Sin & Consquences...and Mercy

We have finally reached the climax of this drama of the life of Samson. This is the part of the story that is most well known - the story of Samson and Delilah - which has been portrayed in some form or fashion in countless works of art - whether in paintings, films, books or music.

The pattern of Samson’s life by now has been established. Samson’s weakness is his lust for Philistine women. Once again, his eyes lock on one who is willing to sell him out to his enemies - this time for 1,100 pieces of silver. And once again, the strategy is to continually press him...”if you love me, you will tell me the source of your strength.” (remember his wedding to the woman from Timnah - when his bride asked “if you love me you will tell me the answer to your riddle”)

You may notice in your own spiritual battles, that your area of greatest struggle or weakness is typically not something different - but the same repeated desire or temptation. Our enemy’s tactics are not necessarily innovative, but they are effective.

So it goes with Samson. Once again, he plays his word games with his love interest until her persistence breaks him down and he reveals his secret.

The first time Delilah presses him goes as follows:

Judges 16:6–10 CEB

So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what gives you such great strength and how you can be tied up and made weak.” Samson replied to her, “If someone ties me up with seven fresh bowstrings that aren’t dried out, I’ll become weak. I’ll be like any other person.” So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that weren’t dried out, and she tied him up with them. While an ambush was waiting for her signal in an inner room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are on you!” And he snapped the bowstrings like a thread of fiber snaps when it touches a flame. So the secret of his strength remained unknown. Then Delilah said to Samson, “You made a fool out of me and lied to me. Now please tell me how you can really be tied up!”

This pattern is repeated 3 times until we reach verse 16

Judges 16:16–21 (CEB)

She nagged him with her words day after day and begged him until he became worn out to the point of death. So he told her his whole secret. He said to her, “No razor has ever touched my head, because I’ve been a nazirite for God from the time I was born. If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me, and I’ll become weak. I’ll be like every other person.” When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come one more time, for he has told me his whole secret.” The rulers of the Philistines came up to her and brought the silver with them. She got him to fall asleep with his head on her lap. Then she called a man and had him shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. He began to weaken, and his strength left him. She called out, “Samson, the Philistines are on you!” He woke up from his sleep and thought, I’ll escape just like the other times and shake myself free. But he didn’t realize that the Lord had left him. So the Philistines captured him, put out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze chains, and he worked the grinding mill in the prison.

Why would Samson give away his secret? It is not like he hadn’t been tricked before. Did he not find it odd that finding his weakness seemed so important to Delilah?

And when he did tell her the truth of the matter - didn’t his conscience weigh in - alarm bells go off - didn’t his mind say “you fool, you better get out of here!” Instead, we read that he went to sleep on her lap.

Apparently not. And there is only one reason that this could be. He did not really believe that his strength was from God. In his book Judges for You, Tim Keller writes,

Judges for You (His Strength Left Him)

(Samson) had come to believe that his strength was simply his; that no matter what he did or how he lived he would not lose it. His self-deception was not just psychological, but theological. Samson was unable to see how dependent he was on God’s grace. He had come to see his strength as an inalienable right, not a gift of God’s mercy

There has been no indication up to this point in the story that Samson believed that God was the one working through him. In fact, this is the first time he mentions his Nazarite vow. He likely heard about it from his parents his whole life - how special he was, how God had set him apart and that he would save Israel. That God had given him his gift of strength. He may have even had a tshirt - in his case, a tank top, with the words “Blessed by the Best” inscribed on the front - but truth be told, Samson had convinced himself that he was deserving of his gift of strength and that nothing could take it away.

Again, Keller writes:

Judges for You (Yahweh V Dagon)

Samson’s real temptation had been to believe that we are blessed by God because of something great and deserving in us—complacently to see what he had been given by grace as rightfully his, to use as he wished. That, rather than Delilah, was his real sin! It is so hard to remember that we do what we do only because of God’s grace, and that God’s grace is given so that we might do what is pleasing to him and in the service of his people.

