240 - Strongest Man's Weakness - Part 1 Series

Sermon Study # 240 – STRONGEST MAN’S WEAKNESS – part 1

If Samson was a superhero – his introduction would sound something like this: Tore a lion with his bear hands, struck down thirty men, caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail, killed 1,000 men with a donkey’s jawbone. Is it Superman? Is it Spiderman? Is it Batman? No - it’s SUPER SAMSON!

My son asked me yesterday as we watched the new Spiderman movie, “Dad, is Peter Parker real?” – “No son, he’s just fantasy.” – Unlike the fictional characters from the movies – there was a real man with supernatural strength – his name, Samson.

Covenant For Samson

Judg 13:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. Judg 13:2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. Judg 13:3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Judg 13:4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean,

Judg 13:5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."

Samson Born and Blessed

Judg 13:24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, Judg 13:25 and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson Demands a Philistine Wife

Judg 14:1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. Judg 14:2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife." Judg 14:3 His father and mother replied, "Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She’s the right one for me." Judg 14:4 (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) –

Note: God did not endorse this marriage, outside of His people – but God had a plan for Samson’s error. We may choose to do something outside of God’s permission – BUT God always has a plan to prevail when we fail.

Samson’s Strength

Judg 14:5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. Judg 14:6 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. Judg 14:7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her. Judg 14:8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, Judg 14:9 which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass. Judg 14:10 Now his father went down to see the woman. And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms. Judg 14:11 When he appeared, he was given thirty companions. Judg 14:12 "Let me tell you a riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. Judg 14:13 If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes." "Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let’s hear it."

Riddle: Judg 14:14a He replied, "Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet."

Samson’s Weakness

For three days they could not give the answer. Judg 14:15 On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, "Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?" Judg 14:16 Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, "You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer." "I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother," he replied, "so why should I explain it to you?" Judg 14:17 She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people. Judg 14:18 Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,