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.
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[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.
