0946 Jdg.14.1 - 15.8 God‘s Use of Samson's Strengths & Weaknesses Against the Philistines Pt.1
Exploring Biblical Characters • Sermon • Submitted
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The heroes are sportsmen & sportswomen; the admired are the ones with strength; the useful are the resourceful
If the world & the way it works is anything to go by, then God would not get very far with using men & women
We may think that God uses our strengths to achieve His purposes & at times, He does
But in contrast to our world’s views & understandings, God is just as comfortable in using our weaknesses &, dare I say it, our sinfulness to further His purposes in the world
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But a caveat here:- This does not mean that God condones or endorses our weaknesses or our sinfulness - not in the least
Better, we could say, that God uses our strengths & weaknesses not because of us, but regardless of us
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The theme that comes through the message of Samson & throughout the book of Judges is that God is the One who does the saving - who brings deliverance
God sets up the background to the events that demonstrate that it is He & not the strength or moral impressiveness of Israel that brings freedom to the people of Israel
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At the very start of the records about Samson, we find him, in contradiction to the law of God - he seeks a wife from the Philistines
His parents, to their credit, desperately sought to deter Samson away from the Philistine woman but no, he was determined to have his sinful way
Yet we read that his desire for a Philistine babe was of the Lord
3 Then his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me.”
Q. How do you process that?
Q. Does that mean that Samson cannot be at fault?
Q. Does it mean that God endorses sin?
The simplistic way would be to put 2 & 2 together & come up with 5
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Firstly, the line between God’s permission and God’s command is very thin
The reason is simple - God is absolute ruler & controller of everything
Nothing happens without His knowledge, nor His permission
But His permission & sovereignty does not mean His agreement with sinful acts
There are plenty of examples we can find
Here’s one from Job
11 “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” 12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.
Satan did the deed - he harmed Job - but what Satan did was accredited to God’s doing because God gave Satan permission
3 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”
God is sovereign over all - nothing happens that He is not in control over
For whatever purposes God had for Job & his legacy, it was not a reflection on Job’s character
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Firstly, often times, God’s permission for something to happen is tabled as being His endorsement - that is not always the case
Secondly, because something was “of the Lord”, as in the case of God seeking an occasion to deal with the Philistines, it does not mean it was an endorsement of Samson going after a Philistine babe
That’s why Christians need to have the obedience mindset
Just because an unbeliever becomes a believer after marrying a believer, it does not mean it was right for the believer to marry the unbeliever
Because, in the sovereignty of God, after marriage she became a believer, doesn’t mean God condones the actions of the believer in marrying the unbeliever
What God approves is obedience, in spite of circumstances
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Interestingly, when Jesus was asked a question about divorce, He uses the word “permission” to try & distinguish between what God approves of & what God tolerated
Allowing something, does not mean it comes with God’s approval
When Jesus goes back to creation in Genesis to mandate God’s original intention which was no divorce, the Pharisees object using this Scripture...
7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
If you read that verse in Deut. 24:1 that is not a command
1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,
Q. Is that a command to divorce? Because it seems to me that this is talking about a particular situation that has already happened
Here is Jesus’ response...
8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.
What God permitted was not necessarily His intention or purpose for marriage
He tolerated them divorcing their wives, He wasn’t endorsing it!
Jesus pointed to Genesis & God’s original intention for marriage as the true defining of that relationship
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Whatever happens in life under God’s sovereignty should not be automatically assumed to be an endorsement from God
In other words, if good comes out of evil, that does not mean that evil is good
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That’s a lengthy explanation, but I hope it was helpful
Certainly I would encourage you to listen & review it again later
God, in His use of Samson, is using both his strengths & his weakness in furthering the purposes that He has for Israel & as it eventually leads to the Gospel of Christ
1. Samson Seeks a Wife from the Philistines
1. Samson Seeks a Wife from the Philistines
Q. What was the guidance Samson used in the selection process for a wife?
Most young men, today, would say that she has to be pretty, or needs to have a good figure
Some might add that she ought to have a good personality & the list goes on & on of the surface traits he finds personally appealing
In the West, attraction has become the dominate criteria, would you agree?
Many other cultures have differing ways, including arranged marriages by parents where the bride, sometimes, only gets to meet her husband on her wedding day
I’m sure in most cases the parents would do the right thing & be careful in the selection process for their daughter
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Q. What was Samson’s criteria?
