The Story of Samson
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
This is the same picture
We’re supposed to be different
Our difference is for a purpose
That’s the problem with Samson
Integrated
Integrated
1 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.
Different pattern - they don’t cry out to God
Given up?
Integrated?
Born Different
Born Different
But thinks must not have been that great since God determines to raise up a Judge to save Israel from the Philistines.
So he raises a Judge up in a way very different form all the ones before him.
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Called from birth
Nazirite
No wine or strong drink
2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried.
Nothing unclean
6 “All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. 7 Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head.
No cutting his hair
5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
When Samson is born:
24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Same As Eve
Same As Eve
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.”
Samson wants a forbidden wife
But Samson likes what he sees
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 is always liking what he sees
1 Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.
Israel
Israel
It’s what all of Israel eventually begins to do.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
It’s the same sin that Eve committed back in Genesis 3:6
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Becoming the Same
Becoming the Same
We become the things we see
German psychiatrists studied how cases of Tourette's syndrome were suddenly increasing, but when looked at closer it was found they didn’t have Tourette's at all. They just all watched the same YouTuber who did have Tourette’s and began to imitate him, thinking they had the same disorder.
Multiple-personality-disorders are pretty rare - except on TikTok where an influx of multiple-personality-disordered creators are influencing these people to believe that they have it as well.
Samson and the Vineyard
Samson and the Vineyard
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah.
What’s Samson doing in a vineyard?
10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.
First aspect of the Nazirite vow is undone
Samson and the Unclean
Samson and the Unclean
Samson has had a run in with a lion:
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
8 After 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. 9 He 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.
From this event Samson puts forward a riddle to his wedding guests
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.
They get Samson’s wife to manipulate him and solve the riddle.
19 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. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.
Two parts of Samson’s Nazirite vow are done away
He’s drinking and enjoying the vineyard
He has no issue with the unclean or the dead
Samson and Delilah
Samson and Delilah
Samson’s third woman:
4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Lilah mean ‘night’ in Hebrew
Delilah, like Samson’s first wife, is told to ply Samson for information - what makes him so strong?
7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
11 And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
If Samson loses his hair he becomes weak - he becomes like any other man.
But was it really his strength that made him different?
By having his head shaved he’s lost the last distinction of his Nazirite vow - everything that made him different - everything that made him holy.
19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
The one who did everything right in his own eyes has had his eyes taken away from him. The lights have gone out for the Man of the Sun.
How the Story Ends
How the Story Ends
Samson is thrown into prison and only brought out so that the Philistines can torment him and mock the one who had killed so many of them.
On one such occasion:
27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained. 28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.
Samson is the only Judge to die, and he’s the last judge of Israel.
The rest of the story is only a further downward spiral for God’s people
Application
Application
Your holiness to God is what makes you different
Samson only did these great things when the Spirit rushed upon him
Don’t let the unholy rob you of your holiness
They’re not on our side
Samson gave in after being vexed to death day after day
They will chip away at your holiness until one day you wake up living like every other man
