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I mentioned we're going to start 
a series on the life of David. It will likely happen in September. 
God willing, in August, we're going to go to Ontario to visit 
our son and his family. So when I return, hopefully we'll 
look at the life of David in 1 and 2 Samuel. Tonight, I wanted 
to look at another man. Last week, we looked at John 
the Baptist, a man of courage, a man of determination. Well, 
Judges 15 records the man Samson. Samson certainly was courageous 
as well. Chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 in 
the book of Judges deal with this particular individual. But 
as well, in chapter 15, there's a great contrast, not only between 
the courage of Samson, but we see the spinelessness of the 
royal tribe of Judah. So I want to read beginning in 
Judges chapter 15 at verse 1. After a while, in the time of 
wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with 
a young goat. And he said, let me go into my 
wife, into her room. But her father would not permit 
him to go in. Her father said, I really thought that you thoroughly 
hated her. Therefore, I gave her to your companion. Is not 
her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead. And Samson said to them, this 
time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them. 
Then Samson went and caught 300 foxes, and he took torches, turned 
the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of 
tails. When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go 
into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both 
the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and 
olive groves. Then the Philistines said, Who 
has done this? And they answered, Samson, the 
son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given 
her to his companion. So the Philistines came up and 
burned her and her father with fire. Samson said to them, Since 
you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on 
you, and after that I will cease. So he attacked them hip and thigh 
with a great slaughter. Then he went down and dwelt in 
the cleft of the rock of Atam. Now the Philistines went up and 
camped in Judah and deployed themselves against Lehi. And 
the men of Judah said, Why have you come up against us? So they 
answered, We have come up to arrest Samson, to do to him as 
he has done to us. Then three thousand men of Judah 
went down to the cleft of the rock of Atum, and said to Samson, 
Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you 
have done to us? And he said to them, As they 
did to me, so I have done to them. But they said to him, We 
have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into 
the hand of the Philistines. Then Samson said to them, Swear 
to me that you will not kill me yourselves. So they spoke 
to him, saying, No, but we will tie you securely and deliver 
you into their hand, but we will surely not kill you. And they 
bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 
When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then 
the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that 
were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, 
and his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone 
of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed 
a thousand men with it. Then Samson said, With the jawbone 
of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey, 
I have slain a thousand men. And so it was, when he had finished 
speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand and called that 
place Ramath-Lehi. Then he became very thirsty, 
so he cried out to the Lord and said, You have given this great 
deliverance by the hand of your servant, and now shall I die 
of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? So God 
split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out, 
and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore, 
he called its name Enhachor, which is in Lehi to this day. 
And he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines. 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Father in 
heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the book 
of Judges and the typical nature of it, pointing us to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. And God, we see even Samson as 
a type of Christ, and I pray to encourage our hearts as we 
see and meditate upon this passage tonight. Help us to learn good 
lessons, fill our hearts with the power and the presence of 
your Holy Spirit so that we may persevere, so that we may not 
fear, so that we may have that courage that you call us unto. 
And God, we confess, by nature, this isn't true of us. By nature, 
we do want to shrink back. But we pray that by your grace, 
you would stabilize us, provide security to us, and grant us 
the help necessary to press on in this lower world. We thank 
you, Father, for the Spirit, the Spirit that filled Samson, 
is the Spirit available to us today, that seal and guarantee 
of our final inheritance, that Spirit that does move his people 
to engage in mighty exploits for the living and true God. 
We ask that you would forgive us now for all of our sins and 
guide us by the Spirit, and we pray in the name of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, amen. Well, as I said, Judges 13 to 
16 record the narrative concerning Samson, a judge in Israel. Now, 
the judges in Israel weren't like your typical circuit court 
judge where they were just rendering verdict on criminal or civil 
matters, but these judges were more like kings. They weren't 
kings, they were judges, but they were leaders of the country, 
they were defenders of the people, and they as well went after the 
enemies of God's people. And so Samson functioned in that 
manner. Now, there's been a lot of bad 
ink spilled about Samson. Some see him as sort of a ripped 
or muscle-bound brute that just sort of bumbled about from place 
to place, gratifying and satisfying his lusts. There are four times 
in the Samson cycle where we read that the Spirit of the Lord 
came upon him. That is unique in scripture. 
Not everybody in the Bible is identified in that particular 
manner. If you go back for just a moment 
in chapter 13, you see the birth of Samson and the purpose for 
which God gave him. Notice in 13.5, for behold, you 
shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon 
his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the 
womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the 
Philistines. We see that God's purpose for 
this man was in fact to render judgment upon the Philistines 
and to vindicate the children of Israel. If you look at Judges 
chapter 14, this is where Samson says to his parents that he wants 
to go into this woman in Timnah. He wants a wife from the Philistines. 
