By Ezekiel Kimosop
INTRODUCTION
The story of Samson is recorded in Judges 13-16. It is a fairy tale type of narrative condensed in only four chapters but which carries powerful moral lessons for covenant believers in all ages.
Samson was one of the judges who ruled Israel during the cyclic apostasy period after Joshua's generation (see Judges 2).
Little is however known about his life as a judge. One of the outstanding lessons from the story of Samson is that whereas the writer of the Book of Judges sought to depict Samson's moral excesses, he nevertheless underscores the fact that God ultimately used this "superman" to accomplish His purposes for Israel in an amazing way. The story meanders along low and high moments which are inextricably interwoven in the four chapters.
We shall focus on one of the incidents that perhaps most aptly reveals the moral escapades of Samson and around which his ungodly marriages and activities stand.
Samson never got to marry the woman he loved. Of course he got it wrong on his choices on instances. He trusted his eyes and instincts more than the wisdom of his godly parents and settled for Philistine women. American televangelist John Hagee once said that love at first sight is cured by a second look! How true.
The second Philistine woman to come into Samson's life is Delilah, the girl from the Valley of Sorek, who was equally up to no good. The Hebrew meaning of her name is "delicate", a name that has come to be associated with treacherous and voluptuous women. Delilah was perhaps the equivalent of a cold war double agent spy-queen, who was under the direction of the enemies of God's people (Judges 16:4-5).
THE BIRTH OF SAMSON
Let's begin with the story of Samson's birth...
The young Nazarite was miraculously born to a Danite man called Manoah, whose wife was until her conception of Samson, barren (Judges 13). Samson, like Isaac, was a miracle child.
Samson's mission was spelled out even before he was conceived. Judges 13:5 says that Samson was born to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines. He was a special child, set apart a Nazarite who was forbidden from taking strong drink or shaving his hair (Judges 13:4-5). It is instructive that the mother was forbidden from taking strong drink during her pregnancy.
SAMSON'S EXCESSES
In Judges 14, Samson began his ministry journey with a wrong footing. His decision to marry a Philistine girl that went against the wisdom of his godly parents was perhaps the beginning of his downfall. However, God ultimately used his unpleasant circumstances to fulfill His divine purposes for Israel.
Before Samson could take the first Philistines girl, he got into a number of misdeeds, some of which, in the eyes of the young men, were perhaps heroic.
We shall pick our evaluation of Samson's moral flaws from the incidents described in Judges 14. It is important to appreciate that the people of Israel were morally fallen at this stage. They had departed from God's covenant in several ways. Intermarriage with heathen nations was nothing new. Moses was at one time accused of marrying an Ethiopian woman (Numbers 12).
Judges 2:11-23 carries a deep lament on the moral corruption identified with the generation that came after Joshua's generation had departed. God however had His faithful remnant. Samson's parents were perhaps among this small group.
THE FIREFOX INCIDENT
Judges 15:6-5 says "Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves."
This incident came at the backdrop of a special event. Samson had gone to meet his Philistine wife (a girl betrothed to him in violation of Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 13:25). As stated earlier, the Jews were forbidden from intermarrying with the heathen.
Earlier in Judges 14, we learn that Samson had hosted a celebration at his in-laws, possibly in fulfilment of the cultural requirements for marriage.
The feast went awry. His wife betrayed him by revealing the secret behind his riddle to the Philistines. Samson killed 30 of their men in a bout of anger when he learned that he had been tricked. He had however acted in utter foolishness.
His father in law decided to give Samson's wife to his bestman. This now confirms that she had only been betrothed to Samson and was not married to him at this stage! The customary practice of betrothal is perhaps most clearly demonstrated under Joseph's relationship with Mary in Matthew 1:18-25.
Elsewhere in the New Testament Scripture, the Church is symbolically portrayed as a bride that has been betrothed to Christ. The marriage feast of the Lamb is described in Revelation 19:6-10. Up till then the Church prepares herself for this feast.
Samson was shocked to learn that the woman he deeply loved had been snatched from him (Judges 14:20). His anger burned and he mindlessly destroyed a large plantation of wheat by catching 300 foxes and tying them in pairs and placing fire torches on them before sending them into the ripen farms (15:3-5).
