Author: Disciples Church

Categories
Saturday Study Scripture

Saturday Study

Saturday Study

Samson (6.13.20)

Samson was a very polarizing figure in the Old Testament. Before we can fully understand his story, we first must understand what a Nazirite vow was.

The purpose for the vow of a Nazirite is found in Numbers 6:1-8.

Numbers 6:1-8 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.”

The purpose of the vow of the Nazirite was to express one’s special desire to draw close to God and to separate oneself from the comforts and pleasures of this world. The purpose for taking the Nazirite vow was to separate oneself unto the Lord. It was to give up earthly and personal desires to give one’s life to the service of God until the vow was finished. The Hebrew word for Nazirite is nazir, which means “set apart.”

What were the vows?

  1. No wine or strong drink nor grape juice nor even eating from any produce of the grapevine, even the seeds or skins.
  2. No cutting of the hair.
  3. No going near dead bodies even if they were your parents.

Now that we have a better understanding of the Nazirite vows and the purpose of making them, let’s go back and look at Sampson. Sampson was part of Gods answer for His people, Israel. If we look at chapter 13 in the book of Judges, we can see where Sampson’s story really begins. In Judges 13, we read about the birth of Samson and how the Spirit of the Lord begins to stir in him.

From here, the story of Sampson really gets pretty wild. This man is given incredible physical strength and the Spirit of God is with him; but, the first record in the scriptures of Samson’s doing something proves that he is still just a sinful Israelite. In fact, there’s a very familiar word-phrase used in Judges 14:3. Samson tells his parents to go get him a wife from the Philistines which would have been sinful according to God. But Samson says, “Get her, for me for she is right in my eyes.”

Let’s look at the connection between these words and the verse we find at the beginning of chapter 13:1 where it says, “and the people of Israel … did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.”

You see this in the Old Testament often when God’s people “do what is right in their own eyes.” They are doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord. This doesn’t mean that every time someone does what is right in their eyes it’s not right according to God. The point is that in the Old Testament this phrase “right in my eyes” is usually used to point to the fact that whatever God’s people are doing is sinful.

Look at verse 4 of chapter 14. Samson’s father and mother did not know that it was “from the Lord,” for he (the Lord) was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. So, Samson, who was a very willing sinner, was drawn by his own desires to this Philistine woman and would be in sin if he took her as his wife. But God was using this woman (a secondary source) and Samson’s own willing sinfulness, because He was going to start the work that He had created Samson to do. If you pay close attention to this story, you can see God’s sovereign hand all the way through. Consider the fact that Samson’s mom was barren, but God came and told her, “You’ll have a son; he will begin to deliver my people from the Philistines.”

Samson is born and, as soon as he’s of age, he wants to marry a Philistine which would have been sinful; but God was sovereignly using Samson’s willing, sinful heart to begin His deliverance of Israel from the Philistines. As we go further, notice God’s hand in the details.

Samson heads down to get his wife, and a young lion comes toward him, roaring. The Spirit rushes over Samson and, with his bare hands, he grabs this young lion and tears it to shreds. One thing to keep in mind is that the verse says this was a young lion. The danger and strength of even a young lion would have destroyed any normal human; so, this feat is no less incredible.

I just want to draw your attention to details, because they are important. Very quickly into the story, we see Samson breaking one of the Nazirite vows. If he tore this lion to shreds, then he would have been touching a dead body. Next, he goes down with his father (which was the custom) to get his wife, and he prepares a feast. Things get a little soap-opera-like when he gives his enemy a riddle about the dead lion and the honey. Then his wife talks him into telling her the answer, and she tells the men. They answer Samson, and he gets angry. The Spirit rushes upon him again; he goes and kills thirty Philistines and gives the prize to the men who answered his riddle.

He then goes home, angry. The father of the woman Samson had married gives Samson’s new wife to one of the groomsmen, because he thinks Samson hated her. Things get even weirder when Samson goes back to get his wife and finds out she was given to someone else. He then catches 300 foxes, ties torches to their tails, sets the torches on fire, and lets them loose in the fields of the Philistines. What a sight that must have been! The Philistines ask who has done this, and the people answer, “Samson.” This results in the Philistines burning Samson’s wife and her father. Remember, God said He was going to use Samson to begin freeing Israel from the Philistines.

Before we see his response, can you see how Samson’s desire for this woman is being used to create a battle, of sorts, between Israel and the Philistines? God will use everyday things to accomplish His purposes in our lives.

