So I'll begin reading in Judges chapter 16 at verse 1. Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went into her. When the Gazites were told Samson has come here, they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.
And Samson lay low till midnight, Then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gate posts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. Afterward, it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him, and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver. So Delilah said to Samson, Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.
And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man." So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire.
So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now please tell me what you may be bound with. So he said to her, if they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.
Therefore, Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. Delilah said to Samson, until now you have mocked me and told me lies.
Tell me what you may be bound with. And he said to her, if you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom. So she wove it tightly with the baton of the loom and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the baton and the web from the loom.
Then she said to him, how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies. And it came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death that he told her all his heart and said to her, No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man." When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.
So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him and his strength left him. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson.
So he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters and he became a grinder in the prison.
However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. 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. When the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, Our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead.
So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may perform for us. So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, let me feel the pillars which support the temple so that I can lean on them.
Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. 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 blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.
Then Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. And his brothers and all his father's household came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtael in the tomb of his father Manoah.
He had judged Israel 20 years. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father, as we come to this passage of scripture, we pray that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. God, we by nature are sinful men and women and boys and girls. We know that sin darkens our understanding and our hearts and our minds. We pray that even now you would forgive us and cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus, and that the Spirit would do His work and instruction. and in guiding and in illuminating us so that we may receive with glad hearts the implanted word.
We pray, Father, for any and all who have come here this morning outside of Christ. They would look to the one whom Samson typifies. They would look to that greater than Samson, who in his death saved his people from their sins. We ask our Father in heaven that you would reach down in mercy and in grace and with loving kindness and save to the uttermost in our midst.
We pray for other churches here in Chilliwack and throughout the earth that your kingdom would come, that more and more people would be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the sun of your love. Send forth your word, cause it to go forth, conquering and to conquer. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
The last time that we visited with Samson, we saw in Judges 15 specifically, that he was delivered up by his own countrymen. Remember, we saw that Judah was engaged in the sort of passivity and sinfulness that God abominates. Judah identified with their captors. Judah actually included themselves with the Philistines.
And when the Philistines wanted to capture Samson, the Judahites were all too ready to deliver him up. We see parallel in, of course, the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was his own countrymen, it was the Jewish people that delivered up the Lord Jesus Christ to the Romans so that he might suffer and die on behalf of his people. Again, there is connection between Samson and Christ in Judges 7 and 16, and we'll have cause to reflect upon that as we move through the narrative this morning.
But I want to divide it up into three sections as I think it does for us. The first section is verses 1 to 3, the removal of the city's gates. The removal of the city's gates. Secondly, the departure of the Lord in verses 4 to 21.
And then finally, the destruction of the enemies of the Lord in verses 22 to 31.
The Removal of the City's Gates
So let's look first at the removal of the city's gates and I'm gonna ask you to pay close attention to this message this morning so that when we leave this particular narrative we'll have a proper appreciation for the man whom God raised up to do his will in the midst of this particular generation. Samson ought to be viewed as a hero In Hebrews 11, at verse 32, we are told that he was a man of faith. He was not a perfect man. He was not a sinless man.
There he does not have correspondence, of course, with the Lord Jesus Christ. But he was a faithful man. And we see that thoroughly in this chapter. Again, not without his faults.
The fact that he succumbed to Delilah indicates a proclivity or a weakness that is unfortunate at best. I mean, this man is able to kill a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. He's able to bring down a particular tabernacle on the heads of Dagon's worshippers, but when it comes to the wiles of a particular woman, he succumbs to that. In many respects, that is one of the most grieving aspects of this particular chapter.
But let's look first at the removal of the city's gates in verses 1 to 3. It says, Samson went to Gaza. We don't know why he went to Gaza other than the fact that he's going to go ahead and bring down a pillar upon the heads of the enemies of the Lord God Most High. This is about 50 miles from where he had currently been.
Notice the text says, he saw a harlot there and he went into her. Now, perhaps you've heard me allude to this throughout our exposition of this section of scripture. Most interpreters, most commentators, most persons believe that Samson had relations with this particular harlot. I mean, after all, she's a harlot. and that's what they do, so therefore Samson must have engaged in that particular activity.
Well, there's a man by the name of Hugenberger, Gordon Hugenberger, has made a compelling argument that Samson did not have relations with the harlot. This particular essay is called Samson and the Harlot at Gaza. It's found in a book called From Creation to New Creation, which is a collection of essays presented to G.K. Beale.
And I think Hugenberger argues very well that Samson did not have relations with this particular woman. Again, you ask, why is this important? Because we have a faulty understanding of Samson. We see him as this big, strong man governed by his passions, governed by his desires, governed by his lusts, when the opposite is actually the truth.
He is governed by the Spirit of God. He goes to Gaza for the express purpose of doing what the Lord had called him to do, bringing devastation upon the enemies of the Lord Most High. And what Hugenberger shows is the parallels between this instance in Judges 16 and the book of Joshua in Joshua chapter 2. Remember that in Joshua chapter 2, spies were sent out by Joshua to do a reconnaissance mission in the city of Jericho.
