0947 Jdg.15.9 - 16.3 God‘s Use of Samson's Strengths & Weaknesses Against the Philistines Pt.2
Exploring Biblical Characters • Sermon • Submitted
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John Goldingay writes: “A man on a plane bound for Detroit tried to blow up himself and the plane as an act of terrorism against the United States and the Western world in general, an extraordinary piece of background to the event emerged.
A few months before, his father (a respected leader in his country) had contacted the U.S. embassy and security agencies in his country to talk to them about his son’s “extreme religious views” and about his fear that his son was “planning something.”
A reporter commented, “I almost feel sorry for the Dad.” My reaction is, “Almost?” What must the father have felt about the course his son’s life had taken? What must his mother have felt? And what must they have felt when the news broke of their son’s action and the narrow averting of a terrible calamity?”
Joshua, Judges, and Ruth for Everyone: A Theological Commentary on the Bible Love Actually (Judges 16:1–21)
a man on a plane
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Parents don’t have an easy role & sometimes their hearts can be easily hurt by their children
I think of the parents of that man who shot to death the 19 children and 2 teachers in Texas, America
Q. What grief must be in their heart when they see what their offspring do?
Of course, this is an extreme example
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But you can get an inkling into the grief that Samson’s parents must have encountered
Manoah’s wife was barren, that is, she couldn’t have any children
What a joyous surprise it was to hear from an angel that she would conceive & give birth to a son - & no ordinary son - he was to be a Nazarite to the Lord
What a joy for her to experience pregnancy & birth & to raise her son in the knowledge that God had gifted her with this boy!
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Q. What did raising a Nazarite son mean?
The general meaning of Nazarite is that of separation to God
He was given to God for His sole use & purposes
1 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the Lord, 3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. 4 ‘All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.
5 ‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long. 6 ‘All the days of his separation to the Lord he shall not go near to a dead person. 7 ‘He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 ‘All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.
His parents raised Samson with this understanding
He may not have liked it, but it was from the Lord & his parents sought to steer him in that direction
From a woman’s perspective, the entire account of Samson’s life must have been, at best, disappointing
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There was his mother - a woman who gave birth to him; who knew God’s direction for his life; who made her commitment to God & to Samson, only to see him make some terrible choices
She then had to watch as so much blood was shed in anger, revenge as God used Samson to break the hold of the Philistines over Israel
She also had to watch the pain he went through as some of those wrong choices worked themselves out in the circumstances of life
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Then you have Samson’s Philistine wife who may or may not have been a willing participant to the marriage - remembering that Samson told his father to “get her for me, for she is right in my eyes”
She was used & threatened by her own people, through Samson’s riddle, to betray her new husband upon threat to her own family
Through Samson’s anger & unforgiveness, her father gives her to another man
This sets off a chain of events that ends in her death & that of her family
In all this, she is simply a victim
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In this account today, there is a prostitute that Samson goes to - she is unnamed & unloved - merely used by him as a source of pleasure
At least Delilah has a name - we’ll talk about her next week
But, at least, it is said that Samson loved her - did she love him? It doesn’t say, but I tend to doubt it
She too is forced to play a role that she may not have wanted, although, I suspect it was not unwelcome
Her fellow Philistines bribe her with huge amounts of money to betray Samson
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Deceiving him once may have troubled her conscience but not to the point of rejecting the bribe
After the second time, perhaps she was heart broken over her betrayal
But the 3rd & 4th time, seems to suggest that love was not on her radar - perhaps it was for the money but, not so, for Samson
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Perhaps, there is a lesson here for all the young ladies
Don’t get involved with Rambo, no matter how much of a hunk he is
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Q. Who are the Philistines & how did they come to be in Israel?
You may remember the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham & Japheth
The origin of the Philistines stem from Ham & through Mizraim his son
6 The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.
13 Mizraim became the father of the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, 14 the Pathrusim, the Casluhim, and the Caphtorim from whom the Philistines came.
The Philistines were regarded as a sea people as they came from southern Greece to settle in Phoenicia which borders the Mediterranean sea where Israel ended up occupying under David & Solomon
Some of the Philistines had originally tried to conquer Egypt but were unsuccessful
Rameses III noted in the records that he defeated them & settled the defeated people in southern Canaan - the land of Israel
They were already there at the time, so he just added the defeated ones to that community
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The Philistines were already in the land right from when Abraham entered Canaan
Here are some passages mentioning them...
1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.
2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
The Philistines came to settle alongside the Canaanite tribes with little conflict between them
To control Israel, after they had entered the Promised land, the Philistines outlawed blacksmiths in Israelite territory
19 Now no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears.” 20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe.
