Samson, The Flawed Savior

There is something called the underdog. It’s the boxer not expected to win the fight. It’s the team up against the undefeated champions from last year. The underdog is an unlikely candidate for success, because he’s too small, or they’re too weak, or inexperienced.

Yet we know it’s the underdog that sometimes prevails. There’s plenty of examples from the Bible. There’s Jacob, the younger brother, served by the elder Esau. There’s Deborah, a woman chosen to lead God’s people. These aren’t the ones we’d pick. Yet so often God does. He picks the hardened sinner. The stammering preacher. The simple farmer. God picks the unlikely, and gives them a holy task, so that He might receive the glory.

There’s a great lesson in God’s love for underdogs. God is saying something about himself. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 1, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (v 25). The LORD is so much greater than mortal mankind, for He can bring salvation from totally unexpected corners. We might be weak and unreliable, yet the LORD always accomplishes what He set out to do.

Which brings us to Samson. He was strong, yet so weak. What could he ever do for the cause of the Kingdom? Let’s listen to the Word of God from Judges 16:

Through Samson’s death, God delivers His people:

1) the savior covered with shame

2) the LORD moved to save

1) the savior covered with shame: There’s something very memorable about Samson, “the one-man army.” But first, we need to remember he lived during a time of lawlessness in Israel. There’s a theme in the book of Judges, “In those days, there was no king, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” So time and again, the LORD disciplines his people, and sends enemies to inflict trouble. Yet God also has mercy on the Israelites, and He delivers them through judges.

These judges came from all tribes, and from all walks of life. Some of them were indeed pretty unlikely leaders! God called them to direct the armies, to provide leadership, to administer justice. Yet as soon as the judge passed away, the people would fall into idolatry. And then the enemies would be sent back into the land…

At such a time, Samson was born. He was born unexpectedly, to an older couple who hadn’t ever received children. An angel of God told his parents that their son would have a special mission. He’d be a Nazirite: one consecrated for God’s service. As the law said, he would be set apart by not having any alcoholic drink and by not cutting his hair. In time, Samson grew up to be one of Israel’s judges.

And we are told that “the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him” (13:24). That’s an important detail. We often we picture Samson like a muscular hero—ripped and ready, like he was one of those guys who has spent so much time in the gym that their neck has disappeared. But the secret of Samson’s strength wasn’t his biceps and triceps. The secret was the Spirit. When the Spirit came upon Samson, he could tear apart a lion with his bare hands and could fight for God’s people.

The enemy at the time was the Philistines. Samson threw himself against them with full force. He killed thirty Philistines after they solved his wedding reception riddle. He wiped out their crops with fiery foxes. He killed many more when his wife was murdered. Later, he even killed a thousand with the jawbone of a donkey. No one would’ve given Samson a Nobel Peace Prize, but with him around, the Philistines would hesitate to attack.

But Samson was a deeply flawed child of the LORD. He might’ve had great strength, yet when it came to women, he was very weak. So Samson fell for the lusts of his heart. And Samson pursued his urges so recklessly that his mission was always about to go off the rails. His victories against the Philistines were most often about him trying to get revenge for some personal insult or loss. During Samson’s time as judge, it seemed like it was all about him, and not about doing the LORD’s will.

This couldn’t last. He couldn’t keep chasing women while he was supposed to be leading the country. And it was Delilah, a Philistine woman, who had a direct hand in Samson’s downfall. He’d fallen in love with her, but she was bribed to betray him to the enemy. After trying several times, she finally got the secret of his strength out of him. His hair was cut, and the Philistines finally got their man.

The words of 16:20 are especially tragic. In the Scriptures, this is almost never said of God’s children: “He did not know that the LORD had departed from him.” Though Samson expected to jump up and smash the Philistines once again, this time he was all alone. Samson was left in the hands of the enemy no longer as a Nazirite—no longer consecrated to God—but as an ordinary man, with ordinary ability.