Foolishness Of Samson Series

Please open your Bibles to the Book of Judges and let us quickly revisit Chapter 13….

How were Samson’s parents supposed to raise Samson to be??

Judges 13: Samson was to be raised to be a Nazirite! (Numbers 6… to be set apart for God)

Now before reading Judges 14, look with me Judges 16:17….

Samson knew God and that he was to be a Nazirite (set apart for God)!

Read along with me now Judges 14……

Here is the question we need to answer today? What can we say about Samson?

Of course we will learn more about Samson in Judges 15-16 in the next few weeks and we already noted one thing…

Judges 13 and 16:17 – Samson knew he was to be set apart for God! Samson was a Believer of God!

Now to our chapter today, what can we say about Samson in Judges 14..

v1? Samson became a man looking for a wife!

What can we say about Samson in..

v2? Samson ignored God’s command of not marrying pagans!

And what did Samson do in v3?

v3: Samson disobeyed his parents!

And so, so far we can note that even though Samson believed in God, in 3 verses we note his sins of lust, disobeying God, and disobeying his parents!

But what do we note now in v4-5?? Samson’s foolishness was supported by his parents!

Let us make a note here that sin will impact others. When we sin, those around us will have to make a decision to support it, ignore it, or disagree with it. On the other hand, if someone sins in front of us, we have to respond by supporting it, ignoring it, or disagreeing with it. I believe that ignoring it is almost the same as supporting it. We Christians are called to tell the truth in love; i.e. we must depend on the Holy spirit within us, but God will never support sin!

Now, what happened in v6?? God’s Holy Spirit filled Samson and God’s physical power resulted!

Then we note again in v7: Samson’s lust again for a woman.

We note in v8-9: Samson took honey from bees in the lion’s carcass and gave some to his parents not saying where the honey came from. Why did he do that??

Samson was already thinking of scheming people in the future (did you notice the beginning of v8? As if God is telling us Samson had time to think about what he will do in the future, and that was “how can I be above others?”

Samson wanted to give a riddle as we will note in v12-14!

But before looking into the riddle, what do we note in v10-11? Samson’s father again supported the foolishness! What a disaster to start Samson’s adult life with parents agreeing with his sins! Let us note that eventhough it will be very hard, we must please God always, not even over our family members.

Now, why do you think Samson gave a riddle in v12-14?? All for his ego!

Samson disobeyed God by marrying a pagan. What was he thinking?

v15: the Philistine men called on that Philistine woman (Samson’s wife) to get the answer to the riddle!

v16-17: Samson and his wife challenged one another and Samson gave in! Why did he give in??

Samson got tired of his wife’s nagging for 7 days and gave in to her! Samson had an ego and no patience!!

v18: Samson knew he lost his bet because of his wife!

What can we say about Samson in v19??

God empowered Samson again but he allowed his anger misuse what God gave!

v20: The expected happened to Samson in losing his wife!

What can we learn from Samson so far to apply to our lives today?

Samson believed in God and even knew he was to be set apart for God, but he did many ungodly things!

1. To believe in God and be called by God is only good if a person actually lives it out!

For us Christians today, remember and take action from James 2:26…..

Through Scriptures, know what we Christians are called to do and strive to do it!

Again, Samson believed in God and was set apart for God but yet he sinned multiple times!

2. All people, including as Christians saved by grace, are prone to sin!

We should all know this passage by now - Hebrews 12:1-2…. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Samson is noted as a hero of faith in Hebrews 11, even though he sinned much, because his faith grew and died for the glory of God as we will note later in Judges 16.