Well, Samson says, “being a strong believer in Yahweh & as a Nazarite to the Lord, the law says that I should only marry an Israelite woman since she will share the same religious values as me”
“That she has a godly character & lives the life of a believer; that she shows it through her love for Yahweh etc. etc.”
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I guess Samson was a pre-western man as his criteria matches ours pretty well
However, the law which was given through Moses says...
3 “Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4 “For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.
Then, the instructions from Joshua as they settle in the Promised land
12 “For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
This is why Samson’s parents ask him...
v. 3 “...Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes”
She is right in my eyes - does that remind of anything?
In other words, I don’t care what God thinks about her, she looks good to me
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This fits into the theme of the book of Judges where at the end of the book & the very last verse we have it’s emphasis
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Samson typified this attitude when it came to women
a. The Provocative Riddle
a. The Provocative Riddle
This Philistine woman was from Timnah, a place that is down off the mountains of Israel onto the plain
On the way there, a lion jumps Samson & he tears it to pieces with his bare hands
He goes to Timnah but on his way back home up the mountains, he sees that a hive of bees have made their home in the carcass of the lion he killed
Not only does Samson do wrong for going after a Philistine woman, but he scoops some honey up out of the dead lion’s carcass which, according to the Law, is an unclean thing & not to be touched
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No one knows about the lion, so Samson uses it in a riddle as a way to get a substantial wedding gift off the Philistine men - he gives them 3 days to respond
14 So he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.” But they could not tell the riddle in three days.
He is confident he can pull it off, but it’s a gamble - if he doesn’t, the big “wedding gift” that he hopes to receive will have to be from him to the men if they answer correctly
b. The Philistine Threat
b. The Philistine Threat
Of course, they couldn’t get it so on the 4th day, these Philistine men do something very despicable
They threaten to burn his new bride & her family alive, if she does not entice the answer to the riddle out of Samson
Q. What are they worried about?
Interestingly, the word is dispossessed - which is the original objective of Israel, right? It was to dispossess the inhabitants of the land
24 ‘Hence I have said to you, “You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
These men feared they they would be dispossessed so they threatened to kill her & her family if she doesn’t entice the answer out of Samson
c. Samson’s Kryptonite
c. Samson’s Kryptonite
Yes, Samson, for all his human strength, had his Kryptonite
As most of you know, Kryptonite is the fictional rock that makes the fictional Superman a weakling
Samson’s Kryptonite is women & all 3 women that he is involved with over these 3 chapters, all end up as occasions of trouble for Samson
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He knew better not to tell his Philistine wife the answer to his riddle - probably aware that with a possible slip of tongue she might pass it on
It says she pressed him so hard - the word & context here leans towards the thought of pestering him to the point of nagging him to death
16 Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have propounded a riddle to the sons of my people, and have not told it to me.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?” 17 However she wept before him seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people.
That classic line which carries not a little tinge of manipulation… “you hate me & do not love me”
A fearful & desperate woman was a powerful weapon that outmatched the mighty Samson
In the end, he gives up & tells her the answer
d. Samson’s Judgement
d. Samson’s Judgement
She passes the answer on to the men who threatened her, but Samson knew that they’d got it from his wife
18 So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, You would not have found out my riddle.”
Meaning that if you had not colluded with my wife, you would not have known the answer … i.e. you cheated!
With that, we read that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily & he went down to the Philistine heartland - a sea port, Ashkelon - a centre of their trade & dealings & killed 30 men Jdg. 14:19
He then took their belongings & gave it to the men who answered his riddle - they cheated as far as Samson was concerned but they still answered it correctly - but what they received, they received from the belongings from their fellow dead Philistines
Here again we see God working behind the scenes & dealing with the Philistine threat through Samson
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As a note, we find that Samson’s strength was God-endowed - it was, we could say, supernatural
I say this for a couple of reasons:
Firstly, in 3 occasions in these passages about Samson: the tearing of the Lion; Samson killing 30 men of Ashkelon; Samson breaking the ropes that tied his hands (look at that next week) - all say it happened after the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson mightily
The second reason is because we know that going to a barber doesn’t make you lose your strength, yet when Samson’s 7 dreadlocks were cut off, he had lost his great strength
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After Samson killed the 30 men, he was still so angry that he went home rather than go to his Philistine wife - perhaps he is still angry with her for telling his riddle
2. Samson Goes Back to His Wife
2. Samson Goes Back to His Wife
Still angry, he goes back to his family for maybe a month or two (undisclosed amount of time)
But then, decides to go visit his Philistine wife - not off to good start here!
