Blog Entry - Drew Boswell

“A Letter to the Recovering Pharisee” Galatians 1:1-9

Grace Abounds

A Sermon Series Through the Book of Galatians

“A Letter to the Recovering Pharisee”

Galatians 1:1-9

Introduction

The Pharisees who lived during the early church times were very religious. They paid very close attention to their theology, they were regular in their worship, and they would be considered a very moral group of people. But in all that attention to religious activities God was not in their hearts. Their religion was little more than hypocrisy – this hypocrisy was rooted in their belief that if they read their Bibles, tithed, kept the Sabbath, then God would do for them, what they had done for God.

This constant attention to trying to be good, follow the rules, and appear to be a good person was exhausting and ultimately was not pleasing to God because they were substituting their own righteousness for Jesus’ righteousness. They would say, “I don’t need Jesus’ gift of salvation, I can earn it myself.” So their daily lives reflected this idea of trying to earn God’s favor, and trying to manipulate God by their action to get him to do something.[1]

It is hard for a legalistic person, once they receive Christ, to leave legalism behind. So Jewish people become followers of Jesus, and while they say they need Jesus and his gift of salvation, secretly (deep down in their hearts), they believe God’s love for them is conditional upon how they behave.

Performance based “Christianity” denies the grace of God.

While we are saved by grace, recovering legalists struggle to live by grace. The gospel is something we receive for salvation, but it is also something that we live and breathe every day. The gospel gives us freedom – as we move through the book of Galatians, I want you to ask yourself, “Am I living my Christian life, as if I know God loves me and that His grace is enough? Or are you trying to make God love you by doing religious activity?”

Paul’s Salutation to the Churches In Galatia (vv. 1-5)

Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man[2], but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Paul in the opening verses comes out fighting. We can tell from these verses that there were people who were attacking Paul’s authority as an apostle. An apostle was an official spokesperson for Jesus, “an envoy, ambassador, or messenger who was chosen and trained by Jesus Christ as a special emissary for proclaiming His truth during the formative years of the church.”[3] The first 12 disciples were chosen, called, and commissioned by Christ himself to teach on his behalf (Luke 6:13-16; Mark 3:14-19). Paul understands that people have to accept him as an apostle before they will accept the gospel.

Paul was not apart of the original 12, and so his critics attack his authority. In order to advance their doctrinal error, they are attacking his credentials. These false teachers are arguing that Paul’s gospel was not from God but from man (Paul made it up), and that Paul appointed himself to be an apostle – Paul is explaining where Christianity came from. But also, they are accusing him of watering down the gospel to make it easy – so that he would popular saying what people wanted to hear.

When the authority of Scripture is denied,

a person can make truth into whatever they want Him to be.

They denied Paul’s authority (as an apostle) and then created their own gospel. When the authority of Scripture is denied, you can then add or take away the parts you don’t agree with.

“To the churches of Galatia,” – “The Galatians were going astray because they are adding Judaism to the gospel of Faith in Christ . . . Disturbed by these tendencies Paul writes this letter . . . I order that they may preserve faith in Christ alone.”[4] These false teachers are called “Judaizers” in other places because they wanted to require the new Gentile (non-Jewish) followers of Jesus to become a Jew before they could become a Christian. It is the gospel of Jesus plus the law of Moses (dietary laws, circumcision, and other ceremonial law, feasts and holidays) .

We see this in Acts 15:1 “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” . . . (v. 5) “But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

“In turning from grace to a legalistic system of salvation by works, the Galatians had ignored the significance of the death of Christ. The heart of the gospel is Christ’s willing sacrifice of Himself for our sins. Salvation is not earned by one’s efforts to eliminate sin, but by one’s trust in God’s promise to forgive sin through the work of Jesus Christ.”[5] Without the cross, Jesus’ teachings and life example would introduce us to God, but we would have no way of having a relationship with Him – we cannot, in our own self-effort, be rid of our sin.

In these opening verses reminds the churches of the what the gospel is; the resurrection, “who raised him from the dead,” and his crucifixion, “who gave himself for our sins.” In his rescuing us from the danger of our sin it was not for a “second chance” – “giving us another opportunity to get life right and stay right with God. He did all we needed to do, but cannot do. If Jesus’ death really paid for our sins on our behalf, we can never fall back into condemnation.”[6]

From these we see four things about the gospel 1) Jesus gave himself willingly, “who gave himself.” Jesus’ life was not taken, it was given. It was a voluntary self-sacrifice. John 10:17-18 “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” Matthew 27:50 when Jesus is on the cross he “yielded up his spirit.”

2) The purpose of the cross is that Jesus gave up his life willingly for our sins. We had a sin debt that we could not pay, and on the cross “Jesus paid it all.” The punishment we deserved, He took upon himself. He became our substitute (substitutionary atonement). It enabled God to forgive us by satisfying his pure justice. Even if your acts of goodness counted, what was owed is eternally more than you can contribute toward your salvation.

3) “to deliver us from the present evil age,” – The purpose of the gospel is to deliver – Jesus came to rescue us. We are saved so that one day, we can enter into eternity, but God’s grace and salvation extend also, to our present day-to-day lives. We have been freed from the evil of this age.

We were slaves to sin, now we are slaves to righteousness – the consequence of being a Christ follower is that we are freed from behavior that brings us destruction. Lightfoot said, “The Gospel is a rescue, an emancipation from a state of bondage.” Because we are free our lives now reflect Christ – an abundant life.

4) God initiatives our salvation, it originates from God “according to the will of our God and Father,” The cross was not an accident, or a historical tragic event that caught God off guard. He wasn’t in heaven hoping that everything would work out. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prays that the cup of wrath that was coming with the cross be removed, Matthew 26:39 “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” It was the Father’s will that the Son die for the salvation of the world.

