Judges 14-17

God’s message to me: God invented “shock and awe.” Remember the flood. Imagine being one of the people outside of the ark. Noah had been preaching about the coming storm for about 100 years but, no one on earth had ever seen rain in 1,656 years. Suddenly there is a full out thunderstorm, earthquakes, water shooting out of the ground and dark clouds everywhere and these folks have never seen any of that before. Now the people of Gaza wait at the gates of the city to ambush Samson in the morning. Instead he comes out at midnight, takes hold of the barred city gate, rips up the doors of the gate, the posts they are attached to and the bar that is locking it and carries it on his shoulders to the top of a hill near Hebron while the dummies from Gaza sit around with their jaws on their chests.

(don’t forget, he was there to be with a harlot which is another violation of the Nazirite vow. I tend to get the impression no one ever explained that vow to him. If they did he certainly didn’t seem to care.)

Promises: Even on your worst day, God will ensure that your actions make Him look good. You can work up a powerful thirst killing 1,000 Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone. God quenched Samson’s thirst by cracking a rock and letting a spring erupt from it so he could drink.

Commands: God will use you no matter what. Whether or not you enjoy it or profit from it depends on your willingness to obey Him in the process. Samson was a mighty man who could have had a lot more enjoyable life. Unfortunately, he had no respect for the rules he was to live by. Even if you forget his drinking, eating from old animal carcass’ hanging out with the wrong crowd and demanding self indulgence, you can’t get away from his involvement with Philistine women. The Philistines are most known for Goliath of Gath. Goliath was a giant of the Nephilim. He had 4 brothers who were also giants and was among the last of the giants. These events occurred well before Goliath’s time and the Philistine bloodline was well tainted by the nephilim. Forget marrying outside his faith and nationality, Samson was, for all intents and purposes, marrying outside his species. First he married a Philistine, then he went to a Philistine harlot, then he moved in with another Philistine women.

While it seems Samson lived the party life, it should also be noted that the only homes he is shown living in are his parents house, his in-laws house, his girlfriends house and a cave. No mention of great fortune, he had to kill 30 men to pay off a gambling debt. No mention of a home, land, position, respect or anything. He judged Israel, when he wasn’t out doing something stupid, he killed a lot of Philistines, he got in plenty of trouble and when he died, his brothers came to collect the corpse and bury him. He accomplished a lot, but I don’t see where he enjoyed it nearly as much as previous judges did.

Timeless principles: Those chosen of God can and will be used by him, even in their darkest hour. After allowing himself to be weakened by Delilah Samson was captured, blinded and imprisoned. If you recall past studies, a Nazirite who becomes unclean goes to the temple for ritual cleansing including having their head shaved. As Sampson’s hair began to grow back in the prison, the power God gave him as part of the vow returned as well.

The Philistines decided to celebrate the idea that their false god had delivered Samson into their hands. with a temple full of revelers including all the lords of the Philistines, and another 3,000 people on the roof of the temple they brought Samson from the prison to be a spectacle for them. Samson asked God for one thing. He wanted his strength back just long enough to die taking revenge. God gave him what he asked for. When Samson knocked down the support pillars of the temple the roof caved in killing those inside and those on the roof. Samson killed more Philistines in his final, suicidal attack than all the others he had killed combined.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: I can trust God to use me no matter what happens. I know that even in my darkest hour He can use me for mighty things. This story should remind us all to be obedient to God and do things the right way. I see the stories of the other judges and most of them gained profit and position after doing mighty works for God. They obeyed God in their actions and enjoyed a peaceful life after the job was done. Some failed to continue in obedience after they retired but, they profited from doing so when they were called. Samson fought until he died and never got much out of it, His party lifestyle just kept him in position to get mad and kill bad guys. Most of us would love to have the power to defeat enemies so easily but, I would rather be able to have a good retirement when I was done. On the other hand, if I must go down fighting I want to be like Sampson and the Texans at the Alamo. Losing the battle but winning the war because my final act did enough damage to the enemy that they couldn’t win afterward.

more to learn for in-depth study: The battle between what young people want and what their parents think is good for them is as old as time. Overindulgent parents and temperamental, self absorbed teens are nearly as old.

Samson had been a Nazirite from birth. For those who have been following the study you will remember that this means more than just not cutting your hair. A Nazirite is separate from normal people and must remain ritually clean to an extreme level. Taking a wife from among the Philistines was not in keeping with that tradition, but the boy picked the girl he wanted and his parents indulged him. God put it in his heart to want her in order to set up Samson's first big fight, On his way to see her he killed a lion and later took honey from the carcass. Aside from avoiding dead bodies a Nazirite would be well outside the rules to eat honey that came from a dead carcass. Honestly, I love honey and that even grosses me out.

The next problem this indulgence brought was when Sampson returned a few months later deciding that he wanted his wife back. (He had abandoned her after she informed the men about Samson’s riddle) Finding out that his father-in-law had given her to his best man he decided to start a little fire. Burning down the Philistines crops gathered attention and they burned down his father-in-law’s house killing the father-in-law and Samson’s wife. Not enough that his wife had been given to another, killing her got Samson truly mad. The bible says he attacked them with a great slaughter but doesn’t mention how many men he killed at that time. When they came to arrest him he killed 1,000 with the jawbone of a donkey.

A nagging woman is also a timeless theme. Delilah pestered Samson for the secret of his strength. Sampson lied to her 3 times. Each time she tried to weaken him using the method he lied about and did so with Philistines hiding in their bedroom. You would think that would be a clue but, strong arms and strong minds don’t always come in the same body. Samson stuck around long enough for Delilah to nag him to the point where he finally told her the truth.

Samson Judged Israel fro 20 years. The story of Micah begins with his introduction to idolatry and his firing a Levite to act as priest for his false gods. It continues tomorrow.

tomorrow: Judges 18-19