SAMSON: SINNER OR SAINT? (Judges 16:1-31)
INTRODUCTION:
All that we have learned about Samson so far has made clear that he was a sinner, which cannot be argued about in any way. But what about calling him a saint? Barry G. Webb writes concerning calling Samson a saint, “But to call him…a saint seems to violate the English language, destroy morality, and make nonsense of the book’s theology. How can God’s anger at Israel’s evildoing in chapters 3-12 be squared with the view that the blatant sinner of chapters 14-16 is a saint? It seems to imply that the book is morally and theologically incoherent. Nor does there seem to be any support in Christian tradition for regarding Samson as a saint.”[1]
There are a number of things that we should remember before we dismiss Samson’s sainthood as unthinkable. The first thing we should remember is the way he was presented in chapter 13, that he would be a savior in Israel. Second, is the fact that Samson is listed as a hero of faith along with Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, David, and Samuel in Hebrews 11:32-33. Third, remember that Samson was designated as a “Nazirite to God” in chapter 13. Because of these things we may have to revise our thinking to see Samson as a sinner and a saint and we will see where that takes us as we finish the history of Samson this morning.
This morning I’m going to do something a little different again, I am not going to go through this chapter verse by verse but hit the highlights that will lead us into the inner life of Samson, seeking to understand his own understanding of who he was and who he wanted to be. There was an inner struggle taking place in Samson’s heart which might expose our own inner struggles as fallible, sinful human beings caught up in God’s great purpose. Let’s pray and then get into chapter 16.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Judges 16:1-31, our passage for this morning. Please, if you are able, stand for the reading of God’s Word. Follow along as I read,
Judges 16:1-31,
“Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. When it was told to the Gazites, saying, ‘Samson has come here,’ they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, ‘Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.’ Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron. After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ‘Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.’ So Delilah said to Samson, ‘Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you.’ Samson said to her, ‘If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.’ Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in wait in an inner room. And she said to him, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ But he snapped the cords as a string of tow snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was not discovered. Then Delilah said to Samson, ‘Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me how you may be bound.’ He said to her, ‘If they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man.’ So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ For the men were lying in wait in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes from his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, ‘Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me how you may be bound.’ And he said to her, ‘If you weave the seven locks of my hair with the web and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man.’ So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into the web. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web. Then she said to him, ‘How can you say, “I love you,” when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.’ It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death. So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, ‘A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.’ When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, ‘Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.’ Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him. She said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ And he awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off. Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, ‘Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.’ When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, ‘Our god has given our enemy into our hands, Even the destroyer of our country, Who has slain many of us.’ It so happened when they were in high spirits, that they said, ‘Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.’ So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, ‘Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.’ Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them. Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.’ Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life. Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.” (Judges 16:1–31, NASB95)[2]
SAMSON’S SNARE (Judges 16:1-4)
Verse four of this chapter says something very significant, the author writes, “After this it came about that he [Samson] loved a woman…” (Judges 16:4a, NASB95)[3] That is not an unusual for a man to love a woman, especially for this man. Women were his weakness, especially Philistine women. Because we have already read through the life of Samson, we know that this is the third woman in his life, or at least the third woman that the author has told us about.
The first woman was the girl in chapter 14. She was from Timnah, and she was a daughter of the Philistines. That is about all that we know about her, her name is not given. Samson had seen her when he was in Timnah, and she seemed right in his eyes, and he demanded that his parents get her as a wife for him. Samson’s demands were the language of lust and possession. It is the language of a man who thinks women exist for his pleasure and he has a right to any of them he wants. And we saw how this relationship did not bring happiness to Samson or the young woman.
The second woman we just read about; she was a prostitute in Gaza. That is all we know about her; she isn’t given a name either. There were probably plenty of prostitutes in Gaza, and again it was Samson’s eyes that led him to her, he saw her and went into her. This time he did not demand what he wanted, he just dug into his pocket and paid for it. This again sets the limit of what can be expected, this is just a business relationship. She sells, he buys, and at midnight he leaves, and it is over. How he leaves is interesting since an ambush had been laid for him, what happened to all of the men who were waiting to kill him? They must have been sleeping soundly to not hear him tearing the gate out of the city wall and then walking away with it. Did the LORD have something to do with the Gazites deep sleep? Samson carried the door to the top of a mountain that faced toward Hebron. Exactly where Samson deposited the gate is not known but Hebron is about 40 miles from Gaza.
As we come to this third woman it is different. For the first time the word “love” is used and for the first time we are given the woman’s name. “After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.” (Judges 16:4, NASB95)[4] This time Samson demands nothing and buys nothing. He simply brings himself. He loves this woman, and that all he wants, to love her and to be loved in return. Here at last we have the prospect of a lasting relationship, maybe even marriage, a home, and a family. Samson it seems is done with running around and is ready to settle down.