Certainly this perplexes and this bothers his parents, but 
we see with reference to the plan and purpose of God, But 
his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, 
that he was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines, 
for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Now 
the remainder of that chapter shows us again the type of man 
that we're dealing with with this man Samson. He kills a lion 
with his bare hands. He composes a bit of a pun or 
a bit of a riddle, and he poses that to the Philistines. And 
they basically prevail upon his wife so that she tells them the 
answer to the riddle. The chapter ends, according to 
verse 19, with the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him mightily, 
and he went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 of their men, took 
their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had 
explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused and he went 
back up to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to 
his companion who had been his best man. That brings us to chapter 
15 and the victory of Samson at Jawbone Height. So not only 
was he a courageous man, but there was also those against 
him. In the first place, you have the betrayal by his father-in-law 
in verses 1 to 8. Secondly, you have the treachery 
of his own countrymen in verses 9 to 13. And then finally, the 
defeat of his enemies in verses 14 to 20. So we'll look first 
at the betrayal by his father-in-law in verses 1 to 8. So after all 
of this, Samson returns. He wants to go back to his wife. 
She had dined him out. She had told the Philistines 
his riddle. But nevertheless, he wants to be with her. He doesn't 
hold grudges. He's not the sort of man that 
is going to ruin relationship because there was a bit of a 
disparity. He's willing to forgive her. And so we read in verse 
1, after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened 
that Samson visited his wife with a young goat. That would 
have been the equivalent of a box of chocolates and a bouquet of 
roses. He wanted to make up with his 
beloved. He wanted to see her. So he gets to the door and the 
father-in-law of Samson does not allow it. Notice in the middle 
of verse one, and he said, let me go into my wife, into her 
room, but her father would not permit him to go. And so Samson 
then asks concerning this, and the father says to answer his 
question, I really thought that you thoroughly hated her, therefore 
I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better 
than she? Please take her instead. You 
can see the disregard that Philistine society had for their women folk. He already gave Samson's wife 
to another man. Did she consent? The text doesn't 
tell us. And then he gives his other daughter 
to Samson. Again, does she consent? I don't 
think it mattered in Philistine society. But Samson did not want 
that, and Samson saw this as a further occasion to engage 
in warfare against the Philistines. And that brings us with reference 
to the destruction of Philistine property. Notice in verses 4 
and 5. Now, this is a bit of a difficult 
passage to understand. If you've read this, you wonder, 
how in the world did he pull this off in terms of the foxes 
and the jackals and the fiery torches and burning their standing 
grain? One commentator says, how Samson 
accomplished this is a greater mystery, but it fits into the 
picture of a man who kills a lion single-handedly, kills 30 Philistines, 
breaks brand new ropes that bind him, and slays a thousand Philistines 
with a jawbone, and then ultimately brings a house down over thousands 
of reveling Philistines. So we see that he has this natural 
ability. He is a strong man, but it's 
ultimately accredited to the Spirit of the living God upon 
him. So notice in verse 3, this time I shall be blameless regarding 
the Philistines if I harm them. Then Samson went and caught 300 
foxes. He took torches, turned the foxes 
tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. When 
he had set torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing 
grain of the Philistines and burned up both the shocks and 
the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. 
Now, most likely, he does this not only to strike a blow at 
Philistine economy, but to strike a blow at Philistine religion. 
They worshipped Dagon. Dagon was the god, among other 
things, of grain. And so when this grain is burned 
up, it reflects poorly on Dagon, the giver of grain, to the Philistines. So Samson knew precisely what 
he was doing, and he renders this blow upon them. Now notice 
the Philistine response according to verse 6. The Philistines said, 
who has done this? And they answered, Samson the 
son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given 
her to his companion. So the Philistines came up and 
burned her and her father with fire. That's what they had threatened 
to do if she had not revealed to them the riddle that was posed 
by Samson in chapter 14. So they make good on this threat 
and ultimately kill his wife and kill his father-in-law. Again, 
Samson does not take this lying down. Samson is a judge. Samson 
is a deliverer. Samson is a savior. And the enemy 
is the Philistines. So he takes vengeance upon them. Notice in verse 7. Samson said 
to them, since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take 
revenge on you. And after that, I will cease. 