Peter says in Acts 2:23, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” It has always been the plan for God the Father to give His Son for the salvation of the world. In these opening verses Paul discusses salvation and we don’t play any part in it. “The gospel is not about what we do for God; it is about what God has done for us.”

Paul then says, “to whom be the glory forever and ever .” – All the glory goes to God, not to us for being good. Ephesians 2:9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

“The great point that the Galatians are to note is the fact that grace and peace are ours (v. 3) “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” through the merits of Christ’s self-sacrifice alone. All is due to his death for our sins. We are able to add nothing by any works of ours. We are not delivered by any observance of the law. The whole epistle is aimed at this error; the foundation is laid already in the greeting.”[7]

Paul’s Concern and Reason For Writing the Letter (vv. 6-7)

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ (the gospel that originates from Christ).

Paul’s writing this letter is in response to his astonishment that the churches were in danger – there is an urgency in his writing. They like soldiers on the battlefield they are “so quickly deserting” – they are switching sides. The tense tells us that it has begin but has not yet been completed – there is still a chance for them to see their error.

An OT example of a similar event was Exodus 32:7-8 “And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” When people don’t honor the authority of Scripture, they want to add to it, or take from if; “They think they are improving the gospel, but what they are actually doing is forging a golden calf in the furnace of unbelief . . . we’ve abandoned it for an idol made by human hands.”[8]

They were not just switching from one man’s philosophy to another man’s philosophy – they were deserting the God who gave them the true gospel. And they were accepting a distorted Paul and Barnabas had gone through and preached the gospel, they had received it, and then they went back (on their second missionary journey)[9] and spent time teaching them – and then when they left these false teachers have followed behind them and are trying to undermine their work. Paul is astonished at how quickly they swept in, and how quickly the churches were listening to them.

I think it’s important to note that these were teachers who said they were Christians – they would have acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, and they would have recognized his death on the cross as being important (otherwise no one would listened to them).

They would have claimed to believe all the truths other Christians believed. But they wanted to improve the gospel by adding to it. If you add anything to grace then you have corrupted the gospel – it becomes a different gospel. The good news of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, is the only gospel that saves the sinner.

The word Paul uses in v. 7, “want to distort the gospel,” perverts the gospel, literally “reverses.”[10] All other world religions say that you do something to save yourself. The grace of God, and the gospel from Jesus reverses this – God does everything, you do nothing. Any edits to the gospel reverses it, and places it in the giant pile of worthless world religions. There is only one way to be rid of our sin – there are not multiple ways to God.

How does one go from following the true gospel, to readily accepting man’s attempt at religion? There are two things involved, “but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel,” The false teachers were troubling the church, so trouble or heartache comes along, and then combined with distortion of the truth (to make God in one’s own image). Something in your life happens, and an alternate version of reality presents itself.

Paul’s Warning For Those That Preach a False Gospel (vv. 8-9)

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Paul then gives scenarios where a false gospel may appear – suppose Paul, or those who were with him on his journeys, or even an angel from heaven appeared – if anyone preaches a gospel different than grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone – they are to be accursed. The true standard of Christianity is not the messenger, but the message. Preachers can change and move away from the truth they once preached, and demons can appear as angels.

Paul is saying that even his apostolic authority derives from the gospel’s authority, not the other way around. The Bible judges the church, the church does not judge the Bible. Scripture is the plumbline that we hold up everything the church does and believes. My authority as your pastor comes from Scripture – you should follow me as long as what I say lines up with the Word of God. The word of God does not means what I want it to mean – I have authority only as long as what I say lines up with Scripture.

Paul uses the word accursed or anathema, referring to what should happen to someone who preaches a false gospel – This is an OT concept of setting something aside or devoting something to destruction. A different gospel brings condemnation – it is ternal life that is at stake.

______________________

[1] Philip Graham Ryken, Reformed Expository Commentary, Galatians (Philipsburg, New Jersey; P&R Publishing, 2005) 3.

[2] This could be a reference to Paul and Barnabas being sent out on the first missionary journey from the church in Antioch.

[3] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Galatians (Chicago, Illinois; Moody Press, 1987) 2.

[4] C. Marius Victorinus, Ad Galatas, quoted in F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Eerdmans, 1982) 21.

[5] MacArthur, 6.

[6] Timothy Keller, Galatians For You (USA; The Good Book Company, 2013) 16.

[7] R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (Minneapolis, Minnesota; Augsburg Publishing House, 1961) 29.

[8] Todd Wilson, Preaching the Word, Galatians Gospel-Rooted Living (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2013) 30.

[9] Acts 13:13-14:23

[10] Keller, 18.

“Samson Is Not the Hero” Judges 16:23-31

The Story of Samson

A Sermon Series

“Samson Is Not the Hero”

Judges 16:23-31

Introduction

Judges 16:21-22 “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. 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. (v. 22)

This verse is not given to us so that we think, “his hair is back, so his strength is back.” The Philistines think his strength is gone because his vow to God had been broken (he had drank from the vine, he had touched the dead, and his hair had been cut). But, God is not constrained to his people keeping their side of a promise.

There is a difference between the Israelite God and the false gods of the Philistines. For the Philistines they would serve their gods, keeping rules, giving offerings, etc and their gods would be moved by their offerings to do something they wanted (good crops, fertility, etc.) If they didn’t do these things then they would fear being wiped out or abandoned.

But the God of the Bible always keeps his promises to His people regardless if they keep their promise or not (now he disciplines them, they rebel and get carried off into exile, and various plagues – but when they cry out, repent of their sin, he hears their cries, forgives them, and they are once again restored).

