Samson
A Prophetic Sample Who
Could Have Done Far Better
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“On the fourth
day [of the wedding feast],
they [the Philistines] said to
Samson’s wife, ‘Coax your
husband into explaining the riddle
for us, or we will burn you and your
father’s household to death. Did
you invite us here to rob
us?’” (Judges 14:15,
insertion mine) The riddle had
innocently put Samson’s wife and
her family in a difficult situation.
The Bible says, “She cried
the whole seven days of the feast.
So on the seventh day he finally told
her [the answer to the riddle],
because she continued to press him.
She in turn explained the riddle to
her people.” (Judges 14:17,
insertion mine)
“Before sunset
on the seventh day the men of the
town said to him, ‘What is
sweeter than honey? What is stronger
than a lion?’ ‘If you had
not plowed with my heifer, you would
not have solved my riddle.’ Then
the Spirit of the Lord came upon him
in power. He went down to Ashkelon,
struck down thirty of their men,
stripped them of their belongings and
gave their clothes to those who had
explained the riddle. Burning with
anger, he went up to his
father’s house. And
Samson’s wife was given to the
friend [the beast man] who had
attended him at the wedding.” (Judges
14:18-20, insertion mine)
In case you missed it,
Samson’s wrath against the
Philistines is justified. In other
words, God used the deceit and
extortion of the Philistines to
engage Samson in the larger process
of setting Israel free form the
Philistines. “Later on, at
the time of the harvest, Samson took
a young goat [for the purpose of
reconciliation] and went to visit
his wife [in Timnah]. He said,
‘I’m going to my
wife’s room.’ But her
father would not let him go in.
“I was so sure you thoroughly
hated her,’ he said, ‘that
I gave her to your friend. Isn’t
her younger sister more attractive?
Take her instead.’ Samson said
to them, ‘This time I have a
right to get even with the
Philistines; I will really harm
them.’ So he went out and caught
three hundred foxes [an
extraordinary feat] and tied tail
to tail in pairs. He then
fastened a torch to every pair of
tails, lit the torches and let the
foxes loose in the standing grain of
the Philistines. He burned up the
shocks and standing grain, together
with the vineyards and olive groves.
When the Philistines asked, ‘Who
did this?’ they were told,
‘Samson, the Timnite’s
son-in-law, because his wife was
given to his friend.’ So the
Philistines went up and burned her
and her father to death. Samson said
to them, ‘Since you acted like
this, I won’t stop until I get
my revenge on you.’” (Judges
15:1-7) The love of Samson’s
life was murdered and his desire for
revenge was insatiable.
Samson’s personal
zeal for justice helps us understand
Christ’s zeal for righteousness.
Notice this parallel: ‘When
it was almost time for the Jewish
Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
In the temple courts he found men
selling cattle, sheep and doves, and
others sitting at tables exchanging
money. So he made a whip made out of
cords, and drove all from the temple
areas, both sheep and cattle; he
scattered the coins of the
moneychangers and overturned their
tables. To those who sold the doves
he said, ‘Get these out of here!
How dare you turn my Father’s
house into a market!’ His
disciples remembered that it is
written: ‘Zeal for your house [a
place where truth is taught,
righteousness is upheld, and prayer
is offered] will consume
me.’”
(John 2:13-17)
Downfall Begins
“One day
Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a
prostitute. He went in to spend the
night with her. The people of Gaza
were told, ‘Samson is
here!’ So they surrounded the
place and lay in wait for him all
night at the city gate. They made no
move during the night, saying,
‘At dawn we’ll kill
him.’ But Samson lay there only
till the middle of the night. Then he
got up and took hold of the doors of
the city gate, together with the two
posts, and tore them loose, bar and
all. He lifted them to his shoulders
and carried them to the top of the
hill that faces Hebron.” (Judges
16:1-3)
Evidently, when Samson
lost his wife, he also lost his moral
compass. Samson sought out a
prostitute (probably one of the any
instances) and this is how his
downfall began. “Some time
later, he fell in love with a [Philistine]
woman in the Valley of Sorek whose
name was Delilah. The rulers of the
Philistines went to her and said,
‘See if you can lure him into
showing you the secret of his great
strength and how we can overpower him
so we can tie him up and subdue him.
Each of us will give you eleven
hundred shekels [twenty eight
pounds] of silver.’” (Judges
16:4,5, insertions mine)
The Bible does not say
whether Delilah was a prostitute;
however, the Bible does indicate that
she did not love Samson and she
betrayed him for money. Delilah did
to Samson what Judas did to Jesus.
Delilah did not love Samson, but
Samson loved her. Judas did not love
Jesus, but Jesus loved him. Both
Samson and Jesus were betrayed for
the love of money. It is ironic that
Samson gave up his life to destroy as
many of his enemies as possible,
whereas Jesus gave up His life to
save as many of His enemies as
possible. ‘For if, when we
were God’s enemies, we were
reconciled to him through the death
of his Son, how much more, having
been reconciled, shall we be saved
through his life!”
(Romans 5:10
The story of Samson
has a sad end, but not a hopeless
end. He repented of his sins and the
Lord honored his repentance by
restoring strength to him. (This
proves that Samson was not naturally
strong.) Samson betrayed the Lord by
loving Delilah more than he loved the
Lord. Then, Delilah betrayed Samson
because she loved money more than she
loved Samson. After spending a few
cruel years in Philistine captivity,
The Lord enabled Samson to weaken the
authority of the Philistines over
Israel by killing many of them at a
religious feast. It is a divine irony
that the destruction caused by
Samson, and centuries later, the
Roman destruction of Jerusalem,
centered on the destruction of two
temples. Both temples served as the
religious center for both nations and
both religious centers were corrupt.
Samson’s final act enabled
Israel to escape the bondage of the
Philistines for a while.
Summary
The story of Samson is
a tragedy. God chose him before birth
to accomplish far more than he
succeeded in doing. Samson was
unusually gifted with Holy Spirit
power, but he did not use the gift as
God desired. He could have done so
much more, but sin defeated
the strongest man to ever live.
Samson did kill a few thousand
Philistines, but he could have been
another Moses. Even though
Samson’s life is not a perfect
mirror or prophetic sample of Christ
like Job, Isaac, Joseph, and Samuel,
we can rejoice over two facts: First,
Samson repented at the end of his
life and the empowerment of the Holy
Spirit shows that God forgave him.
Second, the story of Samson’s
incredible strength is a sterling
example of the strength that Christ
will give us to root out the
Philistines in our lives. If you are
dealing with an enemy that keeps you
in bondage, why not ask God for
strength!
Jesus said, “Ask
and it will be given to you; seek and
you will find; knock and the door
will be opened. Which of you, if his
son asks for bread, will give him a
stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will
give him a snake? If you, then,
though you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father in heaven give
good gifts to those who ask
him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)
Larry Wilson
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