So he attacked them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. Then 
he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Atan. Now 
what that particular idiom means, I'm not sure. But I think it 
means he really let them have it. He really devastated and 
decimated those particular Philistines. And again, only to the point 
of exacting revenge upon them. He is the savior of Israel. He 
is the deliverer of his people. He is the judge of Israel. And 
so we expect this kind of conduct on his behalf relative to the 
enemies of God almighty. Now that brings us secondly to 
the treachery of his countrymen. And we see that in verses nine 
to 13. And the first thing that we ought 
to observe is the lack of distress among the people of Judah. The 
lack of distress among the people of Judah. You will see that in 
more detail as we move along. But suffice it to say that the 
book of Judges is cyclical. There are cycles. There's a general 
thematic statement concerning the book in chapter 2, and then 
you see these cycles. The people of Israel sit against 
God. God then raises up a foreign 
enemy who oppresses the children of Israel. They then cry out 
to God in their distress. not necessarily repentance, but 
rather they're groaning under their misery, and then God gives 
them a deliverer in the person of the judges. So each of these 
cycles are the same with small variations along the way. So 
they sin against God, God raises up before an enemy to oppress 
them, to chastise them, to punish them, and then they cry out because 
of that distress, and then God responds by giving them a deliverer. 
Well, with reference to the Samson cycle, with reference to his 
judgeship, go back to chapter 13. Chapter 13, verse 1, sets 
the stage concerning the life of Israel at the time of Samson. 13.1, again, the children of Israel 
did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered 
them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. Now, as we move 
on in that chapter, there's no cry, there's no distress, there 
is no longing to God for sort of a deliverance. Go back for 
just a moment to chapter three, just so you can see this pattern. 
Chapter three, verse nine. Well, verse 7 tells us, the children 
of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the 
Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. Therefore, 
the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them 
into the hand of Cushan Rishithim, king of Mesopotamia. And the 
children of Israel served Cushan Rishithim eight years. When the 
children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised 
up a deliverer for the children of Israel who delivered them. 
And that's Othniel. Notice in chapter 3 at verse 
15, after the same sort of pattern. Verse 12, they did evil in the 
sight of the Lord. The Lord strengthened Aegon, 
king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in 
the sight of the Lord. And then verse 15, but when the children 
of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer 
for them, Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left-handed 
man. You see the same pattern in chapter 
4, verse 1. When Ehud was dead, the children 
of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord 
sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in 
Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Heresheth, 
Haggaim. And the children of Israel cried 
out to the Lord. And then again in chapter 6 at 
verses 6 and 7. The Gideon narrative, or that precursor to Gideon. 
Chapter 6, verse 6. So Israel was greatly impoverished 
because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried 
out to the Lord. And it came to pass when the 
children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, 
that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel who 
said to them. So you see that pattern. The reality is that 
the people of God face oppression. The reality is that the people 
of God must cry out against that oppression instead of accepting 
it and instead of settling with it. The Philistines were a nasty 
people and the fact that they were subjugating Israel and Israel 
wasn't crying out to the Lord for deliverance shows us that 
they had in fact assimilated some of the Philistine thought 
processes. In other words, there is this 
danger of assimilating culture in such a manner as to no longer 
be concerned with the violation of God's holy law. And there 
is as well a necessity laid upon all of us of an uncompromising 
allegiance to the Lord in spite of foreign oppression, in spite 
of whatever lay ahead of us, whatever comes our way. They 
did not do this. They had settled in complacency, 
and at the time that we come now to Samson, we see that evidence. We see it manifested. We see 
this cowardice in them. Now, notice the Philistines in 
Judah, according to verses 9 and 10 in chapter 15. It says, Now 
the Philistines went up and camped in Judah and deployed themselves 
against Lehi. And the men of Judah said, Why 
have you come up against us? This was a declaration of war, 
and the men of Judah understood this, and so they asked appropriately, 
why are you declaring war against us? So they answered, we have 
come up to arrest Samson to do to him as he has done to us. 
So they were upset that Samson had killed Philistines. They 
were upset that the deliverer of Israel was delivering Israel. 
They were upset by the conduct of their archenemy. And so how 
does Judah respond to this? How should have Judah responded 
to this? They should have launched against 
these Philistines, but they don't. Let's examine Judah's response 
to this particular threat. In the first place, they send 
an army against Samson and not the Philistines. Look at verse 
11. Then 3,000 men of Judah went 
down to the cleft of the rock of Atum and said to Samson, 3,000 
men, they knew what they were dealing with, with Samson. In 
fact, look at Judges 16, at verse 22, or in verse 23, now the lords 
of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to 
Dagon, their god, and to rejoice, and they said, our god has delivered 
into our hands Samson, our enemy. which was patently false, God 
delivered Samson into the hands of the Philistines. But then 
notice in verse 24, when the people saw him, they praised 
their God, for they said, our God has delivered into our hands 
our enemy, not Israel, but one man. It was one faithful man 
in Israel at the time of the judgeship of Samson, and it was 
him. Our God has delivered into our 
hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who 
multiplied our debt. So back to chapter 15, the fact 
that Judah dispatches these 3,000 men to Samson, they were obviously 
fearful of what this deliverer could do to them. Notice what 
the text goes on to indicate. They embrace Judah. They embrace 
subjection to the Philistines. Notice what they say in verse 
11b. Do you not know that the Philistines 
rule over us? Do you not know that the Philistines 
rule over us? Yeah, but that's not the way 
it's supposed to be, Judah. It isn't supposed to be the case 
that you have subjugated yourself so willingly and so quickly and 
so without any hesitancy to these godless Philistines. They've 
embraced their subjugation to the Philistines, and they have 
turned against the one man who can actually deliver them from 
this particular situation. Davis says sad, sad words. Here is a people who have acquiesced 
to bondage, who can no longer imagine anything beyond the status 
quo, who see deliverance as a threat to peace, who look upon Yahweh's 
enemies as their rightful lords. Israel is a people who can forsake 
Yahweh instantly, but who would not think of being faithless 
to the Philistines. What a pitiful question. You 
see that in this book. They are faithless relative to 
their God. But when it comes to the Philistines, 
they have occupied the position now of reprovers in chief. They're wagging their fingers 
at Samson, and they have the gall to ask him, what is it that 
you are doing? Don't rock the boat. Don't mess 
with the status quo. And then notice thirdly, as we 
continue on this, it says, what is this you have done to us? They identify themselves with 
the Philistines. They have made peace with Philistine 
rule. They have identified with the 
Philistines. And they are quite content and 
quite complacent in this particular pattern of conduct. It really 
is reprehensible. They would rather be men subjected 
by the Philistines than free men operating the way that God 
the Lord had called them to. You see that about human nature. You see it with the children 
of Israel. God brings them out of the land of Egypt into the 
wilderness and what do they do? They whine and they complain 
and they grumble. They want to go back to bondage 
because in bondage they had at least the promise of some melons 
and leeks and garlic and the various things that tantalize 
their stomachs. Brethren, freedom, liberty to 
pursue and serve the living and true God is far more to be preferred 
than subjugation under the godless, even though they dole out a few 
pieces of food for us. It is an inherent in human nature, 
at least in terms of the biblical conception, to take that which 
is safer or to take that which is less inflictive of any non-ease 
or any difficulty in the lives of the people of God. Now notice 
fourthly they express their desire to arrest him and deliver him 
to death He said to them verse 11 at the end. He said to them 
as they did to me, so I have done to them Samson's version 
of the Golden Rule Samson made it out to them what they had 
done to him and Samson as the deliverer of Israel and powered 
by the Spirit of God has the authorization and has the legitimate 
authority to do such things and then in verse 12 They said to 
him, we have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you 
into the hand of the Philistines." Now brethren, there are examples 
in Scripture of people that didn't always do what they were supposed 
to do. But I'm not sure there's one that sort of outdoes this 
one. Remember, the very first tribe 
in the book of Judges to take the land was Judah. It was Judah who went and embarked 
in the promised land to take that which Yahweh had promised 
to them in terms of the land acquisition. And here, Judah 
is delivering over the deliverer unto the hands of these godless 
Philistines. Matthew Henry says, cowardly, 
unthankful, wretches, fond of their fetters and in love with 
their servitude. And then Davis again says, oh 
no, Samson, we don't want to kill you. We only want to bind 
you and give you to the Philistines so they can kill you. That's 
essentially what they're saying. We have come down to arrest you 
that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines. 
Then Samson said to them, swear to me that you will not kill 
me yourselves. So they spoke to him saying, no, but we will 
tie you securely and deliver you into their hand, but we will 
surely not kill you. Now, do you think that made Samson 
happy? No, we're not going to kill you, 
but we're going to tie you up and give you to the people that 
are going to kill you. Oh, well, that makes me feel a whole lot 
better. Boy, I almost thought there for a moment you were against 
me. I mean, this is horrific. This is ungodly on the part of 
the Judahites. We expect Philistine opposition 
to Samson, the deliverer of God, God's deliverer of the people, 
but we don't expect it from the Judahites. And again, the royal 
tribe of Judah have now said, we're going to arrest you, deliver 
you into the hands of these men so that they can kill you. Back 
to Davis. Oh no, Samson, we don't want 
to kill you. We only want to bind you and give you to the 
Philistines so they can kill you. The tribe that had formerly 
waded into battle after battle has become a collection of spineless 
wimps. They regard the Philistines as 
their rulers and Samson as their enemy. They don't even want to 
be Yahweh's free people. They don't even see that as a 
possibility. It's just the way it is in terms 
of Judah. They are going to dispossess 
themselves of Samson so that the Philistines will no longer 
breathe heat upon them. And as far as they are concerned, 
everything will be hunky-dory, status quo, we assimilate their 
culture, we live like them, we ape them, and we do exactly what 
our masters call us unto. And they ultimately, in this 
betray, or demonstrate, or set forth, or exemplify their own 
spiritual degradation. Again, the cycle of sin. God 
raises up the oppressor, brings them to bear upon the people. 
They then cry out for relief. God then sends the victor, or 
the judge, or the deliverer. That's absent in this particular 
case. They had so taken in what the 
Philistines had put down that they are now compromised to the 
core. They are governed by their own 
cowardice and they don't want Samson to be the man that delivers 
them. And that brings us thirdly to 
the defeat of his enemies. Notice in verses 14 to 20. Verse 
13b, we read, and they bound him with two new ropes and brought 
him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines 
came shouting against him. Now kids, when they came shouting 
against him, this was a battle cry. They don't want to just 
talk to Samson. They don't want to negotiate 
with Samson. They don't want to have a coffee 
with Samson. They don't want to try to figure things out with 
Samson. They rush upon him and they shout 
at him because they want to destroy him. Now notice what happens. Then the Spirit of the Lord came 
mightily upon him. See, those persons that have 
a... A less than stellar view of Samson have to stumble at 
these passages where every step of the way, every act, everything 
that he does is driven by the Spirit of the living God. This 
man was a godly man. He wasn't a perfect man, but 
no one in the Bible is perfect except for our Lord Jesus Christ. 
That's purposeful. The best of men are men at best. King David of Israel was a great 
man, but a man who had committed adultery and a man who had committed 
murder. Peter was a wonderful man, a 
great apostle, but he denied our Lord Jesus Christ to that 
slave girl. The Bible is clear and conspicuous. There is one hero that you ought 
to follow, and that hero is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is holy, 
harmless, and undefiled. When you settle on anybody in 
Scripture as the main man, if it's not Jesus, you will ultimately 
be sorely vexed. You will see that they come up 
short. And so Scripture is clear at this point that it's only 
Christ. Now having said that, Samson 
wasn't near as bad as many people ascribe to him. So the Spirit 
rushes upon him, and we see that God is executing His plan. The 
might of the Philistines was no match for the Spirit of the 
Lord. The cowardice of the Judahites was no match for the Spirit of 
the Lord. God is going to deliver His people, 
even when they don't want to be delivered in this particular 
juncture. God is going to render great 
judgment upon the Philistines and ultimately it occurs in chapter 
16 when Samson, by his death, saves a great multitude by the 
death of the Philistines that died. Now those who would say 
that that was suicide, it was not suicide. It was an act of 
war wherein Samson brought vengeance upon or judgment upon the enemies 
of Yahweh. So his deliverance, he breaks 
these ropes, notice in 14. I mean, kids, don't you love 
Samson? Samson's great. The Judges as a whole, the whole 
book of Judges, parents, read the book of Judges to your kids. 
Teach them about Ehud. Teach them about Gideon. Teach 
them about Shamgar. Shamgar doesn't have a lot in 
there, but what it does have is wonderful and glorious. And 
again, all of these persons, Jephthah, every single one of 
them, Barak, they're typical. There's something typical about 
the Judge relative to our Lord Jesus Christ. Many, many years 
later, there would be one who comes to his own, and his own 
would receive him not. There would be the Lord Christ 
who comes to the people of Israel, and the people of Israel would 
take the Lord Jesus Christ and deliver him into the hands of 
the Roman army, or the Roman emperor. Now, Jesus won't take 
the jawbone of a donkey and slay thousands of men, but he will 
die for his people. He will render up that atonement. He will suffer and incur in himself 
the penalty due for our wickedness and our transgression. So Samson 
typifies the Lord Christ. They didn't appreciate this. 
