Saxon Bell - Class 2: Samson: A Few More Questions

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Well good evening brothers and sisters and young people, children, and welcome along to our midweek study class this evening. Brother Saxon Bell is going to deal with the subject of Samson, a few further questions. Okay, so now for a man that needs no introduction, well no introductory reading at least, we're going to hear from Brother Saxon on Samson, a few more questions.

2. 0:34

   Thanks Sam, and good evening everyone. Last week we set out with the aim to see if the judge's record could show Samson as a man of faith throughout his whole life rather than just turning to God at the end. And the reason for this is because in Hebrews 11, where Samson is included, it's a catalogue of the greats of faith who are there designed to inspire us today.

3. 1:01

   I'd like to begin just by repeating a comment that I made last class. And that is, for us to see Samson's life of faith as a life for us to follow, we needed to look at Samson from a different perspective, and that's God's perspective. I think it's going to be very difficult for us to see past what seems as Samson having a repetitive problem with women if we continue to look at it through a human lens.

4. 1:34

   We may accept him as faithful, but we will never be able to see him as an inspiring example to follow, as we are told the case is in Hebrews 11. So we need to want to see good in Samson, because I believe that's what God does, rather than assume evil, because the record gives no condemnation to Samson, save in the incident with Delilah.

5. 2:01

   Samson is our brother. And just like it's so important for us to focus on the good in one another, I think we need to do the same here. I'd just like to begin with a quick recap, just to emphasise the overwhelming weight of positive evidence there is for a faithful Samson. Judges 13 told us that his birth was a miracle.

6. 2:27

   We saw that whilst not a Nazarite, according to number 6, Samson was still separated to his God for a specific purpose, to begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. And his record, his life, sorry, is a record of a man of faith working to God's purpose. He was blessed by God from birth.

7. 2:48

   Judges 13 shows us that. There's very few people in scripture is that said of. Judges 2 tells us that God was with him all his days. We were told that the spirit would move Samson to action. He would be shown what to do, agitated or impelled, to instigate God's occasion against the Philistines in Judges 13.

8. 3:14

   So just a question, if Samson was acting of his own lust and he married the woman of Timnath and went to see the harlot, events that led to God's purpose being fulfilled, why does the record specifically state that God's spirit would lead him to action? His parents, and I think us by implication, we're told that they were unaware that God was at work in Samson marrying the woman in Timnath in Judges 14.

9. 3:46

   And we're told this to help us to accept the unusual things that Samson did were actually of God's work. And then we looked at that quote, that God's ways are far above us. It's a scriptural principle that we need to realise that God chooses to work in ways that we may not be able to understand and not necessarily in ways that we would choose.

10. 4:10

    Isaiah 58 showed that. We began to see that Samson demonstrated great faith in action. He was alone and without any support. We saw that Samson showed faith at the lowest point, of the lowest time period in the history of the nation of Israel. And finally, God gave Samson the most amazing faith-building experience in his victory over the lion.

11. 4:41

    Further proof that his marriage to the woman of Timnath was in accordance with God's will and not in accordance to Samson's lust. So we need to keep these things in mind as we continue to look through the life, through Samson's life in the Judges record. Now we've got a lot of material to cover.

12. 5:01

    I'm assuming that we're going to know the storyline because really from here I have only enough time just to focus on certain points in the record to show Samson's faith in action. So chapters 14 and 15 that we began with last class all form one continuous story. And at the end of the last class we considered, as I said, Samson killing the lion and in so doing receiving a wonderful confirmation of his faith and a newfound confidence in his God.

13. 5:30

    So we'll pick up the record in chapter 14 and verse 6 where we're told that Samson told not his father or his mother what he had done. Now just think how desperately Samson would have wanted to tell everyone about that incident. And although he would have been so excited, he had to keep these things to himself.

14. 5:52

    But how desperately would have he wanted to share that victory with his parents? He knew how much it would mean to them as they struggled to comprehend the direction his life was taking in accordance with God's spirit. Their precious and only child, this special child, an answer to their prayers. And yet to them it was falling apart before their eyes.

15. 6:13

    And this was an enormous test for them. They would have to hold on in trust that what the angel had told them concerning Samson was going to come to pass. His father was also involved in the wedding preparations and possibly he could let this story slip if he knew about it, this incident with the lion, and that would have given away the riddle.

16. 6:35

    So possibly that's another reason that his parents were not to know about the lion. So preparations for the marriage are underway and Samson returns to Timnath to marry the woman. Now on his way there we know that Samson visits the carcass of the lion. He finds the honey, he eats it and he shares it with his parents.

