Sermon Dan
Neary
Unlikely Hero: Samson
·
Friendship Registers
·
Orphanage Giving
·
Coming Sundays
We
come to Samson – this 7th sermon in our series on Judges.
The final “judge” we will learn
from in the series.
As a parent, aren’t there some
words that you get tired of hearing from your kids? Can you think of some?
·
Mine
·
No
·
Whatever
·
Uh huh
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Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. [1]
And again we see the cycle
continue with the people of
It is interesting to notice what
is not in this passage as we get into the account of this last Judge Samson. Do
you see it? There is no account of the people of
Nevertheless,
God finds a faithful family and makes another attempt to demonstrate his power
and care for his people.
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah,
from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained
childless. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are
sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. 4
Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that
you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will
conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the
boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the
deliverance of
The messenger of the Lord, who
Manoah and his wife would later claim to be God himself, was there to announce
Samson.
Samson
·
Born
at Zorah in the region of Dan, on the border between
o
The Philistines occupied the area
along the
o
It seems that this area has been a
source of difficulty for
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Best known for his miraculous
strength, by which he harassed the Philistines, and his long hair
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Set apart to God as a Nazirite… a
special vow of devotion to God.
o
Sometimes this Nazirite vow was
taken for a short time
o
For Samson this was to be a life
long vow
Even
in these times when the average American is Biblically illiterate… most people
know about Samson… and that magic hair.
I didn’t come to faith until I was
20… but it seams like I always knew about Samson. I might not have even known
it was a Bible story. Maybe I had him confused in my mind with Hercules… but I
knew Samson… and Delilah… and the hair.
We
have a photo of Samson…
We laugh… but sometimes the images
that linger in our mind of these Bible stories seem just as unrealistic as the
WWF Saturday Night Smack-Down. We think of Samson, on the mat, just about to go
down for the count… and then at that last minute he pulls off a stunning
victory.
I think Samson’s final feat, that
which Jen read earlier, where Samson pushed down the pillars and leveled the
Philistine’s leadership along with their temple, is the feat that stands out
most in our mind. As I worked through these 4 chapters that contain Samson’s
story, I isolated 8 miraculous feats.
A walk through these eight feats
will help refresh our memory regarding Samson.
The
first was the slaying of a young lion.
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her. [3]
Samson, in pursuit of his
Philistine wife, happens upon a lion.
It appears that God had plan in
Samson’s pursuit… so the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he made quick
work of the lion.
The very same lion comes into play
later in the story. Samson, in a setting akin to a wedding party, poses a
riddle to his new in-laws.
“Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.” [4]
The answer had everything to do
with this lion… when he passed by the place where he killed the lion, he found
that the carcass was now full of bees and honey. He scooped out the honey, ate
it, and shared it with his parents.
Beyond that being just a bit
gross… it demonstrates how little regard Samson had for his Nazirite vow… which
had strict prohibitions about being anywhere near a dead body… let alone eating
from it.
It seems that he meant it to be
used to swindle his in-laws out of some of their fine clothes. In a pattern
that we will see emerging in Samson’s life, he deals with the woman in his life
foolishly. She coaxed the answer from him… then betrayed him to her kin… and
Samson, upon loosing the wager, now owed the prize.
This
brings us to the second feat…
Thirty Philistines fall so the
Samson can pay his gambling debt.
Doesn’t this sound sort of
sinister?
But it seems like this was part of
God’s plan to deliver his people from the rule of the Philistines.
While Samson is killing and
pillaging… his new father-in-law gives Samson’s bride away to another.
When Samson finds out what has
happened… he goes mental.
Bringing
us to #3
3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves. [5]
This leads to the Philistines
taking revenge for the loss of their crops by murdering Samson’s wife and her
father… which leads to Samson slaughtering a great number of Philistines.
