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Turn in your Bibles to the book 
of Judges, Judges chapter 15. This morning I mentioned there 
was a parallel between Samson and our Lord Jesus Christ. In 
both instances, one man was given up by his countrymen to appease 
a foreign invader, an oppressor. We see that in the Lord Jesus. 
They want to put Jesus to death so that the Romans don't come 
and destroy their place and nation. We see the same thing here in 
Judges 15 when Judah gives up Samson because they don't want 
to buck the system with reference to the Philistines. It's an actually 
sad chapter in terms of the covenant people, but a very encouraging 
chapter in terms of God's deliverer of those people. So I want to 
read Judges 15 beginning in 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 Edom. 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 3,000 men of Judah went 
down to the cleft of the Rock of Edom 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 En-Hakur, which is in Lehi to this day. 
And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines. 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the period 
of the judges and the way that they typify the coming of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. We know that this book is about 
deliverance from on high, and we praise You for that. We ask 
now that the Holy Spirit would guide us and direct us as we 
consider the truth as we find it here in Scripture. And again, 
may our hearts be encouraged and drawn out to worship, and 
to praise, and to adoration of our great God, even Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit. Forgive us now, we pray, in the 
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, as I've often explained 
when we come to the book of Judges, there is this misconception concerning 
Samson, that he was a man that just kind of bumbled along, governed 
by his lusts. But there is nothing further 
from the truth than that. What we find in Samson is four 
occasions where we see that the Spirit of the Lord comes upon 
him. The narrative with reference to Samson begins in Judges 13. 
So you've got the birth of Samson in chapter 13, his marriage in 
Timnah in chapter 14, his victory at Jawbone Height here in chapter 
15, and then his victory in Gaza in chapter 16. If you look back 
to chapter 13, you see an announcement concerning his birth that is 
much parallel with Matthew 1.21. Our brother read that this morning. 
In our scripture reading, you shall call his name Jesus, for 
it is he who will save his people from their sins. Look at chapter 
13 in verse 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. 
He shall save his people from the hand of the Philistines. 
And then look at chapter 13 at verse 25. And the spirit of the 
Lord began to move upon him. When he takes this woman from 
the Philistines, this was of God, because God wanted Samson 
to be the means by which he would bring destruction to the Philistines. So that was ordained by God. 
You see that in the beginning of chapter 14. Notice in chapter 
14 at verse 6, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him 
and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young 
goat. And then again in chapter 14 at verse 19, Then the Spirit 
of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon 
and killed thirty 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." It's not that he killed the Philistines in anger. He 
killed the Philistines by the presence and the power of the 
Holy Spirit of God. The anger comes subsequent to 
that because he's a little bit teed off at his wife who gave 
him up to the Philistines. If you had not plowed with my 
heifer, you would have never got my riddle. So the father 
of this bride takes her back to his house and that brings 
us to chapter 15 and why Samson goes to find her. But as well, 
we find in 1514, when the Philistines come shouting against him, the 
Spirit of the Lord comes mightily upon him. So he dispatches these 
thousand Philistines by the power of the Holy Spirit. So four times 
in a brief narrative section in Holy Scripture, we see the 
Spirit of the Lord on a man. Now, when we look at the rest 
of the Bible, that's pretty unique. How many times do we find a man 
in Scripture where four times it is said of him that the Spirit 
of God comes upon him? I would suggest that Jesus is 
certainly one of them, but beyond that, there's not a lot of others. 
So the Holy Spirit empowers Samson for this work of freeing Israel 
from Philistine oppression. So I want to look first at the 
betrayal by his father-in-law in verses 1 to 8, the treachery 
of his countrymen in verses 9 to 13, and then finally the triumph 
over his enemies. I used to call this the victory 
over his enemies, but triumph seems a bit more fitting when 
you're able to kill a thousand men in one exchange. So he triumphed 
over these wretches. But notice the betrayal by his 
father-in-law in verses 1 to 8. The time is indicated. Notice, 
after a while, in the time of wheat harvest. This comes into 
play later in the narrative when he burns their fields. As well, 
you need to understand that they serve the god Dagon. Dagon was 
the god of grain. So this was not only economically 
impactful upon their society, but it was a religious assault 
as well. When Samson brings reproach upon 
Dagon, that hits them at their religious level. So it's the 
time of wheat harvest, and then notice what Samson desires. He 
desires his wife. He's not a man who holds a grudge. 