17. 6:52

    And again they're completely unaware of where that honey's come from. And we know that later on these events are going to become the basis of Samson's riddle. So in verse 10 we read, So his father went down unto the woman and Samson made there a feast for so used the young men to do.

18. 7:11

    So it's interesting that only his dad goes. Maybe it was too much for his mum to attend this wedding. Maybe it was against her conscience to go to this feast. To participate in something that to her just seems so wrong. So according to the traditions of the day, a wine feast was conducted as a form of celebration or part of the wedding ceremony.

19. 7:36

    Verse 11 says, Now the only problem is that Samson at his wedding he doesn't have any friends. So it's not really much of a party unless you've got no one to share it with. And I think to me this indicates something that Samson had no ungodly Philistine friends. So much so that when the Philistines see him arrive alone, they gather up 30 men so that he's got some friends so to speak, someone to share that feast with.

20. 8:12

    And clearly he has no friends of his own coming from his hometown or they would be with him there sharing the wedding celebrations. But because he was a man of God, he did not have any worldly friends. Again, it's just worth just pausing just for a minute just to think about how our own faith would look if we had no one else around us.

21. 8:37

    Now all things were in God's hands and what we do know is that these companions would soon become part of how Samson would avenge the Philistines. So at this feast, Samson puts forward a riddle. The Philistines have no idea how to solve the riddle and so they try and cheat by finding out from Samson's new bride.

22. 8:56

    Verse 15 says, And it came to pass on the seventh day that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire. Have you called us to take what we have? Is it not so? So these companions are doing the woman of Timnath and her family a favour and then suddenly there's a lot of pressure on them.

23. 9:19

    There's a lot at stake for them to lose and as you can imagine, they're slightly annoyed about this. And so they put pressure, exceeding pressure on the woman. They say, have you called us to impoverish us? It's interesting to notice how the Philistines treat their own. They threaten her with death. And we need to take notice of this because we're going to come back to this later in comparison when we look at the story with Delilah.

24. 9:47

    So verse 16 says that Samson's wife wept before him and said, Thou dost but hate me and lovest me not. Thou hast put forward a riddle unto the children of my people. So this language here indicates that she's definitely a Philistine because she places a distinction between Samson and herself. And has not told me.

25. 10:06

    And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father or my mother and shall I tell it to thee? So Samson is sharing this secret with his God alone. These two were working together, Samson leaning upon his God. Samson must have had a particular vulnerability to him because both Delilah, as we'll see later, and the woman of Timnath see a weakness in Samson by using emotion and by wearing him down.

26. 10:36

    Now we all have different characteristics and obviously Samson wasn't good at keeping secrets under pressure and I'm sure there's some of us that can relate to that. As we'll see, the pressure is quite immense. So she wears Samson down and he reluctantly reveals to her the riddle. The constant nagging is way more than he can bear.

27. 10:57

    Now let's just think about this because there's no doubt he's under enormous pressure. His marriage was in severe trouble with secrecy and trust issues and he hadn't even got past the wedding feast. You see, Samson was not at all aware that his marriage was not going to see the distance. So it's only reasonable for him to give in just, if for anything, the marriage's sake.

28. 11:19

    God knows the end from the beginning in this story but Samson doesn't. And God is at work here and with Samson's weakness, it's going to lead to judgment on the Philistines. And so he reveals to her the riddle and she tells his so-called friends. In verse 19 we read, So here we have the first occasion where God's spirit comes mightily upon Samson to achieve his purpose against the Philistines.

29. 12:00

    So in amongst all the drama and the tension of the wife and the friends, the mystery of the riddle, Samson continues to work to God's plan, trusting in God to reveal an outcome to this situation.

30. 12:15

    Now this phrase came mightily. The Strong's definition is to push forward in various senses. The theological word book of the Old Testament says to prosper, to succeed or to be profitable. And it then makes the comment that the root word means to accomplish what is intended. So the way God's spirit came upon Samson implies a satisfaction from God who gave it.

31. 12:45

    His purpose was successful which to me very much indicates an approval for the way in which Samson combined with God's strength, Samson's faith combined with God's strength had achieved God's intentions. Everything had come together as God had planned. So God did not work with Samson's waywardness and lust. His purpose was successful through Samson's faith and obedience.

32. 13:12

    Why did Samson go all the way down to Ashkelon? Because it was 50 kilometres away from Timnath. So again, I believe that Samson was acting on instruction. It suggested that Ashkelon was where the army was and that these men that were killed by Samson were in fact soldiers and their spoil was the armour.

33. 13:35

    That's details for another time. We need to keep moving on that. Verse 20. But Samson's wife was given to his companion whom he had used as his friend. So this marriage is literally over before it even begins. And in no time at all, his wife is given to one of these pop-up companions.