Let’s keep going. Samson attacks the men who had burned his wife and father-in-law, then he goes and hides in a cave. The Philistines attack Lehi: and when God’s people ask why, the Philistines say, “Tell them they want Samson.” They send 3,000 men of Judah go to get Samson because they know a few guys won’t be enough. Samson says, “As long as you guys don’t attack me, I’ll let you bind me and bring me to the Philistines.” They do it; and Samson, upon seeing the Philistines, when the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon him, breaks the rope with which he was bound then grabs the jawbone of a donkey and kills 1,000 Philistines. Stop and really take that in. This is a sight greater than any movie that Hollywood has created. He is truly a one-man wrecking crew.

In this, we can see God beginning to defeat the Philistines through Samson. The problem is, Samson continues his sinful ways and heads to a town called Gaza to be with a prostitute. Some people find out and decide to trap him. They wait outside of the city gates and say in the morning, “We will kill Samson.” Samson gets up in the middle of the night, ripping the city gates and posts from the ground. If you’re sitting outside a gate waiting for Samson to come out, and the next thing you know the gate is coming out of the ground, and Samson is holding the gate on his shoulders I’m guessing you probably aren’t trying to kill this guy anymore.

What is even more incredible is the fact that the gates would have likely been huge—over 10 feet; they were barred in order to protect the city. That means this gate would have been solid enough to keep armies out of the town. Samson not only rips them from the ground and throws them on his shoulders but the mountain up which he carries them is forty miles from Gaza—and all uphill.

Like many men before, and after him, Samson’s demise comes at the hands of a woman for whom he has fallen. Samson makes the mistake of breaking his last Nazirite vow and he tells Delilah, “If you cut my hair, I will lose my power.” Many people over the years have said that Samson’s power was in his hair, but we must recognize that Samson’s power was from God. As a result of Samson’s vow-breaking, the Philistines take Samson and make him do slave labor. One day, they decide to throw a party to their god for delivering Samson into their hands. A now-blind Samson, because the Philistines had taken his eyes out, is mocked and made to hear their worship of their false god. At the party, Samson asks the guards who are holding him if they will take him to the pillars that hold the entire building together.

Samson puts his arms out and likely pushes these two pillars until they buckle, and the entire building comes down, probably killing the greatest number of Philistines he had ever killed in all his conquests over them. Surely, God was not done using Samson, despite his selfish decision-making and unfaithfulness to his vows. Even though Samson was sinful, God still used him to begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.

We serve a mighty God who does incredible things in, and through, His creation. Do you believe this? Do you trust that He is at work in, and through, us despite our failures and sins? May we repent from our sin and selfishness and not follow the lead of those that failed to be faithful to God before us. Praise God that He is faithful to us despite our failures. In the end, He has given us everything in Christ and owes us nothing. We are truly blessed and should seek Him in all we do so that our lives are lived out for His purposes and His glory!

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Categories
Scripture

Samson

Hebrews 11:30-40

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two,1 they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Footnotes

[1] 11:37 Some manuscripts add they were tempted

(ESV)

Categories
Scripture

Samson

Judges 16:1-31

Samson and Delilah

16:1 Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. 2 The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” 3 But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” 11 And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.1 And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

15 And she said 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.” 16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17 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.”

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Death of Samson

23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”2 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

28 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.” 29 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. 30 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. 31 Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

Footnotes

[1] 16:14 Compare Septuagint; Hebrew lacks and fasten it tight . . . into the web

[2] 16:24 Or who has multiplied our slain

(ESV)

Categories
Scripture

Samson

Judges 15:1-20

Samson Defeats the Philistines

15:1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” 4 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. 5 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, as well as the olive orchards. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” 12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

14 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. 15 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. 16 And Samson said,


  “With the jawbone of a donkey,
    heaps upon heaps,
  with the jawbone of a donkey
    have I struck down a thousand men.”

17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.1

18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore;2 it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Footnotes

[1] 15:17 Ramath-lehi means the hill of the jawbone

[2] 15:19 En-hakkore means the spring of him who called

(ESV)

Categories
Scripture

Samson

Judges 14:1-19

Samson’s Marriage

14:1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “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.”

4 His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. 6 Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.

8 After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.

10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, 13 but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14 And he said to them,


  “Out of the eater came something to eat.
  Out of the strong came something sweet.”

And in three days they could not solve the riddle.

15 On the fourth1 day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?” 16 And Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?” 17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. 18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,


  “What is sweeter than honey?
  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.”

19 And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.

Footnotes

[1] 14:15 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew seventh

(ESV)