A rough picture is that the Israelites controlled the mountains whereas the Philistines controlled the coastal areas
But as I mentioned last week, the Philistines were oppressing Israel and ruling over them
1 Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, so that the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.
But the Lord had compassion on His people & raises up Samson to deal with the Philistine oppression
25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
1. Samson’s Own People Turn on Him
1. Samson’s Own People Turn on Him
In this section of the Samson story we see another betrayal, but this time, from the Israelites themselves
Let’s face it, we love the people of God - but let’s admit it, we hate them stirring up trouble that might reflect on us - individually, on me
In other words, we agree, with what our fellow believers are saying, but we disagree with how they do it - but more accurately, we disagree with them making life difficult for the way we want to live
Q. What is the way we want to live? Peacefully, isn’t it, if the truth be admitted!
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Q. Imagine being disciples of John the Baptist?
Ok John, I agree with you, that King Herod should not have taken & married his brother’s wife - but why did you have to make it such an issue!
“I’m happy to be your disciple, can’t you just do things a little gentler”?
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Q. Would following Jesus be any different?
25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
He doesn’t say that “he sometimes might not be My disciple” or that “he often might not be My disciple” - He says “he cannot be My disciple”
Q. Can we take that to heart? Why would Jesus use this sort of expression if He didn’t really mean it?
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Now if you are not familiar with hyperbole then let me explain it
Hyperbole is a figure of speech that takes a meaning further than it needs to be to make the point - another way of putting it is like this: “To go beyond the point, to make the point”
Jesus is not literally saying that you need to hate your family
He is making the incredibly strong point that nothing & no one should come before Him
If you were to follow Jesus as His disciple, then, He is supreme
Nothing governs your life, like Him
He is Lord
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It appears to me that discipleship with Jesus is not a comfortable road
The world will not accept you being & living as a disciple of Jesus
This is the choice people have to make - with Me, without Me, with Me, without Me, WITH ME, without Me
Fellow believers may stir up the world like Samson & make it very uncomfortable for Christians
The only way to reconcile this is to ask yourself: “is this consistent with what it means to follow Jesus according to Jesus”
a. The Philistine’s Provocative Move
a. The Philistine’s Provocative Move
Q. How do you fight an enemy that is too formidable?
You do so through their weaknesses
Women were Samson’s weakness & ultimately his undoing as far as his life is concerned
Yet, as I mentioned last week, his weaknesses & even his sins were used by God to bring down the Philistine dominance
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Another way is to attack him is through his family, his own people, his own kin
It’s one thing to face an external enemy
At least, if you have those closest to you on your side, you can move forward having their support
However, if you can attack the person from within, then, they are isolated with no support &, hence, become vulnerable!
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Perhaps, this is why Jesus used the words unless you hate…father, mother, wife etc.. you cannot be My disciple
He knows that if your family are not His followers, they would likely dissuade you from following Him
That is why the call is so strong & so uncompromising
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Q. Who is the most likely to change Samson’s mind & disrupt his efforts?
His own people, his own kin
The Philistines decide to put pressure on Judah to give Samson up to them (that they might kill him)
9 Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi.
Well, it is either war with the Philistines who outmatch you in military strength & hardware, or you give up one of your own to keep the peace
It was decided that it is better to sacrifice the one for the many, even though Samson is ultimately the only one dealing with the Philistine menace, that they were too cowardly & faithless, to deal with
b. Samson’s Weaknesses
b. Samson’s Weaknesses
Judah capitulates & sends 3000 men to try & take Samson & give him up
Q. Would Samson have taken to his own people & killed a great many of them?
I doubt that very much
The sad reality, however, is that our loyalties lie only skin deep
Q. Samson was God’s man doing God’s work - to what extent did Judah do wrong in giving up Samson to the Philistines? What does that say…?
His own people turn against him
10 The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us.”
In the next verse the Judah-ites speak to Samson
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 I have done to them.”
Samson submits & he is given over to the Philistines
c. Samson’s Judgement
c. Samson’s Judgement
The same pattern occurs with the Samson narrative
Someone provokes him, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him & he becomes Rambo
He’s a hot-headed, shoot em up & ask questions later, kind of guy
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The description here of him breaking free of his bondage is precious
14 When he came to Lehi, 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.
Now it says “became as” or “like”
That means his strength was such, that he just broke them at will as if they just went up in smoke
Consider that for a moment
Q. Aren’t they aware of Samson’s strength & what it would take to keep him bound?
Of course they did - but nothing could bind him properly
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Here is an occasion of the Lord where Samson picks up a fresh jawbone from a recently dead donkey & kills 1000 Philistine men - all in a day’s work!
A man like this is unheard of - no sword, just a piece of bone
Samson was aware of his role to deal with the Philistines
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?”
