Samson - Set Apart, but Full of Vice
Whenever I read the story of Samson I am overcome by a
sense of what might have been. Think about the kind of leader Israel might have had if Samson had grown
up with the moral convictions of a Joshua or a Samuel. Instead, though he was used of God to remove the
yoke of the Philistines from the Israelites, Samson turned out to be a spiritual disappointment, achieving his
greatest spiritual victory in the moment of his death.
Samson was the 12th judge or deliverer of Israel. His life is marked from the beginning – even before its – as one of special significance. The angel of the Lord appeared to his mother and father before his birth to announce the pregnancy and to give his parents important instructions and revelation concerning his life! Five times that I am aware of in Scripture, the birth of a child is announced in advance by an angel. The first such “special” birth announcement is that of the angel to Hagar. The second miraculous birth announcement comes to Abraham and Sarah.
Samson is the third miracle child of the Bible. He, like Isaac, is born to a woman who is barren. The angel of the Lord – that mysterious Christ-figure who makes his last appearance in the Book of Judges at this point – appears first to Samson's mother and then to both his mother and his father Manoah. The angel does not name this baby (all of the others are given names by God), but He does give some very specific instructions regarding the child. This son is to be raised as a Nazirite. The fourth and fifth miracle babies are announced by the angel Gabriel in the New Testament. They are, of course, John the Baptist born of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Jesus born of Mary. We have spoken before of Nazirite vows that were sometimes taken by individuals. Here, however, and in two other cases, that of Samuel in the Old Testament and John the Baptist in the New Testament, the vow is prescribed upon them as a child from birth. These children were not to touch wine, they were to let their hair grow untouched by a razor, and they were never to touch a dead body, living out their lives in a special relationship to the Lord. As far as we know both John the Baptist and Samuel seem to have firmly kept these conditions. From the chapters before us it is quite clear that Samson disregarded at least one and probably two of the three conditions. He is frequently cited as having contact with dead men and animals, and his described lifestyle does not fit well with a role of abstinence from all strong drink. Samson's parents made the Nazirite vow on his behalf. His seriousness about keeping it is questionable in the extreme.
“Why would God choose to use such a scoundrel?” Samson is a lustful, vengeful, self-centered man. Whatever else is or is not true, this much is clear: the number one goal of Samson's life was not to give glory to the God of Israel. It is because of that fact (in part at least) that Samson was a deliverer of Israel, but he never became a leader. Deborah was a leader, so was Gideon, but Samson was not. He meted out judgment on the Philistines – he became a national hero – but he was not a leader. On his agenda, the top line was reserved for Samson. There is a further lesson in the providence of God in all of this! When we place God's glory on the top line of our personal priority list, God will be pleased to use us to accomplish His ends and we will be the beneficiaries of His blessing as well. When, like Samson, we place our own pleasure and glory at the top, we will inevitably be disappointed with the final result, but God will still accomplish His purpose through us – in spite of us.
It is hard to understand how a man like Samson could fall victim to the Philistines in the way that he did. The obvious answer to that question is, of course, that Samson was in love and love blinds people to all kinds of things that are obvious to everyone else. That by itself, however, is nothing like a sufficient answer. There are two other words that are much more significant. The first is sin and the second is pride and of course they belong together. You cannot sin with impunity and expect that God will simply close His eyes and ignore it. For years, Samson thought that he was getting away with sin. Samson had come to believe that you could live any way you like and still experience the blessing and power of God. It was true that God had not withdrawn His power from Samson, but not for the reasons Samson thought. God was using Samson with or without holiness to achieve His purpose of judging Philistia. If there had been a concern for holiness in Samson's life, he would have lived a long and blessed life, but there was not, so Samson's story has a very different ending.
I know that we have talked about such matters before, but once again we need to observe that Samson's error is a terribly common one. There are thousands of Christians who believe that their relationship with God is so secure that they can go out and do absolutely anything they want to do – it won't matter – God doesn't care. If you have ever been tempted to fall into that trap, a very healthy antidote could be prescribed – go and read the Book of I John, then repent lest you follow in the sad train of Samson. The Bible is very clear and the truth is very simple: sin breaks fellowship with God and if you persistently sin, you cannot hope to enjoy the favor of God – even if for reasons known only to Him. He doesn't completely remove the evidence of His presence and power from your ministry. The power of God was on Samson right up to the moment the razor began to shave the hair from his head. But the pleasure and blessing of God was gone long before that night on Delilah's couch. It is possible to experience the power of God without the blessing of God!!!
Samson's second problem was clearly pride. All through these chapters, he has been toying with the Philistines – laughing at them, baiting them. He is arrogant and prideful and at some point in time, though he intellectually knows that the power comes completely from God, Samson begins to believe that it belongs to him. The power is his. He can use it whenever he wants. But the power does not belong to Samson. Did you notice that tragic verse? “He awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I'll go out and shake myself free as before.’ But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” How could he not know? The answer is that pride and sin together had robbed him of the ability to even know what was going on. His spiritual sensitivity got duller and duller and finally he was unable to sense the presence or absence of God at all!!