They were to go and see what the city looked like, what the enemy had in terms of ability and the spies were to bring that information back to Joshua so that they would then know how to attack the city to destroy it. Where did the spies go? They went to a harlot's house, her name is Rahab. She also is in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11.
I have yet to meet anybody in my Christian experience, that doesn't mean they're not out there, who believes that the spies that Joshua sent out had relations with Rahab the harlot. We never assume that, we never conclude that, and we don't think that. And yet when it comes to Samson, we automatically assume that when he sees this harlot and he goes into her, that must mean that he had relations. Well, consider the two narratives.
If you look at Joshua 2 in comparison with Judges 16. Narratives are introduced with the sequence of went and saw. The woman to whom they come is identified as a woman, a prostitute. The expression came to and went into is used to describe what the spies and Samson did with reference to the woman.
It is true that that language of going into can carry the connotation of sexual relation. But the Bible doesn't demand it. In fact, in more instances than not, and if you're curious about the texts, I have them all here. I don't want to rehearse each and every one. but in more instances than not, when it says that this particular person went into another particular person, sexual relations is not what is in view.
So while this can mean that, it doesn't necessarily mean that, and unless there's compelling reason to believe that it We ought not to embrace that interpretation. The report of the presence of the spies in Samson is given in the very same words. The spies in Samson are in the city during the night. In both instances, mention is made of the city gate, which plays a prominent role in the futile attempt to keep the spies in Samson out of the cities.
The spies in Samson in the home of the harlot. It's interesting language that is employed in the text. Lay low till midnight. In fact, I quite like the way that the New King James inserts low there.
He lay low. He's waiting. He's strategizing.
Samson's Mission, Not His Passion
There's a particular end in view. He's not having relations with the harlot. He's laying low until midnight. The men of Gaza assume that he's going to be with this woman all night long.
They set up perimeter thinking that when he's finished with his activities with this particular woman, he will leave from her house in the morning. Samson knows that they're including this. Samson knows that they believe this. That's why at midnight he goes out to take care of the city gates.
The spies and Samson both leave for the hill country when they depart. Again, The textual analogy, the fact that Joshua 2 and Judges 16 are written in the same sort of way ought to give us great caution before we embrace the idea that Samson had relations with this particular woman.
Parallel with Joshua's Spies at Jericho
Hugenberger says Samson's intention for coming to the harlot at Gaza was deliberately the same as the intention of Joshua's spies for coming to Rahab the harlot at Jericho. Why did the spies come to Jericho, come to Rahab the harlot? Was it to have relations with her? Absolutely not.
It was to gather data, it was to gather information, it was to be a strategic beachhead from which they could go out and investigate the city, report back to Joshua and the armies of Israel, so that they would be better informed on how to take care of business when it came battle time. Samson's doing the same thing. Samson is on a strategic military mission. He is not governed by his lusts, he is governed by the Spirit of God, and he is doing the will of his father in heaven who sent him.
What Hugenberger says is that they, both the spies in Jericho and Samson, were to take an appropriate step that would enable the divinely approved work of dispossession to begin. And then it is interesting that pre-critical commentators, that means people who lived before the Enlightenment, people that lived several hundreds of years ago, took this interpretation that he did not have relations with this particular woman. The Geneva Bible speaks of her as being a victualer, what we might call a restaurateur in our day. The Geneva Bible says that, that is, he lodged with her.
They explain this going into, not as if he had relations with her, but that he lodged there with her. And then Josephus, the Jewish historian, who certainly pointed out Samson's foibles as he records and rehearses Samson's life, nevertheless says this concerning the harlot at Gaza. Josephus says, after this fight, the jawbone height, held After this fight, Samson held the Philistines in contempt and came to Gaza and took up lodgings in a certain inn. That's it.
That's what he did. He's not some man out there just governed by and driven by his passions. Hey, I think I'll go 50 miles to Gaza because there's a harlot there and I can have relations with her. And then incidentally, I'll wreak havoc upon the Philistines.
No, he goes there under the authority of God Most High as the deliverer of Israel to this stronghold of Gaza, and he is going to render judgment upon them. Now, at this particular point, it is probably likely that Samson had no idea how he would eventually affect this, but at this point, we need to understand that he's there on a mission from God. the Gauzeites learn of his presence, the Gauzeites surround the place, the Gauzeites purpose to kill him in the morning, and we see there verse 3, Samson lay low till midnight, then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gate posts, pulled them up, now these are big, These are big, these gates and posts. It's not like you have a little chain link fence that is keeping people out of your yard and you somehow manage to wriggle that off its hinges and you pick it up and you think you're doing something amazing. Remember the city gates was almost like an office place.
