“Samson, A Man with an Ethical Blind Spot” (Judges 13-16)
There are certain stories in the Bible which fit into a very special category. Those are the stories which reveal the essence of the people in the story. That is to say, if you know the story, you know what the people are like even if you don’t know anything else about those people. A handful of Bible stories fall into this category: David and Goliath. Cain and Abel. Abraham and Isaac. Samson and Delilah.
It is a story which is altogether true, and yet has become legendary. It has been told and retold and told again throughout the course of a hundred generations. There is in the story of Samson and Delilah the stuff of real human drama. It is one of the great classic tragedies of all literature—sacred or secular. It is a story that fathers tell their sons and mothers tell their daughters and Sunday School children learn soon after they start coming to church
As the morning light broke across the horizon, men began to stir all over the prison compound. In a corner cell, heavily guarded and barricaded behind an enormous iron door, another man heard the noises and woke with a start.
He had been dreaming of other, better days. Dreams of sunshine and blue sky, of bright flowers and green trees, dreams of a life long gone. He had dreamt of childhood days, of strong young men and beautiful young women. Dreaming of what had been and of what might have been.
He awoke to the sound of harsh reality. From somewhere across the compound came a muffled curse and another one. He heard the sound of tired feet shuffling, rusty iron gates opening and closing, the guards’ slow, methodical walk toward the central guard tower. He groped in the darkness, reaching for his sandals. Finding them, he put them on, wrapping the thongs around his ankles. Feeling carefully for the wall, he stood up.
He looked awful. He was thinner now, prison food being what it was. His face was covered with a stubbly growth of beard. His hair—what there was of it—was matted and dirty.
Slowly now, he felt along the wall until he found the corner and then followed the wall until he came to the door. He waited at the door for someone to come.
When he felt the sun on his face, he reached up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Then he remembered—he didn’t have any eyes.
For Samson, another day in prison had begun.
He never dreamed it would come to this. Not in his wildest dreams or his worst nightmares. Never did he think it would come to this.
Samson—Mightiest man of Israel.
Samson—Hero of his people.
Samson—Deliverer of the nation.
How did it come to this?
Oh, it seemed like such a long time ago, such a long, long time ago that the angel had appeared to his parents with the good news, “You’re going to have a son.”
The angel had said, “This boy is going to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from the day of his birth.” The angel had said, “He will begin to deliver the people of Israel.” That sentence, those words, burned like a hot iron into Samson’s mind. He could not get them out.
How did it happen? How did a man who started so well end like that? How did a man empowered by the Spirit end up enslaved by the Philistines?
Samson’s parents were faithful. They raised him in a godly home, just like the angel had told them. We are not told about his teen years.
Again the question comes: “What was it with Samson that made him end up like this? Samson had it all. How could this happen to him?”
There are at least two answers to that question:
1. He never appreciated his spiritual heritage.
In the beginning he had godly parents and a godly family and a godly calling. He knew the will of God and he knew the Word of God. He knew exactly what God wanted him to do. He had an angel show up to personally announce what he was supposed to do. Plus he had good looks and a winning personality and enormous leadership ability. Samson inspired people. He was born for greatness. Samson had it all!!!
But he never appreciated what he had. Because he never appreciated all that God had given him, he dillied and he dallied; he went this way and that way; he messed around
That can happen to any of us.
2. He couldn’t control his emotions.
This is a key point. When we read Samson’s story, we tend to think that his problem was all in the sexual area. His most basic problem was that he never learned how to control his emotions.
He never learned to control his emotions and so they controlled him completely. Proverbs 16:32 could have been written about Samson: “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.” In his day Samson had taken more than one city. But he never learned to control his temper. He never learned how to rule his spirit. He never knew the first thing about self-control. In the end his runaway emotions ran away with him.
You want to know the moral to this story? It’s not about Samson. The moral of this story is a moral about God. The hero of this story isn’t Samson. The hero is God. This passage is a lesson in the grace of God.
Glen Campbell said, “I was raised down in Arkansas in a Christian home. I was number seven of eight boys and then there were four girls besides. Every one of us went to church. We went to church together every Sunday. I remember I learned verses when I was growing up. I had a Godly heritage and I was raised in the church, but somewhere along the way I slipped away from God.”
He went through three marriages. Then he had a highly publicized affair with Tanya Tucker. It was everywhere—People Magazine, The National Enquirer. In 1982 Glen Campbell met a born again Christian girl who danced with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. She led him back to faith in Jesus Christ. A year later they were married. Ever since then he’s put Christian music on his albums and he’s given testimonies for Jesus Christ wherever he’s gone. Glen Campbell said, “I sure am glad he’s a loving, forgiving God.” He was raised in the church. He drifted away. He hit the bottom. And now, he’s on fire for Jesus Christ.
The truth of the matter is that there’s a little bit of Samson in all of us, He Rejected Godly Counsel. He Compromised His Commitment.
Christianity maintains we are saved by God's Son who carried our sins, resisted evil's temptation, and conquered death in His glorious resurrection. That’s what Glen Campbell discovered.
And if someone were to ask, "Tell me about your truth," we would say, Truth is a Person: it is Jesus, the Son of God.
There is little doubt that a Man named Jesus lived in Palestine during the first century. Most scholars, even most detractors, will concede He was crucified by the Romans. That information you can get from Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived shortly after the Savior left the earth. All right, we know Jesus was dead. What's that? How do we know Jesus was dead? Because it says when the Romans speared Him, blood and water came out. That only happens when someone is dead.
If Jesus didn't rise, why didn't the authorities roll out His body, show it to the people and let them see Jesus was still dead. That would have ended Christianity right there. If they didn't have His body, why didn't they wait a month or so and roll out a body, any male body. They could have kept the crowd at a distance or had some people who kind of knew Jesus identify Him and that would have been the end of Christianity. Why didn't they do those simple things?
I can tell you why. They didn't do it, because they didn't dare. Too many people knew the truth. They had the facts. Jesus Christ, God's Son, had lived a perfect life; denied every temptation, took our sins upon Himself, and died the death we deserved. Then three days later Jesus rose and showed Himself to the guard and His friends.