Whenever I read the story of Samson I am overcome by a
sense of what might have been. Think about the kind of leader Israel might have had if Samson had grown
up with the moral convictions of a Joshua or a Samuel. Instead, though he was used of God to remove the
yoke of the Philistines from the Israelites, Samson turned out to be a spiritual disappointment, achieving his
greatest spiritual victory in the moment of his death.Samson was the 12th judge or deliverer of Israel. His life is marked from the beginning – even before its – as one of special significance. The angel of the Lord appeared to his mother and father before his birth to announce the pregnancy and to give his parents important instructions and revelation concerning his life! Five times that I am aware of in Scripture, the birth of a child is announced in advance by an angel. The first such “special” birth announcement is that of the angel to Hagar. The second miraculous birth announcement comes to Abraham and Sarah.
Samson is the third miracle child of the Bible. He, like Isaac, is born to a woman who is barren. The angel of the Lord – that mysterious Christ-figure who makes his last appearance in the Book of Judges at this point – appears first to Samson's mother and then to both his mother and his father Manoah. The angel does not name this baby (all of the others are given names by God), but He does give some very specific instructions regarding the child. This son is to be raised as a Nazirite. The fourth and fifth miracle babies are announced by the angel Gabriel in the New Testament. They are, of course, John the Baptist born of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Jesus born of Mary. We have spoken before of Nazirite vows that were sometimes taken by individuals. Here, however, and in two other cases, that of Samuel in the Old Testament and John the Baptist in the New Testament, the vow is prescribed upon them as a child from birth. These children were not to touch wine, they were to let their hair grow untouched by a razor, and they were never to touch a dead body, living out their lives in a special relationship to the Lord. As far as we know both John the Baptist and Samuel seem to have firmly kept these conditions. From the chapters before us it is quite clear that Samson disregarded at least one and probably two of the three conditions. He is frequently cited as having contact with dead men and animals, and his described lifestyle does not fit well with a role of abstinence from all strong drink. Samson's parents made the Nazirite vow on his behalf. His seriousness about keeping it is questionable in the extreme.
“Why would God choose to use such a scoundrel?” Samson is a lustful, vengeful, self-centered man. Whatever else is or is not true, this much is clear: the number one goal of Samson's life was not to give glory to the God of Israel. It is because of that fact (in part at least) that Samson was a deliverer of Israel, but he never became a leader. Deborah was a leader, so was Gideon, but Samson was not. He meted out judgment on the Philistines – he became a national hero – but he was not a leader. On his agenda, the top line was reserved for Samson. There is a further lesson in the providence of God in all of this! When we place God's glory on the top line of our personal priority list, God will be pleased to use us to accomplish His ends and we will be the beneficiaries of His blessing as well. When, like Samson, we place our own pleasure and glory at the top, we will inevitably be disappointed with the final result, but God will still accomplish His purpose through us – in spite of us.
It is hard to understand how a man like Samson could fall victim to the Philistines in the way that he did. The obvious answer to that question is, of course, that Samson was in love and love blinds people to all kinds of things that are obvious to everyone else. That by itself, however, is nothing like a sufficient answer. There are two other words that are much more significant. The first is sin and the second is pride and of course they belong together. You cannot sin with impunity and expect that God will simply close His eyes and ignore it. For years, Samson thought that he was getting away with sin. Samson had come to believe that you could live any way you like and still experience the blessing and power of God. It was true that God had not withdrawn His power from Samson, but not for the reasons Samson thought. God was using Samson with or without holiness to achieve His purpose of judging Philistia. If there had been a concern for holiness in Samson's life, he would have lived a long and blessed life, but there was not, so Samson's story has a very different ending.
I know that we have talked about such matters before, but once again we need to observe that Samson's error is a terribly common one. There are thousands of Christians who believe that their relationship with God is so secure that they can go out and do absolutely anything they want to do – it won't matter – God doesn't care. If you have ever been tempted to fall into that trap, a very healthy antidote could be prescribed – go and read the Book of I John, then repent lest you follow in the sad train of Samson. The Bible is very clear and the truth is very simple: sin breaks fellowship with God and if you persistently sin, you cannot hope to enjoy the favor of God – even if for reasons known only to Him. He doesn't completely remove the evidence of His presence and power from your ministry. The power of God was on Samson right up to the moment the razor began to shave the hair from his head. But the pleasure and blessing of God was gone long before that night on Delilah's couch. It is possible to experience the power of God without the blessing of God!!!
Samson's second problem was clearly pride. All through these chapters, he has been toying with the Philistines – laughing at them, baiting them. He is arrogant and prideful and at some point in time, though he intellectually knows that the power comes completely from God, Samson begins to believe that it belongs to him. The power is his. He can use it whenever he wants. But the power does not belong to Samson. Did you notice that tragic verse? “He awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I'll go out and shake myself free as before.’ But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” How could he not know? The answer is that pride and sin together had robbed him of the ability to even know what was going on. His spiritual sensitivity got duller and duller and finally he was unable to sense the presence or absence of God at all!!
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