Sampson

The period of the judges helps the nation of Israel towards a time of national coalescence. Through a series of thirteen judges, Israel suffers and survives repeated cycles of turning away and returning to fellowship with God. One of the judges, Gideon, admittedly being from the weakest clan in Israel, allowed God to be his strength leading him to victory.  Unlike Gideon, Sampson was born with super human strength. Where Gideon admitted his weakness, Sampson exploited his strength. The text in Judges 14:6 describes Sampson ripping apart a young lion with only his bare hands. Later in chapter 15:15, he kills a thousand Philistines with the jawbone from a donkey. Then in one defining moment of strength, Sampson uproots the city gates carrying them a distance of thirty-eight miles to Hebron. Sampson was swimming in confidence, self-confidence that would lead to his ultimate downfall.

When Sampson was born, the angel of the Lord appeared to Sampson’s mother and told her that no razor should ever touch his head. The boy was to be a Nazarite set apart for God. In the book of Judges 13:1-25,  the angel of the Lord prophesied that Sampson would grow up to begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.

Sampson made several mistakes in his life; his biggest was allowing his unbridled pride and self confidence to take the place of God. As Sampson experienced repeated victories over his enemies, he began to operate more and more in his own flesh. The bible states that pride always comes before the fall; if a man will not humble himself, then God will do it for him. In the case of Sampson, after Delilah arranges to have his head shaved, his strength leaves him.

At the mercy of his enemies, Sampson’s eyes are gouged out and he is set to work grinding grain in prison. Weak, humiliated and shackled he now has plenty of time to think about God. Humiliation in life has a tendency of getting our attention off ourselves and onto our Creator. It refocuses our own life, illuminating our desperate need for Divine Guidance. 

We have all been prideful before when things are on track and going well. That’s when we usually begin to avoid fellowship, church, bible reading and prayer time contently pushing them away. Confidently sailing through life, with no hands on the tiller, we cast our fate to erratic winds. Each day we grow more and more self confident until our fellowship with God has all but evaporated into thin air. Eventually, we become shackled to the fleshly choices we make, fettered to the storm we have created.

There, in the bottom of our pit, while wading through the muck and mire of our choices, we see ourselves for what we really are and cry out for Divine intervention. At that very instant, as we cry out to our Creator, our deliverance begins. God hears our cries and sends us help through various people He places in our lives.  Though God will catch us, we still have to reap what we have sown during this time of disobedience.

 Here are Sampson’s last words from the book of Judges 16:28-31 “Then Sampson prayed to the Lord, ‘O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.’”   As the story goes the Philistines were all crowded into their temple to be entertained by Sampson. He asks the servants who were guiding him to place his hands on the pillars that supported the entire temple of Dagon.  His last request was granted by God allowing his strength to return and with one last, mighty push, the temple collapses killing about three thousand people.

There is a season of life between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one, where some more than others, reject good teaching and wisdom in favor of youthful independence. This rebellion is nothing new and not unique to this present generation. Jesus talked about it two thousand years ago recorded in the gospel of Luke 15:11-32 in the story of the prodigal son. As the story goes the younger son spent all of his inheritance on wild living. When his money ran out, his so-called friends left him to the ravages of a sever famine. After realizing that the pigs he was hired to feed were eating better than himself, he humbly returned home.

Our heavenly Father is like the father in the story where He waits for us to come back to Him and return home. Standing with open arms, He waits to put His signet ring on our finger and His best robe over our shoulders. Humility is the first step we must take in turning back towards God.