The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 13:24-25,
"The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the
Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while
he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol."
Samson's birth to a previously barren woman was heralded by the angel
of the Lord. She was told he was to be set apart as a "Nazirite", one
dedicated to the Lord, "the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth
until the day of his death." Judges 13:7.
The Lord used Samson to deliver Israel from a forty year domination of
the Philistines. What we read is something startling. Samson's
victories we read of over the Philistines came about through his
pursuit of Gentile women, Philistine women. In the accounts of two
wives and a prostitute we read of Samson's exploits. And, although the
"Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in him",
his conquests over the Philistines never had lofty origins in a desire
to see Israel freed from the domination of the Philistines but through
a more petty motivation: personal revenge.
The first account is of a nameless Philistine woman who Samson
insisted be his wife over his parent's objections. The outcome is
that, burning with anger after the Philistines used his wife to win a
bet over a riddle, he killed thirty Philistine's to pay off the debt.
Later, after learning his wife's father had given her to another, he
burned up the fields of grain, vineyards and olive groves of the
Philistines. When the Philistines killed his wife and her father over
it, "He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them." Verse
15:8. This he did after telling them, "Since you've acted like this, I
won't stop until I get my revenge on you." Verse 15:7. When the
Philistines gathered to attack Judah for Samson's slaughter of the
Philistines and Judah went to arrest Samson, it resulted in Samson
killing another thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.
This, after telling the men of Judah, "I merely did to them what they
did to me." Verse 15:11. Again, personal revenge.
The second account is of the Philistine prostitute. Not much is
provided us except that the Philistines wanted to kill Samson and laid
in wait at the city gate in Gaza where Samson spent the night with the
prostitute. But he had gotten up in the middle of the night and
performed an enormous feat of strength by ripping down the massive
doors of the city gate, together with their posts, and dragged them up
a hill.
The third account is of Samson's love for, yet, another Philistine
woman, Delilah. When the Philistines used her to capture Samson, gouge
out his eyes, and humiliate him by using him for slave labor, he took
his revenge on the Philistines by calling out to the Lord, "O
Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once
more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my
two eyes." Verse 16:28. Being empowered by the Lord one last time,
Samson took his personal revenge upon thousands of Philistines at the
temple of Dagon by pushing the temple's pillars over.
Samson was a man devoted to the Lord and empowered with super-human
strength to free Israel from Philistine domination. He is among the
heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 where we read, "the world was not worthy
of them", Hebrews 11:38, and "These were all commended for their
faith" Hebrews 11:39. Yet, here is a man who defied his parents
counsel, chased after pagan women the Lord warned against, made use of
prostitutes and carried out his exploits for purely personal revenge.
What to make of it?
I find an interesting observation in the Hebrews chapter. In 11:40 we
are told of Samson and the other heroes that, "God had planned
something better for us so that only together with us would they be
made perfect."
What I take from the accounts of Samson is that being set apart from
the Lord, having the Spirit begin "to stir" in us, being empowered and
strengthened by the Lord does not make us sinners perfect. The Lord
takes us and uses us, in spite of our sinfulness, our weaknesses and
our frailties to carry out his agenda, his purposes. Further, faith is
the door through which we have opportunity to be perfected in our
sinfulness and weaknesses - but it doesn't happen immediately and
automatically, as Samson's life illustrates. In the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ we have the opportunity for perfection, "by one sacrifice he
has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Hebrews
10:14. It is that "being made holy" part that tells us that those who
embrace the Lord in faith are on the path to perfection, but that
perfection will not come till resurrection day when we finally leave
that stubborn and persistent sinful nature behind. As Paul tells us,
"we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly
as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our
bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no
hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for
what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:23-25.
In the meantime, although we may disappoint the Lord, ourselves and
others from time to time, it does not mean we cannot be used by the
Lord for his purposes. After all, the perfect things the Lord
accomplishes in this life are never through perfect people when he
uses us. He accomplishes what he does through us perfectly due to his
perfection - not ours.
On another note, do you know of any other literature that is nearly as
honest and straightforward about the shortcomings of its heroes? One
thing I love about the Scriptures is the refreshing honesty and
truthfulness as they portray the events and realities of this life.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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