34. 13:55

    His wife is given to another, a man that was never his friend anyway. And yet, despite this comment here, Samson himself is not yet aware that this has happened.

35. 14:09

    Chapter 15, verse 1. And it came to pass within a while after, in the time of the wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid. And he said, I will go into my wife, into the chamber. So time goes by and enough time passes so that it's harvest time. The right time, according to God's plan to inflict economic destruction on the Philistines.

36. 14:36

    And no doubt, I believe the spirit again moves Samson to action here once more. Samson goes back to this woman to try and repair the marriage. It's got off to a terrible beginning. And Samson would be really struggling to navigate his way here. Yes, the Philistines had been avenged, which was great, but this did not solve his personal marriage crisis.

37. 15:00

    Verse 1 indicates that he intended to consummate his marriage, given the disastrous ending at the wedding feast. He knows he needs to reconcile things with his wife. This seems to be perhaps a very blokey solution.

38. 15:16

    At the end of verse 1, we're told though, that her father would not suffer him to go in. So as we said, Samson was not aware that his wife had been given to someone else. And God had clearly been at work here. And in accordance with God's will, the father steps in and he doesn't allow Samson to go in to his wife.

39. 15:38

    So the marriage to this woman is for a specific reason according to God's plan. Samson neither remains married to this woman nor consummates the marriage. And I think that's really telling. Verse 3, And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. So this then leads to Samson finding an excuse or a justified reason to avenge the Philistines for the way that he's been treated.

40. 16:11

    We could possibly view this as a form of anger, a sin, revenge, or so on, but the fact that this is only going to lead to Samson fulfilling his mission in seeking occasion against the Philistines only further confirms to me that God is working hand in hand here with Samson. And this is going to bring utter devastation to the Philistine community.

41. 16:34

    Verse 4, Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took firebrands and turned tail to tail and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

42. 16:47

    I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in thinking that God helped Samson find 300 foxes, let alone catch them. I'm pretty sure I might be able to catch one with a bit of luck, but 300 is an enormous number and I assume here that he had God's help. Just in itself, this was an enormous task here for Samson, acting alone.

43. 17:11

    It would have taken him some time to do this. So to this point, his actions were still very much under the radar so this activity wouldn't have attracted too much attention of the Philistines. Verse 5, And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go in the standing corn of the Philistines and burnt up both the shocks and also the standing corn with the vineyards and the olives.

44. 17:37

    I don't think we could underestimate the amount of damage that Samson caused here to the Philistine economy. I remember years ago seeing someone attach a plastic bag to a cat and the cat must have got frightened by the noise of the bag and it just went absolutely berserk. It just ran flat out into a fence, sort of got up dazed, ran flat out in another direction.

45. 18:01

    Like I said, I think just fear of this noise and it couldn't escape from it. So you can imagine what these foxes or possibly jackals would have done with fire attached to their tail. They would have gone at crazy speeds in every direction and it's harvest time so everything's right just to go up in flames.

46. 18:20

    So the devastation would have been enormous and this was the most severe blow to the Philistines yet in accordance with God's mission with Samson. It's just interesting to think that, you know, there's no water bombers in those days. There's no fire trucks. They don't even have a hose with water coming out to fight these fires.

47. 18:38

    So once big fires have happened it would be very difficult in those days for them to contain them. Verse 6, Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife and given it to his companion. And the Philistines came and burnt her and her father with fire.

48. 19:01

    So Samson's marriage to the Timnite is officially over now and now, more importantly, Samson is a marked man. Something that previously he wasn't. Now he is a marked man. Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet, sorry, in verse 7, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you and after that will I cease.

49. 19:26

    So Samson's not finished yet. God now provides another opportunity for Samson to afflict the Philistines. Verse 8, He smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etan. So after this slaughter, Samson deliberately situates himself in an isolated and a prominent position for everyone to see.

50. 19:50

    You'd think maybe he'd go into hiding knowing that the Philistines would come at him with a vengeance. I'm not sure here, but certainly signalling that he wasn't afraid. But you can imagine now for the Philistines, they would have sent a large army to destroy Samson once and for all. You can only imagine how angry and incensed they would be.

51. 20:11

    How could one man be so lethal and cause so much damage? Verse 9, Then the Philistines went up and pitched in Judah and spread themselves in Lehi. And the men of Judah said, Why ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

52. 20:34

    Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etan and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.

53. 20:58

    And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. So the faithlessness of these men of Judah is just overwhelming here and it highlights the contrast to Samson's amazing faith. Here was an opportunity for the men of Judah to get behind their God-given saviour and they do nothing to help Samson.

54. 21:22

    In fact, they do worse than nothing. They actually want to deliver him to their enemy, the Philistines that they hated. Israel were rejecting this amazing deliverer. The spiritual state of the nation is terribly sad.

