The Samson Syndrome

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Today we are going to take a journey through the life of one of the most interesting Judges of the nation of Israel.

• A judge was someone sent by and commissioned by God to more or less clean up Dodge (Israel) after the nation were deteriorate into a cycle of sin.

• As we take a look at the life of Samson, we will make some observations along the way that we can use in our life to keep from falling into the Samson Syndrome.

• The outline today will serve as benchmarks in the life of Samson.

• Today our message comes from the book of Judges chapters 13-16. You will want to turn there to follow along.

• Let us first begin by a brief examination of the nation of Israel just before the birth of Samson. WHAT WE SEE IS…

• SLIDE #2

SERMON

I. A nation in trouble.

• The first verse of chapter 13 gives us a sad commentary concerning the nation of Israel.

• SLIDE #3

• Judges 13:1(ESV) 1And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

• Throughout the history of the nation of Israel, they repeated a continual cycle as a nation.

o Sin, Servitude, Sorrow, Salvation

• The salvation would come in the form of a Judge like Samson, one who would deliver the nation from the slavery but after a period of time, the nation would repeat the cycle over and over again.

• It was the time in the cycle where the nation needed another deliverer and this time it was going to be Samson.

• SLIDE #4

II. An ordinary family.

• Samson came from humble origins.

• SLIDE #5

• Judges 13:2(ESV) 2There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children.

• Manoah was the father. Mother unnamed.

• His mother was barren, this was one of the worst things that could happen to a woman in that day.

• Also having sons was more important than daughters because a son could carry on the family name which was important, they could provide valuable “FREE” labor, and since a dowry was not required from a son at marriage, they were cheaper to get rid of one day.

• Well, one day an angel of the Lord comes to Samson’s mother and tells her she is going to have a son and that her son was going to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.

• Angel tells her that she is not to drink or eat of the fruit of the vine, eat anything unclean, or cut his hair.

• She is told that her son was to a Nazirite. (Numbers 6:2-21 Nazirite vow) WHAT WAS A NAZIRITE?

• Member of a class of individuals especially devoted to God. The Hebrew term means consecration, devotion, and separation.

• Two traditional forms of the Nazirite are found. One was based on a vow by the individual for a specific period; the other was a lifelong devotion following the revelatory experience of a parent which announced the impending birth of a child. SAMSON’S CASE.

o A Nazirite was not to eat or drink from the fruit of the vine. No grape products.

o A Nazirite could not touch anything that would be unclean such as a dead body.

o A Nazirite was to not cut his hair.

• WE know that Samson’s family KNEW what God wanted from them and from Samson, it is stated on three occasions in the short narrative concerning Samson.

• CONCLUSION OF FAMILY.

• SLIDE #6

• Judges 13:24-25(ESV) 24And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Muh’ huh nehh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. (ESH TAIL)

• This is all we know about Samson’s life until we get to one of his weaknesses.

• SLIDE #7

III. The women in Samson’s life.

• Women were one of Samson’s weaknesses, especially foreign women, he had an unhealthy desire for Philistine women, women outside of the nation of Israel.

• The firs women we are introduced to is..

• SLIDE #8

A. The “wife” from Timnah.

• The interesting thing about this first woman in Samson’s life is that God was going to use this relationship to start a fight with the Philistines!

• God was able to use a weakness that Samson had for the benefit of His plan.

• Samson wants this girl and the family objects, they plead with him to find a woman from his own people, but Samson wins out.