Sunday School Stories: Samson

This is the next sermon in my series on Old Testament stories. Come back next week for Noah’s Ark!

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Once again, I am continuing my sermon series on Sunday School stories- those Old Testament stories that you probably learned about in Sunday School or from children’s books, but we don’t discuss them too much anymore. You might not think that these stories are especially meaningful for your life. It’s just history after all. But Paul teaches us in 2 Timothy 3:16- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Jesus appears to His disciples

So let’s review again the rule for interpreting the Bible that comes from Jesus Himself. I’m going to keep hammering home this principle for you so that you remember it in your personal Bible reading time. Jesus appears to his disciples after his resurrection and says, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.

So as we look at the story of Samson, let’s remember that ultimately this story points us to Jesus- his life, death and resurrection. And because everything Jesus did, he did for you, this story will meaningfully impact you on a personal level as well.

Now in order to understand the story of Samson, we need to look at the book of Judges as a whole to give us some context. The book of Judges follows the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is the account of how the Israelites entered into the Promised Land and conquered it and settled in it. The book of Judges starts with the continuing conquest of Canaan. However, the Israelites failed to completely drive out all the Canaanites like God commanded them. This is a key point because very soon the Israelites would begin to worship the Canaanite gods and marry Canaanite women which was forbidden by God. The beginning of Judges also records the death of Joshua and also the passing of his generation. And it says in Judges 2:10-12: There arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them.

The Book of Judges

This begins a pattern for the book of Judges. This pattern begins with disobedience and sin by the Israelites. Over and over again in Judges it says, The people did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They rejected the true God and worshipped false gods instead and provoked the Lord to anger. The next step in the pattern is punishment. God would hand them over to their enemies. He would allow Israel to be conquered and serve those who ruled over them.

Eventually, the Israelites would cry out to the Lord in their distress. The next step in the pattern is repentance. They would realize that they were wrong and turn back to God and beg him for mercy and deliverance. God would always hear their cry of repentance, and he would raise up a judge to deliver them. Judges 2:18- Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. So the last step in the pattern was salvation through a judge that God raised up.

But this is a repeating pattern! Judges 2:19 says: But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. It would start over.Sin- punishment- repentance- salvation. That’s the book of Judges.

So let’s look at one of the judges that God raised up- Samson. Right away in chapter 13, we see the pattern starting up. 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. We’ve already got sin and punishment. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah, who was barren, and told her that she was going to conceive a son. There were special instructions for this child for he was to be set apart for God’s purposes. 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. This son was to be the next judge of Israel. God’s people had begun to cry out to the Lord, and the Lord heard their cry of repentance. And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.  And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.

Did you know that Samson was married and that it wasn’t to Delilah? Samson’s marriage, recorded in chapter 14, is actually the catalyst for the conflict that would eventually end with Samson defeating the Philistines. You see, Samson’s wife was actually a Philistine. Samson saw her and said to his father: Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes. This was usually frowned upon. Israelites were supposed to marry Israelites, but this was actually God’s plan so that Samson could deliver Israel.

Chapter 14 also records Samson’s first feat of strength. He tears apart a lion with his bare hands. How did he do it? It specifically says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson. His strength was not his own. It came from God.

For Samson’s marriage, he was given 30 Philistine companions or groomsmen. Traditionally, the groom would give them gifts. But Samson gave them a riddle and told them they had 4 days to solve it. If they solved it, he would give them new clothes. His groomsmen pressured Samson’s wife to get the answer out of Samson. So she manipulates Samson into giving her the answer which she then passes on to the groomsmen. When they tell him the answer, Samson gets angry, and again the Spirit of the Lord comes upon Samson and he kills 30 men and gives his groomsmen their clothes.

Samson goes back to his father’s house, and so his father in law gives his daughter to Samson’s best man as a wife instead. When Samson finds this out, he seeks revenge.  So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain. When the Philistines find out who did it, they kill Samson’s wife and her father. When Samson finds this out, he kills many more Philistines and goes into hiding.

In response to this, the Philistines begin raiding the Israelites. When the Israelites ask why they are doing this, the Philistines tell them it’s because of Samson. So the Israelites find Samson and ask, “Dude, what gives? Why are you bringing all this trouble on us? We’re gonna give you over to the Philistines.” Samson says, “Fine, just don’t hurt me yourselves.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.

And in this way, Samson delivered Israel from the Philistines. And he judged Israel for twenty years. That’s actually the story of Israel’s deliverance. Usually, the stories about these judges end right then with how they saved Israel. But Samson’s story continues. It continues with Delilah.

