You Be the Judge: Samson

Bible Passage: Judges 14–16

Intro

So I have a skill that seems to be a dying art. In fact, a couple of leaders here in this room are with me on this! I drive manual. I own both a manual car and a manual motorcycle. If you don’t know what that means, it means that when a car changes gears, I do it manually opposed to the 90% of cars that do it automatically. Why do I do this? Well to simply put it, I not only think it’s more fun to switch it automatically because I feel like I’m doing some Naruto Jujutsu, but I also feel like I have more control over the vehicle. I control how fast it goes, and in the case of my motorcycle, I control how much power I use when I move. You might think I have control issues… Who knows you might be right. But I like the feeling of having control in certain situations… primarily if it comes to my own safety. Now the embarrassing thing is that with manual cars, you can do something called stalling. Basically, you let go of the clutch (the 3rd pedal from right to left), too quickly and the engine just cuts out. It’s humiliating if you’re in a busy intersection and all of a sudden, you jolt to a stop, people behind you are cussing you out, people passing beside you are laughing at you, and you have to turn your car on again and be more careful. We’re going to look at a character today who relies too much on what he can control and it’ll be dramatic. His name is Samson.

Background

Samson’s Mother (Who is unnamed) couldn’t bear a child. God sends an angel to promise her that she will have a son and he will be a strong leader. However, Samson is a Nazarite which means he was a part of a group of people who took a vow to never drink alcohol, cut their hair, or touch a dead body. This will be key to the story.

So far in this series, we’ve seen the Moabites, Canaanites, and the Midianites. Now, we get introduced to the Philistines (Not Philippines, Philistines). Guess how this story opens up? Anyone feel like they have a guess? Yup, “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.” (Judges 13:1)

Text

1. Choosing Confusion over Clarity

Judges 14:1–20 (ESV)

Samson is engaged to a Philistine woman and when he’s preparing to marry her, a lion attacks him. Now Samson is tough. The Holy Spirit gave him amazing strength. So even without a weapon, he kills the lion with his bare hands.

8After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.

During his wedding, he makes a bet if people can decipher a riddle he comes up with.

14“Out of the eater came something to eat.

Out of the strong came something sweet.”

The Philistines go to his bride and threaten her to get Samson to spill the truth

16And Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.”

So Samson caves and tells her the riddle which she babbles to the Philistines who tell him the answer,

18“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

So Samson loses the riddle and after paying up, his bride was given to his best man. Rough day.

2. Chains Cannot Contain

Judges 15:9-15

So Samson afterwards, ties 300 fox tails together in pairs of 2 and sends them running to destroy the crops of the Philistines. They don’t like that so they burn his wife and her family alive to spite him. Then the Philistines force Israel to bind and hand over Samson. When the Philistines arrive, Samson breaks free from his bindings, grabs the jaw of a donkey, and takes out 1000 Philistines solo.

He drops this bar in verse 16,

“With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.”

The poetry here is hard to translate to English so I’ll just put a similar translation on the screen

“With the Jaw of an ass, I have piled them in mass”

3. Confession and Collapse

Judges 16:1-22

Samson goes to Gaza and takes the gates of the city… Which is kinda nuts considering those things would at least be 250-500lbs. He drags them over to the bottom of a mountain quite a considerable distance which is literally just a show of strength. The Philistines don’t like that. This girl who’s name is Delilah, enters the scene and Samson falls head over heels for her. The Philistines entice her to find out the secret to Samson’s strength. They offer her 5,500 sheckels of silver which would be in Canadian today, close to 19 million dollars. Would you betray your boyfriend/girlfriend/fiance/spouse for that kind of money? I’d say over 90% of our world would. We love money more than anything. So she accepts, and she tries multiple times to get Samson to reveal his secret so she could sap him of his strength and get that bank. Let me read what she said

7“Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

The first time, Samson says if he got bound in bowstrings he’d lose his strength… He lied. Philistines come and he pushes them back. Delilah speaks again

10”You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied”

Samson then says it has to be new ropes. He lied. Same thing happens and the same result happens. Delilah speaks again

13”All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied”

Samson explains that if his hair is tied up he’ll lose his strength. Guess what happens? Same thing. Delilah continues

15”How can you say, ‘I love you’ when you won’t confide in me?”

