Lessons in the Life of Samson

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Could you do that? What is the heaviest thing you have ever lifted?

One time my dad was mowing here at the church and got the huge lawn mower stuck in the ditch at the road and before anyone could pull it out my brother lifted that mower out of the ditch. Thousands of pounds. In High School!

In Scripture, there is another man who was massively strong. A Judge from the book of Judges that we talked about last week. Anyone know who I am talking about?

Samson! Tonight, we are going to look at Samson’s life and gain some life principles to carry with us.

Meet Samson!

Despite God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel, they became unfaithful to Him. In punishment, God would let Israel fall under the dominion of an oppressor. When life under the oppressors became intolerable, Israel would cry out to God for help. God would then send strong leaders (called judges) to lead them against their oppressors and experience renewed freedom. This cycle occurred repeatedly in the book of Judges, allowing us to meet characters like Othniel, Gideon, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, and Barak. Judges 13 introduces us to Samson who would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines

• How does today’s culture remind you of Israel in the time of the judges?

Key Events and Life Lessons from Samson’s Life

God Gifted Samson for a Purpose

During a 40 year period of oppression by the Palestinians, a man named Manoah and his barren wife got two visits from an angel of the Lord telling them they would have a child but that the child would have to follow certain restrictions with his life. He would take a vow called the Nazarite Vow. Anyone know what that means?

Someone who takes a Nazarite Vow promises to abstain from three important things primarily: cutting his hair, drinking alcohol, and touching dead bodies!

The angel of God confirmed that the child would be significant and powerful things took place during these visits to prove that very thing such as when Samson’s parents made an offering to the Lord, the angel ignited the offering and rose up in the flames!

There was an unmistakable movement of God’s power on this boy. He was sent by God for a great purpose in Israel.

Life Lesson One: God Has a Purpose for Every Life

God gifted Samson to deliver His people from the Philistines. His parents were to prepare him to serve God. Find the purpose God has for you and use the gifts He has given you to serve Him.

God had a purpose for Samson’s life. What general purposes does God have for all believers? (Follow the commands of God’s Word.) What special purpose does He have for you?

How can young people discover God’s purpose for them?

God Uses Samson’s Ruined Marriage to Engage the Philistines

In chapter 14, Samson’s story picks up with him as a young adult. He found a Philistine woman who stirred his affections and insisted that his parents arrange a marriage. God’s law clearly forbade marrying the pagan women of the land. Manoah and his wife pleaded with Samson to find an Israelite wife, but Samson was insistent. Little did his parents know that God would use Samson’s actions to deal with the Philistines. This does not mean Samson’s desire for ungodly women was right but indicates the providential hand of God orchestrating His will despite Samson’s sinful demands. From this forbidden relationship came a series of events that shaped Samson’s work as a judge for Israel.

Life Lesson Two: God is at work to accomplish His purposes even when we do not recognize it.

Trust that God is always working to make us more like Christ and to accomplish His purposes.

What should we do if we feel like God is silent and not at work in our situation?

While traveling to see his Philistine fiancée, Samson was attacked by a lion. God’s Spirit moved powerfully on Samson, supplying him with superhuman strength that overpowered and killed the lion. This was the first recorded event of God’s equipping Samson with super strength.

Samson begins breaking his Nazarite vow.

Sometime later as he made his way to see his Philistine fiancée, Samson passed the spot where the lion had attacked him. Inside the rotting carcass of the lion some bees had established their hive and were producing honey. Intrigued, Samson investigated, then ate some of the honey. Touching something dead was a violation of his Nazirite vow

After this, it was time for his wedding. At his wedding and afterward, things just went wrong. He told everyone a riddle about the dead lion and asked if they could figure it out, they could not, so they manipulated his fiance to find the answer. Once Samson found out what they had done, he flipped and killed 30 men! Then, his Father in Law gave his fiance away to another man so he burnt all the Philistine crops!

You could say Samson had some anger issues…

After this, Samson was handed over to the Philistines to answer for his actions and he broke free from his bonds and killed 1,000 of them with a donkey’s jaw bone!

Samson was so thirsty after this that he thought he may die of thirst, but God provided for him yet again.

He led Israel for 20 years

God uses Samson’s Capture to destroy the Philistines

Toward the end of Samson’s life, his morality had not improved. He was still making the wrong choices and not leading the way God intended for him.

He employed the services of a prostitute one night in the Philistine town of Gaza. Philistine men planned to ambush him at dawn, thinking he would be unable to leave the city until then because the gates had been shut. Samson surprised everyone by leaving in the middle of the night, ripping the city gates from their posts, carrying them to a nearby hill, and depositing them as a sign of strength and disrespect

After that night, Samson fell in love with a woman whose name was Delilah. Perceiving an opportunity, the Philistine leaders paid her to find the secret toSamson’s strength and report to them. Delilah began to flirtatiously coax Samson’s secret from him. He tried giving her false information, telling her the secret was seven bowstrings, or new ropes, or weaving his hair into the fabric of a loom. With men waiting in another room, Delilah tested the false information all three times by calling out that the Philistines were coming to capture him. Each time Samson broke free, showing her he had lied about the secret of his strength

Life Lesson Three: Sexual sin is especially harmful.

Much of Samson’s trouble came from His desire for ungodly women. Avoid sexual sin at all costs.

After this, Samson told Delilah what the secret to his strength was, his hair. Really though, the power was from God. That night, Delilah employeed men to shave his hair and he woke up without the power of God. Because he had broken every other part of the Nazarite vow in his life and now the final one of cutting his hair, the power of God was gone from his life.

Life Lesson 4: Walk with God in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Samson was humbled and defeated when the power of God’s Spirit left him. We should walk in close obedience to God and under the control of the Holy Spirit.

What does it look like to live under the control of the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit probably doesn’t give you supernatural strength, but how does He help you? (Convicts of sin; helps us overcome temptation; empowers us to live like Jesus; etc.)

Samson was easily subdued and captured. While torturing him, the Philistines gouged out his eyes as a symbol of their complete victory. Further humiliating the Israelite leader, they assigned him to grind corn like a slave or farm animal. However, the Philistines took no notice that Samson’s hair began to grow back

Life Lesson 5: Our sinful and unwise decisions cause us to miss God’s best for us, but God can still use us to accomplish His purposes.

How would you respond to someone who says he or she is beyond forgiveness and beyond God’s grace?

Is obedience a complex concept or as simple as just doing the next right thing? Explain.

Finally, in an act of humiliation, the Philistines wanted to show off Samson as a show while they worship a false God. During this, God gave him his strength one more and he pulled the entire amphitheater down by the pillars killing everyone there, around 3,000.

Samson was a classic picture of an antihero. But God achieved His purposes for His people in spite of the actions of this disappointing hero.

Life Lesson 6: God sometimes uses deeply flawed people for His greater purposes.

Even though Samson committed ungodly actions, God used him to accomplish His purposes.

In what ways did Samson demonstrate he was deeply flawed spiritually? How did God use him anyway?

Respond

Ask your students: If you could time-travel, what one bit of advice would you give to Samson? How can they apply that advice for one another?

Play Tim Hawkins “Hey There Delilah” Song