Samson - Strong or Weak?

(Judges 13-16)

Over and over again in the book of Judges, God’s people forsake the LORD and prostitute themselves to the worship of foreign idols. Over and over again, their sin leads them into oppression by their enemies. And yet, over and over again, when the Israelites cry out to Yahweh in their suffering, He sends a military leader to rescue them from the mess their own sin had made. God is truly merciful and amazingly patient.

One of the most famous judges who God raised up to deliver his people from their enemies is Samson.

You probably know Samson as the guy with long hair and super human strength who got outwitted by his girlfriend Delilah. But there is so much more to the story of Samson than that, and there is much for us to learn from this notorious anti-hero.

From the very beginning of Samson’s story, we see that God intended for Samson to be set apart for a special purpose. The angel of the LORD, the pre-incarnate Christ Himself, appeared to the barren and childless wife of Manoah and told her that she would give birth to a son who was to be dedicated to God as a Nazirite for his entire life; from the womb until his death. We know from the law of Moses (Numbers 6) that anyone who made a Nazirite vow must abstain from shaving their head, that they were forbidden to drink wine or eat other grape products, and they were forbidden to come in contact with anything ceremonially unclean, especially dead bodies. Manoah’s wife was told that she must also observe the Nazirite vow during the period of her pregnancy. The angel of the LORD told her that this son would be a leader in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.

So the woman gave birth to a boy just as God had said, and she named him Samson. We’re told that as he grew the LORD blessed him, and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him. But as the story continues, we see that Samson made a lot of poor choices and wasn’t faithful in honoring his vows as a Nazirite.

First, Samson chooses a Philistine wife, even though this was a clear violation against the law of Moses and even though his parents disapprove and want him to choose a wife from among God’s people. But Samson chooses to put his fleshly desires above God’s command and his parents’ wishes. Then on the way to the Philistine city of Timnah where he found his wife-to-be, he tears apart a lion with his bare hands and later eats honey that he finds in its carcass. This was a clear violation against his Nazirite vow to not touch anything unclean, which Samson knew full well because he intentionally hid what he had done from his parents. Next, Samson throws a feast that was essentially a Philistine bachelor party. And while we aren’t specifically told that Samson drank wine at this feast, it was a pagan festival so it’s guaranteed that there was lots of wine at the party. I also think it’s interesting that the biblical author mentions the vineyards of Timnah. It’s highly likely that Samson indulged himself at this feast, and broke yet another Nazirite vow.

Samson’s reckless and selfish choices don’t lead him anywhere good. First, his new wife manipulates him into divulging the answer to a riddle causing him to loose a bet against the Philistines. And then we see that Samson also has a bad temper. He strikes down thirty Philistine men and takes their clothes to pay for the lost bet, and then returns home burning with anger. His wife is given to another man and when he finds out, he avenges himself on the Philistines by burning all their crops. So the Philistines then burn his wife and her father to death. This only enrages Samson further, and he attacks them viciously, slaughtering many of them.

When the Philistines post troops in Judah, the people of Judah are so fearful that they tie Samson up in order to hand him over to the Philistines. But as they are about to give him over, Samson snaps the ropes off his arms, grabs a donkey’s jawbone and uses it to kill a thousand Philistine soldiers.

Even though Samson’s attacks were incredibly violent and motivated by his rage and personal vendetta, God still uses him to accomplish His purposes in giving Israel victory over their Philistine oppressors. And each time Samson displays super human strength, the Scripture is clear that it was the Spirit of God who gave him such incredible strength and enabled him to have victory over his enemies.

But the list of Samson’s moral failings only grows longer as the story continues. Next, we are told that Samson went to a Philistine city and found a prostitute to sleep with. When the Philistines realized that Samson was there, they waited outside the city gate hoping to seize him in the morning when he left. But in the middle of the night, Samson escaped by ripping down the entire city gate with his bare hands.