As I said, his wife betrays him with reference to his riddle. 
He wants to go back to her now. He's not holding a grudge. He 
brings a young goat. This would be akin to flowers 
and chocolates. He wants his bride back. He wants 
to cohabit with her. He wants to carry on in that 
married state. He's not governed by lust. Even 
in chapter 16, when he goes into the harlot at Gaza, it doesn't 
mean sexually. He goes in there in the manner 
that the spies went to rehab the harlot. Samson is a man of 
God. He is a deliverer of Israel. 
He is freeing his people from Philistine oppression. So he 
goes to desire. He wants to go to his wife. He 
says that in verse two, let me go to my wife or into my wife 
into a room. But her father would not permit 
her to go in. And then notice the reason that 
he gives. Her father said, I really thought that you thoroughly hated 
her. She did betray you. She did give up your riddle. 
She did dime you out. Again, most men or many men might 
hold a grudge as a result of this. There was probably anger. 
There was anger at the end of chapter 14. That anger is quenched 
now. He just wants his bride. So the 
father-in-law says, 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. Look 
at the godlessness of Philistine culture. This man gives his wife 
to another man, his companion, no less, and then he's willing 
to give his daughter, his younger daughter, to Samson. There's 
not a lot of women's rights in this particular society. So what 
we see is that Samson says, according to verse 3, this time I shall 
be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them. So we notice 
now the destruction of Philistine property. Verse 4 is a difficult 
passage to understand, conceptually and logistically. How does he 
carry this out? 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. Again, the logistics of 
it may escape us, but the fact is that he brought great devastation 
upon the Philistine economy. But not only on the Philistine 
economy, but on their religious structure. If Dagon is the god 
of grain, he should be able to protect that. But he doesn't 
protect it from these foxes and their torches. One commentator, 
Daniel Block, says, How Samson accomplished this is a great 
mystery, or 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, slays 1,000 Philistines with 
a jawbone, and brings a house down over thousands of reveling 
Philistines. That makes sense. We may not 
be able to logistically explain everything, but the fact that 
the Spirit of the Lord has come upon him in these several instances, 
it enables him and empowers him to do the work of deliverance, 
to do the work of salvation, to do the work that typifies 
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Samson will free his 
people from Philistine oppression. Jesus saves his people from their 
sins. The book of Judges is about salvation. The book of Judges is about Yahweh 
saving. The book of Judges is about deliverance. 
There are several cycles. You will see it. The people sin 
against God. Then there are oppressors furnished 
by God to bring judgment upon them. They then repent, and it's 
not usually from their sin. They simply cry out because they're 
in pain. They're in calamity. and then God delivers them. That's 
the purpose for the judges. It wasn't like the circuit judge 
banging his hammer and rendering a verdict in simple cases. Judges 
here are more like kings. Judges here are more like that 
sort of a monarchy that will come later in Israel's history. Now notice, with reference to 
the result of the action, it says in verse 5, 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. 
That was devastating. Brethren, when you destroyed 
an enemy's food supply, you rendered them unable to continue on. It 
has been well noted in the history of military experience that an 
army runs on its stomach. If you can starve a people, you 
can win those people. It is simply that simple. And 
so, Samson knows what he's doing. Again, he's not just sort of 
bumbling along, duh, what shall I do now? He is a strategist. He is a deliverer. He is a savior. He is one who has wisdom furnished 
from on high for the act, or for the task rather, of delivering 
his people from Philistine oppression. And then notice the Philistine 
response. Do you think they liked this? 
Do you think they were happy about this? Do you think they 
wanted to see their crops burn? Verse 6, 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. This is what they had threatened 
to do previously in chapter 14 at verse 15. Notice, but it came 
to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson's wife, entice 
your husband that he may explain the riddle to us or else we will 
burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us 
in order to take what is ours? Is that not so? So they threatened. Now they carry out that threat 
and they burn her and her father. Now notice the destruction of 
Philistine lives. This is the response of Samson 
in verses 7 and 8. It's a tit for tat. It's a battle. It's warfare. Samson is not backing 
down. Samson is not giving up. Samson 
is going to use each and every occasion to move the ball of 
victory down the field. He's going to eventually spike 
that ball in their end zone when he renders death to a thousand 
of them with the jawbone of an ass. So notice the response of 
Samson according to verse seven. 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 Eta." Lots of different conceptions of what 
it means to attack them, hip and thigh with a great slaughter. 
