Samson, What A Life, In Our Weakness God Is Glorified. Series

Samson, what a life, in our weakness God is glorified. Judges 13-16.

The Judges are as we mentioned last week were a group of leaders of Israel. We started with some discussion about Othniel last week and how out of all the Judges he nailed the role, and then the rest started into a down-ward spiral. I will talk this week about Samson who many see as a miscreant sort of a bloke. He was chosen by God as a leader of Israel prior to his birth, as a Christ type character, not the Christ but of that type, like superheroes, like great leaders, but Samson had his flaws and was not your typical hero. His life was anything but ordinary, this bloke could easily have been the stuff of soap operas as well as a legend. As a Christ type, lets tag him and I don’t think it’s an unfair observation to say he was pretty rough around the edges.

Here's a bit of a list of the goings on of Samson’s life, it’s a big list and I will have to come up for a breath from time to time: Judges 13-16.

• He was born at a time when the Israelites had sinned by worshipping other god’s…again. So, God let them be conquered by the Philistines for forty years

• Then an angel appeared to his Mum, the wife of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, she was barren but was told by the angel who wouldn’t give his name she would have a son. Bit of a Biblical theme that

• She got the run down on her diet during pregnancy, no beer, no wine, and no non-kosher food

• No haircuts for the lad, he was to be a Nazarite…the Nazarites are…check out the vow of a Nazarite in Numbers 6, both men and women are eligible

• He would rescue Israel from the Philistines. All this was spoken to his Mum prior to his birth but wait there’s more.

• She tells her husband

• He prayed and asked that the angel would come back with clear instructions on how they were to bring up their son, I’m thinking with my two boys that could have been handy, an instruction manual

• The angel comes back and tells them, Mum is to have no grapes or raisins, or wine or beer and only to eat kosher food

• The angel stays a while then ascends into heaven as Samson’s Dad is making a sacrifice offering to the Lord

• Then Samson is born

The kids only just been born and already his life has been eventful, then:

• The Lord blessed him as he grew up

• He got excited when he visited the tribal army grounds as a child

• He fell in love with a Philistine girl, wanted to marry her, told his Mum and Dad and they objected strenuously, but this was part of God’s plan to beat the Philistines

• As they were heading off to arrange the marriage a young lion attacked Samson and his parents. Samson pulled its jaws apart and killed it as the Spirit of the Lord had come upon him and gave him strength

• The marriage was arranged

• He returned home and on the way found the lion carcass, took honey from it, as a Nazarite he had broken the vows he would have taken by touching a dead animal

• Big wedding party, tricky riddle for the guests to solve, guests couldn’t solve it, so they threatened Samson’s bride, she, the bride found out the answer, told the guests, the cost of which was thirty fancy outfits which Samson got from killing thirty blokes in the city of Askelon

• Because his wife has ruined his riddle, Samson left his wife and went back home to live with Mum and Dad

• His wife married his best man

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of Samson’s life

• Later on, Samson changes his mind about his wife, takes a goat to try and whoo her back as there were no chocolates but surely there must have been florists back in the day. Here’s a tip for all you young single men, a young goat may be the way to a girl’s heart

• “The Father-in-law tells him, slightly paraphrased, To late, she married your best man, here’s her prettier younger sister.”

• Samson spits the dummy, goes out and catches three hundred foxes, ties a flaming torch between pairs of them and destroys the Philistines grain crops, grain reserves and olive trees

• The Philistines find out why and they get Samson’ ex and her Dad and burn them alive, no you can’t make this stuff up

• Samson seeks revenge and kills many of them and then goes to live in the rock’s of Etam