Then he falls in love with Delilah, who is anything but a woman of noble character. She lets the Philistine leaders bribe her into trying to help them figure out how they can overpower Samson. Clearly she cares more about money than she does about him. She begs him to tell her the secret of his great strength. Three times, he lies to her about how he can be bound beyond his ability to break free. And every time, she tests it out and tries to tie him up while he’s asleep. But each time, Samson easily breaks free and escapes from the Philistines who lie in wait to try and capture him.

Delilah is greatly upset that Samson has lied to her. “How can you say, “I love you” when you won’t confide in me?” she complains. She nags and prods him endlessly, day after day, until finally he is sick to death of it and tells her the truth. He explains that he has been a Nazirite from birth and that his hair had never been cut. “If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man,” he told her.

But I am not convinced that Samson really believed that that was true. Because when he awakes to find that his head had been shaved, he still thinks that he can shake himself free like he had before. And the next verse says that he didn’t know that the LORD had left him. Samson knew that it wasn’t his hair that gave him his strength, it was God. And he brazenly assumed that he could break just one more Nazirite vow without facing divine consequences. But this time, his sin resulted in the worst consequence of all: the Spirit of God had left him. And so, he was finally taken prisoner by the Philistines. They gouged out his eyes and threw him in jail.

And then comes the saddest part of the story: the Philistines hold a celebration in honor of their god Dagon and make sacrifices, as a declaration that their god has helped them to defeat Samson. But when they bring Samson out to mock him and have him entertain them, he prays for God to give him strength one last time. God graciously grants his request, and Samson brings down the whole temple on top of himself and all the Philistines with him. And so, he killed even more Philistines in his death than he did while he lived.

You may be wondering what we could possibly learn from a story filled with so much immorality and tragedy. And I think there are many lessons to be learned from Samson’s poor example. But before I go into the list of things we can learn from Samson, I think it’s important to reflect on what we can learn from this story about the character of our God.

I can’t stop marveling over the fact that even though our sovereign and all-knowing God knew every sinful choice that Gideon would make, He still chose Gideon to be set apart before he was born. God knew that Samson would be disobedient, reckless, promiscuous, and selfish. But God still chose him to lead Israel. God still set him apart as a Nazirite. God still put His Spirit upon him and blessed him with supernatural strength. God still used him to deliver His people. I will never understand why God chooses to love those who do nothing to deserve it. But I am so glad He does, because I know it’s the only reason that a sinner like me can be forgiven and cleansed. We have a God who knows every sin we’ll ever commit and every stupid choice we’ll ever make. And He still chooses us. He still loves us. He still redeems our lives for His good purposes. We have a God who sent His only Son to die for us while we were yet sinners. We have a God who loves us unconditionally, even when we least deserve it. I will never stop being in wonder of the limitless depths of His mercy and grace.

As a Nazirite, Samson’s whole life was supposed to be dedicated to God. The Nazirite vow wasn’t just about abstaining from wine, hair cuts and dead bodies. Those things were just symbols of a covenant promise that a person was devoting themselves to be faithful to Yahweh. Samson’s life was supposed to be holy and set apart unto the LORD. But sadly, Samson broke every Nazirite vow, and continually chose a life of worldy pleasures and compromise.

It’s easy for us to shake our heads and wag our fingers at Samson’s disobedience. But how often do we find ourselves slipping into apathy and compromise? It’s all too easy for us to indulge in carnal pleasures and follow the ways of the world instead of seeking to live in righteousness and holiness. We justify our behaviors by telling ourselves, “This movie/TV show isn’t really THAT bad,” or “There’s nothing in the Bible that says I can’t listen to secular music,” or “It won’t hurt anything for me to eat/drink a little more ____” or “God won’t mind if I don’t go to church this week.” The list of excuses we make for ourselves could go on and on. And there are a lot of things that we do that aren’t necessarily morally wrong. Getting a hair cut, drinking wine, and touching dead animals aren’t morally wrong either. But we are called to be HOLY. Set apart. Different from the world around us. And the more we give ourselves over to indulgent pleasures, the more we begin to look like the world and less we look like Jesus. Instead of trying to figure out how much we can get away with without violating a moral law, we should be seeking to do everything we can to love God with all our hearts, souls and minds, and fleeing from anything that distracts us from Him or keeps us from being holy and fully devoted to the LORD.