Delilah lives in the Sorek river valley, where we are not told, but this is closer to home, Zorah, Eshtaol, and Timnah were also in the Sorek river valley. The river formed the border between Judah and Dan and Philistia and Dan. Delilah was probably a daughter of the Philistines, but so were the other two women we have read about. Samson does not want to fight the Philistines. In fact, he seems to like them, especially their women. He never wanted to fight them in the first place. His idea was to get along with them. They, not Samson, were the ones who started the trouble, Samson only fought back when he was provoked. Now he has found a girl that he loves, and he is ready for a quiet life, or so he thought.
What about Delilah? Does she love Samson the way he loves her? Not really, certainly she does not love him as much as 1100 pieces of silver from each of the lords of the Philistines. If this is referring to the lords of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, the five great cities of Philistia, then they were offering Delilah 5,500 pieces of silver, that is a hefty sum for deceiving this man that loves her. She is willing to string Samson along and make some money by selling him out to the Philistines. Delilah is not what she appears to be, and Samson is completely taken in by her.
SAMSON’S SECRET (Judges 16:5-17)
The lords of the Philistines have told her the same thing the Philistines had told the woman of Timnah, “Entice him, use your feminine ways to get the information that we want.” The Philistines in Timnah wanted the solution for the riddle and used threats to get Samson’s wife to do what they wanted. The lords of the Philistines want to know the secret of his strength so they can bind him and torture him, make him pay for what he has done to them. They do not threaten Delilah, they offer her a very large reward if she can subdue him.
What happened from Samson’s point of view, when Delilah asks, “Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you.” (Judges 16:6b, NASB95)[5] This woman that he loves wants no secrets between them. She wants Samson to make himself vulnerable to her, to tell her all his heart. That seems natural enough in a relationship, this could make for greater intimacy and go a long way to making this relationship last. But Samson hesitates, there is a lot at stake if he tells her everything. So, he tries to turn it into a game in an attempt to not tell her his secret. He teases her by giving her false answers about the secret of his strength. But each time he edges closer to the truth. Do this to me, or do that to me, he says, and I will become just like any other man. Go on, try it, and see. Finally, she pressed and pressed him and said that he did not truly love her if he could not share everything with her. Much like the woman from Timnah. The author writes in verses 16-17, “It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death. So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, ‘A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.’” (Judges 16:16–17, NASB95)[6] With this sharing of his heart, Delilah knew that this time he had told her the truth, she has what she wanted and alerts that lords of the Philistines that they better get their checkbooks out.
Why did Samson tell her his secret? After the other three times he must have known that she would shave his head. By telling her he was virtually telling her to do so, she had tried everything else he had said. This passage gives two reasons why Samson told her and suggests a third that I believe is the key to this whole history of Samson. First, he told her because he loved her, and second, she wore him down with her constant nagging. Third, and more important than the first two reasons, he told her because he wanted to be “like any other man.” His Nazirite status had become a burden to him, and he wanted to be released from it. He wanted the ordinary pleasures of an ordinary man—a woman to love, a family, and place to call home—an end to the battles. Was he wrong to want such things? Yes, he was. Not that those things are wrong in themselves. They are good and desirable blessings that God gives to most people. But for Samson to want them as much as he did was to want release from the call of God on his life. And he knew it and expressed it when he said, “I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb.” (Judges 16:17b, NASB95)[7]
Remember that this was told to his mother before he was even conceived, he would be a Nazirite to God from the womb and would begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. What we know from Numbers 6 about a Nazirite is that they are not like other men. A Nazirite takes a vow that meant that they would lay aside, for a time, the ordinary affairs of life, and devote themselves to the service of God. For the duration of the vow, they were to abstain from wine, or anything produced from grapes and any other strong drink, they were not to touch a dead body or even go near one, and they were to let their hair grow long. No razor was to be used on their head. Their very appearance showed that they were not ordinary. They were not allowed to cut their hair until the time of their separation to God was over, and then it was burnt on the altar as offering to God.
Samson was a Nazirite, but with a difference. He hadn’t taken a vow. The matter was settled before he was born. He was a Nazirite by divine decision, he had no choice about it. And the purpose for his separation to God was clear, to begin to deliver Israel from the rule of the Philistines. Only when that was accomplished would his Nazirite status come to an end. Not before. Besides this God had equipped Samson to do what God had chosen him to do. Remember the Spirit began to stir him in his youth, and that same Spirit continued to drive him toward his destiny. It was by the Spirit of the LORD that he had killed the lion, and slew the Philistines in Ashkelon, and slew the Philistines in Lehi. Important battles had already been fought and won. Samson was God’s man. God’s hand was upon him. He was not as other men.
Samson never really wanted what God wanted for him. One by one he discarded all the outward signs of his Nazirite status, he scraped honey from the carcass of a lion, he most certainly drank wine at his wedding feast, and he handled the “fresh” or raw jawbone of a donkey. He tried to intermarry with the Philistines instead of ridding Israel of their rule. Everything that had been accomplished has been accomplished because he was driven to it by God, not because he went to it willingly. The only thing that he really enjoyed about his separation to God was his supernatural strength, and now that had even become a burden that he wants to be rid of. He tired of being “God’s servant.” Now alone with the woman he loves, he wants to be as other men, and I believe deep down he has always wanted to be as other men. That is why he told Delilah “all his heart.”