I think the NIV gets it well, if not the literal translation, 
the sense of it. The NIV renders it, he attacked 
them viciously and slaughtered many of them. See, in warfare, 
brethren, it's not a nice sort of an exchange. It's not, you 
know, I'm gonna do this in the kindest possible way to end your 
life. No, Samson is battling for the 
glory of God and for the good of God's people. So that's the 
betrayal by his father-in-law, and now that sets us up for the 
treachery of his countrymen. He is definitely not treated 
well by them. The first thing we need to notice 
about Judah is the lack of their present distress. The lack of 
their present distress. Throughout the book of Judges, 
as I mentioned, there are cycles. Sin, oppressor, repentance, and 
deliverance. The repentance, again, usually 
isn't, God, we've sinned, please forgive us and restore us to 
your favor. The repentance is more like, 
God, this hurts. We don't like what's happening 
to us. Please vindicate us. Please rescue us. Well, that 
happened several times in several of the cycles. In fact, turn 
back to chapter 3 in verse 9. Chapter 3 in verse 9, when the 
children of Israel cried out to the Lord. This is after the 
Lord had given him over to Cushan Rishetham, the king of Mesopotamia. So they sinned, God raises up 
an oppressor to bring chastisement or judgment upon them, they cry 
out in their distress, and then God raises up, in this instance, 
Othniel. So verse 9, when the children 
of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer 
for them. Drop down to chapter 3 at 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. Look at chapter 
4 and verse 3, same sort of an emphasis. And the children of 
Israel cried out to the Lord, for Jabin had 900 chariots of 
iron, and for 20 years he had harshly oppressed the children 
of Israel. Look at chapter 6, the Gideon cycle, specifically 
at verse 7. And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried 
out to the Lord because of the Midianites. And then again in 
chapter 10 at verse 10. Chapter 10 at verse 10. See, 
the same sort of an emphasis. And the children of Israel cried 
out. Here they actually do confess sin. They cried out to the Lord 
saying, we have sinned against you because we have both forsaken 
our God and served the Baals. You'll notice an absence of that 
when we come to this narrative in terms of Samson and the Philistine 
oppression. Look at chapter 13. Chapter 13, 
specifically at verse 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. They don't cry 
out for deliverance. They don't cry out for rescue. 
They don't cry out for vindication. Notice as well specifically in 
chapter 14 at verse 4 what we find in terms of the arrangement. 
So chapter 14 verse 4, But his father and mother did not know 
that it was of the Lord that he was seeking a woman from the 
Philistines, 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. So we get now to this Samson 
narrative. We get now to these Philistines 
who want to come and arrest Samson. And that's pretty obvious. I 
mean, he's rendered great damage to their economy. He's taken 
a shot at their religious system. And he's also dispatched or killed 
several of them. So they want revenge. They want 
him back at their place so that they can bring him to justice 
in terms of Philistine justice. So there's no cry for deliverance. There's no sort of anguish concerning 
their situation, but rather they identify with and they embrace 
Philistine culture. And I think there is a problem 
here. It is the danger of assimilating the culture around us. We're 
not supposed to be freak shows. We're not supposed to be so separate 
and wear completely different clothes and wear special hats 
and look completely different from everybody around us. I'm 
not suggesting that. But I am suggesting that we ought 
not to assimilate the culture in which we live. And I don't 
mean if burritos happen to be the food, we don't eat burritos. 
I mean the wickedness in their culture. You've probably heard 
that phrase bandied about a lot recently called cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation has been 
meant to, or it is used to say that somebody that likes Chinese 
food or somebody that wears a sweater that originates in Africa is 
somehow wrong. They're racists. But the cultural 
appropriation that I'm denouncing is the kind of sin you see in 
the church, where we're not really bothered by abortion. We're not 
really bothered by euthanasia. We're not really bothered by 
the gay pride parades that are going on ad nauseum all throughout 
this month. I mean, if you've seen any of 
the imagery, these are naked men walking down the streets 
of Seattle today, and they're doing things that are wretched. 