It's a place where business was conducted, political affairs were done. There were guards posted at these particular things. For Samson to do this and then carry these gates, the 40 miles that the text specifies, certainly indicates that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. And we considered, how did he get these 300 foxes?
And how did he put a torch between their tails? And how did he send them out to burn the grain? Because God enabled him to do it. It's the same way we must understand the significance of the city gates.
But what is the significance of the city gates?
Significance of the Gate Removal
What are gates for? It's to keep people out, isn't it? If, as I've said, you put a chain link fence around your yard, it's so that young people or old people won't walk on your grass. I'm sure I've shared with you before, there was a time back in California when I seeded a lawn.
I didn't go the sod route. I figured that 110 degrees in Palmdale summer was no daunting task for me. I was going to plant a yard. It's being funny here.
It almost killed me. Actually, the pulling of the old sod out was a chore. But then seeding the lawn, I noticed when I came out, there were those little growths. They were beautiful.
I felt so happy. Tony's probably going, I didn't know that you had this great thumb in you. Well, it was a lot of assistance with my wife. A lot of back-breaking work.
But nevertheless, we had these little pieces of grass that had come up. And I was quite content with that. Until one morning, I came and there were two tire prints right across my lawn. I thought, man, who could do that to my precious little babies?
If I would have had a fence and I had put it up, it was with the express purpose of keeping cars off the grass. What would it be if I went out in the morning and I saw the driver of the car down the road holding my gates? He'd say, your gates are no match for me whatsoever. Your gates cannot keep me out of your yard.
You see what Samson is doing? He picks these gates up, he walks 40 miles, probably so that the men of Judah can see what he's doing. As well, there's covenantal connotation involved in this. Samson's a part of a community.
Samson's a part of a covenant people. Samson is connected with Abraham. And to Abraham, God gave the promise concerning his descendants that they shall possess the gates of their enemies. Samson is acting as a covenantal agent to communicate to the men of Judah, let's do this!
Let's conquer them! Let's destroy them! Let's bring the heat down upon their heads! Again, Hugenberger says, in keeping with the general symbolism of Genesis 22.17, that the seat of Abraham would possess the gate of his enemy.
The removal of the gates to the summit of a hill in the direction of Hebron was an unmistakable demonstration of the subjugation of Gaza before Samson and his lord. Samson said, if I have your gates, I have you. If I have rendered ineffective your defensive posture, then you are mine. He's not there for relations with this harlot.
He's there to bring the heat to bear upon the Gazites. Hugenberger goes on to say, it was perhaps also a sign of the consequent vulnerability of the inhabitants of the chief city of Philistia to the inhabitants of the chief city of Judah, which tribe was responsible to dispossess Gaza if only they would accept the leadership of Samson. It is, in some respects, Samson's response to what has occurred in Judges 15. The men of Judah deliver him up to the Philistines.
Samson grabs those city gates, goes to Hebron, so that the men of Judah will rally around him, own and acknowledge his leadership, and follow him into battle against these Philistines that live in Gaza. He didn't go into the harlot. He went in to do the mission of God Most High, to deliver His people from their oppression.
The Departure of the Lord
Secondly, we come to the departure of the Lord, verses 4 to 21. It's one of those sad passages of Scripture, isn't it? Don't you, as I just read through the text, find yourself saying, Oh, come on, Delilah! You've got to be crazy!
You talking about him, mocking you? Are you out of your mind? And yet Samson is like putty in her hands. Notice the background, verses 4 and 5.
Afterward, it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. This in and of itself isn't wrong. Delilah could be a Semitic name. It's not confirmed that she was actually a Philistine.
She could have been one of Israel. The fact is that his first wife is dead. Judges 14. Remember those men, those perverse men?
And judges 15 burned down his wife's house and her father's house. They killed her. He has no wife. It's not a sin to love a woman again.
The Scriptures everywhere confirm this and affirm this again. The narrative is, look at Samson, he goes from this woman to this woman to this woman. Well this woman died, he didn't go into that woman and this particular woman, Samson has no understanding of what she stands for. She's more driven by profit greed, and money than she is with reciprocating love to Samson.
But at this point, afterward, it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. We can't fault him for that. You know, if our wives die or our husbands die, God has never confirmed us or affirmed us to a life of singlehood. I find that interesting, that when my wife and I were younger, the thought of me dying, I would say, oh, I don't ever want you to marry again, honey.
You know, I don't know what it is. When you're young, you just think you're the only one for each other forever. Now my... As soon as I drop dead, find a godly man.
Find a godly man! There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wicked in that. We ought not to cast aspersion upon this man who didn't want to traffic this world alone.
He wanted to help me. He wanted a companion. He wanted one to share his life with. Again, he doesn't know at this juncture how it's going to turn out, but let's cut the man some slack.
Let's cut him a break. We're all so quick to judge Samson. Look at him. He just goes from woman to woman to woman to woman.
No, he's not. He's not. He's not the bad guy that we have been taught that he is. He's a good guy.