55. 21:41

    They decide not to kill him. I think God's work clearly with Samson was not done yet and he wouldn't allow that to happen. But instead, they bind him on the top of the rock Etam and deliver him to the Philistines. God again so clearly creating yet another opportunity to avenge the Philistines. Verse 14.

56. 22:00

    And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him and the spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon him and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass and put forth his hand and took it and slew a thousand men therewith.

57. 22:26

    So we can only guess that Samson would have been very securely bound head to toe by now with his notorious strength. And Samson doesn't need to wrestle his way free. God's strength just lets him break free as if he wasn't even bound at all. A thousand men is an enormous number of trained soldiers to kill in single hand-to-hand combat.

58. 22:53

    Samson was delivered by the men of Judah to the Philistines and one by one Samson single-handedly displays God's strength in full view of the 300 men of Judah. It would have been the most incredible scene to witness. I don't mean to be disrespectful here but this is not a superhero movie where Samson just beats all his enemies with one punch where Superman beats his enemies here with one punch.

59. 23:21

    This was God-working in seemingly natural ways that to the casual observer were real and believable. So if Samson fought each man for 30 seconds then he would have fought for over 8 hours straight. Now of course it wouldn't have been like that one fight might go for 10 seconds the next 2 minutes the next 4 minutes but that is incredible it's quite likely that he fought at Lehi from the rising of the sun till the sun sets.

60. 23:50

    And again this just indicates the enormous length that God is going to at this time to try and inspire his people to get behind Samson and to turn to Yahweh. Verse 16 And Samson said with the jawbone of an ass heaps upon heaps with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men and it came to pass that when he had made an end of speaking that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand and called the place Ramath Lehi and he was sore a thirst and called on Yahweh and said thou hast given this great deliverance unto the hand of thy servant and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

61. 24:31

    Another verse 18 is just another amazing verse I think this gives us an incredible insight to how great God is and how weak we are the physical toll on Samson after the killing these thousand men was overwhelming so much so he's so exhausted and parched he genuinely thinks he's going to die you see though Samson has God's strength he's not a machine I feel it's a bit like our Lord even though he was able to perform miracles it came at a huge emotional cost to him in the process these were miracles they weren't magic and Samson's words here indicate again a man of faith with a very close relationship with his God because Samson is a man of faith he gives God the glory he acknowledges God's hand at work and he cries out in prayer unto his God he desperately fears that the Philistines are going to detect his exhaustion and finish him off again I think these verses really highlight that God does not work with robots and machines he doesn't just do a miracle and bam his purpose is achieved he does it in realistic ways and he works with humans in all their weaknesses and dependency God working in Samson's life was not a walk in the park he couldn't just presume upon God at any point his whole life was this up and down journey of faith there's doubt then there's confusion there's obedience then there's deliverance then there's waiting then there's instruction then there's doubt confusion over and over again just because God delivered Samson on one occasion did not mean that Samson could just sit back and wait

62. 26:12

    for God to do everything this was two parties working together faith and God's strength and I think it's very similar in our own lives we may feel that if God has provided for us or answered our prayers on one occasion yet on the next occasion it doesn't necessarily make it any easier for us to be faithful in the next trial verse 19 but God clave and hollow that was in the jaw and there came water there out and when he had drunk his spirit came again and he revived therefore he called the name thereof Enhacor which is in Lehi unto this day of course God is there and he provides for Samson verse 20 and Samson judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years now in satisfying many of my personal questions that i have about samson i haven't answered them all and this is one why are we told that samson at this point in his record of his life why are we told that samson judged israel in the days of the philistines 20 years maybe the record is telling us that beside these great highlights of faith that are recorded that we're we're considering samson was also involved in a lot more faithful service in accordance with god's purpose that's just the only thing i could sort of come up with so if anyone else has some suggestions i'd be keen to hear them another observation is that the phrase the spirit of yahweh came mightily upon him is not used of samson beyond this point and i thought that was pretty interesting as we will see which certainly does come upon him there's no doubt about that but for some reason the record

63. 28:05

    this phrase doesn't appear again and like i said i'm not entirely sure why that is chapter 16 verse 1 then went samson to gaza and saw there in harlot and went in unto her now the phrase went in unto her is a phrase used throughout scripture to describe a sexual relationship between a man and a woman i fully accept that and i also accept that this may be the hardest story in our minds to reconcile samson as not engaging in sin that's certainly been my my experience in the in the conversations that i've had with some of you the record does not say that samson went to gaza to visit a prostitute there are a lot of closer options to where samson lived than gaza gaza was 55 kilometers away from samson's home and i don't think that would have left him with that much energy by the time he arrived there now in consistency with the fact that the spirit moved samson to action and that the spirit moved him at times plural it's my belief that samson was again acting on instruction of the spirit maybe he was instructed of the spirit to go to gaza and at midnight god would use him in his next occasion against the philistines in my mind i'm a hundred percent convinced that samson did not go to visit the harlot for typical reasons so let's try and paint a picture here by now everywhere samson would have gone he would have been noticed he would have been very well known and as notorious as a man could be at that time he was easily identified by his long black unkept hair the philistines would have been