The church needs to denounce that. We're not supposed to assimilate 
that. We're not supposed to be respecters 
of those kinds of sins, of those kinds of perversions. There is 
a breach of God's holy law, and the church is prone to assimilate 
that particular culture. There is a necessity for uncompromising 
allegiance on the part of God's people, on the part of God's 
church. We're supposed to preach the 
gospel for salvation to needy sinners. But how do sinners know 
their need? By preaching the law. As the 
Heidelberg Catechism says, how do you know your sin and misery? 
I know it from the law of God. So if we don't preach the law 
of God, if we baptize the perversion in our own generation, if we 
just say, well, that's just the way things are, then sinners 
in our culture will never see their need for the saving grace 
of God most high. In other words, it is to renege 
on our responsibility as the Church of Jesus Christ to preach 
the law and the gospel. So there is this danger of assimilating 
culture, and there is this necessity of uncompromising allegiance 
to the Word of God Most High. Judah assimilated the culture, 
and Judah reneged on their responsibility to hold fast to the Word of God. 
Now, if you know anything about the Book of Judges, it was Judah 
that starts in the conquest. We read that passage in Numbers 
30-34 about the division of the land. Well, they could only divide 
what they had conquered and obtained. It was absolutely requisite that 
in that wilderness wandering, when they're being told what 
the land would look like in terms of tribal allotment, that they 
first go into Canaan and dispossess the land of the Canaanites, killing 
them, vacating them, and then taking everything that Yahweh 
had promised. Now, for those who say, well, 
that doesn't seem fair. The Canaanites were wretched. 
They were vile. They were monstrous sinners. 
They engaged in all manner of wickedness. And when Israel does 
take the land and Israel then apes the Canaanites or imitates 
the Canaanites, the same judgment comes upon them. They get vomited 
out of the land. The Assyrians come and render 
decimation to the northern tribes. The Babylonians come and render 
decimation to the southern tribes. God's not arbitrary. God's not 
capricious. There is a particular standard 
operative in this situation. And when the Israelites reneged, 
then they would be judged as well. So now to the text. Notice 
what we have. The abundance of cowardice in 
verses 9 to 13. So the Philistines in Judah. 
Notice in verses 9 and 10. 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? In other 
words, they're questioning this declaration of war. This isn't, 
you know, a friendly visit. This isn't, hey, we want to have 
tea. They understand, the Judahites 
know all too well what's happening here. And so they go out there 
to meet the threat and to say, what's happening? What have we 
done? How have we violated our particular arrangement? So notice, 
the Philistines in Judah, verse 9, and then in verse 10, 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. Again, fair enough from the Philistine 
perspective. I get it. Samson would have gotten 
it. But the Judahites' response is miserable. The Judahites' 
response is terrible. The Judahites' response with 
reference to Samson shows their assimilation of godless culture, 
shows their compromise relative to the law of God and their allegiance 
to their covenant Lord. They are more concerned with 
their place and their nation, even though they're under Philistine 
oppression, than they are with freedom and rendering a death 
blow to these enemies of God Almighty. So notice what happens. They send an army against Samson, 
not the Philistines. Look at verse 11. Then 3,000 
men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etah. You 
messed up. You should have sent those 3,000 
men to withstand those Philistines and to throw down with them. 
Don't send them against Samson and really 3,000 men? They obviously knew Samson pretty 
well. If he's able in one exchange 
to get rid of 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, 
yeah, we better send 3,000 men to try to barter or broker some 
peace with Samson. But this is a wretched response 
on their part. And then notice, they embrace 
subjection to the Philistines. They embrace it, they welcome 
it, they love it, they own it. Not only is there no cry of distress 
in their current situation, they're actually identifying with their 
oppressors. So verse 11, then 3,000 men of 
Judah went down to the cleft of the Rock of Etah and said 
to Samson, do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? 
What is this you have done to us? You have jeopardized us. You've put us in an uncomfortable 
situation, just like Caiaphas prophesying this morning. We 
need to do something that's expedient for us, not something that's 
lawful, not something that's right, not something that's just, 
not something that's legitimate. But we just want some temporal 
freedom from the problem of the Philistines. You see what they 
say? They have completely abandoned 
the God of heaven and earth. God set Samson over them as a 
deliverer. They should be rallying behind 
him, following him into battle against the Philistines, not 
delivering him up to that enemy oppressor. So they embrace subjection 
to the Philistines. Davis, in his commentary, which 
I highly command on the book of Judges, he 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 through the book. They don't want to abandon the 
Philistines, but they'll abandon God like that every step of the 
way. Now brethren, as we read through 
narrative like this, we ought to imagine that this is somewhat 
indicative of the hearts of men. Not just the men of Judah in 
this particular context. There might be something of this 
in us. We're ready to acquiesce to the enemy. We're ready to 
acquiesce to the oppressor. We're ready to give up the deliverer 
just so we can maintain the status quo. They actually identify with 
the Philistines. Matthew Henry says, cowardly, 
unthankful wretches, fond of their fetters and in love with 
their servitude. Notice back in the text, Samson 
invokes the golden rule, end of verse 11, as they did to me, 
so I have done to them. 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." They want to deliver him up to 
death. Again, Davis says, 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 always free people. They don't even see that as a 
possibility. See, brethren, that is troublesome. 
It's like that scene in Numbers 13 and 14. Remember in Numbers 
13 and 14, Moses is told to send spies into the promised land. 
Go investigate it. See what the land looks like. 
See what the threat is. Go and assess it. Recon mission, 
bring back the report. Well, we know the story. The 
12 spies go. They come back. They say it's 
a great land, good land, good fruit, but there's these pesky 
giants in the land. And then they revise their report, 
the 10 of them, and they say, big land, bigger threat, or bad 
land, bigger threat, no hope. Well, of course, the two spies, 
Joshua and Caleb, say, let's go at once. But brethren, this 
doesn't happen in a vacuum. It starts in Genesis chapter 
12, when God promises to give the land to Abraham, and then 
he ratifies or continues that covenant promise to Isaac, and 
then to Jacob, and then he calls the people of Israel from the 
wilderness to go into the land and conquer the land. He's already 
given it to them, and yet they say, no, the threat is too much. We need to be a Joshua or a Caleb. Caleb says, let's go at once 
and dispossess the land of the Canaanites. Well, they're in 
Numbers 14. Guess who the congregation listens 
to? They don't listen to Joshua and Caleb. They listen to the 
ten whiners and they say, oh, yeah, we can't do it. We're never 
going to be able to do it. We'll never be able to conquer 
it. So God brings judgment to bear upon them. It's never right, 
brethren, to side against God. It is never right to compromise 
our allegiance to God. It is never right to betray our 
God and His promises. As long as we are standing fast, 
we are in a good place. Notice, as well, Samson asks 
at the end of verse 12, he says to them, swear to me that you 
will not kill me yourselves. Swear to me that you will not 
kill me yourselves. And of course, they're right 
there with their quick answer. So they spoke to him saying, 
no, we're not going to kill you, Samson. That's not how bad we 
actually are. We're just going to tie you up, 
and then we're going to hand you to the people that are going 
to kill you. But we're perfectly innocent 
here. We don't have any ill intent against you at all. It's laughable, 
brethren. And I think that the author wants 
us to see the ludicrousness, the lunacy of this kind of a 
mindset on the part of the professing people of God. We have nothing 
to fear if God has promised. We have nothing to fear when 
God provides the deliverer. We have nothing to fear. What 
can man do if God is for us? So verse 13, they spoke to him 
saying, 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." They betray their 
utter spiritual degradation at this point. Kyle and Dalich make 
the observation, instead of recognizing in Samson a deliverer whom the 
Lord had raised up for them and crowding round him that they 
might smite their oppressors with his help and drive them 
out of the land, The men of Judah were so degraded that they cast 
this reproach at Samson. This is not a happy occasion 
in the life of the covenant people. This is not their high point. 
This is not their finest hour. In fact, this is miserable. This 
is wretched, and this does evidence their absolute degradation before 
God Most High and the means that He had appointed to free them 
from their Philistine captors. They identify with the Philistines. 
They don't want to rock the boat with the Philistines. They don't 
want anything to go wrong with the Philistines. They'll continue 
as subject. They'll continue as vassal. They'll 
continue in that subordinate position. Thank you very much. 
Samson, we're going to get rid of you. We want nothing to do 
with any chance of resistance against our enemies. And that 
brings us finally to the triumph over his enemies in verses 14 
to 20. Notice, the Judahites deliver the deliverer, according 
to 13b. And then in 14, we see the Philistines 
come against him. The Philistines came shouting 
against him. That means they're ready to battle. 
That means they're ready to throw down. These, again, they're not 
there for tea and cookies. They don't want to negotiate. 
This isn't diplomacy. Let's talk this through, Samson. 
Let's have an encounter session. Let's do some therapy. Let's 
do some exercises. Let's engage in some sort of 
self-help here. No, they come shouting against 
him. Why? Because they want to destroy 
him. They have witnessed him single-handedly ruin their economy, 
mock their God, and devastate their own countrymen. They have 
vengeance in their hearts and minds, and they want to spend 
that on this man, Samson. But then notice, he's empowered 
by the Spirit. So they come shouting against 
him, and then according to 14b, then the Spirit of the Lord came 
mightily upon him. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily 
upon him. The author does not want us to 
forget that everything that is happening is of God. Everything 
that is taking place here is of God. Not a bumbling oaf, not 
a lust-filled man, not a crazed glutton that's just wandering 
around, you know, killing Philistines and burning down fields. There 
is a reason for this. There is a rationale. God raises 
up Samson to free his people from Philistine oppression. So 
notice, the spirit comes upon him, and then he throws down. It says, 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. That's a bit of good narration 
there. You'd want a fresh jawbone. If it wasn't a fresh jawbone, 
it would be brittle. The moment you buried it or attempted 
to bury it into a Philistine skull, it might just shatter. 
So the fact that it was a fresh jawbone meant that it had some 
usefulness. It meant that it could get the 
job done. It meant that Samson was armed 
and ready to go. And that's precisely what we 
find. So he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his 
hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it." Talk 
about a succinct piece of narration there. Wouldn't you like description? Wouldn't you like about 10, 20, 
30 more verses on what that looked like? one man against a thousand 
men, armed with the jawbone of a donkey, and he kills them, 
one after another, and all that that entails, the blood splatter, 
the smell, everything that was going on in that instance. We 
have a brief narration of the situation. He killed a thousand 
men with it. But just consider, from verses 
14 to 17, he breaks the ropes, he finds the fresh jawbone, he 
kills a thousand men, and then he composes a pun. Isn't he a 
wonderful fellow? Don't you just love Samson? Isn't 
he awesome? Don't you just find this to be 
gratifying at many, many levels? Brethren, I wouldn't compose 
a pun on the best of days. Too bad Isaac's not here tonight. 
He'd probably be giggling out of his seat. But this man kills 
Philistines and then composes a pun. 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 then he names the place 
and he calls it Jawbone Height, verse 17, a fitting and appropriate 
name. And so it was when he had finished 
speaking that he threw the jawbone from his hand and called that 
place Ramath-Lehi, Jawbone Height. And then finally we see this 
acknowledgement by the servant of his absolute and utter dependence 
upon his God. He didn't render this because 
he was macho. I mean, I get the impression 
that he was quite strong. He was probably quite built. 
He was probably quite a menacing looking figure in terms of an 
enemy. But it was by the power of the Lord. And he understood 
that. His dependence was always upon 
Yahweh. He doesn't do this independently. 
He doesn't do this on his own. He does this by the Spirit of 
the Lord. And that's what this last bit underscores. Notice 
his physical distress in 18a. Then he became very thirsty. 
You don't need any explanation for that verse, do you? I mean, 
I'm thirsty just preaching about it. He's thirsty because he's 
just slaughtered a thousand Philistines. I doubt it, like, 588. He said, 
hey, can we just take a moment so I can have a bit of water? 
This was a constant battle for the entirety of the time. While 
there were Philistines, there was the jawbone of the donkey 
being wielded by this man into them. So there was no water break. So 18a doesn't need any explanation, 
though I just explained it. 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. He acknowledges the 
Lord's hand in the victory. You have to see that, brethren. 
He stood for God. He was not a compromiser like 
the Judahites. He didn't abandon his responsibility 
and his calling. He didn't assimilate the Philistine 
culture. He didn't negate or neglect his 
responsibility to hold fast the word of truth. So as God is faithful, 
we see that here. And he acknowledges that. You 
have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant." 
Again, Davis 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 Yahweh's spirit, but in 
case he's failed to register, we surely cannot miss the picture. Samson is anything but self-sufficient. That's the gist in verse 18. 
But then notice he gives this response with reference to the 
Lord in terms of provision. He says, and now shall I die 
of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? Some people 
hear that and they say, that sounds a bit arrogant. It seems 
a bit presumptuous. That's your argument? 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? It's a greater to lesser argument, brethren. 
It's a typically wonderful way to argue. You've preserved me 
in the midst of a thousand shouting Philistines. You're gonna let 
me die now with lack of water? Notice who doesn't think this 
is arrogant. Notice who doesn't think this 
is presumptuous. Notice who doesn't think that 
this is untoward in the way that he asks. God, because God answers 
and God provides because Samson expresses his need for God's 
provision vis-a-vis water so that he doesn't die and he can 
continue on to do the work of deliverance. So the Lord answers 
and gives him drink. Verse 19. 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 
En-Hakur, which is in Lehi to this day, and he judged Israel 
20 years in the days of the Philistines. It is a wonderful and a blessed 
description of God's faithfulness to God's servant to bring about 
the deliverance of unfaithful people in His covenant. And there 
are a few lessons I want to draw out. First, the enemies of Samson. We see the external enemy. The 
external enemy is the Philistines. But there's an internal enemy 
as well, and I think at times it's the internal enemy that's 
harder to deal with than the external. We get why the Philistines 
want to conquer Samson. We get why the Philistines want 
to take him back to their place and do untold horrors to him. That makes sense. But why Judah 
wants to deliver him up? It's the internal enemies. It's 
the problems from within. It's the compromise amongst the 
covenant people. It's the assimilation of godless 
culture amongst the covenant people. It's the reneging on 
the uncompromising allegiance to God amongst the covenant people. There have been men in the history 
of the world that have recognized this. Cicero was a Roman politician 
and lawyer, 106-43 BC. He said there are two kinds of 
injustice. The first is found in those who do an injury, in 
this case Philistines. The second in those who fail 
to protect another from injury when they can. In this case, 
the Judahites. Then there was Edmund Burke. 
He was a British political philosopher. He made this observation. All 
that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do 
nothing. That's Judah, right? And not 
only did they do nothing, they positively delivered up Samson 
into the hands of their enemies. So brethren, if we survey the 
scene in our own situation, we ought to pray for courage amongst 
the people of God. We ought to pray for steadfastness 
amongst the people of God. We ought to pray for this resistance 
against assimilation of godless culture. And we ought to pray 
for uncompromising allegiance on the part of the people of 
God. We ought to pray for pastors that they would lead in such 
a way as to produce or provide that example of uncompromising 
allegiance to the Word of God. We ought to pray for our church 
plants. We ought to pray for any future church plans. We ought 
to pray for brothers like we met yesterday, who are in very 
difficult situations, that they would not kowtow to the commies, 
but they would be faithful in preaching Christ and Him crucified. 
In the midst of that, that godless state, do you know what is happening? 
There are churches being built. There are churches going forward. 
On that island, there is great things happening in terms of 
Christ and Him crucified and resurrected. Disciples are being 
made, pastors are being trained, churches are being planted, all 
in the midst of a godless, wretched, horrible situation. We hear the 
reports about China, an atheistic, communistic country. Is there 
a church there? Absolutely, positively, there 
is a church there. Is it the case that Jesus' words 
are true? I will build my church, and the 
gates of Hades shall not prevail against it? Absolutely! All it 
takes on the part of God's people is to believe that, and to walk 
by faith, to know that God's word is sure, and to know that 
His word is true. Second, we see the faithfulness 
of Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came upon 
him and God used his means. In this case, a man who wasn't 
assimilating culture and a man who was uncompromising with reference 
to his allegiance to God. The Philistines opposed him. 
The Judahites opposed him. If you remember the Nicene controversy 
in terms of the identity of the second person of the Trinity, 
whether he's like the father or whether he has the same substance 
of the father, there was a man by the name of Athanasius. who 
contended for the truth, and Athanasius would be exiled for 
his commitment to that truth. There was one time where he said, 
Athanasius contra Munda. That means Athanasius against 
the world. In other words, if all the world 
denies the truth of God's holy word, Athanasius will stand fast. If everybody in Judah, if everybody 
in Israel, if everybody among the covenant people will kowtow 
to the Philistines, you've got Samson and he's not going to 
do it. He is going to die trying to resist those godless heathen. The deliverer functioned as God 
called him to. Hebrews chapter 11 is the great 
hall of faith. Guess who's in there? Samson. Samson was a man of faith. He 
was activated, actuated by his faith and trust in the living 
and true God. And the deliverer ascribed deliverance 
to God, verse 18. Now I'm not gonna say that Samson 
wasn't a colorful figure. There certainly were things that 
he did that were, you know, questionable in terms of sin and whatnot, 
but nevertheless God used him. And there's one quote, it's a 
lengthy quote, but I think it's a helpful one relative to this 
study. It's from Davis in his commentary. 
It's about a particular war, the Civil War. I'm not taking 
aside either way with reference to that. I'm not taking aside 
with reference to the North or the South of the characters that 
are in this illustration, but I think you'll get it. Davis 
asks the question, and Davis disagrees with me a little bit. 
I mean, he thinks he was a godly man, a great man, and all that 
sort of thing. But I think I probably engage in a bit of what's called 
hagiography, which is pronouncing sainthood upon a man. Samson's 
just my guy, so I don't want to hide that. So we differ a 
little bit. But he says, why would Yahweh use a character 
like Samson as his servant? I mean, ask that of any of the 
men that God used in the book of Judges, right? Jephthah, Gideon. Gideon gets told by God what's 
going to happen, but he needs a sign. God gives him a sign. 
Gideon wants another one. Okay. You just look at the people 
that God has used in the history of the church. You know, read 
through church history sometimes. There's some things that kind 
of make you go, huh? Really? That happened? Apparently Calvin 
had a bit of a temper problem. I mean, I don't know that he 
threw coffee cups and that sort of thing, but he certainly had 
some issues that way. I mean, all of God's, everybody, 
there's no sterile instrument. God's not like the doctor in 
the operating room where he's got a sterile instruments that 
he can use to wield upon his, I almost said victim, his patient. There's no sterile instruments. 
We all come with warts. We all come with sin. We all 
come with blemish. We all come with issues, right? 
Look at Simon Peter in the Gospel narratives. Lord, I'll die for 
you. I'll die with you. He denies 
Jesus three times. Not to the Roman Emperor, but 
to a slave girl. The Bible is filled with that. 
Look at David. The man after God's own heart 
commits the benchmark sins of adultery and murder. How do we 
explain that? So let's apply that to Samson. 
Again, he's got a little bit less of a favorable view than 
I do, but back to the text, or back to the quote. Why would 
Yahweh use a character like Samson as his servant? Here is a fellow 
who shatters all our molds, conventions, and expectations about what a 
servant of God is to be. 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. 
Lincoln rarely interrupted. Then as McClure himself reported 
it, quote, 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. He may look seedy, 
he may have 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 Yahweh delights to 
use. He fights. Why Samson? Why not Samson? There were no 
others. The rest of them were kowtowing 
to godless pagans and willing to do whatever they subjected 
them to. Samson fought. God uses means. God ordains the means. God then 
fills that means with the power and the presence of the Holy 
Spirit to enable them to bring conquest for His glory and for 
His honor. And all behind this is the graciousness 
and the kindness and the mercy and the provision of God Almighty. Samson saw it, we see it as we 
muse upon it, and we recognize it in this New Covenant era. 
We do nothing in terms of steadfastness, in terms of courage, in terms 
of going forward in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort 
of the Holy Spirit without God's grace. We are a dependent and 
a needy people, and it's best for us to always recognize that, 
to always acknowledge that, and to find great comfort in being 
dependent upon that rock of our salvation. Well, let us pray. 
Our God and Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you 
for this account in Judges 15, for the book of Judges as a whole, 
and how it typifies the salvation that we have in our Lord Jesus 
Christ. I pray that you would bless us 
and help us to be faithful, help us to be courageous, and to be 
persevering, not to compromise relative to the word of God, 
but to hold forth that word, to shine as lights in a crooked 
and perverse generation. We ask that you would go with 
us in this coming week, grant us help and strength and grace, 
and do sustain us for your glory and for your honor. And we pray 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief 
time of meditation.