He's a hero. He's a man that our kids should look up to. Again, he does some things in the following section that aren't good. He pays dearly for it.
Delilah's Betrayal for Silver
Notice, the Philistines bribe Delilah. The lords of the Philistines came up to her, verse 5, and said to her, entice him and find out where his great strength lies and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him. And every one of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver. Do you know how much money 1,100 pieces of silver was?
I mean, even in today's market, I think the price of silver per ounce is about $12 to $15. That's the range it goes. If there were five of these Philistine lords, it'd be 5,500 pieces of silver. This was a lot of dough.
This highlights what a threat Samson was to the Philistine nation. Remember when the men of Judah went to collect him, they sent a contingency of 3,000 men. You don't send three guys to Samson. And by the same token, you don't bribe Delilah to give up this particular man for chump change.
You better dig deep, and you better sweeten the pot, and you better make a promise that she is going to prosper greatly. Because if this man Samson knows that he's crossed, there's no telling what he'll do. He's the kind of fellow that will pick up a fresh jawbone and cut down to death a thousand men in close hand-to-hand combat. So they sweeten the deal.
They give her a lot of money. Davis says whether she was a Philistine or an Israelite does not matter. It didn't even matter to Delilah. All that mattered was Philistine money.
She had dollar signs in her eyes. She saw him as a meal ticket. She saw him as a means to a better life. Maybe she wanted out of Gaza.
Maybe she wanted a better house in Gaza. Maybe she wanted more prestige. Maybe she wanted more respect. Maybe she wanted more of this world's things.
Whatever the reason, this pot was sweet to her and she then purposes to deliver up Samson to them. We'll go through the first three very quickly. You know the story. She comes to him.
She tries to get his secret. The first instance is recorded in verses 6 to 9. Fresh bow strings. What happens?
He snaps the bow strings. Deals with the Philistines. And then she's upset. Isn't that amazing?
Does anybody find that ironic here? Especially when she gets to the fourth time. How can you say you don't love me? This is manipulation 101, baby.
This is playing on a man. Sometimes men, we need to be more principled when it comes to this sort of thing. I don't want to psychologize the passage and have five principles on how to woo and court a woman here. But man, we gotta stand our ground, objectively, according to truth, according to what is right.
We don't let people manipulate us into doing the wrong thing. So the first thing, the fresh bow strings. It happens a second time, this time with new ropes. Remember, Samson's a bit of a joker.
Samson, after he cuts down a thousand men at Jawbone Heights, composes a pun. Samson at his wedding feast composed a riddle and tested men. He might be looking at this as a bit of a game. Oh yeah, yeah, it's not the fresh bow strings, it's the new ropes.
Try the new ropes. What happens? It fails miserably. He snaps those too.
This third one's difficult. I don't know what's going on with reference to this woven locks into the batten and all that sort of thing, but suffice it to say this was incorrect too. And then comes the fourth time, the successful attempt.
Samson's Fatal Capitulation
Verse 15, then she said to him, how can you say I love you? You've got to be kidding me. Do you know how many times have men done foolish things? How many times have I done foolish things? when a better part of me would have been standing outside looking and saying, don't do that.
I don't know what it is about us men. The influence of a woman is a very powerful tonic. Again, not the five principles for wooing and courting and all the psychology therein. But if Samson, this man who was able to wreak such havoc upon a nation, look at when they're praising Dagon in verse 24.
Our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, one man. Not the Judahites, not the nation of the Hebrews, not the Israelites, not the covenant people of Yahweh. the destroyer of our land, and the one, singular, who multiplied our dead. If somebody that strong, and that determined, and that full of the Spirit, and that zealous to accomplish the will of God, succumbs to the pressure of a woman, Brothers, we ought to take heed lest we fall. We ought to make sure that we do not succumb to this kind of pressure.
Look at the manipulation. How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times. You see, we the reader know better.
We know that she's got her hand out. She wants 5,500 pieces of silver. She wants to collect her payday. And she has the gall and the wherewithal to say to Samson, how can you mock me?
You mustn't love me. Notice what it goes on to say. You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies. Verse 16.
And it came to pass when she pastored him daily with her words and pressed him. This is the same language employed in chapter 14 when his wife in Timnah pressed him. Tell me the secret of the riddle. Tell me what is strong that produces the sweet.
Tell me, because these Philistines have promised to burn my house down and my father's house. She pressed him, she pressed him, she pressed him, and he folds, he succumbs, he collapses. It came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death. She's probably the archetypical nag.
She had perfected it. I guess when there's 5,500 pieces of silver on the line, a lady ain't going to stop until she gets what she wants. Samson buckles. This is one of those outside the text moments where you go, no, Samson.
Don't, Samson. Stand firm, Samson. Resist it, Samson. Show her your biceps, Samson.
Do something, but do not succumb to this pressure. Notice that Samson is ever conscious of his vow to God. Again, verse 17 blasts the narrative that we have some bumbling ogre bouncing around, governed by his passions. Look at what he says.