Another thing this story teaches us is that God can use anyone to accomplish His purposes, no matter how messed up they are. Samson was a moral failure on many levels, but God still used him to bring victory to Israel. Which on the one hand, it is comforting to know that God can use us in spite of our failures and weaknesses. It’s good to know that my stupidity can’t stop God from fulfilling His purposes for my life. But on the other hand, there is also an undeniable warning for us in this aspect of Samson’s story. Because just because God uses someone doesn’t mean they are following Him. God used Pharaoh for His glory, but Pharaoh's heart was as hard as stone. God will always use you, so “but God is using me” isn’t a valid excuse for hypocrisy. I think there are a lot of people who are seeking to be used by God, but behind closed doors they are living in sin. I don’t know about you, but I don’t just want God to use me in spite of my sin. I want Him to change and transform my heart, so that I can live and love the way Jesus does. I want to walk in purity and with the highest standard of integrity. If we’re living in hypocrisy, we need to repent and seek to truly follow Jesus.

I also think it’s important to realize that just because God can use us no matter what, does not mean that we can’t be a more effective witness when we’re obedient than when we sin. If God could use Samson for His purposes when his life was a wreck, just think how much more God could’ve accomplished through Samson if he had been a willing, faithful and obedient servant! If God gave Israel victory through Samson’s physical strength, just think how much more God could’ve done with a heart that was devoted to Him. If God can use us in spite of our sin, how much more can He use a pure vessel? Moreover, Samson’s life wouldn’t have been so full of trouble and heartache if he had been living the way he should. Instead of suffering so many horrible consequences for his disobedience, he could have experienced the peace and blessing of honoring God. Things will always go better for us if we do things God’s way. And the more we are living in righteousness and holiness, the more His light in us will shine and the more effective we can be for His kingdom.

Another important take-away from this story is that it is possible to utilize the gifts of the Spirit without bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Samson was gifted by the Spirit (with supernatural physical strength), but he was still spiritually immature. We tend to get overly focused on the gifts of the Spirit, but Paul tells us that the gifts are useless unless we have love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) It is so much more important to become more loving, joyful, peace-full, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled than it is to become a better singer or artist or athlete or writer or speaker or teacher or administrator (or whatever your particular area of gifting may be). God doesn’t care nearly as much about your giftedness as He does about your character. Samson had the power of the Spirit on him so that he could be super strong, but we have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit inside of us so that He can change our hearts and our lives from the inside out. Let’s abide in Him as He abides in us so that we can bear much fruit.

There are so many more lessons I have learned from studying the story of Samson that I could talk about, but I don’t have time to go into them all. Let me just briefly mention them so that you can reflect on them further for yourself, if you like:

• “Following his heart” got Samson into trouble. The heart is deceitful above all things. We can’t let our emotions guide our decisions.

• Ungodly and unhealthy relationships get us into trouble. Who we spend time with, and especially who we are intimate with is important. Samson allowed himself to be manipulated...we have to be careful to guard ourselves from toxic relationships.

• Relations with worldly women seemed to be one of Samson’s weaknesses. And on two different occasions, giving in to nagging women led to his downfall. Satan knows our areas of weakness and what temptations will cause us to fall. How much more important is it for us to guard ourselves against temptation in the areas we know we are weak in?

• Samson had physical strength, and yet he was spiritually poor. The world covets strength, beauty and intellect. We can have all the world has to offer, but without God, we will still be empty. Nothing is worth more than relationship with Jesus.

• Samson was a “lone ranger.” All the other judges led armies out to fight their oppressors, but Samson fought all by himself. Community is important! Trying to do everything by yourself and in your own strength never turns out well.

• Capturing Samson led the Philistines to believe that their false god had power, when in reality it was Samson’s sin and unfaithfulness to God that led to his downfall. It makes me shudder to think that our sin and hypocrisy causes unbelievers to have reason to think that their idols have power. Our actions will always testify...do they speak of the Truth or of lies?

Thanks for joining me for the story of Samson! I hope you have been blessed, encouraged, inspired and challenged to walk more closely with Jesus!