They were not walking by faith. As far as they were concerned, 
the Philistines were okay. Everything's all right. Just 
don't upset the apple cart, Samson. So God is doing the work of putting 
down or subjugating the enemies of Yahweh. It says, The Spirit 
of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were 
on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and 
his bonds broke loose from his hands. Now notice verse 15. It 
says, He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey. It was fresh. It 
wasn't old. If it was old, it would have 
been brittle. It would have been easily broken. But it was fresh. The teeth are intact. It becomes a great cutting tool, 
an implement for battle, and that is precisely what Samson 
utilizes it for. So he found a fresh jawbone of 
a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed 1,000 
men with it. I can't even imagine such a situation. He stood in toe-to-toe combat 
with 1,000 Philistines, one after another, with this jawbone of 
a donkey, rendering the judgment of God to bear upon these godless, 
wicked Philistines. Certainly salvation is of the 
Lord. He empowered his servant. Later 
on in the narrative, we will see that Samson gives praise, 
gives glory, and gives credit to God for the bit of victory 
here at Jabon Ha'it. He doesn't say, well, you know, 
I'm the strongest man in Israel. I'm the guy that's able to kill 
lions with my bare hands. No, Samson knows which side his 
bread is buttered on. He knows it's God the Lord that 
is for him. He knows it's God the Lord that 
is using him, and therefore he functions in that manner with 
that legitimate and lawful authority to do God's bidding. And then 
notice, not only does he kill a thousand men with it, he then 
composes a pun. This is a wonderful man. If you 
remember back with the lion in chapter 14, his riddle, out of 
the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something 
sweet. Samson liked these things. He 
liked punning. He liked these little quips. And he wanted to engage in one 
to commemorate his victory here at Jawbone Height. And it says, 
with the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone 
of a donkey, I have slain 1,000 men. Moffat translates, with 
the jawbone of an ass, I have piled them in a mass. And that 
is precisely what obtained with reference to this victory. Now 
that brings us finally to the acknowledgement by the servant 
of God Almighty in verses 18 and 19. Notice in verse 18, then 
he became very thirsty. So he cried out to the Lord and 
said, you have given this great deliverance by the hand of your 
servant. Again, he doesn't take the credit for himself. Do you 
remember when we looked at this narrative or these narratives 
in more detail in chapter 14? Samson's not a proud man. He 
kills a lion with his bare hands and doesn't tell anybody about 
it. If Samson lived today and he was of the narcissistic spirit 
and attitude of persons today, it'd be all over his Facebook. 
It would be all over his Twitter. He would be telling everybody 
what a great guy he was because he killed a lion with his own 
bare hands. Samson never does that. And here, Samson doesn't 
take the credit for himself. He gives praise to God. He gives 
credit to God for the deliverance that he has wrought out here 
at Jawbone Height. You have given this great deliverance 
by the hand of your servant. And now we see his physical distress, 
which shouldn't surprise us, brother. He has just killed, 
with the jawbone of a donkey, 1,000 men. I mean, 10 men would 
be a stretch in my estimation. Imagine being at like 599. You 
don't know how many more men you've got to deal with. That 
takes a lot of energy. It takes a lot of strength. It 
takes a lot. Well, I say it like I know. I 
have no clue what it takes in terms of physical ability to 
kill a thousand men. But I do believe it would take 
a great deal of strength. And Samson now feels that. Notice 
at the end of verse 18. And now shall I die of thirst 
and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised. cries to the Lord. He acknowledges the Lord's hand 
in the victory, and he acknowledges his dependence upon the Lord. 
Now some might say, well that prayer seems a bit, I don't know, 
forceful or arrogant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall 
into the hand of the uncircumcised? God didn't have a problem with 
the prayer. God answered the prayer. So whenever you think 
that you're holier than God, or you're holier than the Samsons 
in the Bible, reflect upon God's response to these particular 
people. Rahab the harlot. A lot of Christians 
trip up on Joshua chapter 2 because Rahab lies to the spies. Well, 
everywhere in scripture Rahab is celebrated as a woman of great 
faith. When you go to Hebrews chapter 
11, you'll see the faith of God's people, Old Testament people, 
celebrated for their mighty exploits. Samson is in that narrative in 
Hebrews chapter 11 at verse 32. So he expresses this distress 
and he casts himself upon God. Davis again says, here is Samson 
dependent on Yahweh. Here is the Savior confessing 
that he needs saved. We have repeatedly heard that 
Samson's power comes from God's Spirit. But in case these fail 
to register, we surely cannot miss the picture. Samson is anything 
but self-sufficient. And we need to keep that in mind 
as we judge this judge. He's not self-sufficient. He's 
filled with the Spirit of God. He engages in this activity of 
eliminating the Philistines according to the plan and purpose of God, 
and every step of the way he is guided. by the Spirit of the 
living and true God. So he cries out, and now shall 
I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? 