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Earlier in Judges 13:7 “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.” God said that Samson would be a Nazarite from before he was born to the day of his death. God had established a plan for Samson’s life. Samson’s strength did not come from his vow, or his keeping his side of the promise, but the strength came from the God who also made a promise.

God Always Keeps His Promises.

Samson has only lived for himself, he married, went into a prostitute, and fell in love with all Philistine women – and two of the three betrayed him so that he was blinded, bound, and carried off to grind grain on a millstone (like an animal). Samson has lost everything. But then we see v. 22, “But the hair of his head began to grow again.” Is there still a chance for Samson? Can he come back from all of it, or is he too far gone? The only reason we have hope for Samson, and even ourselves is because God is always faithful.

Waiting on A Hero to Arrive (vv. 23-27)

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.

It’s important to note that Samson (not the Israelites) is identified as their enemy, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” The Israelites, even after over twenty years of oppression by the Philistines are content to remain oppressed and ruled by an enemy. They are essentially the same people, with no moral distinctions between the peoples. God sent Samson to cause a division between them – because they are so intertwined.

When given a chance to build an army and fight, they handed over Samson instead. They said to Samson, Judges 15:11 “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?”

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.

The highest ranking officials of the Philistine people have all assembled in one place, “Now the house was full of men and women.” They are there to worship their god Dagon. They are rejoicing because they have captured, blinded, and humiliated the Israelite God’s champion. Samson is brought so they can see him, to parade him around, to entertain them.

The temple has a lower and upper level – Samson is on the lower level where he can he been by those on the upper level. The upper level is supported by large pillars. So the scene is set – It seems like Dagon is more powerful than Yahweh. But in this great contest the question is who will Yahweh’s people serve – morally and culturally there is no discernable difference between the two peoples. God’s people, “did what was right in their own eyes.” Would God remain faithful to them, even though they were morally corrupt?

God’s people had been set apart from the beginning to be His people, Leviticus 20:26 “You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” (like Samson was set apart to be a judge).

Early in the history of God’s people, God made a promise to a man named Abraham Genesis 15:12 “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, . . . When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, . . .” God made a promise to Abram and his descendant as God’s people, but Abram does not make the same promise because in God’s grace he makes him go to sleep (knowing that they will not keep their side of the agreement).

God has called and gifted us to do certain things (like the Israelites and Samson), but we are morally corrupt and don’t do what God has called us to do. “Samson serves as a microcosm of Israel for its respective failures to fulfill their obligations to Yahweh. Just as he repeatedly neglects his Nazarite obligations to Yahweh by engaging in impure acts and relations with foreign women, so the tribes of Israel [are] negligent of their obligations to Yahweh as an elect people by engaging in cultically disloyal acts and by neglecting to expel foreigners from the land.”[1]

Samson (in chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16 up until now) has completely lived for himself – he has used his super-human gift of strength only for himself. His eyes and a twisted morality have led him to go from bed to bed, a failed marriage, various feats of strength that only served his own sense of vengeance and pride. He chased an addict’s desire for increasing highs taking riskier and even more dangerous chances – until eventually he was captured, blinded, and humiliated. Samson has lost everything.

God is the Hero Who Arrives In His Own Timing (vv. 28-31)

28 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.

Something is different about Samson here. He is humble and reverent. The only other time we see his prayer it is brazen, demanding, and irreverent (15:18). But here, he knows if he is to bring the temple down, he needs super human strength and now finally recognizes where his strength comes from, “God please strengthen me.” Before, he had always assumed that it would be there, but now he pleads with God to strengthen him, one last time.

God will always be there for His people,

when they turn from their sin (repent) and have faith in Him

because He has promised to be faithful. God always keeps his promises.

Did God abandon Samson? The last we heard, “But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” God lets us go into that which we want after we pull and pull, and pull away from Him. He disciplines us by allowing the partial consequences of our actions to consume us. If you don’t want God in your life, then you can experience (in part) what that is like.

Destruction, pain, and sin’s consequence is humbling (Samson is with the people he has been trying to be apart of since the beginning, his eyes that control every part of his life are gouged out, the love he thought he wanted has betrayed him, and his strength to be a judge, a deliverer, is gone. Now he is just like any other man. God allowed Samson to experience what he had always thought he wanted.

Ok so he’s humbled, but where is the faith? In his prayer he uses two words for God, One is (elohim) this is a personal God to him, and (Yahweh) which is a saving, covenantal, relational God of his people Israel.[2] By calling out to the Lord God Samson is recognizing that God is sovereign over all things.

Hebrews 11:34 “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith . . . , were made strong out of weakness, . . .” Faith in his God made Samson strong when he was weak. Despite all his failings, when he finally showed (just a little) faith in his God, God kept His promise to be there with him.

You can run a thousand miles from God,

but it only takes one step to return back to Him.

Samson was finally able to see, even though he was blind, that he was weak, the only way for him to have any strength was if God gave it to him. “Samson’s story begins with a strong man who is revealed to be weak (pride, revenge, lust, his own eyes controlled him), but it ends with a weak man who is stronger than he ever was before.”[3]

In the Hebrews 11 “fall of faith” Samson is listed with men of great faith (like Enoch, Abraham, or Joseph) but the point is not that Samson had enough faith to make into the list. The list itself is an overview of the history of God’s people. It is a record of where God has moved with men and women who showed great faith – and those that only showed one small act of faith, one time in their entire lives (like Samson).

Jesus’ disciples at one point struggled to cast out a demon, so they pull Jesus aside and ask him, Matthew 17:19-20 “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

If all we had were Judges chapters 13-16:20, he was not a hero worth remembering. He had failed at every opportunity he had been given. His feats only brought him glory, and only delivered himself. But having been humbled, weakened, he lifts his head to heaven finally and says, “O Lord God, please remember me.” In Hebrew to remember is not the opposite of to forget. Rather, the verb means “to take note of, to act on behalf of.”[4] Samson is saying, “Act on my behalf, by giving me strength, that I recognize only comes from the sovereign God.”