No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. He knew what he was about. He knew to whom he belonged. He knew the reality of covenant religion and where he fared.
He understood these things. But in a moment of weakness, he gives in. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man. Block said that Samson may be able to uproot the gates of a major city and carry them 40 miles uphill, but he cannot withstand the wiles of a woman.
Take heed, brothers, lest you fall. Take heed, brothers, lest you fall. Manipulation in the hands of a powerful tonic can be fatal to a man who isn't guarding his heart. Doesn't Solomon speak to this several times in the Proverbs?
Doesn't Solomon rehearse this reality? Isn't it sad to realize how Solomon ended not heeding his own counsel? You know, man will do all manner of horrible things. He's not without sin in this.
He is not coerced in this. There is the reality that people in our life can exercise a powerful influence upon us. We need to choose our friends properly. We need to choose those lasting, covenantal bonds properly.
We need to resist the temptation to be governed by passion, governed by lust, governed by whatever makes me happy now. Now, Christians, above all, ought to be future-oriented. We are in this for the long haul. We are in this for the marathon.
Faithfulness is what is necessary in the people of God. And if somebody comes along and tries to trip you up in that faithfulness, then resist them. They don't belong in your life. Notice, verse 18, she knew now he spoke the truth.
She was confident at this point. The dollar signs have come back into her eyes. When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines saying, come up once more for he has told me all his heart. So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.
And she lulled him to sleep on her knees. What a terrible woman! She lulls him to sleep on her knees to drive a knife right in his back. Why does she lull him to sleep?
So that she can call a barber to come and snip the locks of his head. Ian Paisley preached a sermon from this passage and he called the sermon, haircut in a devil's barber chair. And he was right. He was right.
This woman lulls him to sleep, has the hair cut off of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. So he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free.
We the reader know it's not going to work this time, Samson. We on the sidelines are saying it's not going to happen this time, Samson. Samson in his ignorance, Samson in his rejection of God at this point, Samson in his sin, Samson in being governed by his passions and his emotions and his desires, gets to the point where he doesn't even realize that the Lord had departed from him. That's significant, because prior, Samson speaks of my strength leaving me.
It is the Spirit of the Lord. It is Yahweh Himself that has departed from Samson. And then notice His fall. Then the Philistines took Him and put out His eyes.
That means they bore them out. They bore them out. You know how you get a melon and you take that melon baller? I don't know if you have one of those at home.
We do. It's a little round scooper and you just go like that. That's more the idea. They didn't just poke him in the eye.
They bore his eyes out. You see, things have drastically changed for Samson from here on out. The Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters and he became a grinder in the prison.
The warrior of Israel, the hero of God's people, the champion of the nation, has become the status of a slave, a woman, or a child. These are the ones who were grinders in the prison house. Samson has been reduced, he has been stripped, his eyes have been taken from him, and he's in a very bad state. But then look at what the text says.
However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. Isn't that a beautiful thing? No, it's not that the hair was magic. It's not that if Pastor Cam or I grow our hair out, we'll be able to do more bench pressing.
That's not the point. It was symbolic. It signified. But as Davis says, we don't remove the substance from the symbol.
And so when we, the reader, sees that the hair of his head starts to grow again, there's hope, isn't there? God never leaves his people. God never forsakes his people. God is there for his people.
Talk about a revival text. The hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. Again, Davis says, not that there was any magic in his hair. His strength came only from Yahweh.
However, his hair was the sign of that strength, and we must never sever the sign from the reality which it signifies."
The Destruction of the Enemies of the Lord
And we move, or we have moved now, to the last section, the destruction of the enemies of the Lord. Verse 23 and following. What do the Philistines do? They do what we ought to do when we get a victory from the Lord.
We have to praise Him. We ought to rejoice in Him. We ought to celebrate. We ought to delight.
As far as they're concerned, Dagon has come through. As far as they're concerned, Dagon, their God, has delivered them. Dagon has provided a means by which their biggest threat and enemy has been rendered ineffective. They're celebrating.
This is a praise and worship service. This is that old time religion, Canaanite style. This is Dagon worship 101. This is something we might expect from the Philistines.
Verse 23, the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, and to rejoice. Block says, between verses 21 and 22 and verse 23, the scene shifts from the prison house where the broken Samson sits isolated and humiliated to a Philistine palace where the governors and the people are assembled for celebration. That's where we last leave Samson, isn't it? Yes, his hair is beginning to grow again.
There's hope in that statement. But what's his job? What's his role? What's his action?
He is tethered to a pole and he is a grinder. He's pushing something. He's just going around and around and around. You think your job is boring?
I doubt they had eight-hour days, too. You get a break at 10. You get a half-hour lunch at 12, you get a coffee break at 2.30 or 3, whatever the time is. And you're off at 5.