After this, Samson loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Now the Philistines no longer ruled over Israel, but they wanted revenge on Samson. They bribed Delilah to find out the secret of Samson’ strength. So she continually begs Samson to tell her. Samson toys with Delilah for a while. He tells her that he must be bound with 7 fresh bowstrings. Then he tells her that if he is tied up with new ropes that have never been used, he will lose his strength. Then he says she would have to weave his hair in a web and fasten it with a pin. All of these were lies of course which Delilah found out when she tried them out on Samson.So she says 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.”  And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 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.” Samson was fooled by his passion for Delilah and his own sense of invincibility. But remember, his strength was not his own, it came from God.

Delilah knew that Samson had told her the truth, so she let the Philistines know. Then she cut his hair while he slept, and the Lord left him because he had broken his vow as a Nazirite. The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to their own country and bound him. Later on they celebrated the fact that they had captured their enemy and even brought Samson out so that they could mock him and laugh at him.

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.”  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. 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. And that’s the end of the story of Samson.

Alright, now that we have reviewed this story, let’s start to draw some connections to our own lives and, of course, to Jesus.

You might be able to guess by now where I am headed first if you heard the other two sermons in this series. We need to start by admitting our own failures. We can best identify ourselves in this story with the people of Israel because we fall into the same pattern that they do throughout the book of Judges.

You are one of God’s chosen people. He has freed you from slavery to sin and bondage to Satan just like he brought the Israelites out of slavery to Egypt and gave them the Promised Land. You have been given God’s grace and forgiveness and mercy through Jesus.So to quote Paul in Romans 6: Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?… So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

And yet, you continue to sin daily. You continue to do evil in the sight of the Lord. You continue to reject God and turn to other gods instead. You turn to entertainment, to money, to status and power, to family, to work, and to yourself and trust in these things to give you everything that you need. All sin is a 1^st Commandment issue. You do not fear, love and trust in God above all things. You are like Paul in Romans 7 who talks about his daily inner struggle. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

You are a saint of God, and yet you continue to be a sinner. And your sin leads to punishment, just like it did for the people of Israel. Now, we can’t always know for sure that God is punishing us for specific sins. But sins do have natural consequences. If you lie or gossip about someone, your relationship with that person will be broken. If you cheat on your spouse, either physically or simply in your mind, you will reap the consequences. Sometimes overwhelming guilt is punishment enough for the sins we have committed. When you sin, God allows you to face the consequences of it. Do not be deceived: Paul says in Galatians 6:7 God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

So what’s the next step in the pattern? Repentance. Recognize your sin and idolatry and cry out to the Lord for mercy and deliverance. Confess your wickedness. Turn away from your evil ways. Beg for God’s forgiveness.

And just like He did for the people of Israel, God will do for you. He will raise up for you a judge, a deliverer for your salvation. In fact, He has already done so. He does not need to raise up a new judge. For God’s Son, Jesus, is the true and greater Judge of Israel. He is the true and greater Samson. All of the judges recorded in the book of Judges point forward to Jesus and his act of deliverance. And Samson, one of those judges that God raised up, has some unique parallels to Jesus’ life.

Like Samson, an angel announced Jesus’ birth. The angel said to Samson’ mother: He shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. An angel told Mary and Joseph that their child will be special as well. You shall call Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

Like Samson, Jesus demonstrated great strength during his earthly life. Samson had the Spirit of God come upon him to give him strength. Jesus is God and demonstrated his power by healing the sick and casting out demons and raising the dead.

Like Samson, Jesus also had a moment of great weakness. In Samson’s case, he sinned against God, and the Spirit of God left him. He was captured and mocked and tortured by his enemies. In Jesus’ case, He never sinned, and yet he willingly gave himself up to his enemies. He became weak and powerless by His own choice. He was also mocked and tortured. They didn’t gouge out his eyes, but they put a crown of thorns upon his head.

But the greatest parallel between Samson and Jesus is that by their death, they defeated their enemies. Samson prayed to God for strength just one more time so that he could kill the Philistines. And he gave himself up unto death as well as he said: Let me die with the Philistines.  Then he stretched out his arms and brought the whole house down and killed himself and his enemies. Jesus prayed to God: Into your hands, I commit my spirit. And with his arms stretched out, he breathed his last. And in that moment, Jesus defeated your sin. He defeated the devil. And he defeated death itself 3 days later by rising from the dead. That’s why Jesus is the true and greater Samson. His death and resurrection destroyed your enemies for all eternity. God does not need to raise up another judge because Jesus is the only judge and deliverer that you need. He has achieved the last step in the pattern: salvation for you and for all who believe.

Jesus is the true and greater Samson!

The story of Samson and his death points you to Jesus and his death which has become your victory. The pattern in the book of Judges follows the same pattern that you live every day. Sin- Punishment- Repentance- Salvation. As you struggle with your sin, know that God has raised up a deliverer for you who has forgiven every single one of your sins through His death on a cross. As Paul says in Romans 7: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.