Therefore, showing one moment, in his entire story, that is an act of faith. This is not a story that points to a human hero, but instead to a great and merciful God who is faithful to His Word, and desires to use us in spite of our rebellious and being hard hearted. God is the hero of the story – Samson is the anti-hero most of the time. God just wants us to show a little faith. Samson’s faith included 1) he trusted the Lord, 2) he knew no other God was true or real, 3) he knew that God was the source of his strength, and 4) he knew that he had to depend upon the Lord to salvage anything from his life.”[5]

Realizing this grace, it should drive us to repentance, Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” God works in Samson’s life again and again, in spite of his sinful heart. God’s kindness in his life, should lead him to repent of his sin – ultimately it does (but only after having to be greatly humbled).

God requires turning from sin (repentance) and turning to Christ (faith).

But there are a few things that Samson misses. First, as the Philistine people are chanting and singing worship songs to their god, Samson does not discuss Yahweh’s reputation or His God’s name being lifted up. He is not concerned about God’s name being lifted up in the Promised Land. Secondly, He is not concerned with Israel, God’s people, being delivered – which is his life-long calling from God. Third, His thought process in this prayer to God goes “remember me,” “strengthen me,” “let me get revenge,” “for my two eyes.” Samson (even though he has shown faith and renewed understanding of where his strength comes from) still is still only focused on Samson.

Samson reaches out, feels the pillars, and begins to push with all his strength. This is the most important moment in Samson’s life – and it is how he dies. “So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.”

Samson “stands as a tragic example of a man of great potential who lacked stability of character. Still God in His sovereignty used him.”[6] We should base our faith on God, not men. Whether we follow Him should be based on our relationship with him, because all men will fail you eventually in moral character, “for all have sinned and fallen short.”

Abraham surrendered his wife over to Pharoah, David committed adultery and murder, Moses lost his temper, Noah was a drunk, etc. all men are sinners. In my lifetime many of my heroes have fallen or horrible truths have been revealed about them, but Christ has never let me down – He has been and will always be faithful. My faith is in Him, not in men’s ability to be without sin. If you go a restaurant and gave a horrible meal, you don’t give up eating.

_________________

[1] K. Lawson Younger, The NIV Application Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Academic, 2020) 407.

[2] Timothy Keller, Judges For You (USA; the Good Book Company, 2013) 161.

[3] Keller, 164.

[4] Daniel I. Block, The New American Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman & Holman Publishing, 2002) 467.

[5] W. Gary Phillips, Holman Old Testament Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman and Holman Publishing, 2004) 257.

[6] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1992) 479.

“But he did not know that the Lord had left him” Judges 16:1-22

The Story of Samson

A Sermon Series

“But he did not know that the Lord had left him”

Judges 16:1-22

Introduction

The captain of the Titanic refused to believe the ship was in trouble till water was ankle deep in the mail room. Only then was it apparent the multi-layered hull had been pierced and the unsinkable ship was going to sink. Ships that could have arrived before the great ocean liner went down weren’t summoned until it was too late.[1] Today we will look at a man who in his pride can’t see the reality of his coming destruction.

A Lifetime Wasted (vv. 1-3)

Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. 2 The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” 3 But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

Other than this being an example of Samson’s strength, why is this story of his life here? If it were not included, would we read the text the same way; would we understand it the same way? Each passage that is given, is to help us understand something – The last verse of chapter 15 is, “And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.” He wasn’t leading or judging God’s people toward anything, the Philistines were still in the land.

What was he doing for twenty years that kept him distracted from his God-given calling? These three verses help us fill in twenty years of Samson’s life. Samson can’t stay away from Philistine women, and the Philistine people were trying to set traps for him, and he kept outwitting them (or just over-powering them). In his eyes, they were sweeter than honey, and their control over him was stronger than a lion. But Samson’s lust was a symptom of a greater problem, Samson was the center of Samson’s world (and not God).

We are going to see that Delilah uses the same, “you don’t love me, you don’t trust me,” sentimentality against Samson that his wife did, so he doesn’t seem to change or grow as a person. He seems to go from woman to woman satisfying his lust, doing what “seemed right in his own eyes,” and then using his God-given strength to get out of spots he finds himself in. (vv. 1-3) Samson being completely surrounded, lifts the city gates post and all from a walled city, and carries it forty-miles to Hebron, with an ascent of more than two thousand feet – and just walks away from the danger.

Samson Wastes His God-given Gift for Twenty Years.

Samson goes to Gaza, the capital of the Philistine people. He knows they know who he is so by go in and staying with the prostitute over-night it is not only morally wrong, but reckless. He is fine with allowing himself to be surrounded. The first three verses show us that he is still morally corrupt, he is becoming more and more reckless, while not doing anything to deliver his people.[2]

A Deal Is Struck (vv. 4-17)

4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

Delilah on four separate occasions has the same conversation with Samson, “tell me what is the secret of your strength, how can you be bound, how can someone control you?” Each time, he is awakened from his sleep with “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” and then they are trying to do to Samson what he had in secret revealed to her. Why does he play this game with her?

Samson creates riddles, writes poetry, he seems to love plays on words – so he is not stupid. But, “like any pattern of compulsion, the cycle is increasing in force and power.”[3] Samson’s success and increasing feats of strength leads him to feel that he is invulnerable and that he does not really need God. Success in life can be very dangerous because we begin to think that we don’t really need God, and that we can do anything – that we are untouchable.[4]

Samson expects for his God-given gift to always rescue him from his moral failures.

