Samson's Strength

Samson’s Strength

Judges 15:1-20

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Whom amongst us has not heard of the great strength of Samson? Was not slaying 1,000 Philistines with nothing but a jawbone of a donkey and tearing apart a lion and bringing down a temple building with nothing but his mere hands not impressive? One can’t help but dream what it must have been like to have been given supernatural strength and assigned the role of fighting to free God’s people from those whom subjugated them for over 40 years! While it is very tempting to place Samson on a pedestal so high that it overshadows our own “trivial” callings, one must not forget he was not chosen because of his holiness but so that in his weakness God’s power over His enemies might be made known. This sermon is going to examine Samson’s encounter with the Philistines and conclude that his physical strength was also accompanied by great weaknesses of sin in form of being unequally yoked, seeking vengeance for personal gain and forgetting the power of God whom granted him his victories.

Samson Biography

Samson, whose name šemeš (Judges 13:24) meant “little sun,” most likely lived near the end of the 11th century BC. His father was Manoah from the tribe of Dan. While his mother’s name is not known, like her predecessor Sarah she received a divine visitor whom despite her being barren was told she would have a son. Samson was to be raised as a Nazarite with rules such as not drinking wine, cutting one’s hair or coming into contact with the dead (Numbers 6:1-21). 1200 years after the Conquest the Philistine and Amorites forced part of the tribe of Dan to migrate (Judges 18) with the remainder staying and accepting them as their rulers. Samson was chosen by God to be one of the last judges during a period when “spiritual confusion, moral depravity and political fragmentation” of God’s people was predominant. Despite having been chosen as a judge and blessed with supernatural strength, Samson “erotic liaisons with foreign women eventually led to his enslavement and death by his own hands. While Samson will forever be differentiated from Israel’s other judges due to his supernatural strength, he will also be known not as a ruler or organizer of people but an “individualistic hero” whom did not seem to care much about “God, family or nation” and yet despite his various sins, God chose him to smite the Philistines with a mighty blow!

Do not be Unequally Yoked (verses 1-5)

The first “act” of Judges 15 takes place during the time of the wheat harvest. Samson took a young goat as a present for his wife which was the customary gift for consummating a “visiting” marriage and a decent token gift of reconciliation for having promptly left her because she had betrayed his trust by sharing the meaning of his riddle. The father of the bride immediately forbid Samson to come near her for he had given her away to one of his companions. The father then attempted to pacify Samson’s anger by stating he had abandoned his wife and seemed to hate her so the marriage was null and void and he tried to appease him by offering him his more attractive, younger daughter. Unimpressed with the alternative marriage, which was unlawful for an Israelite to accept (Leviticus 18:18), Samson decided to vent his anger on the Philistines. Knowing that it was the dry season when the grain was gathered in heaps and in a most combustible state, Samson chose to get his revenge by tying together in pairs 100 jackals with lit torches attached to their tails and unleashing them in the nearby Philistine fields. The result was that their crops, grapevines and olive trees where consumed by fire, a blow he knew would cripple their economy!

From this act of revenge, we learn a lot about Samson’s character and the dangers of marrying unbelievers. First, the cruelty to animals displayed in Samson’s revenge was hideous and cannot be condoned, especially in the light the beginning and future peace between all of creation. Second, despite being against his parent’s wishes (Judges 14) and God’s command to not marry foreigners (Deuteronomy 7:3); Samson chose not once but twice (see Delilah – chapter 16) to have relations with foreign women whom in the end not only led to his captivity and losing his eyesight but also in him losing his life at his own hands! While Christians are not under the cultural laws of the Old Testament, we are to obey the intent of this law which was to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers as verified in 2 Corinthians 6:4-18! Christians are not to be united with unbelievers because their wickedness and love of this world will inevitably lead one astray because one is trying to please both God and one’s mate. Since righteousness and wickedness have nothing to do with each other, neither should Christians be united unto those whose allegiance is to this world.