Still Spinning - Samson Series

November 15, 2025

After Jair lead Israel for 22 years, they once again did evil in the sight of Yahweh. This time, the Ammonites and the Philistines came against Israel at the same time.

The Ammonites came from the East and afflicted Israel (Gilead, and parts of Ephraim, Benjamin and Judah) for 18 years.

Meanwhile, over on the West Coast, the Philistines were flexing their muscles. They would oppress Israel for 40 years.

That brings us to Samon “sun” (13:1-16:31)

Tribe: Dan

Enemy: The Philistines

Samson’s story started out well enough. His parents, Manoah and “his wife,” from the tribe of Dan, had no children.

One day, an “angel” appeared to Manoah’s wife and told her that she would have a son.

“Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean,” because the child is to be a Nazirite from birth. He will begin the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines.

A Nazirite:

• Was set apart for the service of God or who voluntarily took a vow described in Numbers 6:1–21.

• Abstained from wine, wine vinegar, grapes, raisins, intoxicating liquors, vinegar made from such substances, and eating or drinking any substance that contained any trace of grapes.

• Never cut the hair on his head.

• Was not to come in contact with a dead body or anything associated with death (graves, etc.) thus remaining ritually pure.

She went and told her husband, that a man who looked like “an angel of God” had told her she would have a son.

Manoah prayed that the man would come again to teach them how to bring up such a child. Yahweh heard Manoah’s prayer and the “angel” came again to the woman as she was in the field. She hurried home and returned with her husband. Manoah consulted with the “angel” about how to rear the child and then asked him to remain while they prepared a young goat for him.

The angel replied, "I will not eat your food, but you can prepare and offer a burnt offering for Yahweh."

They asked the “angel” what his name was and he said that it was too wonderful and beyond their understanding.

Manoah took the young goat with a grain offering and placed it on a rock before the “angel” and then they watched as a flame blazed up from the altar. The “angel” ascended in the flames and Manoah and his wife fell face down to the ground. He did not appear to them again.

Judges 13:22-23 - "We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!" But his wife answered, "If Yahweh had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this."

The woman gave birth and named the baby Samson. As he grew, Yahweh blessed him, and the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him….

Some time went by. Samson was now an adult. He went to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman whom he took a fancy to. He went home to his father and said, “I saw a Young Philistine woman in Timnah, get her for me as my wife.”

His parent tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted that she was the right one for him. Samson was not willing to do what was right, instead insisting on doing what was right in his own eyes. In that sense, his life was to become an object lesson to the condition of Israel as a whole.

Verse 4 brings up an interesting question. Did Yahweh guide Samson to marry a Philistine woman or did he simply work through Samson’s own choices to accomplish his goals? Here are some things to consider:

• God had specifically said that Israel was not to marry into the nations that surrounded them (Deut 7:3-4; Joshua 23:12-13).

• Samson was a Nazirite – marrying a Philistine woman would make him unclean.

• In Hebrew thinking, if God allows something, it is credited to him as if he had done it – which would be reflected in the way they wrote.

• James 1:13-15 - When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

The SDA Bible Commentary makes this interesting observation: “Even in this unfortunate marriage God was overruling the course of events for the furtherance of His own designs.” – namely, the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines. God ordained that Samson would begin the deliverance of Israel – that was His overarching will. He did not, however, ordain the sins Samson committed, the way he went about doing things, or his willful, selfish, and prideful acts – those, God allowed because free choice is so important to Him. God used Samson’s faulty character and deliberate bad choices to accomplish HIS goals.