Judges 13-16

Introduction

We last heard about Jepthah in chapter 11.

Judges 11:30–31 “30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

Yahweh delivers the Ammonites up to Jepthah and when he gets back home his daughter is the first thing he sees come through his door to meet him

His daughter goes and mourns the fact she will die as a virgin Judges 11:39 “39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,”

It was a foolish vow made by Jepthah out of zeal for the Lord

Chapter 12

Judges 12:1 “1 And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire.”

Judges 12:2–3 “2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3 And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me?”

Jepthah led his men and they not only defeated Ephraim but captured the crossings of the Jordan river.

When any of the fugitives of Ephraim wanted to cross, the men from Gilead would have them say “Shibboleth” and since they could only pronounce it “Sibboleth” they knew it was a fugitive and would grab him and kill him.

So the Ephraimites are reduced from a prideful, arrogant threat to 42,000 of them being killed.

The rest of Chapter 12 tells us about Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon who judge Israel after Jepthah had for 6 years and dies.

Chapters 13-16

To this point in the book we’ve read about 11 judges given by God to deliver Israel.

Chapters 13-16 gives us the story of Samson, the last judge given by name in the book of Judges

Again as I studied I thought back on the Sunday School or Vacation Bible School lessons we may have gotten as kids and the more I learn about God’s grace, the more I see how much in need of it I am!

I encourage everyone to listen to these 4 chapters all the way through multiple times. It amazes me the more I listen the little things I pick up on. I’m now convinced every man needs to learn Samson’s story and what we can take away from his wins and losses.

But as good as they are, I promise I’m not going to read and teach through all 124 verses this morning!

Chapter 13

Judges 12:15 “15 And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.”

Judges 13:1 “1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.”

We see the beginning of the same pattern: Sin to Slavery

Judges 13:2–5 “2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Here we see the first difference: the angel of the LORD appears foretelling Israels Salvation even without them making Supplication

How much mercy does Yahweh God show that He was going to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines without them even crying out to Him this time as they had in all the times past

But Israel’s situation was worse than them just not crying out to Yahweh for Him to deliver them as we’ll learn a bit later.

The rest of Chapter 13 tells us about Manoah’s wife telling him about the visit from the angel of the LORD and Manoah prays for another visit: Judges 13:8 “8 Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.”

Every human being born to a godly mother and father who loves them and teaches then in the ways of God has been given a blessing they ought to thank God every day for!

And it’s here that the conviction started.

I can honestly say before both my kids were born I prayed that God would watch over them and most of all save them. I prayed God would use them in some way for His glory and His kingdom.

But did I pray that God would show me and lead me every day in how to raise them? Have I repented for the all the times I didn’t pay attention to Him when He did? Every one of us with a child ought to start every day thanking Yahweh God of heaven and earth for saving us, giving us another day to honor Him and then asking Him to “show us what we shall do unto the child that has been born”!

Yahweh answers Manoah’s prayer and when he hears the same message he ends up making a thanksgiving offering to Yahweh Judges 13:19–20 “19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.”

Judges 13:21–23 “21 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. 23 But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.”

Manoah was right! Yahweh tells Moses: Exodus 33:20 “20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” When Manoah realized who he had talked to (I think a preincarnate Jesus as a Christophony) he saw his own sin and nature and knew what we should know and have lost today. A holy fear of God. When faced with the holiness of who He is, we should fear for our lives because of the sin in every one of our hearts!

but his wife was right too! Thank God that though we deserve death, this picture is of God’s grace! We all deserve hell, but by His grace, He has shown those of us that are saved who He is and drawn us to Him to be one of His children! And on top of that has shown who He is in His word, that any that are lost that see Him, may come to him and be saved!

Chapter 14

Judges 14:1–3 “1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.”

Judges 14 tells how Samson, despite his parents’ objections, pursued a Philistine woman as his wife “for she pleaseth me well”. Having been brought up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, Samson was willing to break the covenant of Yahweh to not marry any of the women of the land just because she was hot!

For any unmarried or younger guys, there’s more lessons here than we have time to teach! its the reason the bible says Deuteronomy 7:3 “3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.”

And for all ages 2 Corinthians 6:14–15 “14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

For all the bad choices Samson makes continually throughout his life; his choices still line up with God’s will!

Judges 14:4 “4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.”

This is the providence of God using people and their choices as the means to His ends

Samson, empowered by the Spirit of the LORD, goes on to kill a lion bare-handed, later find honey in the lion’s carcass, pose a riddle to the Philistines at his wedding feast, and when they get the answer by threatening his wife, kills thirty Philistines to pay his debt before returning to his father’s house.

Chapter 15

Judges 15 describes how Samson, after finding his wife given to another man, caught three hundred foxes, tied torches to their tails, and set the Philistines’ fields ablaze, which led to the Philistines burning his wife and father-in-law, prompting Samson to attack them “hip and thigh,”

It’s after that we see the more concerning thing about Israel I mentioned before:

Judges 15:10–13 “10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. 11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. 13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.”

Israel had not only not cried out for God to deliver them, they had grown comfortable, even liking and wanting to keep being slaves of the Philistines.

See, the Philistines didn’t do like the other nations and come in and kill and oppress Israel. The Philistines were craftier than that. They came in and made Israel experience all the pleasures of the food and the games, and all the rest of the things pagan society has to offer the flesh. Then they encouraged the intermarriage of their sons and daughters to the sons and daughters of Israel. Before long, Israel is here, mad at Samson for killing the Philistines and risking their comfort and pleasure

Sadly I have to guard my own heart about this. I have to in all kinds of ways, but you do too. I can prove it!

Restaurants used to be closed on Sunday to honor the day of rest and worshipping the God of the bible. I think they still should be! I know the little voices that start popping in my head. I can give another…

We have to work to be able to afford all the things God has blessed us with being able to buy, now our pagan owned employer is going to require us to sign a statement saying we embrace and honor so called marriage between men and men and women and women and if we don’t, we give up employment.

And on and on it goes

Chapter 16

Judges 16:1 “1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.”

His ability to have discipline over his flesh and to make good choices continue

Here we see Samson’s downfall through his relationship with Delilah, who betrayed him by discovering the secret of his strength was his uncut hair, leading to his capture by the Philistines who blinded him and made him grind grain in prison

Samson, like Israel, who had lived his life always doing what seemed right in his own eyes. now had no eyes!

He grinds until his hair grows back at some time the Philistines’ brought him forth to make fun of him and provide entertainment for all the people at one of their city spectacles

It’s there the Samson story comes to an end:

Judges 16:26–30 “26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. 28 And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.”

Conclusion

There’s a bunch we can learn from Samson and we all need to study his life and poor choices more. Just one of them is our need for self discipline

Proverbs 25:28 “28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”

Samson’s sinful passions from his lust to his temper ruled and in the end cost his life

But thank God there’s hope for us! Even with Samson as wretched as he could act was used by God. So much so that he’s mentioned in the hall of faith:

Hebrews 11:32–34 “32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

Samson is a picture of a partial savior. A crooked stick that God drew straight lines with. A broken man, subject to his passions, that in mercy and grace God used to deliver Israel in part.

Jesus Christ is the complete Savior John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That God gave John 3:17 “17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” that all who believe in Jesus by grace and faith, will be delivered in whole and worship Him for the rest of time!

Addendum:

didn’t know it was of God Chapter 14:4

Samson is the last of the 13 (Deborah) dozen Judges God raised up to deliver Israel

Apologia Church Zachary Conover Rule Thyself Proverbs 16:32.

Proverbs 25:28 Self Control definition: we will