Mighty Samson
Notes
Transcript
Early in my pastoral ministry, my first church held a HoeDown each fall - a family friendly event with music, food and games. One year, we decided to have a Tug-o-War competition and I had the bright idea of making the trophies. Here is what I came up with…the Samson award.
I was quite impressed with it if I must say so myself. Rugged, manly, strong - that is the kind of trophy you proudly display on the fireplace mantle - much to the chagrin of your spouse.
And what better biblical character is there for a strongman competition? Samson is like the Bible superhero, right? While most folks probably don’t know the whole story, if you attended Vacation Bible School or Sunday School as a child - chances are you remember Samson - the man of superhuman strength whose kryptonite was his hair. As long as his hair was long and flowing like Fabio - the romance novel cover model from the 90’s, then Samson was invincible. But when he shared the source of his strength with his wife Delilah, she betrayed him and had his hair shaved off while he slept - allowing his enemies to capture him.
Samson is a somewhat familiar character - but what is the story really about? Who is he and what was his purpose? And what lessons are we to learn from his life that may apply to us today? That is what we will be exploring today and the rest of July.
So let’s start off with some context - always a good starting point. Samson was the last in a series of 12 Judges that we find in the biblical book titled Judges. These are not judges that sit on a bench - they are more like rulers or military leaders that God raised up to deliver his people. At times, they enacted God’s judgement.
The book covers the period of time between the Israelites entering and inhabiting the promise land under Joshua, the successor of Moses, and the time of Israel’s kings - approx 400 some years. Judges begins with the death of Joshua.
Judges 1:1 (ESV)
After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
The Lord had given the Israelites clear instruction. Go and clear out and possess the land that I am giving you. God had rescued His people from slavery, He brought them into the land he promised to Abraham, for the purpose of forming a people who would represent Him on earth and be a blessing to every nation.
Now God’s formation of the Israelites required full obedience and trust - they were to be God’s instrument for redeeming all the people in the world lost in sin. Therefore, there were strict boundaries and rules set to keep them from becoming like their neighbors.
Listen to what Joshua told the elders of Israel before he died:
Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
Why did God command the Israelites to drive out all their enemies? Because they were to be set apart for his purposes - once they began to accommodate and tolerate the cultures around them, it wouldn’t be long before they took their eyes of the God of Israel, that they would begin to doubt his power and his ways, and they would compromise their values and eventually accept other gods.
Of course, this is exactly what happens. There is a cycle that occurs in the book of Judges:
the people rebel against God by not following his commands fully and they begin to cozy up with the surrounding pagan tribes
God is provoked to anger
As punishment, the Israelites are handed over to their enemies
the people become distressed which leads them to crying out to God in repentance
the Lord hears and sends salvation through a chosen leader - a judge
After rescue, the land returns to peace for the lifetime of the judge
the judge eventually dies, and the people start the cycle over again.
Scholars call this the 5 “R’s”:
Rebel
Rebuke
Repent
Rescued
Rest
And then the cycle repeats.
This is a pattern we can see throughout history and it is pretty obvious today. Times of Great spiritual renewal tend to follow periods of time when society as a whole rebels against God and does whatever looks good in their own eyes. The hey-days do not last, the world is shaken by economic woes, wars, tragedies, division, oppression by others, which shake the very foundation of the lies in which society has built itself upon, and the people finally cry out to the Lord and seek him. God in his great mercy hears their prayers and brings spiritual renewal. Lives are changed, crime rates drop, peace prevails, churches thrive, but then trust and obedience to the Lord is not passed on to the next generation very well, and people begin to drift away and the cycle begins again.
This pattern fills the book of Judges. Rev. Timothy Keller, in his book Judges for You, describes the context this way:
Judges for You Introduction to Judges
It was a time when God’s people daily faced the choice between looking to God as their Lord, or following the spirit and preferences of their age. It is mainly the story of how they failed in this task—of how they constantly turned from knowing, loving and obeying God to do “what was right in [their] own eyes.”
And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
What the Bible shows us is that we humans are prone to walk away from God. That we really do not trust him - we may say we do, but we all end up rebelling in some fashion. When we read that Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, we must realize that it was probably not evil in their own eyes. In Judges 17:6 we read...
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
They likely did what made sense to them, what they perceived to be good and right. What seemed good to them was evil in the eyes of the Lord. As Tim Keller explains:
Judges for You Whose Eyes Matter?
This term “the eyes of the LORD,” in contrast with our “own eyes,” teaches us that sin does not ultimately consist of violating our conscience or violating our personal standards or violating community standards, but rather consists of violating God’s will for us.
Sin is deceiving - we can convince ourselves that we are right in our thoughts and actions, but we are not the ones who define right from wrong - God is.
Even so, in his great mercy, God continues to pursue and rescue us time and time again.
Again Rev. Keller writes
Judges for You Introduction to Judges
The book of Judges shows us that the Bible is not a “Book of Virtues”; it is not full of inspirational stories. Why? Because the Bible (unlike the books on which other religions are based) is not about following moral examples. It is about a God of mercy and long-suffering, who continually works in and through us despite our constant resistance to his purposes. Ultimately, there is only one hero in this book, and he’s divine.