It is incredibly difficult to be an astronaut. But “In 2007, then-NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando to confront a perceived romantic rival, Colleen Shipman. During the journey, Nowak wore adult diapers to avoid making stops for bathroom breaks, a detail that was widely reported. She was arrested after pepper-spraying Shipman at the Orlando airport parking lot, leading to charges including attempted kidnapping and battery. The incident, stemming from a love triangle involving another astronaut, Bill Oefelein, became a national scandal and inspired the 2019 movie Lucy in the Sky.”

Smart and very talented people can do stupid and morally corrupt things

because they think they are not capable of failing.

God gives us His grace to cover our sin, and then we use that grace as a weapon against Him. Instead of His grace leading us to repentance, our wicked hearts use His grace as an excuse to continue or even increase in our sin. Samson enters into this game with Delilah in which he feels very secure that he will always be able to use his strength to escape any trap set before him. Also, Samson is chasing intimacy – he loves Delilah (even though he knows she is trying to destroy him). Think about what he has to admit in this situation; he loves her, but she not only doesn’t love him, she loathes him to the point of wanting him to be captured and tortured. His pride won’t let him admit this truth to himself.

7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

(v.5) “the lords of the Philistines came up to her,” and “we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” shows us her motivation for playing this game (potential status as a national hero, and wealth[5]). These were the highest-ranking Philistines who have come to her. But what is his motivation? – he is not stupid, he knows there is a chance she will give him up, especially after the first round of his answer and then their attacking him.

Samson, his whole life, has done what seemed right to him – “what was right in his own eyes.” He has been controlled by his feelings and what he gets, especially from women. He is using Delilah to get something– and she is using him to get. Their relationship is based on taking from the other. Godly relationships are based on giving. What is it that he is taking from the relationship?

Samson is called be a deliverer, a leader of God’s people – so naturally he wants the thrill of feats of strength, the narrow escape, the feeling of doing something special something no one else can do. He is a warrior who wants to fight. He recklessly puts himself in these positions so he can feel the thrill of escape. This is what addicts do – they are chasing the high.

In order for Samson to feel this thrill, the danger has to be more and more real. Samson wants to feel love and intimacy with another person – but instead of pursuing relationships God’s way, he seeks satisfaction in the world. So bowstrings lead to new ropes, etc. Samson is trying to fill an emptiness in his life that God should be filling.

Samson substitutes the feeling of peace that comes from following his calling

with the sensations and lies of the world, which always leave him craving more.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” 11 And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread. 13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

Two more times Delilah tries to get Samson to tell her the secret of his strength and he lies to her. The games continues, both getting and taking from each other. Either because of lust or pride, “he is blinded to the reality she represents.”[6] She means to have him weak, bound, and carried off.

15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

The ultimate game of comes to an end when Samson reveals his heart, no lies, no deception – just the truth. His strength comes from a vow made to the Lord, a calling given before he was born, which he had violated many times over the years. He had touched dead things (the honey comb inside the lion, even recently having sinew bind his hands), and he had drunk from the vine (at his wedding reception), and now the final outward display of his following God has been removed. The source of his strength was not his hair, it was God.[7] But Samson giving away the last of the three requirements severs the relationship between him and God.

Like a three corded strand of rope, he cuts all three strands (drink from the vine, touching the dead, and cutting his hair). His link with God was his Nazarite vow, he has cut all three strands and doesn’t realize his dangerous situation.

A Relationship Is Lost (vv. 18-22)

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him 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. 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Delilah now feels confident she knows his secret, calls for her money. She has him sleep with his head in her lap. Samson reveals two things, one the secret to his strength to Delilah, and also that yes, he has been aware of his vow, “I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb,” Instead of bearing his soul to God (confessing his sin, re-aligning his life back to his calling, etc.), he bears his soul to a woman who is determined to betray him and uses his openness and love for her as a weapon against him. He sits himself in the barber’s chair – Samson chose Delilah and their relationship over the Lord.

(v. 20) Samson says, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” – Samson intends to do, as he has always done. He is untouchable, invincible, he has super-strength. Why would keeping a Nazarite vow matter now? He violated God’s law by marrying outside of the Israelite people and he goes from bed to bed, but God still gave him strength (to kill the men to pay his debt when he lost the riddle contest). He touched a corpse (specifically a fresh jawbone of a donkey) and God gave him strength to kill 1,000 Philistines. Why would Samson after over twenty years of constantly violating his vow, then God using him anyway would he expect anything different. But this time was different.

“But he did not know that the Lord had left him.”[8] – What was it about the hair being cut, that was different from drinking from the vine, or touching the dead? Samson’s strength was in the relationship between him and God. And the Lord left him. When God leaves the relationship there is no power there. Samson needed to understand that his super-strength was from his relationship with God, not from himself. He had to be humbled.

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” When a person places their faith in Jesus the Holy Spirit takes up residence within the believer. While God is there present with the believer, His power is given to the believer to bring Him glory and to accomplish His plan – We receive power in order to be His witnesses and to accomplish the tasks set before us. That power and presence of God in our lives is dependent upon our relationship with Him (not following rules).

God’s power is related to His presence.

His presence is dependent upon a relationship.

Exodus 33:15 God says, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he (Moses) said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

Isn’t it God’s presence in our lives that makes us distinct from all the other people on the planet. If His presence is not with us, what are we to do? We will live this life in our own strength, following and keeping rules, and we won’t have God’s blessing on our lives, we are spiritually tormented trying to achieve an impossible moral code, we will lack the power that comes from the Holy Spirit to accomplish anything of worth, and we will lose our identity in Christ. Samson should have broken off this relationship with the woman who caused his destruction, instead the relationship broke him, “v. 16 , his soul was vexed to death.”