Some of you might be in a friendship, relationship, or people in your life like this. You don’t even realize it, but they’re seeking to exploit you for their own gain but scew the wording to make YOU the problem. Delilah is making it seem like Samson doesn’t trust her and is a horrible person for doing so… Remember why she’s doing this? She’s chasing millions at the cost of his life.

Samson finally gives in and tells her that his secret lies in his hair never being cut. She cuts his hair and let me read what happens next

20”Then she called, ‘Samson, the Philistines are upon you!’ He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

They take Samson, gouge out his eyes and force him to work as a slave.

Point 1: Don’t Rely on Your Own Abilities

Samson at some point in his life stopped trying to get close to God. He began believing that he could do everything on his own. That his physical strength meant that he was strong all around. Samson was the strongest person in the world. Yet he was dominated and dethroned by the weakest of women.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah used a clay pot to illustrate a lesson. As he bent the pot to show its flexibility, it shattered because it was pushed too hard. We too face pressures that can shatter us.

When I was a kid, I loved pranking people and just messing with them. I got really good at shooting rubber bands. One day I went to shoot my teacher because she failed me at chemistry, and I really wanted it to sting so I pulled as hard as I could. Snap. The rubber band actually came back flying into my face. The reason I failed to exact revenge was because the band could only stretch so far on its own before breaking. Samson was being stretched in the same way and just like in the story, he broke. When we rely on our own abilities, we stretch and eventually break.

But this isn’t the end of the story

4. Culmination in Courage

Judges 16:23-31

Now as Samson is seemingly abandoned by the Lord, his hair slowly starts growing back. He gets brought out at a temple for a pagan god so the higher powers, generals, and leaders can taunt him for their god winning against the God of Israel. Samson gets leaned on a pillar and he sends up a prayer for God to remember him and to give him strength one last time. He has a moment of humility. God gives him strength again and he knocks out the pillars causing the entire building to collapse killing everyone inside it, claiming Samson’s own life but also the lives of those oppressing Israel. Israel finally sees a moment of peace.

Point 2: No Matter How Far You Fall, God Always Wants to Redeem You

Samson was a failure in terms of being the perfect judge and one free from controversey. By this point, amost half of theologians call him the worst judge and some even on par with Judas. However, many forget that God still loved Samson and wanted to redeem his situation. Samson still faced the consequences of his actions, but God didn’t let him end there. He brought back his strength for HIS glory.

Consider John Newton, a man who lived a life filled with rebellion and wrong-doing. He grew up always wanting to be a rebel. After his years as a deliquent teen, he became a slave trader. As a slave trader, he seemed far from redemption. Yet, after an encounter with God's grace, he became an influential preacher, anti-slavery icon, and the author of "Amazing Grace." His journey from failure to redemption serves as a reminder that no one is beyond the reach of God's mercy, a powerful truth that can encourage teens wrestling with their own mistakes.

Bringing it Together

Jesus

Think of Peter, one of Jesus's closest disciples. After denying Christ three times, he felt unworthy and broken. But in John 21, Jesus asked Peter three times, 'Do you love me?' This moment of restoration showed Peter that there is always a chance for redemption, no matter how far we've strayed. Like Peter, we are invited back into relationship with God, proving that our failures do not define us but can lead to greater faithfulness.

Conclusion: God Will Always Be a Part of Your Life, as Long as You Seek Him

As we reflect on the story of Samson, we see a powerful narrative of strength, failure, and ultimately, redemption. Samson’s life was marked by great potential and divine purpose, yet he faltered when he relied on his own strength and succumbed to temptations. His disobedience led to his downfall, but his story doesn’t end in defeat.

In his darkest hour, Samson turned back to God, seeking His strength and guidance once more. It is in this moment of humility and repentance that we witness the true power of God’s grace. Despite his past mistakes, Samson was redeemed and used by God to fulfill his purpose.

This story reminds us that no matter how far we may stray or how many times we fall, God’s presence in our lives is unwavering. He is always ready to welcome us back with open arms, offering us the strength and redemption we need. God will always be a part of your life, as long as you seek Him.

Questions:

What key lesson about God's redemption can we learn from Samson's life?

How did Samson's choices reflect the challenges that many teenagers face today?

What practical steps can we take to maintain our faith and avoid the pitfalls that led to Samson's failures?