The Bible Binge: Crushed (Judges 16:16-22)

More like a remodeling

Few characters in the Bible raise more questions than the one we are looking at today. Today we continue our Bible Binge in the book of Judges. Israel is in the Promised land. They are still trying to drive out the Canaanites. They haven’t done well in doing what God had said… make sure you get rid of all of the Canaanites. They haven’t moved into a new home so much as remodeled. We find that Israel just can’t help themselves. Just like they wanted to go back to Egypt once God rescued them from Egypt.. here, they want to be just like the Canaanites. That brings us to Judges:

Video

Judges: No King - King Me

What is Judges about?

12 judges over a 300 year period

Judges were deliverers or “mini-saviors”

Only one real “judge”: Deborah

The cycle:

People do bad (Unbelief/Idolatry)

Oppression from enemies

Cry out to God

God sends a deliverer

Deliverance

Rest

(Repeat… gradual deterioration)

The entire book, and in fact, the entire era of the Judges, can be summed up with one verse, the very last verse of the book:

Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.”

There’s no king. And everyone is creating their own destiny, their own morality. And what’s interesting about this statement.. it becomes apparent to the author of the book and others in the book that the reason people are making up their own standards is because there is no king. There is no king, there is just “King Me”. If we just had a king, it wouldn’t be like this. There is this hope, that a king will make all of this right.

This cycle that descends into the worst kind of morality is a repeat of what happened before the flood, and what happened before the tower of Babel. When people don’t believe the gospel and attempt to determine their own fate, it’s only a matter of time before everything descends into moral chaos.

The last judge at the end of this cycle is both the most impactful of the judges and most notorious. We have more of Samson’s story than we have any of the other judges. Samson is not simply at the end of the cycle.. Samson is a summary of the cycle.

The life of Samson is full of stuff that just doesn’t add up. Samson has his own nativity story.

Judges 13:2–5 “There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

The angel of the Lord, the second person of the Godhead, the pre-incarnate Christ shows up to Manoah and his wife and tells them they will have a son, even though they hadn’t been able to have children. This child is a child of promise. He is going to be a savior, set apart for the work of God.

And that’s exactly what happens. Israel had descended into unbelief, God allowed their enemies to oppress them, Samson shows up and saves the day. And there is 20 years of rest in Israel. But.. Samson comes with flaws. He’s constantly mixing it up with the Philistines. He seems to want to chase women. He’s impulsive. Not exactly the kind of leader you’d expect to be a champion of God’s people. You read the pages of Judges and you have to wonder, “how is this guy the guy of Promise, the guy whose birth was announced by none other than God himself?”

What’s with Samson? How is he a judge? Yeah, he’s great when it comes to beating the Philistines, but everything else? His life was a mess. We’re going to come back to this, because Samson is going to challenge us on one key aspect of this story.

We get to chapter 16, and Samson meets a woman named Delilah. And this is what the author says:

Judges 16:5 The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

1100 pieces of silver. This is a bribe. Delilah isn’t just any woman. She is a woman of power and influence. They aren’t telling her what to do. They are bribing her. You only bribe someone if they hold a position of power that you don’t. And she takes the money. The rest of the story is Delilah’s seduction and betrayal of Samson.

Several times, Delilah wants to know the secret of his supernatural strength. His strength is not human. It’s not normal. And in the cycle of the Philistines trying to subdue Samson, they still can’t do it. Finally, Samson tells her the secret to his strength, about his Promise to be set apart and his hair… she cuts his hair… and here’s what the text tells us:

Judges 16:19–20 “Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.”

She cuts his hair. and this time the Philistines do capture him. Note this parallel here:

His strength left him.

The Lord had left him.

It’s very easy to think that there is something magical about the hair. But the hair is simply a visible symbol of Samson’s unique position as God’s chosen leader of his people. Delilah betrays Samson. But Samson has betrayed God himself in giving up his secret. The presence of God leaves Samson, which is infinitely worse than Samson losing his physical strength. There is nothing worse than not having God’s presence.

They poke out his eyes and he becomes their slave… pushing around the grindstone at the mill… which is interesting because that is no easy feat for a man. While his strength was supernatural, he still was a man who could push a grindstone. Along the way, the author of Judges writes one of the more fascinating verses in all of Judges:

Judges 16:22 “But Samson’s hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.”

