The Riddle of Samson

Introduction

Last week we looked at the beginning of chapter 14, specifically at all of Samson’s errors.

He went to the wrong place

He pursued the wrong person

He treated his parents wrong

Not only this, but he broke two parts of his three part vow

It is implied that he drank wine

He also touched and ate honey from a rotting carcass

We are seeing this “light of the world” be more of a darkness disguised as light. Samson shows himself to be another fake Israelite who did not actually love the Lord, but only loved himself. Today, we pick back up after Samson fed his parents this corrupted honey and continue on into his marriage to the Philistine woman he does not seem to know.

A part of Samson’s character that we are going to focus on today is his complete and utter disregard for that which is sacred. Nothing, no matter how important or holy, was important to Samson. Everything was a joke to him.

Samson’s Disregards Family v.10-13

It was a part of their culture to have a wedding feast that would last seven days that culminated in the consummation of the wedding. Here we see Samson is the one who prepares this feast. While he is prepping and cooking and doing whatever he is doing, it seems that there are 30 Philistine men that Samson’s wife invited that arrive at the feast. We are going to see that these are clearly bad dudes. Does Samson care? No he doesn’t. Rather, he tries to entertain them.

In this case, we see Samson’s casual nature of not really thinking about anything is going to bite him in the tail pretty badly. He could have used this opportunity to try and reason with these Philistines that are oppressing his people, or to have a Moses moment and tell them “Let my people go.” But Samson doesn’t think seriously about anything. Rather, everything is a joke to him. And so, Samson makes a bet with them:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. 13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.”

This is a pretty big bet. 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes would cost a lot of money. Samson was essentially threatening these mens’ lives by making this bet with them. Not only their lives, but their families. Their wives and children. On the flip-side, Samson is threatening his wife and family’s lives too.

This type of gambling is extremely foolish. How, Samson, do you think they would be able to afford this? Why such large consequences over such a small bet? Nonetheless, Samson places the bet and the 30 Philistine men agree to the terms set. Samson’s wedding feast is now more about his dangerous riddle than anything else.

Does he really care about his wife’s life? Does he care about her family’s lives or his own? He simply hasn’t thought it through. Samson seems to be one of those people who is unable to view anything as sacred or important. Rather everything is either his benefit or his disadvantage.

This is an application in of itself. Are you able to be serious about anything? Do you care about how your actions affect your family’s lives? Or is everything a joke to you? Some of you are just unable to take anything seriously and I must implore you to change the way your mind works in this. Not everything has to turn into a joke. Not everything needs to be entertaining. Sometimes you just sit there and listen. Sometimes you just sit in the tension, in the anger, in the sadness and you just take it in.

I am not saying you are not allowed to make somethings lighter with a joke every now and then. Every time Beau and I have a hard conversation, whether it is me confessing sin or him getting onto me about something, he is able to tell me the truth in love and with grace seriously. He doesn’t joke about it, he just delivers it. Then he lets it sit on me. Then, before I love, he usually will crack a joke to make me laugh, but not always. You need to know when is the time to joke and when is the time to just be serious and take in what is happening.

Samson did not take this wedding seriously. He didn’t take the lives of his family or his wife’s or these 30 philistine men’s families’ seriously. He just acted without thinking. He spoke without considering whether or not this is a good idea.

Samson Disregards His Sin v.14

Now we see the riddle that Samson comes up with for the Philistines. Granted, it is quite a clever riddle, but there is a major issue here: he is making light of his sin. He is referencing the lion’s carcass which he ate from and broke the second part of his vow. Does he really care that he has sinned against his God? Does he care that he has grieved his Creator? No he doesn’t.

Once again, everything is a joke to Samson, even his own sin.

How should we respond to our sin? Should we, every time, bust out the sackcloth and ashes and trudge around saying “Woe is me,”? Should we say, “I am forgiven anyways,” and have no remorse in our sin? Should we pull a Samson and just joke about it thinking it will make you look better or feel better?

Here are a few things not to do:

1. Don’t just ignore that it happened

Some of us are so embarrassed and ashamed of our sin that when we truly fail, not on accident, but because we wanted to, we just ignore it. We push the skeleton into the closet and lock the door, never planning on opening that closet again.

