Samson Sermon #2
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Handout
Snowy Sunday to
Samson’s
Born to begin Saving. Tie back in to advent.
Judges 14:4 is the key verse of the chapter. God is bringing about these things to stir something up between the Israelites and the Philistines.
There are four secrets, and the word “to tell” is used fourteen times in the Hebrew text (2,6,9,12,12,13,14,15,16,16,16,17,17, and 19)
The first four of five divisions in the chapter, which are marked by the use of “to go down” are each centered around a secret
vv. 1–4 Samson goes down to Timnah and sees a woman —> Secret of Yahweh’s purpose
vv. 5–6 Samson—with father and mother—goes down to Timnah—> Secret of slaying the lion
vv. 7–9 Samson goes down and talks with the woman—> Secret of the honey
vv. 10–18 His father goes down to the woman and Samson puts on a drinking feast—>Secret of the riddle
vv. 19–20 Samson goes down to Ashkelon and kills thirty Philistines—> Climax: the power of Yahweh’s Spirit
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Reverse Order Effect to Cause
Effect: En Hakkore (InHakorA) receives its name because Samson was revived by the waters of Lehi
Judges 15:19B (ESV)
And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day.
Samson was revived by the waters of Lehi because God opened up the hallow place and the waters came out of it.
19A And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it.
God opened up the hallow place because Samson cried out
Judges 15:18B (ESV)
18“You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
Samson Cried out because he was thirsty
Judges 15:18A (ESV)
18 And he was very thirsty
Samson was thirsty because he had slain 1,000 Philistines
Judges 15:14–17 (ESV)
14B When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. 16 And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.
Samson Slew 1,000 Philistines because they had come to capture him.
Judges 15:14 (ESV)
14A When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him.
The Philestines came to take custody of Samson because the tribe of Judah had handed Samson over to the Philistines.
13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
Judah handed Samson over to the Philistines because Samson had sought refuge in the territory of Judah.
Judges 15:8–12 (ESV)
8B And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. 9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” 12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”
Samson sought refuge in Judah because the Philistines were after him
8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. 9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi.
The Philistines were after Samson because he has ruthlessly slain many of their men
Judges 15:7–8 (ESV)
7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8A And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow
Samson struck many of the Philistines because they had burned his wife and his father-in-law
Judges 15:6 (ESV)
6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
The Philistines burn Samson’s wife and father-in-law because he had burned their crops
3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” 4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.
Samson burned their crops because Samson’s father-in-law had given his wife to someone else.
1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
Samon’s Father-in-law had given his wife to someone else because Samson had returned to his father’s house without his wife after the wedding
20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
Samson returned to his Father’s house because the people of Ashkelon were after him
Judges 14:19 (ESV)
19B In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.
The people of Ashkelon were after him because he had killed 30 of their men
Judges 14:19 (ESV)
19A And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle.
Samson killed 30 men of Ashkelon because the Philistines had solved his riddle
18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”
The Philistines solved his riddle because they had “plowed with his heifer,” or consorted with his wife
Judges 14:15–17 (ESV)
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?” 16 And 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.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?” 17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people.
they had “plowed with his heifer” because she was his wife
10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, 13 but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14 And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” And in three days they could not solve the riddle. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”
She was Samson’s wife because he wanted her.
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Samson wanted the Timnite woman because…Yahweh was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines
4 His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
What little things has God taught you that you suspect He might use in your future to give you courage to do bigger things, like King David with the lions and bears having courage to fight Goliath because he knew what God could do, or like Samson could have gained confidence in God by his power over the lion?
What things that seem negative in your life might yet turn out to be from God, like in Judges 14:4?
