Do You Even Lift? Judges 16

Most of you know that I grew up in the Chicago area. You might be aware that Chicago has a nickname. It is often referred to as the Windy City. Some people assume that this is because Chicago is particularity windy. While there is certainly no shortage of wind, Chicago is far from the most blusterous city in the US.

Chicago is given that nickname for another reason. I found this on the web this week:

One of the first known instances of Chicago’s “windy city” nickname came from a New York Sun reporter named Charles A. Dana in 1893, who editorialized that the city’s politicians were “full of hot air.” Chicago and New York were in a head-to-head competition at the time to host the next World’s Fair, and Chicago’s “windbag” advocates were not shy about campaigning for their hometown in order to win. Despite Dana’s best efforts to discredit Chicago as a “windy city”, the 1893 World’s Fair was held in Illinois, not New York.

Even before the World’s Fair debate, there were other published instances of the windy city nickname. The Cincinnati Enquirer used the term in 1876 in reference to a tornado that blew through the city, while also capitalizing on the term’s double meaning to highlight local speakers who were “full of wind.”

This nickname has proven to be an accurate one over the years. There have been no shortage of politicians full of hot air, no shortage of those who are able to use their speech to spin the fact of any event to somehow benefit them, to somehow bend things so that they are looked upon in their most favorable light.

In many ways, as we have moved through the book of Judges, I have gotten the feeling that a similar thing has taken place with many of the characters of this book. When the book of judges is taught in most Sunday Schools or to children, the characters are often sanitized and the stories spun so that the characters of the book become giants and heroes of the faith. The truth is that there are what would seem to be embarrassing details in the text, but in order to avoid those we shine the spotlight elsewhere so as to not feel the weight of what is happening.

As a result, we are often told “be like Gideon in this way or that” or “Just like Ehud overcame his hurdles, so you must be creative in overcoming yours”

We resort to moralizing or allegorizing the text in an attempt to deal with the difficult material that is in front of us.

These approaches often overlook what the original author and the Holy Spirit intended you to see when you read through the book of Judges.

Often we are embarrassed with what we see, and in the book of judges, that’s exactly the point. Judges is an embarrassing book for God’s people. The only people on earth who had the written word of God were the Israelites. They were the only people with whom God had entered into a Covenant to make them his own possession.

And yet, failure to teach what God has said to their children, or failure to embrace what their parents were taught, or some sad combination led to generational decay and the people began to look more and more like the Canaanite world around them instead of being the holy people they were called to be.

We see the not just the cycle of the judges, but the downward spiral as the people not merely drifted from God and His word, but ran headlong toward the false idols of the world.

God delivered the people into the hands of their enemies to show them their need for Him, and time and time again they would dry out for help, and God would raise up a judge, a deliverer, to rescue the people. But as the people grew more corrupt, even the judges did not escape the downward trend and they too became more and more like the Canaanite leaders rather than those chosen by God. Even these judges are insufficient to lead the people.

So round and round the cycle goes. From Safety, to sin, to suffering, to supplication, to salvation, to safety, and back round to sin once again.

As we’ve moved through this book, we have discussed time and time again how the author wants us to come face to face with our own depravity. This is where the human heart leads us. Left to our own devices we only run from the very God who made us, chose us, saves us, loves us, and cares for us.

We’ve seen how we are insufficient saviors of ourselves, and we need a savior, we need THE savior, and this book drives us to the need for Jesus Christ.

That continues to be true with the life of Samson. Another man that we often make out to be a hero, when in reality he is a man of many weaknesses.

This week I was reading a commentary that interacted with the Jewish Talmud and other rabbinic writings. Time and time again those writings were seeking to soften different aspects of Samson’s life and explain away the troubling details.

But Samson’s life is anything but clean. He is a man guided by his own desires. He insisted up marrying a philistine woman because she was “right in his eyes”

He neglected and broke his Nazarite vow on several occasions to satisfy his own physical hunger at one point and to achieve personal revenge at another.

Rather than seeking to fight for the sake of his people as other judges have done, Samson fights when he is seeking to settle his own personal vendettas.

At every turn, Samson is a man looking out for his own interests rather than the interests of others, which is the exact opposite of what the people of God are called to do.

As we continue and wrap up his story, we will sadly see more of the same.

As we introduced the story of Samson, we noted how his life revolves around his relationships with key women in his life. First was his mother, the second was his Philistine wife, today we see a brief incident with a philistine prostitute, and finally, the infamous Delilah.

Samson is a man who is self directed. We often laud him for his strength, but in reality he is weak. His self-directed life ultimately ends up being his own undoing. What we will see today are three more areas of weakness in the life of Samson, and yet God’s working in the midst of it.

We are going to examine the end of Samson's life under three major headings. First, Samson’s Weakness in self temptation, second, his weakness in self betrayal, and third, his weakness in self destruction.

First, let’s see Samson’s Weakness in self temptation

Samson’s Weakness in Self-Temptation

Judges 16:1–3 ESV

1 Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. 2 The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” 3 But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

First we see once again that Samson is a man driven by his own lusts and desires. He goes to Gaza, though his reason for this trip is unknown. Gaza is deep into Philistine territory. Samson seems to be a man who is always after a fight, so its possible that he was seeking out a confrontation with the Philistines.

Whatever the case, Samson finds himself in a compromising situation. He did not have to be there. He did not have to tempted by the prostitute. Be he is a man who is not guided by the Word of God but rather his own way, so he leads himself into temptation and commits an egregious sin.

How often do we lead ourselves into temptation. Be it sexual or otherwise. Devices with unbridled internet access can easily lead to inappropriate behavior, watching too much of the news can enrage us or depress us, spending too much time on social media can feed our arrogance or our feelings of inadequacy. Are we walking into Gaza with no plan to keep our feet from walking in to sin, no plan to prevent our thumbs from scrolling or typing that which is sinful?

In the case of Samson, the people of Gaza laid a trap for him, but God was gracious in giving him strength to escape the city unharmed.

We must not interpret this as tacit approval of Samson’s actions. God wasn’t finished with Samson, but that does not mean he gets a pass for his behavior.

The narrator quickly pivots to the next story. It seems as though he interested in two things: demonstrate Samson’s physical strength....but also his spiritual weakness.

For next we see

Samson’s Weakness in Self-Betrayal

Let’s read on

Judges 16:4–6 ESV

Once again Samson is drawn in by foreign women. Some have speculated that she also was a prostitute. That’s a possibility, but the text doesn’t say it explicitly. The text also doesn’t specify that she was a philistine, but that is inferred by the location and dealings with the Philistine lords.

The lords of the Philistines use Delilah to seek out what is the source of Samson’s strength. They’ve been embarrassed by him too many times and know that they need to find the source. This leads to several rounds of Delilah wearing down Samson as she seeks out the information.

Judges 16:4–22 ESV

4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.” 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.” 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” 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.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread. 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.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web. 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.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 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. 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Samson’s Weakness in Self-Destruction

Judges 16:23–31 ESV

23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 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. 31 Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

James 1:13–15 ESV

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

What about the hall of faith?

Hebrews 11:32–34 ESV

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Conclusion

So often we tell the story of Samson and we act like he is a hero! Look how strong he is! Look what God did for him! Maybe you can be a Samson too!

Having gone trough this text perhaps we would be wise to consider that a warning rather than a wish.