Once that whistle blows, Samson, you're free to go home and enjoy your liberty and your fun. He had a slave existence at this point. Look at the way the narrator does this. He shows us Samson, gives us this glimmer of hope because his hair is starting to grow again.
And now we've got Philistines rejoicing and celebrating and praising Dagon, from whom all blessings to Philistines flow. Isn't it interesting? We the reader know this, but it wasn't because of the presence of Dagon in their lives, but it was due to the absence of Yahweh in Samson's life. That is the reason by which this happened.
And they ascribe it to their idol. They ascribe it to this God that is nothing. Vanity of vanities. Those who make them will be like them, the Psalter says.
Again, our God has delivered into our hands Samson, our enemy. When the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, Our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead. They knew what they were dealing with. They knew and understood what was going on.
They knew that an incapacitated Samson meant blessing for the Philistine nation. Now what happens? The honor of God is at stake. The glory of Jehovah has been compromised.
There is cause in the enemies of the Lord to bring reproach to the name of the God of Israel. So the Lord Most High steps into action. Everybody is now assembled at this particular palace. 3,000 Philistines gather. This was a big expression of old-time religion.
They come to worship Dagon. While they're worshiping Dagon, they have this idea, hey, trot Samson out. Let's mock him. Let's ridicule this hero of Israel.
Let's make fun of him. Let's scoff at him. Let's make jokes at his behalf. This is what's going on.
Verses 25 to 27 indicate this.
Samson's Prayer and God's Vindication
Now notice the vindication of God's honor in verses 28 to 30. Samson's prayer. Then Samson called to Yahweh, saying, O Lord God, remember me, I pray. Strengthen me, I pray, just once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.
Well, that seems a bit selfish, Samson. All you want to do is get vengeance because of your eyes? Remember that vengeance for Yahweh's servant equals vindication for the servant's God. The two are entwined.
If Samson is brought to disrepute and ridicule, that brings God down to this level. Not literally. It's not a selfish prayer. Remember, he praised us after Jabba died.
He praised to God for water. He had just killed a thousand men in close combat. He's got blood dripping off of him. I'm sure some of you are going to go, he likes to talk about that scene a lot.
Because it's the champion of Israel bringing judgment upon the enemies of Israel. That is what Israelites, subsequent to the narrative, would have rejoiced in. He says to the Lord, please give me water or I die. It's interesting, Davis makes the comment.
Here Yahweh's answer comes, just like it does in chapter 15, not only in the midst of desperate need, but in the wake of miserable failure. Samson is here because of Samson, isn't he? I mean, God is sovereign, first cause, all of that, I affirm absolutely, 100%. But in terms of second causes, in terms of means, we do not get rid of the responsibility of man.
Why is Samson having, or why has his eyes been bored out? Why is he in fetters and why is he a grinder? It's because he succumbed to Delilah. God answers this prayer.
You want to talk about no grace in the Old Testament? You want to talk about no love in the Old Testament? You want to talk about no compassion in the Old Testament? That God the Lord hears the cry of Samson and gives him water after Job on hike?
And that God the Lord hears the cry of Samson and gives him victory in Gaza in chapter 16, ought to cause us to praise God for His amazing grace. This is precisely what happens. Samson calls 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 blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes. He knows what he's going to do. He's asked the young lad to put him in a position. He knows where he's standing.
He knows the situation. He cannot see it physically because his eyes have been bored out, but he knows what Dagon worship looks like. And he understands that with an infusion of the power of the Spirit of God Most High, he'll be able to bring that place down and be able to destroy Philistines. God heard his prayer.
God answered his prayer. And God brings judgment to bear on the Philistines. Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, verse 29, And he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Then Samson said, let me die with the Philistines.
And he pushed with all his might. And the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life."
Samson's Death as an Act of War
People come here and say, well, what about the suicide? This wasn't suicide. This was an act of war. where in this general, this commander, this deliverer, this savior gave himself in order to bring judgment to bear upon the enemies of God. It wasn't suicide.
It was military action. If you have any question, read Turretin, chapter 2, page 14. Read Gill's commentary on this thing. This is not a place to go to discuss the ethics of suicide, because it isn't suicide.
It's an act of war. A man jumps on a grenade in order to spare a lot of people of misery and pain. We don't chide him for suicide. We put a medal on his breast and call him a hero.
That's what Samson is. That's what Samson does. Now notice, his burial, his legacy. Verse 31, his brothers and all his father's household came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtael in the tomb of his father Manoah.
He had judged Israel 20 years. I wonder what that was like. I wonder what that was like. You know, none of us helped him.
None of us came to his aid. None of us acknowledged that God had, in fact, put him as the deliverer, put him as our savior, put him as our judge. None of us helped this man whatsoever. I wonder if there was shame filling their hearts.
But when they're transporting his body to the tomb of Manoah, the Judahites see it and start to get a bit uneasy because of how they had acted and how they had treated this particular man. Samson's legacy. He judged Israel 20 years. He did precisely what God had called him to do.
