Calvary Lutheran Church

Character Studies of the Old Testament: Samson

This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it. Hallelujah!

Judges 13-16

Dear Christian friends,

This morning I wish to continue with part two of my four-part sermon series entitled, “Character Studies from the Old Testament.” Last time we investigated an incident in the life of Abraham who lived in the times of the Patriarchs.  The Patriarchs was that time in history when God’s people were ruled by the fathers or heads of families, tribes, and clans. The “Patriarchs” of the Bible usually refers to the time from Abraham through Joseph.

This morning we want to move on to next period of time in the history of God’s people, and that is the time of the judges. We hear a lot about judges in the news especially when it comes to decisions of the Supreme Court judges. Well, after the death of Joshua, Israel depended upon judges not only to interpret the law and try cases but to keep the nation from idolatry and even lead it into battle. The Book of Judges records this history. There were thirteen judges altogether, but perhaps the most colorful of all and the one who receives the most attention in Scripture is Samson. Four full chapters in the Book of Judges are devoted to the life of Samson, far more than any other judge, and after our study today we will perhaps better understand why.

OLD TESTAMENT CHARACTER STUDY: SAMSON

So who was Samson? We need to remember, first of all, that he was a man who was consecrated to the Lord from birth. He was born to Manoah and his barren wife who conceived after an angel appeared to her. The angel declared that the child was to be a Nazarite, that is, one who was to devote his life to the Lord’s service. You may remember a Nazarite in the New Testament—John the Baptist who was the forerunner of Christ. Samson’s service to the Lord was to deliver the Israelites out of the ruthless hands of their enemy–the Philistines. Israel at this time was paying tribute, in other words, extortion money to the Philistines so they wouldn’t just march into Israel and destroy them all. As a Nazarite, however, Samson was to abstain from wine and strong drink and no razor was to ever cut his hair. These were the signs of his consecration to the Lord. And God endowed him with superhuman strength as long as he kept his Nazarite vows.

Unlike John and Baptist, Samson was a man who engaged in all the worldly folly and recklessness of his time. This became abundantly evident in Samson’s choice of a wife. He chose to marry a Philistine. And why? Because Samson one day went down to the city of Timnah in the heart of Philistine country, saw her there, and liked her, he liked her a lot, even though he had never met her before.  Never mind that she was part of a nation that was an enemy to God’s people. Never mind that she was a heathen. He liked her. What a flimsy excuse for patronizing with the enemy, not to mention a shallow reason for getting married.

And we can well imagine how Samson’s pious parents were astonished at his choice of a bride. Samson’s role as judge was to deliver Israel from the Philistines, not jump into bed with them. But sometimes all parents can do is watch as their children make bad decisions and appear to self-destruct in their moral and faith life. You would think that God would have done away with Samson and raise up another judge with a bit more scruples and common sense. But instead, Samson’s fame spread throughout the land of Israel. And even the Philistines trembled at the thought of him. And as long as Samson was true to his Nazarite vows God continued to give him superhuman strength.

What vows have you made to the Lord? You may have made your own private vows to the Lord which maybe no one else knows about. But most here, I know, have made some very public vows as well, like marriage vows and perhaps military vows. In the Lutheran Church we make “confirmation vows.”  They can be summarized with two statements: “I vow to stay in the faith that I have come know.” And also, “I vow to live this faith throughout my lifetime.”

Two very important vows. And with God’s help and by his grace you have kept those vows to this day. And God has continued to shower you with his blessings. For all these years he has given you full and free forgiveness in Christ. He has kept you from harm and danger that would damage or destroy faith. He has endowed you with the gifts of the Spirit to be used for the good of his church, and has promised to give you the ultimate gift of heaven when you leave this world.

All of this he has done in spite of the worldly folly and recklessness of sin that have plagued you throughout your lifetime. If you were God you would have dismissed yourself as his child long ago. But there is no sin so great, there is no way that you can mess up so badly, that Christ’s blood does not cover it.  That is the loving, gracious, slow to anger, God that we have. And Samson is a perfect example of that.

Samson was on his way back to Timnah along with his parents to meet the woman and ask her to marry him. But in the region between Dan and the sea-coast wild animals were plentiful, and it happened that a lion sprang out from the bush and was ready to pounce on Samson when he grabbed hold of it as though it was a kitten and without any weapons except his own bare hands he tore that lion to pieces.  But he didn’t tell anyone what had happened, not even his parents.

Once in Timnah, the Philistine woman agreed to be Samson’s wife and the wedding date was set. Then on the way back from Timnath Samson looked for the carcass of the lion and found that a swarm of bees had made a hive in it. And so he took some of the honey from the hive for himself and his parents.

Finally, the wedding took place between Samson and the Philistine woman. The wedding reception lasted seven days, as was customary. And to pass the time it was common to have games and riddles. So Samson, who was probably feeling pretty good at the time, proposed a riddle to some of the Philistine guests. If they solved his riddle he would buy them each one a set of clothes, and there were 30 of them, so 30 sets of clothes. But if they failed, they each were to buy him one set of clothes, which would give him 30. And they were to give him the answer at the end of the wedding celebration, in other words, seven days later. Well, they all agreed–a harmless enough wager we might say.

So what was the riddle? Samson said, “The riddle is this: out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet” referring, of course, to the dead lion with the honey in its carcass. Well, of course, the guests had no idea what the answer was. But they figured they could trick him. So they went to his new Philistine bride and threatened her and her family with death if she didn’t coax the answer out of Samson. I guess this little game was turning serious. Well, she was sobbing, weeping, and carrying on during the entire wedding reception, “Oh you don’t love me you won’t tell me the answer to the riddle. So Samson finally told her. And she immediately told the others and so on the last day of the wedding feast they gave him their answer. They said, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” So the answer must be honey taken from the carcass of a lion.