a. His Father-in-law’s Provocative Act
a. His Father-in-law’s Provocative Act
The first provocative act that stirred up Samson was the disclosure of his riddle
But here we see another provocative act, this time by his Philistine father-in-law
Since Samson took off & didn’t go back to his wife, his father-in-law gave her to one of his companions who was party to his wedding
Samson is hopping mad & is determined to punish the Philistines
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Behind this all, we are to see the sovereign hand of God working through the ordinary workings of sinful people to achieve His purpose for Israel & then, ultimately, the world
If you are still struggling to grasp how this can happen, let me add to you struggle, by mentioning Judas Iscariot
Q. Didn’t he betray Jesus & wasn’t it through his sinful act, that Jesus was sentenced to die on a cross?
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
One the one hand, Jesus’ death was the “predetermined plan & foreknowledge of God”
In other words, evil things were done to Jesus through the plan of God
On the other hand, “you nailed Him to a cross by the hands of godless men”
God is not to blame for the evil that man enacts on the earth even though it is part of God’s sovereign activity
God is sovereign & in control of everything, but it is men who do the evil
b. Samson Responds in Judgement
b. Samson Responds in Judgement
Samson’s father-in-law has taken an action that he will live to regret
This becomes another occasion where God will deal out judgement against the Philistines - why? Remember, they are ruling Israel & oppressing them
As you know from the reading, Foxes are used to destroy the Philistine corn fields, vineyards & Olive groves
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Let me say: “animal lovers be warned - there may be talk now that many hearers might find distressing, however, no animals were harmed in the preparation of this sermon”
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I imagine, It would have taken some time to catch 300 foxes, let alone tying their tails together with a stick (a torch) that will be set on fire
He let’s them loose through the Philistine’s fields & it is all burned up - not sure what happened with all the foxes, but the length of life of the chicken population was surely extended
c. The Philistine Threat Enacted - Samson’s Wife & Her Family Are Burned
c. The Philistine Threat Enacted - Samson’s Wife & Her Family Are Burned
Well, an eye for eye & tooth for tooth was the way of the world & the cowardly Philistines don’t take it out on Samson
Of course, he is not an easy target, so they don’t go after him, they go after the ones who upset Samson
You made him do it, so you will pay the price
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We find this happens to Christians as well because, as Jesus & His apostles taught us, we are not to pay back evil for evil but are to overcome evil with good
The media are happy to criticise, vilify, slander & dump on Christians, but they dare not lay a nasty word on the Islamic community since they do not follow the course of action commanded by Jesus, hence, Christians are soft & easy targets
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But in senseless reaction, they burned alive Samson’s wife & her family
The speed at which this account of Samson is told, doesn’t allow us to enter or imagine the pain that Samson must have lived with
In spite of the fact that she is a Philistine, he chose her & kept her as his wife
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But again, as we understand the theme here, we are seeing another occasion that God uses to bring Samson against the Philistines
d. Samson Enacts Severe Retribution
d. Samson Enacts Severe Retribution
7 Samson said to them, “Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will quit.” 8 He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
Where is Samson, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, in all of this & what does he mean by “after this, I will quit”?
He dealt out quit a beating to them
It indicates that he tore them limb from limb
It was severe retribution for what they had done to his wife & her family
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“after that I will quit” - It could mean that after I take revenge, I will quit taking any more revenge
Or, it could mean that after I take revenge, I’m done with living life like this
That he had had it with the stress, the public nature of his life, the pain & all it had done to him
He then goes & lives in a cave - away from people & away from his troubles
However, he is the Lord’s instrument against the Philistines & the Lord is not done with him yet
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I hope that what we have learned today is that in spite of Samson’s sins, God uses him to fulfil His purposes
I hope that you will realise too, that since God uses Samson & his sins & weaknesses that it is not an indication that God endorses nor is pleased with his behaviour
This both offers us clarity in our relationship with God & also hope as we recognise that God will fulfil all that He has said & will complete His great work of salvation
So whether life is going right or wrong for you, please don’t assume it is an endorsement of or a judgement on your life
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Only as you obey the Lord, can you be confident that you are pleasing the Lord
Like any child being told what to do, the way you know they have pleased their parent is by doing what they were told - the same is true with our walk with God
Next week, we will continue the Samson story & see how God continues to use this imperfect, sinful & super strong fellow, yet, before women, someone who is as weak as water