With this context, we are now ready to look at this last ruler, this last judge, that we find in this period of time. Unlike the other judges, with Samson, we are given an origin story - we are told of his miraculous birth. One of those patterns we find in God’s story - an unlikely couple unable to conceive a child is told by an angelic being that they would give birth to a son - the impossible made possible by God himself.
There are 7 miraculous births in the Bible (seven is the number of completion), the first six include:
1. Sarah, Abraham's wife gave birth to Isaac
2. Rebekah, Isaac's wife gave birth to Jacob and Esau
3. Rachel, Jacob's wife gave birth to Joseph
4. Samson's mother, we do not know her name, gave birth to Samson - who would save Israel
5. Hannah gave birth to Samuel
6. Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist
And the last miraculous birth is the most unique of them all:
7. Mary, a virgin, gave birth to Jesus
It is interesting how God works - the first 6 all point toward the One who would come - the child of promise who would be Savior of the world.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.
Samson’s mother is approached by the angel of the Lord. To her, this mysterious person appears to be a man - she would refer to him as a ‘man of god’ - awesome in appearance. This is what many biblical scholars refer to as an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament, Christophanies is the term used. Later in this passage, when the Angel of the Lord ascended to heaven in the flame of the altar, we heard Manoah, Samson’s father exclaim “we have seen God!”
The Angel of the Lord instructs Samson’s mom to abstain from the wine, don’t eat anything considered unclean, and don’t cut the boys hair - for he shall be a “Nazirite to God from the womb.”
In ancient Israel, a Nazirite was a man or woman who had taken a special vow - voluntarily and often for a set period of time - and it is presumed that one would take the vow when they were looking forward to an answered prayer. Nazaite means “to seperate” oneself to the Lord.”
The conditions of the vow are described in Numbers chapter 6 and include abstaining from wine or strong drink (including vinegar, and eating grapes), a razor must not touch their head - let the hair grow, don’t go near a dead body (even if a family member died).
Why these particular rules? What is it about drinking and eating from the vine, cutting your hair, being near one who had died?
The Bible does not tell us - but these conditions were visible proofs of what a person was doing spiritually. Why do we baptize new believers and children with water? It is a visible sign of a covenant or promise we are making with God.
Michael Wilcock, in The Message of Judges: Grace Abounding, writes...
The Message of Judges: Grace Abounding A. They Were Unlikely People (13:2–7)
The Nazirite would say a definite no to certain perfectly natural things in order to show how definite was the yes he was saying to something more important, his dedication of himself to God
Now in the case of Samson, it is not Samson who makes the vow - it is his mother. The Angel of the Lord states the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. God is the one who separates Samson for his own purposes. And his mother is faithful - she does not question to the angel, she simply tells her husband - guess what? Here is what is going to happen and here is what I have to do.
Her husband, to his credit, is faithful in his response.
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”
Manoah wants to know - how are we to raise him? God listened to Manoah and the Angel of Lord appears again, approaching the woman as she worked in the field. She runs and gets her husband and we read:
And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?”
The Angel does not answer his question directly, but simply repeats the conditions of the vow. But I find it interesting that in response to the question “are you the man?”, the Angel says “I Am” - which is the Hebrew name for God - going back to the burning bush when Moses asked God’s name:
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
As one writer puts it:
when used as a stand-alone description, I AM is the ultimate statement of self-sufficiency, self-existence, and immediate presence. God’s existence is not contingent upon anyone else. His plans are not contingent upon any circumstances. He promises that He will be what He will be; that is, He will be the eternally constant God. He stands, ever-present and unchangeable, completely sufficient in Himself to do what He wills to do and to accomplish what He wills to accomplish.
Over the next few weeks, we will discover what God wills to accomplish through the person of Samson. We will find that although Samson was born into a Nazirite vow, he did not live into such a vow - he was an imperfect, flawed, unlikely, scandalous savior for his people.
At a time when “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord”, God would move to deliver them.
For today, here is your takeaway.
There is nothing new under the sun. We can probably identify where our society is on the 5 “R’s” cycle - we’ve rebelled, the troubles we face is God’s rebuke, we need to repent so he we can be rescued once more, experience spiritual awakening and which leads to rest. That is where we appear to be collectively. He has already provided the rescuer - Jesus Christ - we are praying and waiting for our nation to turn to him. Individually, where do you find yourself in the cycle?
God defines sin. He created this world and so he sets the boundaries. Do not be deceived into thinking your sin is not really that bad or even that it is good. And we all struggle with sin. Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
The Good News is that God is long-suffering and full of Grace. It is never too late to make a course correction - to repent and to walk in His ways. He will help you.
3. Lastly, we need faithful parents. We need Samson’s mom who heard what the Angel of the Lord said and accepted her role in God’s plan. We need Manoah’s who seek to learn how to raise and teach the next generation so they can stay on mission. Whether you have biological children or not, or you are young or old, you can be spiritual parents to this generation. Begin to pray now for God to bring children here so we can instruct them in the way they should go.
God is looking for Mighty men and women of God who will trust and obey his precepts and bring Jesus to His lost people. Let Him find in us a people willing and able.
Amen.