Application
We close with a few lessons. First, I've already mentioned this, the grace of God. Sometimes the grace of God is going to be messy. You see, when God delivers you as one of His elect, as a believer, as a child of God, that may mean disposing of your enemies.
You see, you don't have problems with that when you study the Old Testament. You shouldn't have problems with that when you study the New Testament. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. It is right with God to pay with affliction or to repay with tribulation those who afflict you. It's right!
We've become more pious than God. Oh God, you shouldn't do such mean and nasty things. Oh God, you shouldn't bring judgment to bear upon your enemies. There is enemies.
Why shouldn't he? We see the manifestation of the grace and mercy of Almighty God. He tells Manoah and his wife, you will bear a son. And he will begin to deliver Israel from their oppression.
That is precisely what Samson does. He doesn't break the back completely, he doesn't subjugate them fully, he doesn't end that Philistine oppression altogether, but he does exactly what 13.5 says. He begins to deliver his people from their oppression. God is good.
That's a lesson. Secondly, we ought to appreciate in this passage, in the narrative as a whole, and probably in the entirety of the book, the sinfulness of the covenant people. You know, if you keep reading into chapter 17 to 21, there's some unpleasantries there. There's some things that make people kind of raise their eyebrows and say, wow, I didn't know that was in the Bible.
In fact, when we went through that on our Wednesday night study, we made the comment that you don't find daily bread meditations on Judges 17 to 21. As far as I know, Spurgeon doesn't deal with it morning and evening. What happens when you get to chapter 20? The men of Gibeah want to engage in an unspeakable act, violating the seventh commandment.
I think the author is telling us that new Sodom is Israel. Remember the men of Sodom? They wanted lots visitors. The men of Gibeah want this Levite.
My point is this. When you read through the book of Judges, or you read through the New Testament epistles, say for a moment, 1 Corinthians, you will see that at times, I know this is hard to believe, but the people of God aren't always faithful. We're not. We sin.
We reject, we engage in rebellion. We may not be new Sodom all the way, but we may be taking steps that way. Yet in the midst of all of this, God nevertheless delivers His people. But we ought not to assume that even in this God delivers his people.
So therefore I can sin, I can engage in lawlessness, I can be wicked, I can violate precepts, I can violate standards, I can violate commandments, and on the other side I'll know that God is going to deliver me. We are never taught in the Bible to think that way. In fact, Paul condemns such a mindset in Romans chapter 6. What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? I mean, you can hear it now. Paul, you're preaching a salvation that is grace alone through faith alone. This is wonderful.
God likes to forgive. I like to sin. This is a wonderful arrangement. So I'll go out and sin and continue to ask for forgiveness.
No. Certainly not, the old King James, as God forbid it. Do you not know that you died with Christ? You were buried with Christ?
You've been raised with Christ? Do not sin with the idea that, well, God will just deliver me anyway. cannot live that way. The Bible says not to. And just because God punctuates this miserable time in the period of the judges with His grace, His mercy, and His long-suffering, doesn't mean, therefore, I can go out and disregard the law of God because He's going to deliver me.
Thirdly, we ought to take at least a quick glance at the folly of idolatry. These guys are sitting in Dagon's palace. These guys are rejoicing in Dagon. These guys are praising Dagon, from whom all Philistine blessings flow.
And Dagon has no power to deliver them from making this place, in the language of Davis, become a cemetery. I don't care what you call your idols, they cannot deliver you. I don't care what you call it, Dagon, or Baal, or Asherah, or money, or power, or prestige, or yourself. It will never be able to deliver you in the day of woe.
This is something that these Dagon worshipping idolaters found. Later on, it's going to be even more humorous when we get to Samuel. Remember when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord comes and they put it in the same room with Dagon? They go to check on Dagon in the morning and he's falling over!
We've got to pick him up! Do you realize that when the author's doing this, he wants you to laugh? He wants you to see the futility and the emptiness and the foolishness of having to pick your idol up and fix his arm. The God of heaven and earth picks his people up.
The God of heaven and earth delivers his people. The God of heaven and earth is the one who alone sustains his people. If you have to sustain your God, you've got the wrong one. Thirdly, or fourthly, I want to read a lengthy quote, and I know a lengthy quote at 1229 people are going, I don't want a lengthy quote, I want hamburgers.
So don't do that right now. I think Dale Ralph Davis nails why God picked Samson. Davis says, why would Yahweh use a character like Samson as his servant? Again, I argue that he's a whole lot more righteous and a lot more faithful than some of the modern commentators tell us.
He's not a perfect man. He's not a flawless man. He's not a sinless man. He's a very colorful character.
He does roll it from page to page, telling puns, telling riddles, killing Philistines, picking up gates. I mean, he's an interesting man. So Davis deals with this. Why would God use a character like Samson as his servant?
