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,
Riddled Solved: "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?"
Samson’s Strength
Samson said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle." Judg 14:19 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he went up to his father’s house. Judg 14:20 And Samson’s wife was given to the friend who had attended him at his wedding. Judg 15:1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I’m going to my wife’s room." But her father would not let him go in. Judg 15:2 "I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead." Judg 15:3 Samson said to them, "This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them." Judg 15:4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, Judg 15:5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves. Judg 15:6 When the Philistines asked, "Who did this?" they were told, "Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. Judg 15:7 Samson said to them, "Since you’ve acted like this, I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you." Judg 15:8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
SAMSON’S WEAKNESS IDENTIFIED:
(1) Samson went looking where he did not belong.
Judg 14:1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.
NT Ref: James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
(2) Samson demanded to marry an enemy of the Israelites – the Philistines had rule over the Israelites.
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."
This act was prohibited by the Mosaic Law:
(1) Exodus 34:16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
(2) Deut. 7:3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
NT Ref: 2 Cor 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 2 Cor 6:15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial ? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 2 Cor 6:16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 2 Cor 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
(3) Samson rejected his parent’s counsel.
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."
NT Ref: Eph 6:2-3 "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise-- that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