Another tragedy followed...His father in law and Samson's wife were killed by the Philistine farmers who were enraged by the economic loss that they attributed to the betrayal by Samson's father in law...
Scripture in Judges 15 doesn't reveal how Samson was able to accomplish this strange act. It is however not a prescriptive narrative. None of us can replicated what Samson did and neither is it needful or beneficial for Christian obedience!
THE FALL OF SAMSON
Samson was finally captured by the Philistines after he fell to Delilah's trickery (Judges 16). He revealed the secret behind his unique strength - his uncut hair. Samson died in the hands of the Philistines after great humiliation. The Philistines gouged out his eyes and used him for sport (Judges 16:25-29).
Meanwhile, Samson's hair sprouted and grew and with that God's strength returned to him (Judges 16:22). Samson finally summoned his strength through a dying wish which God granted him. Judges 16:30 says "Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life."
MORAL LESSONS FROM SAMSON'S LIFE
1) Unbridled (uncontrolled) anger is dangerous! Watch out... The Bible admonishes us saying "Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:26-27).
2) Samson acted in revenge because his wife was given to someone else. He caused more harm in the end. Romans 12:19 says "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord."
3) We should never misuse the gifts that God has bestowed upon us for selfish and ungodly purposes. Samson was highly gifted but the manner in which he exercised his gifts is not worth emulating.
4) Never marry from the heathen. God forbade his people from intermarrying with Canaanites. Samson defied the wisdom of his godly parents and disobeyed God. Believers should not marry unbelievers.
5) God will always accomplish His purposes even under the most unusual circumstances. No situation is beyond Him.
CONCLUSION
Few would perhaps deny that God used Samson to ultimately fulfill His purposes in destroying Israel's enemies. This is alluded to in Judges 14:4 and finally revealed (and affirmed) in Samson's death in Judges 16:30.
I cannot however find a compelling reason to celebrate Samson in the context of his deplorable acts described in the passages of context of Judges 14-15. He simply failed the moral test and for this, the Bible carries a warning to God's people never to emulate him.
On the flip side, Samson's case is a depiction of our moral fallibility, our sinfulness which only Christ's shed blood could cleanse. We should however be sympathetic to Samson's cause in the concluding passage of Judges 15.
God used Samson's death to destroy the Philistines. This is perhaps the reason to celebrate him in the end. Having walk the path of ruin, Samson became a tool at God's disposal by which the Philistine forty year siege over Israel was finally broken (ref. Judges 13:1).
This truth should therefore never escape the reader's attention.
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2020
MORAL LESSONS FROM SAMSON'S LIFE
1) Unbridled (uncontrolled) anger is dangerous! Watch out... The Bible admonishes us saying "Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:26-27).
2) Samson acted in revenge because his wife was given to someone else. He caused more harm in the end. Romans 12:19 says "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord."
3) We should never misuse the gifts that God has bestowed upon us for selfish and ungodly purposes. Samson was highly gifted but the manner in which he exercised his gifts is not worth emulating.
4) Never marry from the heathen. God forbade his people from intermarrying with Canaanites. Samson defied the wisdom of his godly parents and disobeyed God. Believers should not marry unbelievers.
5) God will always accomplish His purposes even under the most unusual circumstances. No situation is beyond Him.
CONCLUSION
Few would perhaps deny that God used Samson to ultimately fulfill His purposes in destroying Israel's enemies. This is alluded to in Judges 14:4 and finally revealed (and affirmed) in Samson's death in Judges 16:30.
I cannot however find a compelling reason to celebrate Samson in the context of his deplorable acts described in the passages of context of Judges 14-15. He simply failed the moral test and for this, the Bible carries a warning to God's people never to emulate him.
On the flip side, Samson's case is a depiction of our moral fallibility, our sinfulness which only Christ's shed blood could cleanse. We should however be sympathetic to Samson's cause in the concluding passage of Judges 15.
God used Samson's death to destroy the Philistines. This is perhaps the reason to celebrate him in the end. Having walk the path of ruin, Samson became a tool at God's disposal by which the Philistine forty year siege over Israel was finally broken (ref. Judges 13:1).
This truth should therefore never escape the reader's attention.
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment