https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samson.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Hebrews 11:32-40<\/p>\n
I. Heb 11:32-34<\/p>\n
A. Many wonder why Samson is listed among these greats.<\/p>\n B. True, his great strength was a wonder, but his life was not one many of us would\nwant to imitate. \n C. How is it that Samson, with his many sins, has come to be listed with greats like\nNoah and Abraham?\n
II. The story of Samson<\/p>\n
A. In the days of Samson’s parents, the Philistines had oppressed the Israelites.<\/p>\n
1. The Israelites had sinned and God allowed the Philistines in as punishment.<\/p>\n
2. They held the land 43 years before Samson was born – Judges 13:1<\/p>\n
3. They continued as a threat through the lives of Samuel, Saul, and David.<\/p>\n 4. One of the ways they held the Israelites for so long, was by controlling all\niron. Israelites were not allowed to own weapons or to possess things\nmade out of metal.\n B. An angel appeared to Manoah’s wife, who was barren, to tell her she would have a\nson. – Judges 13:3-5\n 1. This son would be sanctified to the Lord. He would live as a Nazirite his\nentire life – from conception to death\n
2. Three points are emphasized that are apart of the Nazirite vow<\/p>\n
a. Must not drink any grape products or alcoholic beverage<\/p>\n
b. Must not eat anything unclean<\/p>\n
c. Must not cut his hair<\/p>\n
3. When he grows up, he will be the beginning of the deliverance of Israel.<\/p>\n
a. He would start the task, but he would not finish it.<\/p>\n 4. As Samson grew, God blessed him and the Spirit stirred within him. –\nJudges 13:25\n
C. Moved by God, Samson finds a woman of the Philistines to marry – Judges 14:1-4<\/p>\n
1. Why would God want Samson to marry a non-Israelite?<\/p>\n
a. God has used the wicked to accomplish His goals.<\/p>\n
(1) Hosea was told to marry a prostitute – Hosea 1:2<\/p>\n (2) His woes with his wife illustrated God’s problems with the\nchildren of Israel.\n
b. God is looking to cause problems for the Philistines<\/p>\n 2. Samson’s parents don’t understand and tried to talk their son out of\nmarrying the woman\n a. You should know that the word here is not the word used for an\nunmarried, virgin woman.\n
b. She is not an Israelite<\/p>\n c. Samson’s reason is poor. He wants her solely because she looks\ngood.\n 3. Samson prevails. While traveling with his parents to meet the woman, a\nyoung lion attacks Samson. – Judges 14:5-6\n a. Here we first learn of Samson’s great strength given to him by the\npower of God.\n b. He kills the lion with his bare hands. It is not that he got a good\nchoke hold on the lion, the Scriptures tells us he literally rip the lion\napart.\n 4. Later, on the way to the marriage, they passed the same area, and Samson\nfound the carcass of the lion he killed.\n
a. Strangely, honey bees had formed a hive within the carcass. <\/p>\n
b. Samson took some of the honey and gave some also to his parents.<\/p>\n c. Notice that Samson violated one of the rules of his vow – he ate\nfood from a dead animal.\n (1) This is why he did not tell his parents were the honey came\nfrom.\n
5. Samson held feast as was the custom for the wedding ceremony.<\/p>\n
a. The feast lasted seven days.<\/p>\n b. Some speculate that most wedding feasts served wine and other\nalcoholic beverages. If so, and if Samson partook, he would have\nviolated a second part of his vow.\n
c. At the feast, Samson was given 30 attendants.<\/p>\n
d. As part of the entertainment, Samson offers a riddle – Judges 14:12-14<\/p>\n 6. These young men worked on this puzzle for three days, but could not\nfigure it out\n a. They threaten Samson’s wife. They would burn the house down\nwith her and her father inside if she doesn’t get the answer.\n b. Instead of telling Samson of the threat, she whines and begs for the\nanswer.\n c. Finally, on the seventh day of the wedding, he gives in and she in\nturn tells the attendants.\n d. Samson knows how they solved the problem. In vengeance,\nSamson gets the 30 garments from 30 Philistines whom he killed\n
e. He then stomps home in anger without his wife.<\/p>\n
7. Later, he goes back to see his wife<\/p>\n a. He brings a present, a young goat. The same as the typical\npayment for a prostitute – Gen 38:15-17\n
b. He finds out that her father married her off to his best-man<\/p>\n c. In anger, Samson ties fire brands between 150 pairs of foxes and\nreleases them through the harvested wheat fields.\n (1) The damage is huge to harvested wheat, wheat still in the\nfields, vineyards, and olive trees.\n d. The Philistines instead of getting Samson, burn his wife and her\nfather — just as was threaten earlier.\n e. Samson then slaughtered a number of Philistines in retaliation and\nthen went into hiding – Judges 15:8\n
8. The Philistines gather a small army to find him.<\/p>\n
a. The Israelites were afraid, so they asked Samson to give himself up.<\/p>\n
b. They tied him with new ropes and presented him to the Philistines.<\/p>\n c. Judges 15:14-16 – Samson burst the ropes by the power of God and\npicked up a jawbone of a donkey and slaughter a thousand\nPhilistines.\n
(1) Notice that once again, Samson has violated his vows.<\/p>\n (2) The word for donkey and heap are the same in Hebrew, so\nverse 16 is a pun.\n 9. After all that work, he was thirsty and called on God for help – Judges\n15:18-19\n a. He recognized where his power came from and who he was\nserving.\n D. The story moves to twenty years later. Samson is probably in his late 30’s. \nBecause he judged Israel, he probably was harrying the Philistines all this time.\n 1. We find Samson in Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and decided to spend\ntime there.\n
2. Samson continues to have a problem with Philistine women.<\/p>\n 3. It shows that even though he served God, his service did not prevent him\nfrom sinning.\n 4. The men of Gaza found out that the notorious Samson was in town, so\nthey locked the city gates, posted guards and decided to take Samson in\nthe morning.\n 5. However, Samson got up at midnight and finding the city gate locked,\npulled them out whole and carried them about seven miles up a hill.\n
a. What happened to the guards? God must have intervened.<\/p>\n
b. God gave Samson incredible strength.<\/p>\n
E. Shortly there after, Samson falls in love with a woman named Delilah<\/p>\n 1. By the description, Bible scholars believe that she too was a prostitute and\nwas probably a Philistine.\n 2. She is offered 5500 shekels of silver to find out Samson’s source of\nstrength.\n a. 1 shekel of silver is equal to 4 days wages so 5500 shekels of silver\nis about $700,000 in today’s money.\n b. The Philistines realize that Samson’s strength is beyond a normal\nhuman’s so they want to find the source.\n 3. Three times she begs Samson to tell her what his secret was and three times\nSamson gives her a false tale\n
a. Three times she tries to bind Samson, but each time it fails.<\/p>\n
4. For days thereafter she nags Samson about his secret – Judges 16:15-17<\/p>\n
5. Samson gives in and tells her about his Nazarite vow.<\/p>\n a. The source of strength is not in his hair, but in the keeping of his\nvow.\n
b. God has given him his strength.<\/p>\n c. Yet, somehow I don’t think Samson really believed God would\nleave him. After all, he broke his vow before and God remained.\n
d. Yet this time, Samson pushed God too far. – Judges 16:19-21<\/p>\n F. The Philistines took Samson, gouged out his eyes and put him to work grinding\nout wheat\n
1. Some time passes because Samson’s hair grows back out.<\/p>\n 2. It shows that the Philistines have become lacks, but it doesn’t mean\nSamson’s strength is back.\n
3. It may also show that Samson’s heart turns back to God.<\/p>\n
G. A feast was held to celebrate the Philistine god, Dagon – Judges 16:23-24<\/p>\n
1. All the lords and upper society was there.<\/p>\n
2. They praised Dagon and claimed he had brought them Samson<\/p>\n
3. Samson was called for and he entertained the lords.<\/p>\n
4. He then rested against the support pillars of the building.<\/p>\n
5. He prayed for his strength back one more time – Judges 16:28<\/p>\n 6. He pushed the support pillars apart, the building toppled, killing thousands\nof people, including Samson. Over three thousand were on the roof alone. \nHe killed more in his death that in his entire life.\n
III. There are many things we can learn from Samson’s story<\/p>\n A. God can use the wicked as well as the righteous to accomplish His will. Our own\nrighteousness or wickedness will not stop God from doing His will.\n
B. God punishes wrong doing, but He may wait in delivering the punishment.<\/p>\n
C. Sin takes you farther than you want to go<\/p>\n 1. Samson started off chasing after loose women. He became prideful because\nhe wasn’t harmed by his earlier sins.\n 2. But he kept going deeper and deeper into sin. He had plenty of warning,\nbut he ignored them.\n
D. Sin and its consequences will hold you longer than you want to stay<\/p>\n
1. Samson was imprisoned, grinding out wheat<\/p>\n
E. Sin will cost you more than you are willing to pay<\/p>\n
1. Samson lost his eyes and his life.<\/p>\n
F. For all of Samson’s faults, he did turn back to God before he died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 11:32-40 I. Heb 11:32-34 A. Many wonder why Samson is listed among these greats. B. True, his great strength was a wonder, but his life was not one many of us would want to imitate. C. How is it that Samson, with his many sins, has come to be listed with greats like…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[49,1391,989,179],"class_list":["post-18980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-faith","tag-judges","tag-samson","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11859,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-significance-of-samson-killing-the-lion-and-eating-honey-from-its-carcass\/","url_meta":{"origin":18980,"position":0},"title":"What was the significance of Samson killing the lion and eating honey from its carcass?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the symbolism of Samson killing the lion and\u00a0what was bad about Samson\u00a0giving his parents the honey that the bees had made in the lion's dead carcass? Answer: I don't recall God stating that Samson killing the lion symbolized anything in particular. It did illustrate the strength of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83941,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-samson-commit-suicide\/","url_meta":{"origin":18980,"position":1},"title":"Did Samson commit suicide?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The following is taken from a long letter that mostly complains that a response to a question about suicide was not kind enough. The issues raised were already addressed in \"I believe your article on suicide is unfair.\" The author of this complaint did read the answer, but it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/there-are-people-in-the-bible-with-long-hair-so-it-cant-be-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":18980,"position":2},"title":"There are people in the Bible with long hair, so it can’t be wrong","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is an old argument. There were men in the Bible who were said to have had long hair. Jehovah forbad Samson to cut his hair and David's son, Absalom, was said to have cut his hair once annually when it became a burden to him. Absalom clearly wore\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43105,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-never-said-judah-and-samson-actually-sinned\/","url_meta":{"origin":18980,"position":3},"title":"God never said Judah and Samson actually sinned","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I frequent your website. First, I want to say thank you for what you do. Christ bless you and everyone involved. But I want to chime in on this talk in regards to whether Samson and Judah actually sinned (Why wasn't Judah punished for seeing a prostitute?). The asker\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49893,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-some-prophecies-in-the-bible-go-unfulfilled\/","url_meta":{"origin":18980,"position":4},"title":"Did some prophecies in the Bible go unfulfilled?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! We live in a predominately LDS community. After six years we have had our first missionaries visit.\u00a0 We have asked them to come back and study, so I have been prepping.\u00a0 In doing so I have been studying Deuteronomy 18 about prophets and applying that to Joseph Smith's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3114,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-were-the-judges-and-kings-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":18980,"position":5},"title":"Who were the judges and kings of Israel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What were the names of the kings of Israel? How many judges were there that ruled over Israel? Answer: The judges of Israel were: Othniel Ehud Shamgar Deborah Gideon Abimelech (Not a true judge. He was merely a corrupt ruler during the period of the Judges.\u00a0Judges 9:22) Tola Jair\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}