This is wrong because 1) It displays that you do not think your sin was wrong and 2) it does not actually deal with what you have done wrong. Look what Psalm 32 says:

Christian Standard Bible (Psalm 32)

3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle

from my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me;

my strength was drained

as in the summer’s heat.

David knows the feeling of ignoring his sin. There was a period of time before he confessed his sin of sleeping with Bathsheba and having her husband killed to cover it up. I am sure this part of this psalm came from that experience. God’s hand was heavy on David. He felt weak and brittle. It took a brother Nathan to call David out for him to acknowledge his sin. Do not make God point your sin out to you. He will and does open up our dirty closets for us to get to the point of confession. Be careful.

2. Do not turn it into a joke

Again, this is Samson’s response. Usually when someone does this, they do it for the sake of their own pride. They do not want people to see their foolishness and so they try to make sure people do not think they care about it. The last thing you need to save in the midst of sin is your pride. This is one of two ways that your response to sin can lead to more sin.

I do not care how small your sin is, it is still sin. It is still something that Jesus Christ had to die for. Be willing to seriously fess up to it and recognize how wicked it truly was. This is especially true when your sin is against others as well. They will not find you joking about your sin funny; in fact, this will hurt them. It shows them you do not care about your sin.

3. Do not attack yourself over it

This is another response that leads to more sin. This is something I used to, and sometimes still do, struggle with myself. I would be so angry at myself for whatever I did that I would hate myself. I would attack myself. In the midst of my mind I would go towards suicide and believing that being alive is hurting others more than helping. But this is almost worse than the initial sin itself and this is not living in grace.

Again, your response cannot be to just go back into sin happily because God is gracious. If you do that then I am concerned you may not know Jesus truly but just want the benefits that come with Him. But you also should not be killing yourself over what you do. This is how the Enemy will make your response to your sin more sin! What a horrible cycle of sin!

So how do we respond then? There are three simple steps:

Confession

Primarily confess your sin to your Creator. Deztanee used to have to remind me to do this because I, in my sin, would avoid it. Pray to the Lord and tell Him what you have done. Does He know? Obviously! But you are supposed to be in communion with Him, therefore, confess what you did that was sinful. Own up to it.

While you must primarily tell the Lord what happened, most of the time you must also tell someone else. Who? Well, who did you wrong? Did you lie to your parents? Tell the Lord and then tell them. Did you gossip about your friend behind their back? Tell the Lord and then tell them. Did you cheat on a test? Tell the Lord and then tell your teacher. Did you steal from work? Tell the Lord and then tell your boss. I am going to reference a some Scripture that supports this:

Proverbs 28:13 CSB

The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

James 5:16 CSB

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

1 John 1:8–9 CSB

If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I know that this is hard. When you have sinned and haven’t spoken to God in some time, it is almost as if words won’t come from your mouth. David prayed in his confession:

Psalm 51:15 CSB

Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

This is where you start. It is in your confession that walls of apathy will begin to fall down. It is in your confession that the spirit will light back up in a flame. Your confession will drag you out of the muck of depression and self hatred. Start here.

2. Repentance

It is one thing to confess your sin, but the next step is not just words but actions: repentance. It is taking the necessary steps to walk away from this sin. Sometimes your confession is a form of repentance because it will open you up to being accountable to someone else. Other times we must do things to stop our sin. Break up with your bf or gf. Remove yourself from a position of leadership. Charge your phone in another room. Tell your parents to check your phone often. Place certain barriers down to prevent it from occuring again and follow them.

You just need to actually do something. You can’t just say “I won’t do it again,” and then go back to scrolling on tik tok for hours a day or spending hours with the person who is tempting you. This makes no sense. Delete the app. Put locks on your phone. Ask someone to keep you accountable. Tell your friend you are not going to hang out with them anymore. Whatever it is, do it! Don’t just sit around wait for your sin to disappear, it likely won’t!

Another form of repentance is taking steps into good habits. Set yourself up to do a quiet time everyday at the same time where you read scripture, pray, and contemplate what you learned. Fast from food or entertainment or friends or the internet or your phone or sugar or whatever for a certain amount of time. Commit to pray every hour throughout your day. Try to meet with someone older and further along in their walk than you and study the bible together. Take steps out of the sin and towards Christ.