SAMSON’S SHAME (Judges 16:18-22)
What happens to Samson when he finally shares all his heart with Delilah? He gets his wish and the exact opposite. He becomes weak like any other man. Delilah had his head shaved while he slept. Now it was not the hair that made him weak or strong, it was what the hair stood for, that he was set apart to God. When she woke him up his strength was gone because the LORD had departed from him. The Philistines seized him, bound him, and gouged out his eyes, and they took him down to Gaza. This man who had lived by what was right in his own eyes is now blind. He is put in prison and is forced to grind grain. This is the lowest of the low, grinding grain was the work of a slave or an animal. Samson’s shame makes the Philistines rejoice. But the history of this judge is not yet finished. Verse 22 is the key to the rest of Samson’s life. It says, “However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.” (Judges 16:22, NASB95)[8] God is not finished with Samson yet, Samson may want to be like any other man, but God won’t let him be so. What took place in the heart of Samson as he spent day after day grinding grain? I believe that in his humiliation the LORD reclaimed his erring child. Just as Samson was destined to be God’s servant before he was conceived, he will also be God’s servant at the end.
SAMSON’S SALVATION (Judges 16:23-31)
For the Philistines the capture and humiliation of Samson called for a celebration. The lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god and to celebrate the capture of their enemy. This celebration included lots of food and drink and all the important people of Philistia were there. When they were in high spirits, they decided to parade Samson before everyone and be amused by the antics of this blind man. So, a child led him out into the temple of Dagon, and they all had a good laugh as Samson stood between the pillars of the temple. For the second time in the history of this judge, Samson prays to the LORD and God grants him his pray by empowering him one last time as he completes the mission that God had prepared him to do. Pushing with all his might on the two supporting pillars of the temple he brings the whole thing down, killing himself and more Philistines, then he did during his lifetime. His death is glorious, in a fashion. But how much more glorious a servant of God Samson might have been if only he had embraced his calling instead of resisting it.
CONCLUSION:
As we come to the close of the history of the judge Samson, we see that his history is the history of Israel. Israel was to be a holy nation, separated to the LORD for the purpose of revealing God to the world. But Israel could never be what it was called to be because it was always looking at the other nations around them and wishing they could be like them, and they began by worshipping their gods and adopting their ways. God was finally revealed to the world through Israel, but He had to take her down into the shame and horror of the exile first.
Samson was a holy man; Israel was a holy nation. Samson went after other women; Israel went after other gods. In the end Samson called out to God to save him; Israel too cried out to the LORD, as we have seen again and again in Judges. Samson was finally handed over to his enemies and taken down in exile to Gaza. Israel was handed over to the Babylonians and taken away in exile to Babylon. Both outcomes were tragic, and both could have been avoided if other choices had been made.
Samson’s history is Israel’s history. But it could also be our history, and his tragedy may be ours if we resist God’s call as he did. We too are holy people, or “saints’ in the proper Biblical sense of the word. From our Scripture reading this morning the apostle Peter said that we are “… a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9b, NASB95)[9] According to this verse God intends to take the fight to the enemy through us, to reveal His glory to the world, and expose the world’s gods for the fakes that they are. The question that each of us needs to ask ourselves is will we do what God intends for us to do? Will we take what God has called us to do and run with it and find our whole joy and reason for living in being all that God has called us to be? Or will we be reluctant saints, as Samson was, always looking at the world around us and wishing we could be like other people? Will we like Samson be led by our eyes and our own self-interests, will we serve God because we must, or because we love Him? What about 10 or 20 years from now, when we have fought many battles and we know that there are more and harder battles yet to be won. Will we want out like Samson? Or will the call of God to be His saints and servants still captivate our hearts, and fill us with a sense of awe and privilege and inspire us to continue as His faithful servants to the end?
The fact is we are called to be saints, which is who we are in Christ. It was settled by God’s own decree, and not just before we were born, but in eternity past. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:4, “…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” (Ephesians 1:4a, NASB95) In fact, it is not fundamentally our choice, but God’s. And we are in this for life. There is no early discharge. It will not be over until we cross the finish line and stand on the victory platform. But we are not in this alone. The author of Hebrews wrote in chapter 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1–3, NASB95)[10] That great cloud of witnesses is those who have gone before us and entered into their eternal home. They are examples to us of what it means to win the race. And above all of them, our supreme example, is Jesus Christ who himself has gone before us. We cannot match the perfection of Jesus Christ’s unblemished obedience to God. But we can look to Him, follow Him, and find our joy, as He did, in what God has called us to be and do. God has chosen you who have put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saints. We are not as other people, and we will not in the end find true joy in wishing to be like any other man.
[1]Webb, Barry G., Preaching the Word: Judges and Ruth – God in Chaos. Wheaton, IL : Crossway, 2015.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.