What was the secret to Samson’s strength? Was it really his long hair? God never says that. In fact, I think from the text the secret to his strength was the inrushing of the Holy Spirit. We see it in 14:6 with the lion, 14:19 with the 30 Philistine men, 15:14 and with the 1,000 Philistines. From then on it doesn’t explicitly mention it, but as we see in 16:8 even Samson calls out for God’s strength.
But I think Samson thought it was the hair. Why else would he finally tell Delilah that in 16:17, and then later in 16:22 the text mentions that his hair began to grow again. The hair represented not strength in itself, but obedience to his Nazirite vow to God.
I say that because I want us to consider: what is the secret of our strength? Is it our physical abilities trained in the gym? Is it our tremendous mental skills honed by hours in the classroom? Is it our economic skills created on Wall Street? Is it our emotional skills developed by years of close conversations? I don’t think so.
In reality we only have one secret to strength and that is the infilling or God’s Holy Spirit on our lives. But many times what we see as strengths in our selves become hindrances to the strength of God pouring through us. We focus on the strengths of our flesh and hinder the strength of the Spirit.
Such was the case for Samson. Samson, as we talked about last time, was a pretty proud man; proud of Samson, that is. He was actively rebellious, actively sensuous, actively angry and vengeful, actively narcissistic. These things hindered his ability to fulfill his God given mission - and it can do the same to us. Let’s see how it happened in Samson’s later life and how he finally turned at the end back to God for real and what happened because of that repentance.
Chapter 15 Verses 1 - 8
The "visit" was used as a way around having a Philistine wife in Israelite territory. The man would bring a young goat as a present so he could have relations with his Philistine wife.
3 The real culprit here was the woman’s father, but Samson takes revenge on the Philistines. How often do we respond to a slight by an all out attack? This wasn’t "an eye for an eye" but "All your eyes for my eye!"
The "foxes" may have actually been jackals. None the less - how do you hold on to them to tie them up like that?
7 This would be the opposite of The Golden Rule. Samson’s Golden Rule was: "do unto others as they do unto you." If you get cheated then you cheat. If you get attacked then you attack. How often do we respond the same way?
Verses 9 - 20
Lehi means jawbone. It’s odd that Judah would actually want the Philistines to stay in power. Perhaps they didn’t recognize Samson as their rescuer. I wonder how many times we like to keep the status quo and am not willing to be rescued from our sins or past. We don’t recognize that Jesus came to set captives free and we’d rather continue being dominated by the world than take the stand and go to the work of freeing ourselves (through the power of the Spirit). Part of the problem was Samson. He was a loner who fought battles as personal affronts to his pride, rather than as a leader of a people throwing off an oppressor.
How often do we act the same way? We don’t realize we are involved in a struggle against an organized enemy. We react as if everything we go through only involves us alone. How much more effective we could be if we banded together and led battles in the Spirit against Satan instead of trying to fight alone. And, of course, one of Satan’s neatest tricks is misdirection: he gets us to think the enemy is our brother or sister so we attack them.
Samson again violates his Nazirite vow, but used a fresh (not old and brittle) jawbone (from a dead animal) to attack the Philistines. Ramath-Lehi means: Jawbone Hill.
18 God reminds Samson that he is only a man who cannot survive without water. If only Samson would have realized all that he was and all his strength came from his relationship with Yahweh!
20 The fact that the author tells of 20 years of Samson judging Israel may suggest that his effectiveness ended prior to the Delilah encounter in the next chapter. You know, the flesh will eventually keep the Lord from being effective through you.
Jesus said to the church in Sardis: "I know your works. You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead�for I have not found your works complete." He threatens to fight against them. Paul says it this way:
Galatians 5:17-18 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ESV
The more we give in to the flesh the less we can obey the Spirit. It’s like the flesh is a magnet. The more we give into those fleshly desires the stronger the pull from the magnet becomes and the less able we are to move towards the Spirit and obeying Him.
Chapter 16 Verses 1 - 3
Samson’s sensual nature still leads him. But at this point God still works mightily through him.
Verses 4 - 22
Delilah was probably a Philistine based on her proximity to Philistia and her closeness to the Philistine leaders, though she is not named as a Philistine. The Valley of Sorek is near Samson’s home town.
The treasure promised to Delilah was 140 pounds of silver. Quite a fortune.
Samson was pretty inconsistent in obeying his Nazirite vow of no wine or grapes and no contact with dead bodies. The hair was the third and last and one that the Angel of the Lord had specifically mentioned to Samson’s parents in chapter 13.
Obviously Samson did not believe that God would abandon him. There came a point, however, when Samson had thumbed his nose at God too many times. But though God’s strength left Samson, God Himself did not, as we’ll see later. Samson thought he could handle it. How many times have we though we could "handle" sin and not get burned by it?
There may come times in your life when God no longer seems to come through as before. Perhaps at some point God knows what you need is discipline, not coddling. Even then, it is for our good:
1 Corinthians 5:5 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. ESV
Hebrews 12:6-11 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ESV
Verses 23 - 24
The people rejoiced thinking that their god had prevailed against Yahweh. But it was Samson’s flesh that had failed, not Dagon’s power that had prevailed.
Verses 25 - 31
I think what we see in these final verses are the restoration of relationships. Samson’s relationship with God had been restored. I think Samson finds faith for the first time, pleading with God, not for a selfish drink because he is thirsty, but for a selfless cause-giving up his life in return for one last burst of strength. The fact that God answers his prayer signifies that Samson has learned to trust God. I think this is also what puts him in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11.
We also see Samson restored to his people. After his death his "brothers and all his family" come to bury him. Likely his parents were now dead, but his father’s family comes to bring back Samson. Rebellion against his parents started Samson’s downfall. It’s nice to see God restore that which is broken!
Lessons
Samson is listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11:32. Yet he was a man undone by his own lusts. How much more could have been done through him had he ceded authority over his desires to the Lord.
What rules you? What part of your old flesh seems to take control when your life gets out of control? In Samson, God finally brought an end to himself. He took away enough so that Samson saw his real lack: that without God he is really no one and that the things he trusted in didn’t really bring him real satisfaction. Samson should have gotten the warnings - do we? For us I think God sometimes brings us to end of ourselves to see how much we really need Him more than anything else. It’s a hard place, but a glorious one too.
Samson’s Growth
I do see some spiritual growth in Samson. The first is that when he killed the 1,000 men in chapter 15, he was actually in the right for a change. All he wanted was his lawful wife. In verse 3 he says "this time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines." This suggests that last time he wasn’t innocent.
Then at the end of his life in 16:28 we see something very unusual for the "old" Samson - he calls out to the Lord. He is still talking vengeance, but he seems different, more like he is finally being an agent for God rather than an agent for Samson.
And notice what happens: (16:30) "So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life."
I think this suggests to us that Samson could have been so more fruitful if he had ceded his flesh to the Lord a long time before.
So let us take this lesson from Samson. Don’t let the flesh alone to grow and become more powerful - even if you think it is being used of God. Don’t think that just because you have abilities that they are from God or can be used effectively by God. Use the character of Christ as you guide. If something doesn’t fit in that puzzle then ask God to burn it out of you.
In reality you don’t need anything other than the Spirit of God rushing into you to do His will and fulfill His mission for you! God will use your talents, but more often than not we need to lay those things down at the feet of Christ to be crucified before they can be used effectively in the Master’s hands.
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