3. Seek Forgiveness

Are we already forgiven of our sins? Of course. Romans 8:1 says

Romans 8:1 CSB

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

You are forgiven. Christ already took on your sin. However, this doesn’t mean your feet do not need to be washed. Just because you know your parents will forgive you when you have lied to them, does this mean you should never ask for forgiveness? No it does not. A humbled, contrite heart will ask for forgiveness.

Overall, follow these steps in response to your sin with sincerity. And then move on as much as you are able. You cannot expect everyone else to move on. Some who are hurt by you will have more trouble moving on, and it is with them that you must be patient.

Does this mean you must constantly beg them for forgiveness? No it does not. You may ask them more than once if you feel as if they have forgotten to forgive you, but it isn’t necessary. If they are truly a believer, they will be very aware they haven’t granted forgiveness to you.

And what does moving on look like? It means you just keep going. Your sin is not your identity. If you struggle with stealing or being a jerk or watching porn or being promiscuous or whatever, that isn’t who you are. Do not make it who you are. Rather, walk forward knowing your identity is in Jesus Christ. Before you were a sinner, but now you are a saint in Jesus Christ. He defines you. He is who you are, not your failures. Moving on is knowing that and being patient with those who don’t. Moving on continuing or getting back into your day-by-day faithfulness. Do not wallow in your shame and guilt from what you’ve done, confess, repent, seek forgiveness, and move on.

But what does Samson do? He jokes about it and never really deals with it. And so we will see how this turns out for a fool like him.

Samson Disregards His Wife v.14-18

Now he starts this bet with the Philistines and after three days, the Philistines are getting worried. They could not figure it out. Granted, this riddle had a very specific answer. But remember, this is those 30 men’s livelihoods. This is lots of money from each of them for this dumb Jewish guy. And these aren’t good guys. So what do they do? They go after Samson’s new wife.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

They resort to what they know: threaten to kill her and her family.

What is a husband’s job in marriage? It is to lead your family, your wife and kids, to know Jesus and it is to protect them. Think about the things that others won’t for the sake of their safety. I am not saying all wives are totally useless and need their husbands else they trip on their shoe lace and die. But I am saying it is the husband’s responsibility to protect his family. What does Samson do? He puts his wife’s life in danger by playing games with bad dudes.

And remember, there is a chance that she did not even really know Samson. Rather her parents and Samson’s parents made an agreement and so now she is with him and this is her first impression of him.

She is horrified. Her and her family may be burned alive because of this Jew she is being forced to marry. So look what she does:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me! You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”

“Look,” he said, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people.

How much of this weeping was forced to annoy Samson and how much was real from a genuine fear of her death? I am not sure. But the passage does say he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. This makes me think that it was her being resourceful and nagging Samson in order to get him to fess up.

Nonetheless, on the last day of the feast, which was supposed to be the most celebratory day ending in the bride and groom coming together, Samson gets sick of her crying and nagging and he tells her. In turn, to save her family, she tells these Philistine men and they tell Samson.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:

What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?

So he said to them:

If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,

you wouldn’t know my riddle now!

And once again we see Samson disgrace his wife by referring to her as a young cow. He is just being a jerk at this point. He feels his pride has been hurt because he lost the bet at his own wedding feast and so he throws a shot at his poor wife just to hurt her.

This is a common response to pride being hurt: insult. Say whatever you can to hurt the other person. But this is when our foolishness comes out the most. This is when we sin yet again in response to our sin.

Don’t fall into this place where you are attacking people just to hurt them. Here are some helpful proverbs on this topic of watching your tongue and responding too quickly.

Proverbs 11:17 CSB

A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel person brings ruin on himself.

Proverbs 12:18 CSB

There is one who speaks rashly, like a piercing sword; but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 13:3 CSB

The one who guards his mouth protects his life; the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.

Proverbs 14:17 CSB

A quick-tempered person acts foolishly, and one who schemes is hated.

Especially as believers, do not let your sin bring you here where you are speaking without thinking, trying to hurt with your words, inviting ruin into your life and cutting others like a sword. Especially in marriage.

This is what frustrates me so much about Samson is that he says this about his new wife. She is supposed to be his partner in everything in life. The one whom he never commits treason against. The one whom he is one with . And he insults her to others and calls her a cow. He doesn’t see his marriage as sacred. He doesn’t see his wife’s life as sacred.

