s part of what it means to be a witness of God we give praise to God for the good grace and victory that he shows us in Christ that’s something that’s to be part of your life it was part of Samson’s life and want to be part of ours too I think you could probably pull more applications from this passage but that’s just for that I wanted to mention to you well that’s all for this week if you have questions or comments about what you’ve heard from me today or about the passages that we’ve looked at please post them in the chat or you can send them in an email to me afterwards at Daphna potia at gmail.com I’d love to interact with you a little bit about that as I can next week we move on from the book of Judges to the Book of Ruth Ruth also takes place during the time of the judges a little bit different of a story of an account now we see God’s compassion especially put on display in the Book of Ruth I think you’ll be really blessed as we look at that together so I hope you’ll be back let me close our time with prayer spared me Heavenly Father we know we are to learn and to be transformed from this account you worked in a mighty way in Samson’s life and on behalf of Israel and you know Samson he wasn’t perfect he experienced the consequences of sin Lord we ought to learn from that but Lord let us also learn now how how you glorify yourself in empowering and using people who are weak on their owns who have no real strength in themselves Lord you will do that in us who are your people and I pray for any of those who don’t know you who might be listening this morning that they might be saved Lord because they will experience your judgment if they do not turn if they do not turn from their sin and give up their own way and follow you if they do not embrace Jesus Christ as the only Savior so I pray Lord that they would run to your mercy and not experience your judgment well that prayed your blessed Calvary and anyone listening Lord as they continue in worship today and Jesus name Amen all right well thank you once again for being part of our study this morning and feel free to post something in the chat love to interact with you about that but otherwise I’ll see you next week