64. 30:10

    in a permanent state of heightened alert of his presence in fear of his amazing acts of strength that had resulted in pain and loss to them they would have been too scared to confront him but also too scared to ignore him when he came into their territory and they would have hated him with a vengeance so samson's work against the philistines has now become a lot more challenging and so samson would need to act very carefully and this was another extremely difficult request of the spirit it would require great faith i believe there's a good chance that samson arrived in gaza under the cover of darkness to avoid being spotted as samson approached the city walls of gaza it's quite possible that he saw the harlot and quickly went in unto her to avoid being spotted samson would have been eagerly accepted by those in this profession it was possibly the easiest way to get access to the city today our heinley streets one of a better term are in the city centers but we know as with the story of the harlot rahab she lived on the walls of the city of jericho and this was also a remarkably good location to access the city gates of gaza that his mission was going to involve verse two and it was told the gaza saying samson is come hither and they compassed him in and laid wait for him all night in the city in the gate of the city and were quiet all the night saying in the morning when it is day we shall kill him so it doesn't take long for this harlot to recognize samson and she would

65. 31:56

    have immediately signaled to let her people know of the imminent danger samson is detected and instantly the philistines flock outside the harlot's house scheming up a plan to take him down at first light verse three and samson lay till midnight now the wording of verse three says to me that samson was in the harlot's house with one very clear thing on his mind and it's not what you would normally associate in a harlot's house samson was clearly just biding his time i'm sure that as a man of faith he would have felt very uncomfortable in that venue and his heart would have been pounding he knew if he was spotted that he would face the vengeance of that entire city joshua 11 tells us that the only remaining sons of anakim the giants lived in that city of gaza surely to the human mind they would form part of the philistines strategy to conquer samson he lay there till midnight he was there to fill in a short space of time before god would continue to outwork his avenging on the philistines the minutes would have felt like hours he would be thinking have i been discovered am i going to escape god has delivered me before but is he going to deliver me again now as i stated at the start i accept that it's very unlikely that you would go into a prostitute without a sexual intention and yet as unlikely as it may be the bible actually gives us a story where two men stayed with a prostitute and we would totally accept that they did not do that for sexual reasons in fact i'm sure that we've never even questioned it in joshua chapter 2

66. 33:50

    joshua sent two faithful men to spy out the city of jericho they chose to go to a harlot's house and they too slept there joshua 2 says and joshua the son of nun sent out of shittim two men to spy secretly saying go view the land even jericho and they went and came into a harlot's house named rahab and lodged there and it was told the king of jericho saying behold there came men in hither tonight of the children of israel to search out the country and the king of jericho sent unto rahab saying bring forth the men that are come to thee which are entered into thy house for they become to search out all the country joshua and caleb were two greats of faith and we accept that staying at the house of this harlot was not for the usual reasons and i see samson as exactly the same he too by god's verdict was a man of faith and as such i do not see him acting in lust whatsoever this little table here just points out the similarity in the language used between joshua 2 and judges 16 verses 1 to 3 the word went is used in both occasions harlot the hebrew word for lodged is exactly the same as lay and the word come in in verse 3 of judges 16 as well so very similar language used in both those stories and in both these stories the result was the destruction of the ungodly in jericho the walls fell down flat and with gaza the entire city gates were going to get ripped out in verse 3 we read and samson arose at midnight and took the doors of the gate of the city

67. 35:48

    and the two posts and went away with them bar and all and put them upon his shoulders and carried them to the top of an hill that is before hebron in our final story with samson we're going to see samson break his vow with his god and there would be no great deliverance because we know for sure that he had done the wrong thing but that is not the case with this story samson's faith was again rewarded in the most remarkable of ways carrying the entire city gates for 65 kilometers all the way to hebron now samson would have been completely dwarfed by these gates on his back he wasn't dragging along these gates he carried the entire weight of them all the way uphill to hebron that's a 16 hour walk so he walked from midnight through the sunrise into the evening in god's strength my mental picture of samson without muscles is nowhere near as exciting as samson just being a normal person but um what an amazing sight to witness there's no mention of samson being opposed by any of the philistines maybe he acted quickly and when they saw him rip out the gates of the city you can imagine they would have been in total shock probably too scared to do anything but clearly i think you can see here god working with samson to achieve his purpose and just think um another amazing thing for everybody on that 65 kilometer journey through the countryside with samson with the city gates on his back what an inspiring thing for everyone along the way to witness what more we say again did god have to