Just so you know, Christian men do not talk about their wives or any women in this way. If you are a guy and have a habit of being overly aggressive towards girls in your life, you need to repent from that. That is a major major issue. I will not tolerate it here in the student ministry. It is a wicked sin against God. Girls, if there is a boy in your life that is this way towards you, I need to tell you that is not how Christ sees you, nor how He treats you. And we are supposed to reflect Christ, so any man or boy doing that is wrong. Girls, stay away from boys like this. They are bad news. Certainly don’t marry one.

Samson Disregards Others’ Lives v.19-20

How does this story end? Well Samson is angry. It says he is in a rage. It also says that the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him which leads him to kill thirty philistine men in Ashkelon in order to fulfill the bet he lost. Couple notes from this:

1.Why did the Lord empower Samson to seemingly senselessly kill 30 guys? Remember what Samson’s purpose was:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 13

he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.

And then even in chapter 14:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

4 Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation.

The Lord knew Samson was going to be foolish and do stupid things, and so He worked in Samson’s foolishness. He gave him strength to kill these men because the Lord wanted there to be conflict between Israel and the Philistines. He wanted this to lead to their rescue.

2.Even though the Lord wanted conflict, Samson killing these men was still sinful.

This is an utter disregard for human life. He arrives in a town he doesn’t know and senselessly kills 30 men who have wives and children. Samson disgraces the lives of others. Once again, everyone is either someone to prop him up or an obstacle in his way.

Yes the Lord will use Samson’s murders for Israel’s good, but he also will answer for all that he has done. In one sense, we see him answer for his sin here:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, 20 and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

His wife’s father gives his wife to another man while Samson is out killing those 30 men.

And yet, we will see that in the very last chapter of Samson’s life, chapter 16 Samson pays for his sins in a much greater sense.

Call to Respond

So what can we learn from Samson here? He finds nothing sacred, but only values himself. He disgraces others lives who are related to him, he disgraces the Lord by joking about his sin, he disgraces his wife by putting her in danger and insulting her to others, and he disgraces the lives of these 30 men he kills and robs.

This is what a life without the Lord leads to. This is what happens when you try to do things your way and view life in a crooked manner. You disgrace all that is good: life, marriage, family. You disgrace everyone around you. If you do not know Jesus, that is how you live everyday. You are selfish like him, but you never repent. You never confess what you did was wrong. You just marinate in your sin and ruin the lives of those around you.

In Christ, there is true and real hope. You do not have to be enslaved to the guilt and shame of your sin anymore. You don’t have to feel like that anymore. You can be made alive and live an abundant life; not one that is about you, but one that is about your God. That is what will be so fulfilling about it. In Christ we have direction; in Christ we have purpose; in Christ we have true life. Without Him, everything is meaningless. Without Him, you will spend your days trying to find satisfaction that isn’t possible; you will spend your days trying to scratch an itch that you can’t scratch.

John Mark Comer talks about how this guy from way back in the day Thomas Aquinas, a Christian Philosopher, asked the question: “What would it take to feel satisfied?” The answer he came to was “everything.” Comer goes on to say

We would have to experience everything and everybody and be experienced by everything and everybody to feel satisfied. Eat at every restaurant; travel to every country, every city, every exotic locale; experience every natural wonder; [sleep with] every partner we could ever desire; win every reward; climb to the top of every field; own every item in the world; - John Mark Comer Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

He then goes on to realize that even if we had unlimited funds to do this, we still are too limited. It simply isn’t possible! So what are we to do with this hunger? This incessant need to be fulfilled in every possible way all the time? Dallas Williard says this:

Desire is infinite partly because we were made by God, made for God, made to need God, and made to run on God. We can be satisfied only by the One who is infinite, eternal, and able to supply all our needs; we are only at home in God. When we fall away from God, the desire for the infinite remains, but it is displaced upon things that will certainly lead to our destruction. - Dallas Willard Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23.

Student who is rejecting Jesus. Student who knows Jesus, but keeps searching for satisfaction in other places. You need Jesus. He is the only answer to your hunger and thirst. You need Him. So give Him your life and live for Him. Then you will feel hungry and be full. You will feel thirsty and be hydrated. You will be without, yet have everything you need. Look what Paul says:

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 4)

12 I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.

This is the context of that verse that is widely misused. Paul is able to be content in all things because it is Christ who strengthens him. Let us find this same satisfaction in Christ.