What relationship will we seek today? The one that will lead to our destruction or the one that will lead to eternal life?

__________________

[1] Leadership, Vol. X, No.3, Summer, 1989, p. 27.

[2] Timothy Keller, Judges For You (USA; The Good Book Company, 2013) 151.

[3] Keller, 152.

[4] Hubris “wanton insolence or arrogance resulting from excessive pride.”

[5] “5,500 shekels of silver would equal 550 times the average annual wage. Assuming a figure like $35,000 as an average wage (2019), the Philistines offer would be in the $19.25 million category.” K. Lawson Younger Jr. The NIV Application Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Academic, 2020) 397.

[6] Daniel I. Block, The New American Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999) 452.

[7] If Samson were a large muscular man, then the source of his strength would be obvious. The Philistines are willing to pay an exorbitant amount of money to learn the secret (that wasn’t obvious).

[8] See also Romans 1:24, 26, 28 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, . . . 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; . . . 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” When we suppress the truth long enough, God will give us over to the consequences to that way of thinking.

“One Thing Leads to Another” Judges 14:10-15:20

The Story of Samson

A Sermon Series

“One Thing Leads to Another”

Judges 14:10-15:20

Introduction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjE2Kffq8Fk God intends to separate his people from the enemies of God. Like a chain reaction, we will see one thing leading to another – or at least that was the plan.

Samson’s Wife’s Betrayal Leads to Anger (vv. 10-20)

10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, 13 but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14 And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” And in three days they could not solve the riddle. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?” 16 And Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?” 17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. 18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”

In this interaction between Samson and his wife, we see Samson’s weakness toward women – he knows he shouldn’t tell her. He knows she will probably betray him to her people, but he tells her anyway. In her presence, he can’t think rationally. She cried, and said, “you don’t love me,” and he folded like a chair at the beach. Despite his super human strength he is helpless when confronted with the emotions of a woman.

The conversation between Samson and his wife shows there is no depth to their relationship beyond looks. “If he had not told his parents, then what made her think that he would tell her? She was engaged to a man who had no desire for intimate companionship with her beyond the physical. . . She was willing to deceive and betray her betrothed husband to save her parents, and herself, while he saw nothing wrong in being more attached to his parents than to his wife.”[1] And in a moment he calls her a heifer, which in an insult then just as it is today.

19 And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

When Samson is attacked by a lion, and when he attacks this group of Philistines, it says, “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him.” God is using Samson’s lustful heart, and He is using his rage and anger to cause a division between the Israelites and the Philistines.

(v. 20) while Samson is away killing a town to gather the debt of clothes he owes, his wife is given away by the father of the bride to his best man at the wedding feast. This leads to another action Samson will take in anger against the Philistines. One action leads to another action – deepening the distance between the peoples. What began as two people’s living together, undiscernible (Israelites and the Philistines) – now begin to separate back into two peoples.

“The Lord ultimately works good out of sinful human actions (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28). The text does not say that God approved Samson’s actions, only that He used them to fulfill his will. God can bring good out of anything, usually in spite of human weakness.”[2]

Samson’s Anger Leads to Destruction (15:1-8)

After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.”

Samson goes back to his home, cools down, and “After some days, at the time of wheat harvest,” goes back to try and rebuild the relationship with his wife. As a gift he brings a young goat (that would be a bouquet of flowers today). Thinking this gift will make things right, he quickly reveals why he wants to return, ““I will go in to my wife in the chamber.”

The husband that leaves angry, abandoning his wife (for months), expects for everything to be made right with a young goat? With no communication with his wife, he shows up wanting to consummate the union. His now ex-father-in-law thinking that he hated his daughter has given her to his best man. Now angry again, he sets out to get revenge.

4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

Samson wanted revenge for his wife being given to another man, so he tied fox’s tails together with a lit torch and burned their fields and stored grain. So, in retaliation they burned his wife and her father with fire. Then Samson in retaliation to that, went and killed all those involved with their death. God’s plan of causing increasing division between the people’s is working.

Samson’s Destruction Leads to Victory (vv. 9-17)

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.

(v. 11) “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” – God’s people are more concerned with keeping the peace with the world and worshiping their gods, rather than being set free. God’s people were commanded to occupy the land and drive out the enemy. They would rather hand over their deliverer than risk having a confrontation with the world. “It never occurred to God’s people that God, instead of the Philistines, might rule over them. It would seem that they are on covenant with the Philistines instead of God.”[3]

Are we more concerned with being seen as creditable, reasonable, and community minded over sold-out passionate disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3 when faced with bowing down before king Nebuchadnezzar’s giant golden statue, “But if not, (if God does not deliver us) be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” We shouldn’t go around looking to pick fights with the world. But accepting sinful behavior as your own, watering down God’s word to make people happy, or calling sin good and that which is good evil is morally reprehensible. The church has the truth of God and it is our responsibility to share it with the world.

Instead of sending an army against the enemy, they send an army against Samson – the judge. This group of Israelite leaders come to bind Samson to hand him over (so the back and forth of retaliation would stop), again we have a picture of people doing “what seemed right in their owns eyes,” Samson says the anti-Golden rule “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” The Philistines want to do to Samson, as he had done to them. Jesus’ version of this was, Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

14 When he came to Lehi (means jawbone), 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.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. (the hill of a jawbone)

Samson looks for a handy weapon, and there is a fresh carcass of a donkey. He snatches the jawbone and uses it as a weapon. Which again is a violation of his Nazarite requirement. The big three are 1) don’t drink anything from the vine 2) don’t cut your hair, and 3) don’t touch anything dead. But even though he has broken the law, and is unclean, Samson still has the God-given strength to kill 1,000 men– and while he is doing it, stacking bodies as the swings the jawbone, he sings a little song (which in Hebrew I am sure sounds better).