Here is a fellow who shatters all our modes, all our conventions. He doesn't look like us. He's not wearing a shirt and a tie. He doesn't have his pencil placed in his pocket.
I used to think there was a poster of the Reformed Baptist. At that time, he had his pencil. Al Martin tape in his shirt pocket there. He had his dress shoes on for church.
You know, the whole spiel. He had his new King James Bible. We wouldn't fit Samson into this mold, would we? Here's a fellow who shatters all our modes, conventions, and expectations about what a servant of God is to be.
Now here's Davis's analogy. I'm not asking you to pick sides concerning the war between the states. If you've given any thought to that, and you have a settled opinion that the North was wrong and the South was wrong, that's not the point. Okay, don't leave here saying, well Pastor Butler, it sounded like you think the North...
That's not the point. It's an analogy. Listen to what Davis says. He pulls something out of history that we can appropriate.
He says, during the war between the states, the story spread that General Grant had been drunk at the Battle of Shiloh. About 11 o'clock one night, President Lincoln received his friend, A.K. McClure. McClure was on a mission.
As spokesman for a number of Republicans, he pressed his argument for almost two hours on how popular opinion was against Grant and therefore Grant should be dismissed so that Lincoln himself could retain the country's confidence. You see the problem. Grant's out there representing the northern armies, and Grant was allegedly drunk at the Battle of Shiloh. McClure comes along to Lincoln and says, you know, this isn't a really good depiction of the northern armies.
You really need to relieve him of duty so that he doesn't cast aspersion upon our name and upon our cause. Lincoln rarely interrupted. Then as McClure himself reported it, this is the actual language from the man who spoke to Lincoln, Lincoln remained silent for what seemed a very long time. He then gathered himself up in his chair and said, in a tone of earnestness that I shall never forget, I can't spare this man.
He fights. Davis, now. He may look seedy, he may have a trouble with booze, popular opinion may stand against him, but he fights. We cannot explain Yahweh's choices, though we might vindicate his choice of Samson by a variation of Lincoln's argument.
Say what you will about Samson. At least he knew who the enemy was. At least he knew Philistines were for fighting. At least he didn't roll over and play dead in the warmth of the status quo as the mighty men of Judah did.
Perhaps we will eventually get over our surprise at the kind of servants that Yahweh delights to use. Samson fights. When Judahites are acting like babies and betraying the man that God raised up, is it any wonder why he has a Samson in this world? He may have his spots, he may have his blemishes, he may have his flaws, he may have his weaknesses, but for God he fights.
This man's a hero. And this man, as I've said, points us to a greater man. Jesus was delivered up by the Jews to the Romans in order to be crucified. Samson was delivered up by the Judahites to the Philistines to be murdered.
Samson ends up doing more good in his death than in his life. Sound like something else familiar concerning our Lord Jesus Christ? He was delivered up because of our offenses and he was raised for our justification. You may not have gotten everything this morning concerning Samson, but this thing yet concerning the one to whom Samson points, Jesus Christ saves to the uttermost all who come to God through him.
If you are not a believer here this morning, Do not go home under the wrath of God. Do not continue in your life resisting. Do not continue in your life rejecting. Do not continue bowing down to Dagon, who has no power whatsoever to save.
Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Him, the scripture says, and you will have everlasting life. Paul describes it this way, that God delivers man women, boys, girls, from the kingdom of darkness and he transfers them into the kingdom of the son of his love. The instrument, the means by which this is affected is belief.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, and you shall be saved. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that glorious?
Christ, in His death, brought judgment to bear upon the greatest of enemies, the devil, our sin, and ultimately death itself will be destroyed. And in Christ, there is everlasting life. Young people, children, do not tarry. Do not wait.
Listen to the preacher. In the book of Ecclesiastes, he says, remember your Creator in your youth. What happens when you resist and you reject as you're young, it gets easier and it gets easier and it gets easier and your heart gets harder and it gets harder and it gets harder. Not that God can't break in.
Not that God can't smash a hardened heart. of a 90-year-old man or woman, but come in your youth. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Resist the tendencies of our age to scoff at the true and living God and believe. Faith in Christ, belief in Christ is most needful.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, even as I utter these words, I know that ultimately faith is a gift, and I pray to You now that You would grant that, that You would give that grace of faith and repentance, those saving graces which bring men into connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. God, bring blessing upon sinners here, bring strength upon your people here, cause us to learn the lessons from the book of Judges both individually and corporately. May we not be passive, may we not be cowards, may we not shrink back from declaring the truth of God Most High in an unbelieving age.
Grant us boldness, grant us grace, grant us opportunity to take these things and to proclaim them and we pray that you would bless the word as it goes forth, saving sinners and sanctifying saints and ultimately bringing glory to God Most High. We ask that you would go with us now, that you would continue with us on this Sabbath day. As one man has well said, the Sabbath has been given to the people of God. It's marched along with us all the ages of the church as a means of encouragement.
May we indeed find great benefit today. And we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.