He is a mixed bag, isn’t he
He knows the Philistines are the “uncircumcised” & stood against Yahweh & His command to give the land to God’s people
He knows it was his role to deal with them & bring salvation to Israel
He knows it was not he, that brought salvation to Israel, but Him
“You have granted this great salvation”, he says
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There is a rather comical line here in this poetic statement of Samson’s
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.”
“Heaps upon heaps” - the word heap is related in Hebrew to the word donkey
So, the NIV translates it this way “With the jawbone of a donkey I have made donkeys of them”
One Catholic translator puts it this unique way: “I have thoroughly assed them” - A bit of comic relief
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God then provides Samson with much needed water by opening up a spring out of the ground
The end of chp. 15 says that Samson had judged Israel 20 yrs
That’s a long time, & no doubt, much water under the bridge in Samson’s life
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But the question I would ask here is this: why did the writer tend to finish the Samson story here - by saying that he judged Israel 20 yrs - when the narrative continues on further with another 2 events in Samson’s life?
Then, at the end of these next 2 events, it says again that Samson had judged Israel 20 yrs
2. Samson Turns on Himself
2. Samson Turns on Himself
If you think this is a strange title, you’re right
But this is true of everyone - when you sin, you turn on yourself
Sin corrupts & persistent sin corrupts absolutely
In their commentary, Keil & Delitzsch write...
Commentary on the Old Testament Samson’s Life, and Conflicts with the Philistines.—Ch. 13–16
“Samson, when strong and brave, strangled a lion; but he could not strangle his own love. He burst the fetters of his foes, but not the cords of his own lusts. He burned up the crops of others, and lost the fruit of his own virtue when burning with the flame enkindled by a single woman.”
So we see in chp. 16 that Samson goes down into the heart of Philistine territory - to Gaza - & spends the night with a prostitute
We see him involved with another woman whom he is intimately involved with but not married to
She is a Philistine woman who manages to weaken Samson & to break his Nazarite vow to Yahweh
Yet, Samson’s life tragically ends with his greatest accomplishment in killing more Philistines along with the heads of the 5 Philistine states in one move
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Perhaps, the reason for the early mention that Samson had judged Israel 20 yrs, is because we have now reached a crescendo to Samson’s life
That is, we are rising to a peak, of sorts in Samson’s life & influence
a. A Preview to the Finale
a. A Preview to the Finale
These first 3 verses of chp. 16 seem as though God is making an announcement of the pending final blow to Philistines through Samson
Samson goes to Gaza, one of the chief Philistine cities, & spends the night with a prostitute
It’s another low point for Samson & whilst we would find it disappointing that a Nazarite to the Lord would be so immoral, it tells us at least 3 things:
He is human - he is a sinner just like everyone else
God uses a sinner to further His purposes
It encourages us to persevere since we too are not perfect
He is even mentioned in the Heb. 11 “hall of fame”
32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
However, the people of God do not see his failings in life as an excuse to sin or continue in sin
We can be encouraged that God continued to use Samson despite his sins & his weaknesses, but we cannot be encouraged by, at times, his lack of faithfulness to God
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In these first 3 verses of chp. 16. whether it was some of the Philistines, or perhaps, even the prostitute herself, identifies Samson & passes on the information to the city officials of Gaza
A number of the Philistine men lay in wait for him outside the city gates & are ready to pounce with the trap they have set
However, Samson, somehow was alert to what they were planning, so at midnight, he goes to the city gates & rips them up & carries them some 35 klms up into the mountains
That is incredible - what man could rip these gates out, let alone carry them, as this photo pictures
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If a city has no gates, the city is exposed to the enemy & it signals it’s defeat
It seems to me that this becomes somewhat of an announcement that the Philistines are about to find themselves exposed & vulnerable
Like a walled city open to hostile forces, the Philistines are about to be smacked!
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When we read these narratives of Samson’s mighty strengths & weaknesses we become aware of the wonder of God who uses both the strengths & weaknesses of people to ultimately bring in His blessing to the world
For all these acts of Samson are but a part of a tapestry - a tapestry of the Lord in the weaving of His plan for Jesus to come into the world
It takes along time, but it is so encouraging to see how the Lord our God is sovereign over all & that even time itself is in His hands
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Next week, we will look into the finale of Samson’s life & ministry where, sadly, his weakness for women will bring down the mightiest man to ever walk on the face of the earth
Yet, by the same token, God will bring down the mighty Philistines in fulfilment of Samson’s final wish to dedicate again, himself to the Lord, by giving his life by dying alongside the Philistines
A somewhat sad life - shaped by the choices he made & by the sovereign working of God