241 - Strongest Man's Weakness – Part 2 Series

Sermon Study #241 – STRONGEST MAN’S WEAKNESS – part 2

SAMSON IS HANDED OVER TO THE ENEMIES

Judg 15:9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. Judg 15:10 The men of Judah asked, "Why have you come to fight us?" "We have come to take Samson prisoner," they answered, "to do to him as he did to us." Judg 15:11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?" He answered, "I merely did to them what they did to me." Judg 15:12 They said to him, "We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said, "Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves." Judg 15:13 "Agreed," they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.

Samson kills 1,000 men

Judg 15:14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Judg 15:15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. Judg 15:16 Then Samson said, "With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men." Judg 15:17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.

GOD PROVIDES FOR SAMSON

Judg 15:18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" Judg 15:19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi. Judg 15:20 Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

SAMSON CARRIES THE HEAVY GATES

Judg 16:1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. Judg 16:2 The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, "At dawn we’ll kill him." Judg 16:3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

SAMSON & THE DECEIVING DELILAH

Judg 16:4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. Judg 16:5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."

Test #1:

Judg 16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued." Judg 16:7 Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man." Judg 16:8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. Judg 16:9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

Test #2:

Judg 16:10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied." Judg 16:11 He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man." Judg 16:12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.