The Child of God cannot be lost but does this mean that that person can live any way they like? There is no better story to illustrate this than Samson whose life was cut short because of disobedience. Samson was a baby that God had promised (Judges 13:5) and this child would be a special child.

The name Samson means “sunshine” The word Nazarite means “different or set apart”. He was required to keep the rules of the Nazarite. He had tremendous strength. The secret of his strength was not his big muscles. Everyone wanted to know the secret so it couldn’t have been the size of his muscles! Samson was spiritually, physically and mentally strong.

He was a man who went from hero to zero. Samson is a bundle of contradictions. He was bold before men but weak before women. The Spirit of the God was upon him yet he was weak in the flesh. He was to fight the Lord’s enemies yet he openly fraternised with them. He fought the Lord’s battles by day and broke the Lord’s commandments by night. He is listed in Hebrews 13 as an example of those saved by faith. His failures didn’t change that. Yet Samson paid in seven instalments for his sins:-

1 – He dishonoured his parents (14:1-4)

He picks a woman from the Philistines for his wife rather than one from Israel. His parents begged him to not do so. He shouldn’t marry someone who is an unbeliever. Despite his parents warnings, (Exodus 20:12) he wouldn’t listen to his parents. We are to honour our parents so that “your days may be long”. See Exodus 20:12. Samson dies while young. Make sure you honour your parents. You should honour God first, second your husband/wife and then your parents.

2 – He deserted his promise (14:5-9)

He is in the vineyard. What is he doing there? He is flirting with sin. Samson has an uncontrolled weakness for sex with women. He is not alone – there are many like this today. If you cannot control your weaknesses they will eventually destroy you! He then goes down to the Philistines for his wedding feast.

3 – He distorted his purpose (14:10-20)

He has wine at his own wedding. He makes a bet. He has a riddle that he thinks they can’t answer. They can’t work out the answer so they force Samson’s wife to tell them the answer to the riddle. He could stand against a lion but yet could not stand against the tears of a woman! She tells her relatives the answer. They did not play according to the rules. You don’t plough with a heifer! (A milk cow) You don’t call your wife a heifer either! He goes out and kills 30 Philistines and takes their clothes to pay off the debt.

Is Samson fighting God’s battles or his own? He is distorting God’s purpose. He is fighting personal battles. Samson is on the way down. Samson surrenders to the Philistines for the sake of his family and then takes the jawbone of an ass and slays one thousand of them! He jokes in the middle of this with his song.

4 – He defiled his purity (16:1-3)

He defiles himself with a harlot. The once mighty man of God is sleeping with harlots. The more someone gets into sin the less they know about it. They try to trap Samson but he picks up the gates of the city and escapes. Samson is still playing games rather than fighting God’s battles. (Proverbs 3:3-6 – honey lips but the end leads to destruction. See also Proverbs 6:32-33.) This is a sin unlike any other sin. Adultery never makes sense. It can have serious repercussions of many, many people. To throw away one’s commitment is pure folly. For the ancient Israelites, marital infidelity was a mark of infidelity to God.

5 – He diluted his power (16:4-20)

He is with Delilah now. Delilah is offered money to find out the secret of Samson’s strength. All the while she is stroking his hair she is really after his scalp! Samson lies to Delilah about the source of his strength but Delilah is persistent and tests it out. She is getting closer to the truth. Samson’s willpower begins to wear down. He finally tells her that if his hair is cut he will lose his strength. It was the one vow that he had not broken. When the Philistines really do come upon him it is sad that he did not realise that the Lord had departed from him. He was keen to fight the Philistines but now his strength has gone from him.

6 – He disgraced his profession (16:21-27)

Samson’s eyes are burned out and they treat him like an animal to grind grain for the Philistines. He has become a disgrace to his profession.

7 – He diminished his potential (16:28-30)

Samson admitted that he had been a fool. Samson begins to repent and his spiritual eyes begin to open and his hair starts to grow back. Our God is the God of a second chance. He will forgive you but the cost of low living is high.

It is a tragedy that Samson killed more Philistines in that one moment than he had during the rest of his life. The Philistines are laughing at Samson and praising their gods. When you think of what Samson should have been and could have been. Much of his life was wood, hay and stubble rather than gold, silver and precious stones. It is not impossible to make a fresh start as our God is a merciful God.

Categories: Judges