68. 37:42

    do to inspire his chosen people at this time to action you know samson had literally possessed the gates of his enemy and that's what israel had been encouraged to do but they had failed maybe some were inspired by samson but the record gives no mention to that i just want to make one concluding um comment um on the story with samson and the harlot because as i said before in in talking with many many of you a lot of people struggle to accept samson as a man of faith based on this story but we should be very very careful in condemning a man when god does not we're trying to see things from god's perspective here and not only does god not condemn samson and his actions here he pours out his spirit upon him to perform a monumental feat a feat that to me clearly demonstrates god's approval well now we come to a different story altogether i believe yes it's still the same man of faith but it's our final story verse 4 chapter 16 and it came to pass afterward that samson loved a woman in the valley of sorek whose name was delilah so this story is different in so many ways the term afterward implies that a period of time exists between this story and samson taking the gates of hebron maybe samson was a bit older now maybe he had been a while since the spirit had called him to action his life had been such a rush yes there was a lot of fear and uncertainty but samson had been involved in some amazing moments and as we said before he would have been a legend in the land

69. 40:01

    hated sure but you can imagine all the philistine kids playing pretend samson's maybe samson was restless maybe he thought that god's work with him was done after taking the gates of the city maybe he thought it was time for him to settle down and start his own family it's so easy to be critical in this story i think but the more that i thought about it the more i could relate to samson i knew all along that samson was going to fall but because he had been so encouraging to my own faith i could only feel for him for some reason the phrase that continually came to my mind was when our lord faced with the woman taken in adultery said neither do i condemn thee i knew how much samson was going to suffer and as a fellow sinner i really just didn't want it to happen to this man of faith we're told that samson loves this woman now god's spirit can ask you to take a wife that you don't necessarily love but the fact that this story begins that samson loved this woman would suggest to me that this initial action was not directed by the spirit i believe as we'll see that delilah was an israelite which is a good start if samson was choosing a partner i'd like to think that as a man of faith he would have sought a like-minded partner we know however that delilah was not a woman of deep spiritual conviction the chances of finding a suitable partner for a man of faith in the days of the judges would have been very difficult

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    let's be realistic maybe delilah believed in god maybe she could talk with samson about spiritual things what we know for sure is that ultimately she abandoned any faith that she may have had for the present gain she most definitely did not have any real depth of faith or conviction god's purpose with samson was to begin to defeat the philistines and to begin to deliver israel god chose samson from the very beginning to be part of his kingdom and that would require samson to live a life of faith which i hope we've uncovered in the past two classes but god's mission with samson is not yet completed our mortal existence our journey in faith is all about preparing us for immortality and as such god brings circumstances into our lives that can be devastating in the moment and yet it's for our eternal good and as such i think this is the story of samson and delilah like us all there was something at this point in samson's life that he needed to learn and the only way that that was going to happen would involve a test that he would initially fail for all his many acts of faith this test at this point in his life would initially prove to be too much for him we know the story well the lords of the philistines try to use delilah to reveal the source of his hidden strength the victories of samson and his heroic acts would have been legendary in those days the desperation of the philistines to kill him would have had no limit he had inflicted significant destruction on their people and their economy

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    i believe that the way that the philistines deal with delilah here as opposed to the way that they treated the woman of timnath show that delilah is not one of their own they bribe delilah whereas they threaten the woman of timnath with death and secondly the phrase that delilah uses when she says the philistines be upon you samson also indicates a difference between the philistines and samson and delilah if you recall the woman of timnath referred to the philistines as my people because she was a philistine it would actually be really good to show tonight how well delilah represented the spiritual state of the nation of israel but unfortunately there's not enough time that's all i can say for now verse 5 and the lords of the philistines came up unto her and said unto her entice him and see wherein his great strength lie and by what means we may prevail against him that we may bind him to afflict him and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver the sinister motive of the philistines is very clearly revealed to delilah they didn't just want to get rid of samson they wanted to afflict him first these were evil people we know that and as such god's purpose would involve their destruction now right from the very beginning delilah's heart was set on the present game she desired the pieces of silver from the very first time that they were offered to her and she was prepared to betray the god-given saviour of her own people in the process she was obviously a perceptive woman and like the woman