Why does God still use Samson, and even apparently bless his efforts, if he continually violates God’s law and commandments? Is God’s blessing on our lives contingent on our being faithful to Him? Or Will God’s plan be accomplished regardless of our behavior?

Samson’s Victory Leads the Israelites Nowhere (vv. 18-20)

18 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.[4] And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

This is the first time that we see Samson talk with God. God has delivered him from a lion, a debt he owed, and now an army of 1,000 men.

(v. 20) Samson, as a judge, led Israel for twenty years. In all the other judges there was leadership toward deliverance. Something was accomplished over a period of time – Samson did not lead them toward deliverance; he had super human strength so people feared him, but he didn’t use his gift to move the people toward anything. The Philistines remained, it says, “in the days of the Philistines.”

God gives His people gifts to lead toward something,

But if there is moral corruption the gifts do not lead to anything.

It is possible to have these gifts from the Lord, and not grow in your relationship with God. Samson had “the Spirit of the Lord rush upon him,” three times; wouldn’t you expect to see him growing in character and as a person? Yet in one short sentence we see twenty years jump by, and Samson remains the same and God’s people remain the same.

“It is possible to have the gifts of the Spirit, yet lack the fruit of the Spirit. In 1 Cor. 12 and 14, Paul tells us that “gifts” of the Spirit are skills for doing – abilities for serving and helping people, though they can be used for other ends, too. But in Galatians 5:22-23, Paul tells us that the “fruit” of the Spirit are character traits of being – qualities such as peace, patience, gentleness, self-control. Then in 1 Cor. 13:1-3, Paul tells us that it is possible to have skills (or gifts) of teaching and leadership – and yet lack the fruit of love, without which gifts are worth ‘nothing.’” [5]

God gives believers gifts, but if they don’t use them to move the church forward – what’s the point? God gives believers gifts, but if they use them for their own selfish purposes – what’s the point?

There is a distinction between gifts and fruit of the Spirit. Just because you are incredibly gifted, does not mean that you where you need to be spiritually. This is why we see mega church pastors preach these amazing sermons, then we discover later that they had been having an affair for years. It is because they are gifted, but morally corrupt.

The spirit of the Lord was with Samson to help him accomplish God’s ultimate plan (separating the Israelites from the Philistines) – yet Samson was morally corrupt.

Your gifting if not an accurate gauge of your spiritual health.

One other thing on gifts verses fruit – the Christian’s gifting is given to be used within the church. You have been given a gift by God that He intends for you to use within the church. Samson never built an army, he never recruited anyone to be apart of what he was doing – he was a one-man show. It’s easier to hide your spiritual immaturity (and sinful behavior) if you don’t engage in the church.

“All of Samson’s achievements are personal, and all are provoked by his own (mis)behavior. Unlike the other deliverers, he never seeks to rid Israel of foreign oppressors, and he never calls out for the Israelite troops. Samson is a man with a higher calling than any other deliverer in the book, but he spends his whole life “doing his own thing.”[6]

Conclusion

Think about this, “This person uniquely set apart, called, and gifted for divine service – not only fraternizes with the enemy, but also seeks to live among them.”[7] The tragedy of his life was not that he never got the woman he wanted, but he never became the man God wanted him to be. Hebrews 11 is called the Hall of Faith, look at verse 32 “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—” . . . among the names like David (a man after God’s own heart) and Samuel (the boy who said, “here I am!”) is Samson – the selfish, lustful, impulsive strong man. Come back next week and let’s see if he changes.

_________________

[1] W. Gary Phillips, Holman Old Testament Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Holman Reference, 2004) 223.

[2] J Harris, C. Brown, & M. Moore, New International Biblical Commentary, Joshua, Judges, Ruth (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishing, 2000) 245.

[3] J. Clinton McCann, Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Judges (Louisville, Kentucky, John Knox Press, 2002) 105.

[4] Exodus 17:1-7

[5] Timothy Keller, Judges For You (USA; The Good Book Company, 2013) 147.

[6] Daniel I Block, The New American Commentary, Judges & Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman & Holman, 1999) 441.

[7] Block, 438.

“Samson’s First Marriage” Judges 14:1-20

The Story of Samson

A Sermon Series

“Samson’s First Marriage”

Judges 14:1-9

Introduction

Samson Lives by Instant Gratification (vv. 1-4)

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.” 4 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 first word out Samson’s mouth after we are told that God was stirring his spirit (13:25) is woman. He has seen a woman, and in his own eyes, she seemed good. Samson is like all of the Israelite people where they are doing what seemed right in their own eyes.

“Normally in Israel parents decided whom their children should marry (Gen. 24:4, Exodus 21:9).”[1] His parents try to discourage him from choosing a wife from among the enemy of God’s people, “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?” – This is not a racially motivated remark (Israelite v. Philistine), instead the emphasis is on a covenant relationship with God, “a wife from the uncircumcised.”[2]

To be circumcised was a mark of a covenant relationship with God (Genesis 17). They are saying, “can’t you find a woman among the followers of the one true God that you could marry, instead of those that don’t follow God?” But it is also interesting what they don’t say,

- “Intermarriage is forbidden by the Lord (Duet. 7:1-5).”
- “The Lord has called you to be a Nazarite – you are called to deliver not marry.”

The parents are following the same line of thinking as the apostle Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?”

Why would it be wrong for Israelite men to marry Philistine women? Because God’s people had made a covenant with the one true God, and the Philistines worshipped other gods. Exodus 34:12 is a covenant renewal between God and his people, “Take care, lest you make a covenant (like a marriage covenant) with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.” They are going to be loyal to their gods, and when you have children they will make them worship these false gods.