This phrase is comical in one sense… you’d think the Philistines would make sure that hair doesn’t grow after what had happened with Delilah. But in another sense, note the word “but” here. This is where the story turns. This is where hope begins peeking into a story that has been so dismal. The hair growing tells us what is happening to Samson on the inside… his faith is growing. There is hope here. This is where the Promise begins to show itself in Samson. The promise is was that Samson would begin to save God’s people… the Promise is something bigger going on than Samson or his sin and brokenness. There in that hair growing is a sense that grace is about to have the last word.

The Philistines throw a party in their big temple. And there’s another fascinating bit to this account:

Judges 16:25 “When the Philistines were in good spirits, they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.”

They want Samson to entertain. I’m sure he was entertainment. They have Israel’s champion. Blind and betrayed. A slave. They’ve got the last laugh. Or so they thought. That word “entertain” in Hebrew sounds a lot like the Hebrew word for crush. And the author wants us to hear it. The Philistines want entertainment. Samson crushes the Philistines.

Samson turns to the only Hope he has. The One who gave his mom and dad the Promise. The One who showed up himself to make the announcement. The One who Promised this Son would save Israel:

Judges 16:28 “Samson called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Remember, strengthen, let me pay back. Samson doesn’t want pay back for losing his strength. He doesn’t want pay back for the betrayal. He wants pay back for the loss of sight. That’s a confession. Samson’s problem the entire time had been his eyes. He saw, he desired. He saw the forbidden fruit and went after it. He recognizes that his eyes have been his problem. His only hope in this moment, is the God who Promises.

And God delivers. Samson leans against the two pillars supporting the temple, and Samson crushes the Philistines.. one of the greatest military victories recorded in the Old Testament. Thousands, including all of the Philistines political and military leaders die in the rubble of their temple. Samson takes out the enemy and does so in the temple of their false god.

In this week’s study… I’ve come to think there’s a real problem with the way we handle Samson. More than a few commentators or theologians used the word “tragic”, in regards to Samson. Some went so far to say wasn’t even a defender of Israel’s God… when the book of Hebrews clearly labels Samson a man of faith. Here’s what Hebrews 11 says about Samson:

Hebrews 11:32–39 Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises...became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. The world was not worthy of them...All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised...”

Samson was a man of faith… looking not just to the Promise that had been given to his mom and dad about saving Israel, but looking ahead to the Promise that was coming… the ultimate savior of Israel. And of that Savior, Samson was a type. Samson was betrayed for silver… and through His death saved His people.. by crushing the enemy. Jesus was betrayed for silver… died to save his people.. and crushed the head of the serpent in his death.

Here’s the problem with talking about Samson as a tragic figure or someone who had no concern for God or was totally self-serving: 1) everybody is looking at the behavior, and 2) everybody presumes they haven’t done any of those things. We look at Samson and think… I’m pretty good. I haven’t done any of those things. I don’t chase women. I don’t take out revenge on people. We use Samson to make ourselves feel better about ourselves. I saw that everywhere this week… what a god-awful guy Samson was. And then the moral: don’t be like Samson or your life will be tragic.

That’s not the point of the story. Samson is all of us. Samson is a picture of who we are. Samson was the story of Israel then… always chasing after what they weren’t supposed to. Always running after possessions and relationships and religion that do not satisfy. But that’s us. That’s a picture of who we are. We are no better than Samson. We’re no better than Israel.

Every day this week, I acted like there is no King Jesus, and I only did what was right in my own eyes.

I’m no better than Israel. I can’t sit here an poke at them… what an awful ungodly people where chaos rules and everybody is making up their own rules. That’s me. That’s King Me. We do this all of the time.

And when it comes to seeing Samson as the promised leader, this is exactly who God uses. The reality is that:

God ONLY uses messed up people to accomplish his purposes.

You think you're beyond hope? Betrayed. Blind. Humiliated. Defeated. Samson is out of hope, out of options. Except One. And in that crushing moment, Samson both finds His salvation and saves Israel. The One who saved Samson is the One who saves you. In your worst moments, Jesus has you, just like He had Samson. Jesus crushed the enemy, just as He was being crushed for you.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

This is where messed up people find hope. We’re the Samsons in need of rescue. Again. Jesus leaned against the two pillars at the cross and crushed the enemy. For us. Jesus gets crushed. For us.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.