Judges 15-16
We meet Samson in chapter 15 with possible reconciliation on
his mind and goes to find his wife. He
takes a gift with him which would have been culturally appropriate at that
time. However, he arrives at his father
in laws only to be told that his wife had been given to another. There was presumption on the father in law’s
side in that he thought Samson hated his wife.
Notice how the father in law tries to rectify the situation. You can have her younger sister she is more
attractive. I wonder if Samson’s wife
overheard that conversation. Talk about
a dent to your self-esteem.
Samson is mad at this point and also quite creative. He gets back at the Philistines using foxes
of all things and burns their food supplies.
The Philistines find out who did it and kill his wife and father in law. This puts Samson over the edge….he says in v7
that he won’t stop until he gets revenge.
Have you ever felt like that or known someone who just can’t let things
go. They will stop at nothing to get
payback. What is that person like? It wasn’t just words with Samson but
reality. We read in the next verse that
he attacks them viciously and slaughters many of them. Then he moves into a cave.
The Philistines are seeking revenge and even get the tribe
of Judah to help them as it is the tribe of Judah who actually hands Samson
over to the Philistines. Samson’s own
people are handing him over to the enemy. They are going to get a surprise if they think
tying him up with rope would do it.
Samson is quite dramatic. When he
frees himself from his bindings he picks up a jawbone of a donkey of all things
and strikes down a thousand men with it.
Then he gives us one of his rhymes.
After this eventful time for Samson it is said that he was
thirsty. Samson went around like a one
man army and yet he wasn’t without needs.
Look who he cried out to in His time of need? Sometimes our conversations with God are few
and far between. Everything is going
well and so our relationship with Him, at best, is like talking with an
acquaintance. It is not something that
happens overnight it is a gradual process.
I was reminded of this in the last couple of weeks how life can get too
busy and the important things can get squeezed out.
Chapter 16
Samson had moments of seeking God and then other times where
he goes completely against God. Look
what happens. He looked with his eyes, saw someone he wanted and went after
her. This time it was a prostitute from
Gaza. He slept with her and then left
her at midnight so he could escape from the people of Gaza. He escaped in a dramatic way by taking hold
of the doors of the city and the posts and carried them to the top of the
hill. He is not conspicuous in any way.
Isn’t it amazing how patient God is with us when we
sin. He grieves for our sin but doesn’t
reject us.
Samson had lust issues.
He doesn’t seem to pick the right women.
The Bible tells us to guard our hearts.
Samson never did this and it was his ultimate downfall. Notice that Delilah could be easily bought
for a price. The Philistines were using
her to gain knowledge of Samson’s strength and she was more than willing to
oblige.
She begs Samson to tell her the secret of his strength. He lies to her three times and yet she
perseveres. Samson is blind. She tricks him three times and says the
Philistines are coming to find out if he was telling her the truth. The question of the day is why would you stay
with such a woman? Notice how Delilah
manipulates Samson into finally revealing his source of strength? In 16:15 she pulls the ultimate
manipulation….if you love me why do you not confide in me? It is said that she nagged and prodded him
day after day until he was tired to death.
Mmmmm we have heard that before.
His first wife nagged him and looked what happened. He gave in.
He gave into a woman rather than doing what was right and obeying his
vow to God. It got him into serious
trouble.
i.
In this we see the strongest man in the world weak under
the power of an ungodly relationship. Perhaps Samson figured that because he
was strong in one area of his life, he was strong in all areas. In this he was
desperately wrong.
Are we any different?
Do we sometimes think we can withstand all temptation that comes our
way? We might be strong in some ways but
in others it is very difficult. For each
one of us it can be different. It is
good to know what tempts us so that we can avoid it before we come face to face
with it.
Delilah did not respect Samson at all. She was in it for what she could get out of
it. As soon as she knew Samson had told
the truth about his source of strength she sold him out to the
Philistines.
There is an interesting phrase at the end of v21. “But he
(Samson) did not know that the Lord had left him”. What does that mean? Samson lost his strength because of his
sin. He chose sin instead of living a
righteous life. His power came from the
Lord not his hair but the hair showed that he was a Nazirite and he had broken
his Nazirite vow. God took away the
blessing of his supernatural strength.
The Philistines were brutal as we read in v21 that they
gouged out his eyes. Samson was already
blind before he lost his eyes in the spiritual sense. His physical sight put him in bondage
especially in relationships with women.
He seemed to lose any sense he had when it came to women.
Sin has a way of catching up to us. Samson probably believed at times that he was
invisible. However, here we see him in
prison, shackled and doing women’s work…grinding.
Notice in v23 who the Philistines give the glory to…false
gods. In our lives who are we pointing
people to, the one true God or to something else.
Pastor Guzik said….
b. When they people saw him, they
praised their god: The message preached by the followers of Dagon
was clear. They said, "Our god is stronger than the God of Israel, because
we have conquered Samson." Often the disobedience of God's leaders leads
others to deny God.
Samson was brought out to entertain the Philistines but we are not told
exactly how. What we do know is that
whilst in prison Samson’s hair was growing back however, the Philistines hadn’t
realised or didn’t care. Samson asked
that the servant who was with him place him between the two pillars. Samson prayed to God that He would give him
strength once more so he could bring revenge of the Philistines one more time
for his eyes. God honoured his request
and he killed more Philistines in his death than when he was alive. God’s plans will never fail even although we
are disobedient. He is sovereign and we
can be thankful for that. However, we do miss out on the blessing of living for
God when we go against Him.
Samson conquered and killed many people but he couldn’t
conquer his sin. He never truly allowed
God to be in control of his life. He was
a lone ranger as a leader. It says he
ruled Israel for 20 years but we don’t hear of him consulting anyone for advice
or having people around him that spoke into his life. These are just one or two lessons we can take
away and reflect on personally.
*Pastor David Guzik - Calvary Chapel
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