Samson's Delilah Dillema: The Triumphant Life Lived in Service to God

Judges 16:23-30 ESV

23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

I know a man who is in his 60’s now, and miraculously, he is still alive.

Now, the reason why I say that it is a miracle that this man is still alive is because of everything that he has put his body through, throughout his life.

This man is an alcoholic and a drug addict, and because of his hard drinking and drug use, he has been to prison multiple times, has had triple bypass heart surgery, and has had several strokes. Due to his life of alcoholism and drug use, he can barely walk, it’s hard to understand him when he talks, and he needs people to come into his home to take care of him daily.

But though this is the case, he still continues to drink and use drugs…

But I remember a few years ago when this same man reached out to me and told me that he was so tired of drinking and using like he had been doing for so many years. In fact, he told me that he didn’t even really feel like he had the will to live anymore and that he wished he was dead.

Well, I told him that I understood how he felt and that I too was once at a time in my life when my alcoholism was so out of control that I wished that it all would end. But I told him that he didn’t have to stay that way.

I told him that if he were to give his heart to Jesus and commit himself fully to God, that God would become his God, and everything in his life would change.

But he told me, “Nick, I’ve lived like this for so long, I’ve done so much damage to my body, that I probably will only live a couple more years if I’m lucky. And it pains me to think that I have just wasted my entire life.”

And I responded by saying: “That may be true, it may be that you have essentially wasted your entire life up until now, and yes, you may only have a couple of more years to live because of the choices that you have made, but if you decide to give your life to Jesus now, even if you only live for another few years, it will far outweigh anything that you’ve ever done, and all that misery that you’ve experienced for so many years will be eclipsed by the life that you live in service to God.”

It is man’s purpose to love God, to serve God, to glorify God, and even if man only does this for a few moments before he dies, it will far outweigh anything else that he has ever done. And the pain of his past life may still be real, it may still be felt, but the joy of the privilege of legitimately serving God will outweigh all of that.

As we finish out our series of sermons this morning on Samson’s Delilah Dilemma, we see just that. We see a man who lived his whole life in service to himself, but the last few moments of his life he lived in service to God, and that one instance in which he lived in service to God produced more than all the years in which he lived in service to himself.

In the sermons before this, we’ve went over the events that have been taking place right up until we arrive at the point in which we are at in our reading for today.

Samson, a man who had supernatural strength given to him by God, loved a promiscuous woman named Delilah. Delilah was offered a great sum of money to discover where the great strength of Samson lied. Samson eventually told Delilah that his strength lied in his hair and that if anyone were to cut his hair, he would no longer possess supernatural strength. Delilah then cut Samson’s hair while he slept and he was then captured by his enemies, the Philistines, and put in prison.

So, what we see in our reading for today is Samson in prison, we see the reaction of Samson’s enemies as a result of them placing him in prison, and we see how God redeemed Samson and caused him to act on His behalf after he repented of his sin and placed his trust in God alone.

So, first, let’s take a look at the venue where our reading takes place, and what exactly it was that was going on there. We read of this in verses 23 and 24, where it says:

*Judges 16:23-24 ESV

23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”

First, we see who is present in this setting. It says that the lords of the Philistines were gathered.

Now, where else in this narrative that we have been working through this month are the lords of the Philistines mentioned? They were mentioned as those who initially approached Delilah and offered to give her a cash reward for betraying Samson and delivering him into their hands.

So, the same ones who conspired to capture their enemy, Samson, are now gathered together once Samson is captured.

And as they gathered together, they offered a great sacrifice to their god, Dagon. And as they sacrificed to Dagon, they celebrated and rejoiced as they proclaimed that their god had delivered Samson their enemy into their hands.

They believed that it was their god who done this, that their god was stronger than the God of Israel. But what they failed to understand was that their god was controlled by the God of Israel, and the only reason why Samson was delivered into the hands of the Philistines was because the God of Israel permitted it to be so, so that Samson may be punished for his sins.

There was also another reason why God allowed this to be, but we’ll get to that later.

But their misunderstanding led them to publicly humiliate Samson, as verses 25-27 tells us, where it says:

*Judges 16:25-27 ESV

25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

So, it says that when their hearts were merry, which may indicate that their festivities here involved the consumption of a lot of wine, and they were now drunk. But regardless of what exactly they were doing, these Philistine lords were now overjoyed at the reality that their sworn enemy was now a prisoner in their possession.

In fact, they were so overjoyed that they desired for their prisoner to be brought out to them so that he might entertain them. Now, what exactly this entertainment consisted of we don’t know, but it would seem as though they had Samson serve as a jester of some type to them.

And the scene was disturbing… The once mighty Samson who was given great, supernatural-like strength from God was now weak and blind after having his eyes gouged out and therefore needing a young man to lead him by the hand. But little did they know that they had this young man lead Samson to the place where he would deliver one last blow to his enemies.

Samson stood there in the midst of his enemies, not only the Philistine lords, but many, many others, at least 3,000 more men and women who were on the roof in which the pillars which he was standing between supported.

And as he stood between these pillars, he rested his hands upon them and leaned against them.

And as he rested upon these pillars, he recognized and confessed his evil. He recognized his great sin against God and asked that He would graciously restore him his great strength on just this one occasion.

We see this in verse 28, where it says:

*Judges 16:28 ESV

28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Samson, the man who had relied upon his own strength, the man who had lived for his own glory for so long, now asks that God would strengthen him, and to do so for the purpose of avenging both his and God’s enemies as he says, “remember me…”

And God did indeed, remember Samson, as we read in the last two verses of our reading:

*Judges 16:29-30 ESV

29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

God remembered Samson. And as Samson leaned against the pillars that the young man had led him to, God graciously restored his strength.

And with his renewed strength, Samson cried: “Let me die with the Philistines!” We could also say that what Samson was saying here was, “God graciously restored my strength, so now let me die in service to this gracious God of mine!”

And as Samson leaned into these pillars, the massive roof above them came crashing down, killing both himself and thousands of Philistines in the process.

It had been Samson’s desire to live for his own glory, for his own purposes, but it didn’t matter what Samson had previously desired because it was always God’s desire for Samson to begin to deliver the people of Israel from the Philistines, and here he does just that as with this one act of obedience to God that resulted in his own death does Samson accomplish more than he had in his entire lifetime.

This shows us that what God, and not man desires, always comes to pass.

And most of all, what it shows us is that life lived in service to God, legitimately obeying and desiring to please God is our supreme purpose as Christians, and that it will ultimately result in greater triumph than anything that we could ever do through our own strength.

And therefore brethren, may we all, live for the glory of God, and like Samson, even die for the glory of God.

Amen?