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    of timnath she identified samson's weakness and tugged at his heartstrings and wore him down over time i think the whole story with delilah suggests that samson had got to a point where he presumed upon his god for deliverance maybe he'd become complacent which is something that we can all identify with when david was at ease he too fell in the incident with bathsheba it was very different from the early vibrant action and those nervous days that he experienced where he totally relied upon his god his faith at this point was simply not as vibrant as it had been in times past now the fact that in this story god delivers samson on three separate occasions the three green widths the new ropes and weaving the seven locks of his head with the web showed without doubt that god was still with him god is merciful he never forsakes us but we can forsake him samson was possibly playing with fire here and god yet still very mercifully delivered him each time god gave him strength for his own benefit here just like he did in the case with the lion not necessarily to fulfill his purpose in afflicting the philistines samson was a big hero now a celebrity that was famous for his most spectacular feats of strength everyone was scared of him he probably felt invincible and as such he forgot that all he ever was was of god maybe he had become overconfident and so much so that he presumed upon his god rather than sought him in faith verse 15 delighteth said unto him how canst thou say I love thee when

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    thine heart is not with me thou hast mocked me these three times and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lie and it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death the pressure was enormous and yet we know that god does not tempt us more test us more than we can bear verse 17 and said and when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart she sent and called for the lords of the philistines saying come up this once for he hath showed me all his heart then the lords of the philistines came up unto her and bought money in their hand so Delilah can tell that Samson has told the truth because she knows that she's been given a serious answer like I said before maybe he was playing around with his vow of separation as if it was a laughing matter maybe he felt that the story was a bit similar to the time when he gave the riddle the situation that he was here with was very similar to others that he had been involved in but one big thing had changed and that was his attitude to his God his relationship with his God was at a low verse 19 she made him sleep upon her knees and she called for a man and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head and she began to afflict him and his strength went from him and she said the Philistines be upon thee Samson and he awoke out of his sleep

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    and said I will go out as at other times before and shake myself and he wist not that Yahweh was departed from him I think this is just such a sad verse you really feel for Samson here of course he betrayed his God for a woman but as a fellow sinner it's the sad reality of the weakness of our flesh and the sad thing here isn't really that God had departed from him it's that Samson didn't expect it he fully expected that God was going to deliver him just as he had in earlier times when he relied upon him in faith but he had lost that clear focus that he used to have and he didn't realise that God wouldn't deliver him he had presumed upon his God which is the very opposite of faith he previously had a great relationship with God but obviously in time that had waned and this led to this woman coming between his love for his God and as we're going to see the consequences of this sin would be very great verse 21 but the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison house you can only begin to imagine the suffering that the Philistines inflicted on Samson when God in his wisdom knows that in order for us to learn or appreciate something important sometimes we need to be brought low and if I'm honest that's something I fear in my own life I know that for sure all things may work to our eternal good but that

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    does not mean that suffering and even devastation are excluded from our lives and it's almost always something that is completely unexpected you know for Samson who God had made somewhat of a hero and a legend for such a large part of his life this was such a low point and the regret for Samson would have been unbearable if only if only he could wind back the clock how could I possibly let this happen all that good work that I've done with God has come to nothing and again if we try and put it in realistic terms when we think about many examples in our own community over the years Samson could easily have become angry he could have said to God look I did so much right for 20 years and I do one thing wrong and you allow this to happen to me you never gave me any friends or support this punishment is so unfair in light of my one mistake but Samson was a man of great faith verse 22 howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven was his strength in his hair no it wasn't it was just an outward sign of his relationship with his God and now God had become everything in his life again he desperately wanted to be reconciled to his God verse 23 then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their God and to rejoice for they said our God hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand and when the people saw him they praised their God for they

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    said our God hath delivered into our hands our enemy the destroyer of our country which slew many of us so as we know Samson's sin results in God's name being blasphemed and I'm sure that would have cut Samson very deeply what would have he been thinking when he heard all the mocking of Yahweh when he heard the blasphemy he would be thinking this is all my fault so many depressing thoughts would overwhelm him verse 25 and it came to pass when the hearts were merry that they said call for Samson that he may make us sport and they called for Samson out of the prison house and he made them sport and they set him between the pillars the fact that he was set between the pillars shows to me that God was most definitely still working with Samson and this was anything but a chance placement but how could a blind man possibly inflict any further destruction on the Philistines on this occasion there is no doubt that God's strength would come from human weakness but not before Samson restored his relationship with the God that he loved and Samson is now ready verse 26 and Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand suffer me and I think in this language you can sort of sense his humility maybe returned in his language here suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house stand it that I may lean upon them and Samson called unto Yahweh and said O Lord Yahweh remember me I pray thee and strengthen me I pray thee only this once O God that I

