Sermon Sunday-A Final Look at the Judges

God sees men as they really are, not as we would imagine them. As the Scriptures tell us, Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.(I Sam.16:7b).

God views a person’s life from the vantage point of His holiness, seeing the sin, as well as the good. God’s piercing sight is unaffected by sentiment or superstar status.

Today as we wrap up our look at Israel’s judges, we’re going to look at the man Samson. Here was a man who was special, yet he was shortsighted and immature, spiritually speaking. He was shortsighted in that he looked only as far as the next fleshly sensation. He was spiritually immature seen by his sinful indulgence, which cut off the flow of God’s power in his life.

Samson’s Beginning

Judges 13:1-5

The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines forty years. 2 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; 5 for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.

The condition of Israel at the time of Samson’s conception and birth was what you’d expect in the cycle of Israel’s existence during those years. Ibza, Elon, and Abdon had all served as judges. There isn’t much written about them or what they did but we know that their combined total years of judging was 25 years. We don’t know if Samson’s beginning was during this time or not but it would make sense to assume so.

From the womb Samson was called of God to lead His people towards Him and His ways. The angel who delivered the news of Samson’s life gave clear directions to Samson’s parents, including how she was to care for herself while pregnant. She wasn’t to drink wine or beer, eat anything unclean and Samson’s hair was to never be cut. All of this was so Samson would be set apart for the work of God. Unfortunately, as Samson grew, his parents didn’t remain as diligent in the aspects of being set apart.

Judges 14:1-9 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there. 2 He went back and told his father and his mother, “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord, who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation.[a] At that time, the Philistines were ruling Israel.

5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, 6 the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she seemed right to Samson.

8 After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.

Some might say that Samson’s parents were partly responsible for his immaturity. Maybe the angelic announcement of his miraculous conception and calling caused them to spoil him; maybe they just weren’t very good parents. Whatever their motivation, the text seems to convey that Samson didn’t respect his parents very much, and they did whatever he demanded of them. As Christian parents, we are responsible for shepherding our children to curb their fleshly impulses, as well as modeling the same.

Samson’s Impulsiveness and Immaturity

Whether it was a sexual exploit or a taste of honey from a dead lion’s body (the Nazirite vow prohibited touching anything dead), Samson was impulsive and lacked self-control despite his supernatural ability to perform feats of strength. His immaturity hurt him and everyone around him.

The apostle Paul challenges us to grow deeper, Ephesians 4:14–16 CSB

14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part. Look at it again but this time from The Message.

“No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love” (The Message).

At every moment of Samson’s Spirit empowerment you see his immaturity!

Judges 15:1-20

Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

2 “I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”

3 Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless when I harm the Philistines.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned the piles of grain and the standing grain as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

6 Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

They were told, “It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because he took Samson’s wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.

7 Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.” 8 He tore them limb from limb[a] and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

9 The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi. 10 So the men of Judah said, “Why have you attacked us?”

They replied, “We have come to tie Samson up and pay him back for what he did to us.”

11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule us? What have you done to us?”

“I have done to them what they did to me,” he answered.

12 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”

13 “No,” they said,[c] “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and led him away from the rock.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and the ropes that were on his arms and wrists became like burnt flax and fell off. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed a thousand men with it. 16 Then Samson said:

With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them in heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men.

17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Jawbone Hill. 18 He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory through your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived. That is why he named it Hakkore Spring, which is still in Lehi today. 20 And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Though Samson was part of the Lord orchestrating a miraculous feat, it is sobering to realize that the incident with the jawbone is the last time the words, “The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him,” are used. After chapter 15, that terminology is no longer used. You see folks, sin cuts the power of God’s Spirit in the Christian’s life. It always has, and it always will.

One thing needs to be made clear at this point: Great ability used outside the power of God’s Spirit, becomes an exercise in fleshly pride. This became evident in Samson’s life.

In an exposition of Judges, Old Testament professor and biblical scholar Herbert Wolf writes, “In spite of his Nazirite vow, [Samson] gave free rein to his appetites and became involved with a number of women. Undisciplined and immoral, his credentials as a man of God were few. The fact that God worked through Samson need not denote approval of his life-style. In God's sovereignty the Holy Spirit came on men for particular tasks, and this enduing was not necessarily proportionate to one's spirituality. The Spirit's power enabled men to inspire Israel (6:34; 11:29) and to perform great feats of strength (14:6, 19; 15:14). But it was a temporary enduement, and Samson and later Saul tragically discovered that the Lord had left them. The NT experience of the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit was not known in OT times” (Herbert Wolf, “The Exposition of Judges,” Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 382).

Samson may have done wonderful things for the Lord but his attitude and pride were his downfall. His pride is evidenced by how he:

-Knowingly violated Nazarite vows

-Demanded a Philistine wife

-Showed off at Gaza in Chapter 16

-Chose a promiscuous lifestyle with Delilah

Samson walked arrogantly in the idea that God would never take His hand from his life but sin always separates us from God’s presence and power. God’s holiness cannot exist where sin abounds. It is why Jesus came and gave His life to create a way for us to be set right before God and give us the ability to enter His presence with freedom and gladness!

It is so sad that one so specially equipped for God’s service had to be sidelined because of sin. However, this is precisely one of the lessons to be learned from Samson’s life. Sin can definitely sideline any servant of God. No amount of special talents and abilities can guarantee success in the Christian life. Only a surrendered and obedient relationship with Christ can do that.

Let’s be sure that as parents, grandparents, leaders, that we’re leading the next generation in a way that honors God and doesn’t pander to the immature ways of youth. Let’s be examples of constant growth and spiritual development that encourages others to pursue the same for themselves. Ultimately, let’s be believers who are more concerned with our hearts being connected to God’s in purity and faithfulness than our own desires and pride.