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.
Opening Prayer
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.
Introduction
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.
Betrayal by His Father-in-Law
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.
Samson Returns to His Wife
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.
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.
Treachery of His Own Countrymen
Now that brings us secondly to the treachery of his countrymen. And we see that in verses nine to 13. And
Judah's Lack of Distress
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.
Judah Sends an Army Against Samson
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.
Judah Embraces Subjection
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.
Defeat of His Enemies
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.
The Spirit Comes Upon Samson
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.
Samson's Acknowledgment of God
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.
Application
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.
Closing Prayer
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.