Unsung Heroes-The Lad Who Helped Samson

Introduction: The story of Samson is one of the saddest in the Bible. He started off well but ended his days as a captive of the Philistines, Israel’s greatest enemy at the time. Even then, there was an unsung hero who helped him when Samson couldn’t help himself.

Text: Judges 16:23-26, KJV: 23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. 25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. 26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.

Thoughts:

When this event took place, Samson had been captured by the Philistines. They had put out his eyes and reduced him to grinding grain. This was one of the lowest forms of labor, slave labor, and there is no mention of how long Samson endured this. It was bad enough to be captured, after being betrayed by a woman he loved (but didn’t love him), and worse to be made blind. But to toil by grinding grain, and having his feet bound in fetters—this had to be more than Samson could bear.

But not for the Philistines. They had already shown how petty they were years before, at Samson’s wedding, when they threatened his bride with death by burning with fire if she didn’t, somehow, get the answer to Samson’s riddle (see Judges 14). Now that they had him as a captive, that still wasn’t enough, as they decided to make fun of him.

This last day of Samson’s life began with a summons from the prison house. Then, somehow, he “made sport” for them. That was when they made their greatest error—they put Samson between the pillars of their temple. As it turned out, this was the main support columns for their temple.

Somehow Samson became aware of this and asked for help from a “lad” who held him by the hand. Now, we don’t know anything about this lad, his name or if he was even a Hebrew. Whoever he was, he listened to Samson’s request to help him “feel” the pillars so he could ‘lean on them”.

The rest of the text has the rest of the story. This unknown lad, this unsung hero, helped Samson in ways he might have never thought of. We can be grateful for all those who help in even the small ways, like this lad did!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).