So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came 
out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived. Again, 
God was not saying to him, well, you know, the way you ask sounds 
a little bit odd. No, he answers the prayer, he 
supplies his servant with the water necessary to go to Gaza, 
to go to this harlot's house, and brethren, I would argue he 
did not have relations with this harlot in Gaza. It's more akin 
to Joshua chapter 2. The spies went and hid in Rahab's 
house. Nobody questions, nobody wonders, 
nobody actually thinks that those spies had relations with Rahab 
the harlot. Everybody concludes that they 
were wise men who sought a place that persons wouldn't be looking 
for them in, and so they hold up there until they could engage 
on their mission of reconnaissance. I would say the very same thing 
with reference to Samson and this harlot at Gaza. It uses 
the language he went into her, but that's not always the case 
with reference to sexual congress. So Samson was a man of God Almighty. Samson was a man filled with 
courage. Samson was a man bent on eliminating 
the enemies of God, and it was Judah that expresses their cowardice 
at this very point and shows themselves to be a faithless 
people under the hand of a holy God. And then notice the summary 
of his judgeship in verse 20. Well, verse 19. And that, again, 
is a massively long time for a man to reign or rule or govern in this particular capacity. 
So each of the judges, as you move through the book of Judges, 
they have their issues. Each of the judges are not perfect. Each of the judges are men at 
best. Each of the judges have their 
issues to be sure, but God uses them. Just like when Judges gives 
way ultimately to the monarchy, and you have kings. You have 
kings in Israel, you have kings in Judah. Unfortunately, Israel 
never had good kings. But in Judah, there were several 
good kings. They weren't perfect kings. They 
did the best they could. And oftentimes at the end of 
their kingship, there was a favorable summary given by the divine narrator 
telling us that all in all, they served the Lord. They were faithful 
and consistent. Brethren, never make the good 
the enemy of the perfect. Good is good, and that's what 
some of the kings in Judah provided. Good is good, and that's what 
the judges in Israel provided. Yes, they weren't perfect, but 
again, the only perfect person that the Bible relates to us 
is our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, in conclusion, just a couple 
of thoughts, and then we'll close. First, the enemies of Samson. 
I think when we look at Samson, In some ways, it's a picture 
of Israel. It's a picture, as I said, of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. And usually, when Israel has 
enemies, there's external and internal threat. External being 
the Philistines, and internal being the people of Israel themselves. 
Well, that's what faced Samson. He not only had the Philistines 
to deal with, but he had the cowardice of Judah to deal with. 
Instead of saying, Samson, we're going to dispatch these 3,000 
troops. You lead them against the Philistines, 
and we'll mop up the ground with them. That's not what they do. 
They turn against Samson. So now Samson not only has betrayal 
by his father-in-law, but he has the cowardice of the covenant 
people. He's got all these sort of car, the deck is sort of stacked 
against him. But nevertheless, God empowers 
him to do what is right. So there is this external threat, 
the Philistines, and then there is this internal threat, the 
Judahites. And we ought to remember this. 
And again, our brother prayed tonight and remembered that, 
and we talked about it a bit in the prayer meeting this morning. 
If any of you had not seen what John MacArthur wrote concerning 
Christ as head of the church and Lord of the church, it was 
most excellent. I think it portrays well the 
relationship with reference to church and state. As you know, 
Pastor MacArthur is in California. That state is governed by a man 
who is very narrow-minded in terms of church and worship and 
the sorts of things that ought to obtain with the people of 
God. Well, nevertheless, Pastor MacArthur wrote this letter and 
basically said, we're meeting. We're meeting on Sunday. And 
so Phil Johnson related that they had thought or had heard 
that the government or somebody in their city was going to cut 
their power so that they couldn't meet today unmolested. As far 
as I know, they met, the place was packed, and the power stayed 
on. And God is glorified in that. They took a stand, brethren, 
and that is encouraging. And may God the Lord move the 
hearts of all churches throughout America and Canada to take those 
stands as well. and to go thou and do likewise." 
The Roman politician and lawyer, Cicero, says there are two kinds 
of injustice. The first is found in those who 
do an injury, the second in those who fail to protect another from 
injury when they can. Edmund Burke was a British political 
philosopher. He said, all that is necessary 
for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I mean, thankfully, 
God empowered Samson to put down the Philistines. If God hadn't 
have done that, Judah would have suffered, Israel as a whole would 
have suffered under Philistine oppression forever. And so it 
is the case that men ought to rise up and men ought to take 
a stand, and Samson is that man in Judges 15. Secondly, you see 
the faithfulness of this brother. Again, by faith he does this 
according to Hebrews chapter 11. By faith Samson did what 
he did. By faith in the Son of God who 
loved him and who gave himself for him. It is the case that 
Samson is our brother and we ought to acknowledge the faithfulness 
of this man. He is faithful when the Philistines 
oppose him. He is faithful when the Judahites 
say, oh, no, we're not going to kill you, but we're going 
to tie you up and deliver you to those who can kill you. He 
is the deliverer who functions as God had called him to function. 