And
on it goes… bringing us to #4
14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
16 Then
Samson said,
“With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. a
With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.”[6]
Note the context here… Samson was
under arrest by 3,000 of his own countrymen. Fearing for the punishment the
Philistines’ would bring upon them, 3,000 men of
After
the battle, the Lord brings refreshment to Samson… miracle number 5.
Bringing us to the last verse of
chapter 15:
20 Samson led d
His great exploits against the
Philistines earned Samson both the
·
Accolades of his countrymen (they
followed him as judge and leader), and
·
Fear of the Philistines
Like I said before, Samson
demonstrated a pattern of stupid behavior when it came to his dealings with the
opposite sex
The
circumstances of #6 in our list show just how deep Samson’s moral decay
descended. In this scene Samson is back in the heart of the Philistine territory
with a harlot. When the Philistines thought they would catch him, he
demonstrated that God’s gifts don’t always accompany God’s blessing. Regardless
of the despicable circumstance, Samson displayed supernatural strength in his
escape from the Philistines.
Nearing
the end of our list we come to #7.
I’m stretching a bit to include
this scene in the miraculous feats. Samson finds himself enchanted with this
woman Delilah (there is some speculation that Delilah is herself the harlot in
But there is, of course, that
fourth time.
This time Samson tells Delilah
that the secret to his strength is his hair… his long hair that was never cut
because of his Nazirite vow.
16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. d And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines
seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to
Finally
we come to this last miraculous feat.
The Philistines were elated! They
had defeated this Samson who was liberating the Israelites that they formerly
easily plowed through. They were now humiliating the one who had humiliated
them time and again.
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord , “O Sovereign Lord , remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived. [9]
So there it is… a quick synopsis
of the story.
And
now I’ll ask what I’ve asked before…
So What?
·
Never trust a Philistine woman?
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A bad hair cut really
can ruin everything?
What
about the hair?... The magic hair.
Is it at all curious to you that the
first mention of the causality between Samson’s strength and Samson’s hair
doesn’t come to the very end of the story.
Do you really think that Samson
thought that his strength would leave him if his head was shaved? Samson knew
that Delilah would betray him again… her past performance made it an absolute
certainty. It wasn’t the hair.
I think Samson figured that he
could live, and act, however he wanted. That he had supernatural strength and
could defeat any number of Philistines, whenever he wanted, at will. Hair or no
hair.
Samson was right… it wasn’t the
hair.
It was what the hair represented.
The hair reminded Samson of his Nazirite vow… a vow of devotion to God. We see
it in these pages over and over again, Samson’s strength was due to the Spirit
of the Lord.
Samson was defeated when he finally
demonstrated no regard for the Lord. Samson was so far removed from the
intention of his Nazirite vow, which the Scripture says he did could not even
tell that the Lord had departed from him.
It ought to cause us to ask
questions about our own “hair.”
Not our hair… but the things we
do, the vows we take, the rituals we perform.
These kinds of things are all
around us.
Many of you have an example right
in your pocket…
Take out a one dollar bill and on
the back you’ll find the simple words
“In God We Trust.”
We know what that means… we have a
keen sense of what that meant to those who founded this great nation.
But just as Samson forgot his vow…
there’s evidence all around us that we, as a country, have such little regard
for the God who, I believe, made our country great.
Our Supreme Court has to decide if our pledge should include “One Nation, Under
God?”
We could go on and on about our
country… but what of our personal vows and rituals?
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Do we ever think that our work, or
giving, will earn God’s favor?
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Do we fully engage our hearts and
minds with every opportunity to reaffirm our devotion to God?
o Communion
o Prayer
o Worship
Do
we have it clearly in focus that we are just like Samson?
Our strength, for this life or the
next, is certainly not ours.
And it is not contained in any vow
or ritual or observance or service we perform.
Our strength comes from the Spirit
of the Lord.
Are any of us like Samson today…
in that we don’t have any real sense that the Lord is with us… or not? If that
is you, today, then draw near to God through Jesus Christ our Savior.