Set Apart (Samson) - Judges 13

ãCopyright July 8, 2018 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

In our study of the book of Judges we now come to the most famous Judge: Samson. His story has been featured in numerous movies over the years. There are epic stories of Samson's time as a Judge but before we can really appreciate Samson (with all his faults) there is a back story that we will look at this morning which I believe will place Samson in a very different light from what you may be used to.

The story of Samson is found in Judges 13-16. He occupies a central place in the book. We are going to take several weeks to look at this unique Judge.

In the time of Samson, the Philistines take center stage as the nemesis of Israel. The Philistines lived to the west of Israel, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Today much of this land is occupied by Israel with part of the Philistine territory being what today is called the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian residence.

The Philistines had learned how to produce and work with Iron. This gave them a huge military advantage. However, for the most part they controlled Israel by trade and by intermarriage. Every time an Israelite wanted an iron tool or plow they had to get it from the Philistines. So, there was a sense in which Israel wanted to remain on good terms with the Philistines because they needed them as a trade partner.

1 Samuel many years after Samson we still read,

There were no blacksmiths in the land of Israel in those days. The Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear they would make swords and spears for the Hebrews. 20So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, picks, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith. (1 Samuel 13:19-20)

The other way the Philistines controlled Israel was through inter-marriage. When an Israelite wanted to marry a Philistine woman they were happy to oblige. Each time such a marriage took place, Israel compromised just a little bit more. Their faith accommodated the faith of their wife and was one more step away from the Lord.

Unlike the other times Israel was oppressed, there was no outcry this time. Israel had been under the power of the Philistines for 40 years and no one seemed to care! Perhaps they had grown accustomed to this way of life. They were quite content. All the other Judges were able to rally an army. Samson was called to fight alone. Samson is an enigma. He is confusing. We have a hard time knowing whether he was a 'good guy' or a 'bad guy.' He was a womanizer, he was demanding and self-centered, and always seemed to be taking revenge on someone. We'll get to all those things

This morning we look at the birth of Samson. He was specially chosen by God.

The Birth Announcement

2In those days a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they had no children. 3The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and said, “Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4So be careful; you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. 5You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.”

If you are familiar with the Bible you may be familiar with the birth of Isaac, Samuel, John the Baptist and even Jesus. Each time God brought about an unexpected pregnancy. With the exception of Jesus, the other births were to women who believed they could not and would not have children.

What makes this so unique is the instruction given to Manoah's wife (we aren't even told her name!) This child, Samson was to be a Nazarite. The word in Hebrew means to separate or set apart. A Nazarite was someone who dedicated or separated themselves to the Lord in a special way. Numbers 6 gives us details on the Nazarite Vow. This was a vow that was:

Voluntary. It was a commitment to the Lord motivated by love and faith.

It was a period of separation or devotion to the Lord. It was about giving up things (like many do at Lent) to show devotion to the Lord.

It was a symbolic vow. As part of the vow the person

abstained from wine and other fermented drink (6:3)

they did not cut their hair (v.5)

they avoided any contact with a dead body

It was generally temporary.

Samson was to be a Nazarite (separated for God) for his entire life. And not only that, it was to begin from the moment of his conception because his mom was also told not to drink wine or forbidden food.

When Samson's mother told her husband Manoah, about the visitor he seemed a little put out that the angel didn't come and talk to him! So, he asked the angel to return. God granted Manoah's request. The Angel came back and appeared to Samson's mom once again and not Manoah. This time she went and got her husband and brought him to the angel. Manoah asked,

12“When your words come true, what kind of rules should govern the boy’s life and work?”

13The angel of the Lord replied, “Be sure your wife follows the instructions I gave her. 14She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food.”

Manoah wanted more information. He wants things explained more fully. The Angel told Manoah the same thing that he told his wife. One writer suggested our problem is we always want more information than we need. God has given all the information we need for now. When we need more information, He will provide it.

Manoah invited the Angel to stay for dinner (do you remember when Gideon did the same thing?),

16“I will stay,” the angel of the Lord replied, “but I will not eat anything. However, you may prepare a burnt offering as a sacrifice to the Lord.” (Manoah didn’t realize it was the angel of the Lord.)

17Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you.”

18“Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too wonderful for you to understand.”

There are theories as to why Manoah asked for the name of the man before him. I won't bore you with the theories. Manoah wanted to honor the messenger rather than honor the Lord.

He presented a sacrifice on the altar and as the flames shot up in the air the angel ascended in the fire! This act opened the eyes of Manoah and he then realized it was an angel of the Lord. This immediately made him fear for his life because every Israelite knew no one could see God and live. His majesty and power would consume them. Fortunately, Mrs. Manoah was thinking logically. She said, "if he was going to kill us, he certainly wouldn't have accepted our offering and told us we are going to have a baby!

Here's the thing we need to see: Samson was set apart by God from the very beginning. His ministry was going to be different from the other Judges. God raised up Samson solely out of His mercy and His grace. Samson was alone. It appears the people weren't all that interested in rocking the boat with the Philistines. In fact, at times, they seemed to want Samson to just go away!"

Samson's parents followed the instructions given to them. We don't anything about Samson as a child. We will see in the weeks to come that Samson actually seems to be somewhat apathetic about his Nazarite status. He traveled in several vineyards, was constantly dealing with dead bodies and in the end, he even let Delilah cut his hair.