If your spouse doesn’t worship the same God, then he or she will constantly be pulling against your covenant with the Lord. “These types of relationships weaken a believer’s loyalty to God.”[3] You are in an intimate relationship with a person who does not share what is the very core of your being, your drive to do life, the compass that determines everything in your life – and they will constantly be pulling you to make God less in all parts of your life (which is idolatry). You will feel a constant pressure to worship something else, other than the one true God.

For Israel, remember that they are not crying out, even though they are oppressed by the Philistines. Why? With Samson we get a glimpse that shows how their cultures were deeply intertwined. There was little recognizable difference between the world and God’s people.

To become culturally indistinct is to be spiritually extinct.

Samson won’t listen, and he repeated that in his own eyes, he thinks this is the woman he wants to marry, “she is right in my eyes.” What we see about this young leader is that he is impulsive and ruled by his eyes. He is controlled by his senses, how he feels about something or someone leads him to act. He sees something or someone, he feels a certain way about that person or thing, and then he reacts – there is no considering, no pondering. He does not consider the consequences of his actions.

There is also another way to think about “she is right in my eyes.” Like when God says that something is right in His eyes, referring to a moral standard. So if Samson is saying, according to his “eyes” as in his moral standard she is the right one – then he has greatly gone away from God’s standards and will for His people.

At the beginning in the Garden of Eden God warned Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. The serpent came along and tempted the couple to eat of the fruit, Genesis 3:6-7 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” In Eve’s eyes (in her opinion) the fruit looked good, even though God had warned her not to eat of it. This is the original sin; we can choose (better than God) what is good and what is harmful.

(v. 2) “Now get her for me as my wife.” Samson’s parents are trying to give him godly advice, but instead he ignores them. He wants them to go now to get this woman for him as a wife. Samson is impulsive, lustful, and rejects the idea of delayed gratification.

(v. 4) “His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord . . .” God was going to use Samson’s lack of impulse control, being controlled by his eyes, his lustful desire for women to carve out a divide between the Israelites and the Philistines. There was no outcry because God’s people were happy being culturally the same as the world – so God used their own sin to cause a divide, a slit between the peoples. “. . .left to himself, Samson would never have become involved in God’s or even Israel’s agenda; no left to themselves, the Israelites would have been satisfied to continue to coexist with the Philistines.”[4]

James 4:4 “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Adultery is cheating on God by pursuing a relationship with the world, a friendship. You can’t be friends with both. God loves His people enough to cause a divide between those two things.

This does not imply that God is inciting Samson’s lustful desire for the woman: God uses his sinful actions to accomplish God’s will. God does not cause men to sin, but He can use their actions to accomplish his divine plan (ex. Jewish people executing Jesus which leads to the salvation of the world). “Left to himself, Samson would never have become involved in God’s or even Israel’s agenda. Left to themselves, the Israelites would have been satisfied to continue to coexist with the Philistines. But Yahweh has other plans.”[5]

Samson is Insensitive to God’s Plan (vv. 5-9)

5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.

The first time we see Samson use his super human strength was in self-defense against a lion – but remember the big three of the Nazzarite vow 1) don’t drink anything from the vine, 2) don’t cut your hair, and 3) not to touch or go around anything dead.[6] So, his first action, after touching something dead should be to go to the temple to correct his being unclean.

Why didn’t he tell his parents? First, they would have given him a hard time about him being in a vineyard (as a Nazirite). And, secondly, because they would have insisted that he go to the temple, but Samson did not want to go to the temple. It would have involved an eight-day ritual that included shaving one’s head, offering a sin offering and a burnt offering, rededicating oneself for the period of the Nazirite vow, and offering a year-old male ram as a guilt offering (Numbers 6:9-12).”[7]

Instead, he wanted something else. “Then he went down and talked with the woman, and (we are reminded one more time,) she was right in Samson’s eyes. He wanted to pursue this woman, even at the expense of violating his vow.

Samson must choose to fulfil the requirements of the calling of God upon his life,

or gratify the desire that is “right in his eyes.”

8 After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.

By not telling his father and his mother where the honey came from he made them unclean before the Lord (dishonoring them). So, not only does he not care about his relationship with God, but he also, is not concerned with other’s relationship with God. His being unclean, and his making his parents unclean is not of any concern to Samson. His only focus is satisfying what his eyes want. “His parents had sanctified him, but now he desecrates them.”[8]

Notice how Samson views this woman, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” His desire to marry her is completely based on her appearance, and then later he talks with her, “Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.” Then after he has talked with her there is no thinking about how she followed a god that was the enemy of his people’s God.

It’s all about looks and how she makes him feel. And then it says, “After some days he returned to take her.” “ I want her to be mine.” If you live by Samson’s moral standard, what happens when the woman’s beauty fades, or they actually have a real discussion about the purpose of life, and the lust fades?

____________________

[1] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 3 (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan publishing, 1992) 466.

[2] “Moses marries a non-Israelite, Zipporah, but she recognized God’s covenant; see Exodus 4:24-26.” Tim Keller, Judges For You (USA; The Good Book Company, 2013) 136.

[3]

[4] Daniel I. Block, The New American Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman & Holman, 1999) 424.

[5] K. Lawson Younger Jr., The NIV Application Commentary, Judges, Ruth (USA; Zondervan Academic, 2002) 379.

[6] Numbers 6:1-8

[7] Younger, 380.

[8] W. Gary Phillips, Holman Old Testament Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Holman Reference, 2004) 222.

[9] Phillips, 223.

[10] J Harris, C. Brown, & M. Moore, New International Biblical Commentary, Joshua, Judges, Ruth (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishing, 2000) 245.

[11] Block, 438.

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)