And he is the deliverer who always knew that it was God ultimately 
that was delivering through him. He was the agent. He was the 
instrument. He was the man that the Lord 
had used. And ultimately, he gives that credit and that glory 
to God. Now, thirdly, with reference 
to the passage, we see the graciousness of God. The graciousness of God. Again, the Judahites are betraying 
their place as the covenant people. If God was capricious, or God 
was not a covenant God, He would have just said, well, okay, you 
have what you have. You go ahead, you made your bed, 
you lie in it, and you just reap the consequences that you have 
sown. By rebuffing my man Samson, you have told me that you want 
nothing to do with me." But that's not what God does. We see first 
that the Lord sent the Spirit when the Philistines came shouting 
against Him. He sent the Spirit when the Philistines 
came shouting against him. Verse 14, when he came to Lehi, 
the Philistines came shouting against him, then the Spirit 
of the Lord came mightily upon him. Every crucial step of the 
way. In fact, chapter 16, we don't 
have a statement that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. But 
notice in verse 28, then Samson called to the Lord saying, O 
Lord God, remember me, I pray. Strengthen me, I pray, just this 
once, O God, that I may with one bow take vengeance on the 
Philistines from my two eyes." We don't need to read, the Spirit 
of the Lord came upon him because we see the evidence. He puts 
his hands on those pillars and he brings those pillars down 
such that those Philistines are destroyed in the temple of their 
God, Dagon. As well, the Lord sustained His 
servants so that He could engage in close combat with a thousand 
men and come out victorious. You see, the Spirit of God does 
spiritual things upon the people of God. We all amen that. We 
all affirm that. But the Spirit of God enables 
people to do physical things as well. Remember those two artisans 
tasked with building the tabernacle. They were men upon whom the Spirit 
of the Lord had come. And so those men, Bet-Tillel, 
and I can't remember the other fellow's name, they were able 
to do these things because God the Lord had empowered them by 
the Spirit. The same thing is true here. 
Later, of course, we see God's hand of kindness and giving Samson 
water in reply to his prayer. But who kept Samson on his feet 
with the jawbone of the donkey as he's slaying Philistines? 
Brethren, that is true testimony that salvation is of the Lord. God sustained the brother so 
that he could engage in close-in combat. As well, the Lord answered 
his servant's petition for water. and thus sustained his life for 
further exploits. He doesn't die then. He ultimately 
goes on to destroy more Philistines and to bring more judgment of 
God upon those Philistines, such that Israel could be freed, liberated, 
and vindicated. And then the Lord began to deliver 
the children of Israel, even though they didn't cry out for 
deliverance. You see how good and gracious 
our God is. These people assimilated culture. 
These people imbibed Philistine ethic. These people started to 
become the very thing that God called them not to be. In fact, 
that's one of the sort of themes of the book of Judges, is the 
canonization of the people of Israel. Joshua presents a very 
favorable sample of them going in to dispossess the land of 
the Canaanites. We get to the book of Judges and we see how 
the people of Israel are starting to take on characteristics of 
the Canaanites. And so that is a bad thing. And 
these persons had adopted that mindset, and nevertheless, God 
gives them Samson. Brethren, the lesson there is 
that we are not worthy of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not 
deserve our Lord Jesus Christ. We didn't cry out for him. We 
didn't long for him. We won't want him unless God, 
in his mercy, changes our hearts, grants us the graces of faith 
and repentance, and shows us that one who is the anti-type 
of Samson, the one that was delivered by the Jews into the hands of 
the Romans, and instead of destroying with the jawbone of an ass, ultimately 
lays down his life so that he can save his people from their 
sins. We're not worthy of that. We don't deserve that. But God, 
in His super abounding grace, has granted it to us. And so 
we ought to praise Him from whom all blessings flow. Well, let 
us pray. Our Father, we thank You for 
Your Word. We thank You for these these cycles in the book of Judges, 
and for the grace of God that is so clear and evident and manifest, 
how we thank you, Lord, that you do deliver your people. You 
do set forth that wonderful example, that illustration in the book 
of Judges. It comes to full fruition. in the coming of the Savior, 
who was the antitype of the judges, who laid down His life for the 
sheep. And we rejoice in this, God, and we pray that more and 
more people would hear His gospel, that more and more people would 
believe that truth, and that more and more people would come 
to know the joy of being found in Him. And Lord, bless this 
church, bless all churches in Canada and in the U.S. and all 
throughout the earth. Father, help us to think your 
thoughts after you. Help us to be a prayerful people. 
Help us to be a people committed to the Holy Scriptures. And God, 
grant us your protection. Grant us your security, grant 
us that presence that we so desperately need. And God, should persecution 
come, should it increase, should we find those sorts of things 
in our own lives, help us never to be ashamed to own Christ as 
Lord and Savior. And we pray in His most blessed 
name, amen. We'll close with a brief time 
of meditation.