Before we look at these stories and the questions they raise, it is important that we stop and ask why so much time was given to this account of the birth of Samson? I believe there is something here we need to see and pay attention to. In a very real sense, Samson is called to be separated from others as a Nazarite. Israel was also called to be holy (set apart) to the Lord. For that matter, Christians are called to be holy (or perfect) as God is perfect. Samson was apathetic, as was Israel, and perhaps as so many Christians.

The Importance of Separation

Let me suggest a few lessons right here at the beginning of Samson's life. First, like Manoah, we need to learn God doesn't answer to us. Manoah wants more information. God doesn't have to explain anything! We are told to trust what we DO know and see about God.

As parents, we sometimes have to make hard choices and say some unpopular things. We do this not because we are mean (I hope), we say these things because we see things differently than our children do. They see what is right before them, we can better see the repercussions of the decisions that are being made. There are times we make decisions our children will not like or understand.

Inevitably our child gets upset and they will say over and over "Why?" And eventually, as a parent, you will say those words you vowed you would never say: "Because I said so." It sounds like we are flexing our muscle. However, the truth is we are saying to our children: "Trust my position; trust my love; Hang on to the fact that you know I will never do something to hurt you even if I may do things that make you mad in the present."

I am sure you have questions about life. I have questions. There are things I would like to know and understand about the circumstances of life. Why do things happen as they do? Why doesn't God intervene to "fix things?" This passage reminds us God gives us the information we need and can handle right now. For now, He asks us to trust who He is.

Second, We are called to be set apart from the rest of the world. God calls us to live holy lives before the watching world

The Lord had told Israel,

You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. (Leviticus 20:26)

Paul says the same command now applies to believers.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

The Lord calls followers of Christ to stand apart from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the Christian community seems to be trying to follow the world rather than stand as an example of what the world can be.

Divorces and the number of people living together apart from marriage are about the same in the church as in the rest of the world.

Abuse cases in the church are alarming in their frequency.

There is a push for churches to be successful and build bigger and bigger "corporations" or "Megachurches" as a way of appealing to the world by our success or "branding".

Christians are just as materialistic as those who live in the world.

There are as many Christians living together and ignoring God's commands about sexual purity as those who are not believers.

The church is much more likely to try to fight the ways of the world with power (lobbying groups, protests) than with prayer.

In pulpits, talk about sin, rebellion, repentance, holiness, and idolatry is replaced with talks about self-esteem, acceptance and having a "can do" attitude. In other words, we have turned the spotlight to exalting self rather than the Lord.

Pastor Kevin DeYoung in his book, "The Hole in Our Holiness" writes,

Our thinking and behavior have been deeply contaminated by the relativism, individualism, and pluralism of our time. The irony is that at the very same time as attendance at evangelical churches is growing, our morality is plummeting. (Loc. 3850)

Rather than moving away from the sinful worldly culture, the church, in general, seems to be moving away from the pursuit of godliness or holiness; We hear little about repentance for sin. Instead, we make excuses for mistakes. We celebrate God's grace extended to us, but we don't embrace the change that God desires to make in our life. We want Him to save us but we want Him to save us so we can go back to living just the way we used to live! It is like asking someone to pay off the deep credit card debt that has you tied up in knots and on the brink of foreclosure, so you can put more stuff on your credit card!

Do you know what this sounds like? It sounds just like the book of Judges! The Israelites cried out to the Lord and asked Him to save them. Once He extended His grace and rescued them they returned to doing the very same things they had been doing before. They went right back to their idols. Unfortunately, one of the things we will see with Samson is the same kind of apathy toward his call

DeYoung also writes,

Some pollsters and pundits look at the worldliness of the church and conclude that being born again doesn’t make a difference in how people live. We should come to the opposite conclusion; namely, that many churchgoers are not truly born again. As A. W. Tozer put it, “Plain horse sense ought to tell us that anything that makes no change in the man who professes it, makes no difference to God either, and it is an easily observable fact that for countless numbers of persons, the change from no-faith to faith makes no actual difference in the life.”[1]

We are great at looking at what Christ has saved us FROM . . . but we forget that He has saved us TO something. He has broken the POWER of sin in our life so we can live to something better than the selfish pursuit of indulgence and pleasure. He has called us to turn our focus to His purpose for our lives. Instead of being devoted to ourselves He calls us to be devoted to Him! I think this involves,

Living to advance God's kingdom rather than trying to build our own kingdom

Choosing the values of the Bible rather than the values of the pollsters

Being involved with others without feeling the need to copy their behaviors

Making decisions to put God's priorities first even if it means turning down opportunities to advance, make more money, or even to play on a better team.

Learning to seek God in prayer and His Word with passion rather than just a sense of duty.

As we study the account of Samson we will see a man who was called by God to confront the Philistines. He will do that and have remarkable victories. But we will also see a man who was called to a devoted and holy life who tossed it aside to indulge the temporary pleasures of the world.

It is my hope that we will not merely find the accounts engaging. I hope we will find them convicting, challenging us to live a life that is more fully devoted to the Lord. If Christians do not step out from the crowd two things will happen (and may already be beginning). The church will become irrelevant to the world because it will be no different from any other organization. And the members of the church will be just as uncommitted as they are to everything else. And we will be in a position to face the discipline of God. And second, it will face some sort of discipline from God. I don't know what form such discipline will take, but, I know it will not be pleasant.

As the story goes, Dwight Moody was motivated in life by these words, "The world has yet to see what God can do through one person who is completely and fully devoted to Him." I wonder what would happen if we all took that challenge personally?

[1] DeYoung, Kevin. The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness (p. 18). Crossway. Kindle Edition.