“We do what we do because of God’s grace.” Take a moment to ponder that statement. What is it you do well? Where has God gifted you? Are you strong and in great health? Are you good at figuring out problems - seeing through the clutter and finding solutions? Do you find it easy connecting with others, striking up conversation and making new friends? Are you a gifted teacher? Are you good a tinkering with things - fixing what is broken? Maybe your gift is creating wealth. Whatever it is - it is because of the grace of God. Do you use your gift to please God and to serve his people? Another way of putting it - do you glorify God with your life - using your gifts for his purposes?

Samson - not so much.

Me - sometimes. But if I am honest, not always.

In that sense, Samson serves as a warning to check myself, my motivations, my expectations of God, and make corrections where needed.

The last few weeks, I’ve called attention the fact that Samson serves in some ways as a precursor to Jesus. In Samson, we see Israel in need of a Savior - even if they don’t recognize their need for one. There are some similarities with the two men - Samson’s miraculous birth, the visitation of the angel to his mother, both possessed great power. But Samson is no Jesus. As Michael Whitlock states in his book The Message of Judges - we can read in Samson every person’s story. Michael writes...

The Message of Judges: Grace Abounding (D. The Judge’s Triumph (16:23–31))

But it is right to read Samson, at any rate, like this, because he is not only the savior, with more than a passing resemblance to Christ, but also the sinner, unmistakably reflecting the face of Israel, and therefore our own face as the people of God: called by grace, bound by vow, repeatedly empowered, greatly gifted, yet faithless, self-indulgent, and only too ready to fraternize with the enemy.

Ouch. Does that hit too close to home with anyone else?

called by grace, bound by vow, repeatedly empowered, greatly gifted, yet faithless, self-indulgent, and only too ready to fraternize with the enemy.

Whitlock concludes with this:

The Message of Judges: Grace Abounding D. The Judge’s Triumph (16:23–31)

Personally, Samson stands as a dreadful warning, the man of enormous potential who never grasped that the Spirit’s call to holy discipline is even more important than the Spirit’s gifts

There are plenty of people who use the gifts God has given them - sometimes even in the Church - yet they do not answer the call to Holy discipline in their own lives. It is so easy to do. To become so focused on the doing, you lose track of the being.

The Spirit calls us, first and foremost, to be like Christ. To walk in his way. To put our own house in order.

Ephesians 5:1 ESV

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

James 1:27 ESV

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

1 Peter 1:15–16 ESV

but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Samson’s recklessness, his abuse of power, his self-sufficiency, his sin finally catches up with him. There are consequences. The mighty Samson has fallen. His great strength gone. His eyes blinded - which I imagine was not a pleasant experience - his feet shackled, his days spent laboring in prison.

But the story does not end there. God is not done with him yet. Nor is Samson done with God. God promised to use Samson to begin to deliver Israel from her enemies - and God does not break His promises.

The Philistines throw a great party for their god Dagon at the temple built and dedicated in his name. “The mighty Samson has been defeated and captured, Israel’s God could not save him, let us feast and rejoice!” Thousands attend this party at the temple. It was a wild night. After several beers and quite a few shooters - someone comes up with a great idea - “hey, go get blind Samson - make him entertain us!” Samson is led into the Temple - guided by a young man. The DJ is cranking out the tunes and poor old Samson is made to dance a little jig.

Now listen to the Scripture:

Judges 16:26–31 CEB

Samson said to the young man who led him by the hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that hold up the temple, so I can lean on them.” Now the temple was filled with men and women. All the rulers of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand more men and women were on the roof watching as Samson performed. Then Samson called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me! Make me strong just this once more, God, so I can have revenge on the Philistines, just one act of revenge for my two eyes.”Samson grabbed the two central pillars that held up the temple. He leaned against one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He strained with all his might, and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people who were in it. So it turned out that he killed more people in his death than he did during his life. His brothers and his father’s entire household traveled down, carried him back up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had led Israel for twenty years.

In the end, Samson turned to the one who was His source of strength. Twice in the story, at the end of this chapter and at the end of the previous chapter, we are told that Samson judged Israel for 20 years - most of that time serving himself, but at that end of his life, turning and trusting in God. As such, he is listed in the Hall of Fame of persons of faith found in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. People who, by faith received their reward.

Hebrews 11:32–34 ESV

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

That is our message of hope. If you are still breathing, then there is still time to make a change, correct the course, live to glorify God and let the Lord use your gifts for his purposes.

Amen.