Samson was furious. He was upset with his wife for telling them the answer. He said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.” And he was upset with himself for being such a fool in proposing the riddle to begin with. And Samson held such anger and resentment, and thoughts of revenge that he later started raiding and attacking the whole Philistine nation, the exact purpose for which God chose Samson as judge.

So who was Samson? We usually remember him simply as a man of great physical strength but disappointing moral weaknesses. But it goes much deeper than that. The reason the life of Samson covers four full chapters in the book of Judges is that it teaches a profound spiritual lesson: God can even take morally corrupt, spiritually weak people, yes, even believers, who are in constant conflict with God and men and use them to accomplish his purpose.

Not every believer reaches a high level of sanctification. We too may at time find ourselves in conflict with others. It can happen in a marriage, it can happen with a family, with children, with church members, with neighbors, or with fellow workers. Oh, we wish these personal conflicts wouldn’t happen, and we may even be their main cause, but God can and does use even the chaos of sin in ourselves and others to accomplish his purpose. You see, the devil just never wins, God won’t let him.

We have many examples of this throughout the Bible where good results from evil. Joseph is another example in the Old Testament. Joseph came from a totally dysfunctional family. The twelve brothers came from four different mothers which caused endless bickering. It didn’t help that their father showed favoritism for Joseph, and that Joseph told his family that he would rule over them, which resulted in the brothers selling Joseph into Egyptian slavery. But you know the rest of the story. But Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:19). God caused good to come out of evil.

Or, take Peter in the New Testament. Peter was always getting himself into trouble with Jesus and the other disciples because of his boldness and impetuousness. Jesus once had to call Peter “Satan” when he wanted Jesus to retreat from his journey to the cross. And when Peter denied Jesus three times in the courtyard he went out and wept bitterly. But Jesus reinstated Peter to feed his lambs and feed his sheep. And Peter became a bold missionary for the Lord. Good out of evil.

But the best example of God turning good from evil is Christ Jesus himself. God used the hatred and jealousy of the Jewish leaders for Jesus to plot his death and bring him before Pilate. God used the greed of Judas to betray Jesus and get him arrested. God used the cowardice of Pilate to get him to give in to the crowd. God used the Roman’s cruel form of execution to shed the blood of his own Son on the cross. And yet through all that evil, God accomplished his purposes—our sins were washed away in the blood of the lamb, by his stripes we are healed, through his death and resurrection we have life. 

There is much sin and evil around us, we simply cannot get away from it–the moral decay of our society, the corruption in high places, the greed and dishonesty of people, the violence and murder, the falling away from the faith in the church, the constant threat of terrorists blowing themselves up and taking innocent lives with them. I don’t know if this is the worst of times in the history of mankind, but I do know that things are only going to get worse as the end of time draws near. 

What is God’s answer to all that is taking place in the world? Psalm 37, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away” (Psalm 37:1-2). “The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming” (Psalm 37:12-13). “Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it” (Psalm 37:34). “The Lord helps them and delivers them, he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him” (Psalm 37:40). In other words, God’s plans and purposes are being carried out, even when it appears the wicked are prospering.

But there is also much sin and evil within us as well. We have worldly folly and moral weakness that plague us daily. We can leave this church with the best of intentions and fall flat on our face before we reach our car door. What is God’s answer to all that is taking place in our lives?  Paul wrote to the Romans, “The law was added so that the trespass might increase.”  Yes, the more we know about the law of God the more we realize how much you have broken it. Paul goes on, “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” This is not an encouragement to sin more, but it is a remedy for despair from sin. Paul goes on, “So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21).  We have a Savior who can take our sin and wickedness, our stench of death, and turn it into a fragrant flower of God’s goodness, his grace to us in Christ.  We can leave here today knowing that whatever evil happens in the world or in our lives, it will be used by God to fulfill his purpose and provide for our good. The New Testament equivalent to the lesson of Samson is this: “We know that in all things (the good, the bad, and the ugly) God works for the good of those who love him who have been called accord to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  

Samson’s life ended went his Nazarite vows were broken, his hair was cut, and he lost his strength. He was captured by the Philistines who poked his eyes out and put him on display in the temple of their idol god Dagon. And one day when all the dignitaries and government officials had assembled at the temple along with many of the Philistines to make fun of Samson, Samson prayed to the Lord in faith for strength one more time. He grabbed two pillars of the temple, breaking them, and the entire building came crashing down on the rulers and all the Philistines. It was said that Samson killed many more when he died than while he lived.

Yes, Samson’s life was one of constant conflict with God and with man. And yet he earned a place in Hebrews 11, the great “Hall of Faith” chapter. Verse 32 reads, “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised” (Hebrews 11:32). If the reckless and fool-hardy Samson gained what was promised in his life, the gift of heaven, then certainly there is the sure hope of heaven for us when we cling by faith to God’s amazing grace in Christ. As Paul would say, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.

May we pray:

Dear heavenly Father, we are amazed to hear in your Word today how you used such a worldly, reckless, and angry man like Samson to bring good out of evil. When bad things happen in our lives as a result of evil people around us may we not fret or feel revenge, but rather take refuge in you, knowing others may intend to harm us but you intend it for our good.

And when we ourselves struggle with conflict in our lives with others because of our worldliness and recklessness, oh, grant us your grace and loving kindness to know that no sin is so great, and there is no way that we can mess up so badly, that Christ’s blood does not cover it. Yes, in all things we know that you work for the good of those who love you. 

We ask for your continued grace to help us keep our vows to you, especially our vows to stay in and live out our faith life. You have written our names in the Book of Life through the life, death, and resurrection of your own dear Son our Lord. Through your promises we await the sure gift of heaven. Amen.