AM Bible Study Group; September 23, 2015 from Judges 16:1-31
Theme: If we keep flirting with sin, we may find—to our shock—that the Lord left us to suffer in it.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
This morning, we come to the best known story of the life of Samson—and indeed to one of the most famous stories of the Bible. But what a horribly tragic story it is! It not only shows us—in shocking detail—the moral failures of one of God’s most noteworthy instruments; but also helps us to see what happens when we keep flirting around along the dangerous boarders of sin. God will allow us to go along so long—doing the things that we know better than to do; and perhaps even thinking the whole time that we’re safe in His protection—only to suddenly discover that God has had enough of our unfaithfulness and allows us to suffer the consequences of the sins we play at.
One of the most noteworthy features of Samson is the fact that—more than any other of the judges—the hand of God was clearly declared to have been on him. Of others of the judges it was said only once that the Spirit of God was upon them (Othniel in 3:10, Gideon in 6:34, and Jephthah in 11:29). But of Samson it is said three times (14:6, 19; 15:14). Note also that his call from God was a remarkable one—as dedicated by God to be a Nazirite from birth to the day of his death (13:5, 7). It may be that Samson thought that he was safe—no matter what he did. But after repeatedly giving in to his sensual passions, they finally turned to bite him; and, to his shock and complete loss, he discovered the truth of one of the most tragic verses in Judges; “But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him” (16:20).
What a warning this must have been to the people of Israel—as they themselves repeatedly turned from God and played around with the sins of the people groups around them! The fact that they were God’s chosen people didn’t protect them from the consequences of sin. And what a warning it is to us who call ourselves by the name of Jesus Christ! The fact that we attend a church, or have been baptized, or carry around a Bible, cannot protect us from the consequences of sin either.
Note then from this story how . . .
I. SOMETIMES GOD ALLOWS US A WARNING (vv. 1-3).
A. The final phase of Samson’s story begins in a shocking and scandalous way. He went to Gaza, saw a prostitute, and purchased her services (v. 1). Throughout the story of Samson, we see that he has a weakness for women—and particularly, it seems, for foreign women who draw him from the Lord’s good ways. In this sense, he’s like Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-4).
B. Samson’s failure made him vulnerable. When the Philistines of Gaza saw that he was in their midst, they laid in wait for him by the city gate—planning to kill him in the morning as he left (v. 2). But—and we would have to say that it was by the grace of God—he escaped their plans for him. Knowing of their plot, it seems, he arose at midnight and lifted the doors of the gate of the city upon his shoulders—gateposts, bars, and all—and carried them a distance of several miles, and left them upon a hill in the region of the Jewish city of Hebron! (v. 3). Several things would have been communicated by this act: (1) his strength was so great that they dare not trifle with him; (2) their city was now left vulnerable and defenseless; and (3) the land of the Jewish people, whom they had been oppressing, was exalted over them—possessing the gates of their enemies. What a lesson this should have been to them!
C. But what a lesson it should have been to Samson! His flirtation with sin left him vulnerable to their plots. He was tempting the God that had called him to leave him to his sin! God had given him a break this time; but there would come a time when the consequences of sin would catch up with him. Doesn’t the Lord also do this with us? He gives us a chance to repent. He even provides a way out (see 1 Corinthians 10:13). But there will come a time when the chances are gone.
II. THERE COMES A TIME WHEN HE LEAVES US TO THE CONSEQUENCES (vv. 4-22).
A. That time came for Samson. He fell for a woman whose name has gone down in infamy. Delilah was probably a Philistine; and was perhaps a woman of ordinary means. But after his incident with the prostitute, he ‘loved’ her (v. 4). Hearing of their relationship, the lords of the Philistines (probably five in number; see 3:3, and 1 Samuel 6:4), promised to give her 1,100 shekels of silver each if she would find out and inform them of the secret of his strength so that they could overpower him (v. 5). A shekel would have been around 28 lbs.; and based on current spot prices (which at the time of this writing is low at around $14.50 per ounce), 1,100 shekels of silver multiplied five times would be worth roughly $33,500 (although it may be that the value would have been much greater than that in those days). The amount offered to her would have been very significant; which gives us an indication of how much they wanted to be rid of Sampson. And it was apparently a sufficient motive for Delilah to betray her boyfriend.
B. What follows is a pathetic comedy—and the part of a campaign of deceit that may have taken weeks to pull off. As Philistine men stood in hiding in her home, she tried to woe out of Sampson the secret of his strength. But he toyed with her and frustrated the Philistines each time. First, he lied to her and told he that he could be overpowered with ‘seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried’ (vv. 6-9). Then it was ‘new ropes that have never been used’ (vv. 10-12). Then it was that the seven locks of his hair be woven into a loom and tightened into the batten (vv. 13-14). Each time, she whined that she had been deceived by him; and the Philistines dared not to come out of hiding to take him.
C. Finally, “when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death” (v. 16; see also 15:17), he told her that he was a Nazirite to God from his mother’s womb (v. 17); and that if he was shaven, then his strength would be gone. There was a sense in which this too was not true. The secret to his strength wasn’t in his hair; but in the power of God upon him. But that hair was a symbol of his devotion to God; and having allowed himself to be caught up in his sin, he lost his hair—and without his knowing it, he also lost the hand of God upon him (vv. 18-20).
D. What a terrible sense of betrayal he must have felt from Delilah. (See Solomon’s tragic words in Ecclesiastes 7:23-28.) But what a horror it must have been to know that God had finally left him to the consequences of his sin! The Philistines wasted no time. They took him and gouged out his eyes (so that he could no longer see to harm them), took him to Gaza, bound him in fetters, and forced him to grind grain in prison like an animal! (v. 21). If he could slay a 1,000 of their men with the jawbone of a donkey, then he would be made to do the labors of a donkey. It was the ultimate indignity! Yet note that his hair began to grow over what must have been several months of torment (v. 22). Perhaps, during those many months, his heart broke in repentance before God.
III. EVEN IN OUR FAILURES, GOD DOES NOT ABANDON US COMPLETELY (vv. 23-31).
A. One of the great lessons of this story comes at the end. God had departed from Samson; but God had not left him. God’s purpose for him—that is, that he would “begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (13:5)—would still be accomplished. And he himself shows this in the fact that he finally cries out to God from the midst of his failure (see Psalm 107:10-16). At a boastful feast to their false god Dagon, the Philistine leaders—along with about three-thousand men and women rejoice and praised their false god for their victory over Samson (vv. 23-24); and in their high spirits, they called for Samson to come out to the court and perform for them as they sat high in the temple (v. 25).
B. Samson’s hair had grown back; and thus the sign of his devotion to God had been restored. (Apparently the Philistines didn’t think ahead enough to give him periodic haircuts!) He gave them a show that would never be repeated!—calling upon God and saying, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” (v. 28). He pushed against the pillars and brought the temple down upon himself and the Philistines (vv. 29-30)—thus killing more in his death than in his life!
* * * * * * * * * *
What a lesson Samson is in the danger of flirting with sin; but also of the amazing grace of God toward His sinning people!