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    may be once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes remember me there's just so much in this phrase of all the things that Samson could have said at this moment just think about this if Samson's life was a repeated record of lustful interaction with ungodly women brothers and sisters and young people the very last thing that Samson would say is remember me he would be crying out to God saying I'm sorry I'm sorry help me but Samson was a man of great faith and his life in the most unusual of circumstances had been a journey of faith in God's strength to achieve great things he had accomplished so many great things with his God he had judged his people for 20 years and he desperately wanted to reconcile himself to his God again remember me is his cry to his God remember all the good he had rediscovered his early faith and he acknowledges here that God is his strength once again he knows that when he failed it's because he began to think that it was all these things had been done in his own strength you know you can't remember someone that you never knew in the first place it's not possible Samson wanted to be close to his God just as he had been throughout his life maybe Samson in all his depressive thoughts thought because God was human and because he had sinned so terribly that God would no longer be with him but God is not a human he is slow to wrath and plenteous in mercy Samson uses three of the names and titles of Yahweh here he knew

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    his God he knew who he was calling out to and why does Samson say that he wants to be avenged of his two eyes if Samson had used his eyes in lustful ways throughout his life how could he possibly be justified in asking God to avenge them he would have accepted his punishment for his crime but if deep down he was a man of faith who made one drastic mistake then surely he would have the confidence to pray as he did believing that God would hear his prayer verse 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and on which it was borne up of the one on his right hand and the other with his left and Samson said let me die with the Philistines and he bowed himself with all his might and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein so the dead which he slew in his death were more than they which he slew in his life not only did Samson dedicate his life to his God he also gave his life to God his very life he gave his own life so that God's purpose may be fulfilled Samson did not have to die here he chose to die sure he may not have had much quality of life but very few people would choose to die rather than to live he could have stood out of the front and endured all the humiliation it was easier than being killed but he just wanted God's strength once more that would be enough he hated that he had caused God's

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    name to be blasphemed and he wanted to be devoted to his God again Samson would have had so much clear Samson would have had a very clear mind when he ground whatever he did in the prison house and I'm sure he would have spent a lot of time thinking about the promises that were taught to him by his parents Samson had no fear of death brothers and sisters and young people because Hebrews 11 tells us that he believed in the promises he completed his mission to begin to deliver Israel according to God's purpose and he maintained his faith there were some ups and downs no doubt his life included an enormous failure but it was still a life of faith and so delighted would God have been with Samson's attitude and response to his suffering Samson would now achieve his greatest victory over the Philistines in his death verse 31 then his brethren and all the house of his father came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshterhol in the burying place of Manoah his father and he judged Israel 20 years and maybe just maybe these verses indicate that Samson's faith had inspired others to return to God they knew that this would have been what Samson wanted to be buried in the land promised to his people where he sleeps awaiting the resurrection I'd just like to close by sharing two short personal lessons practical lessons that I learnt from this study or that were emphasised to me about the story of Samson the first one is the need to look for good in one

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    another I had to completely change my perspective about Samson to fit God's verdict of him Samson was my brother my fellow heir and I had made assumptions about him that I believe were incorrect and I think we need to always want to assume good not evil of one another in our community it's so easy to draw conclusions when we've heard one side of the story but it's not our place and the scripture speaks against judging one another and even if someone has done something wrong it's not our place to comment or condemn if anything we need to be understanding because we are all equally unworthy of God's grace it's so easy for us to focus on our sins and especially the sins of one of each other but imagine if we had that same focus on our faith imagine if all we ever saw in one another was faith a common hope and just shared trials because I believe this is God's view the whole focus of our identification with the hope of Israel is by faith and the most important thing for us all to grow is that faith to make God big to make God our focus and to be dependent upon him appreciate appreciate appreciate !

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    ! ! ! appreciate appreciate like to revisit. In fact, I'd like to take it back. I said that for the purpose of me summarising Samson from a different perspective, I made this statement. I believe that the record of the judges portrays Samson as a man of great faith in all incidences, save the story of Delilah, where he broke his vow with his God. And I want to take that statement back. Why? Because it's not God's summary. In Hebrews 11, God only focuses on Samson as a man of faith. There's no mention of his sin or David's or any others in that chapter.

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    You see, this is God's perspective. It is our faith that saves. It's our faith that is important to God. All sin is against God. It's not irrelevant. But to those that walk in faith, God covers our sins. This life is just a proving ground for a life of eternity. We all hope that our lives are going to be straightforward, but they rarely are. This life with human nature is a journey that involves highs and lows. And sometimes there are terrible lows that we may struggle to recover from. But God knows that we are dust and it is his greatest desire that we never give up so that he can reward us with the joys of his kingdom.

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    So we appreciate it. So we appreciate it. So we appreciate it. So we appreciate it. appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate