Judges 13-14: Samson - Anointed, yet foolish
The book of Judges is that the people of Israel were untamed. You could say that this was Israel’s version of the wild-west. While they had glimmers of hope, it was only by God’s grace that they would be rescued from their enemies. Throughout the book, we see many unique individuals that were called by God to do important work. They had plenty of faults, and they all came from different backgrounds, but God still chose them as vessels of his deliverance. Now, we enter into the story of perhaps one of the most notable figures throughout all of human history: Samson. In Samson’s story, we see God’s grace continually working through a knucklehead - which should be relatable and encouraging to all of us. This true story of a macho, unstable, womanizing, angry, infantile, violent, and proud man is the OG version of a wild-west tale.
Before we talk about how big of a mess Samson’s life was, I think it is important that we ground ourselves in who the real hero in history is. The book of Judges consistently points us to the reality of sin and our need for a real Savior that can make genuine, lasting peace. Judges points us to the ultimate Judge: Jesus. Jesus is the one that all things were made for and through. This includes God’s people throughout history, even Samson.
Colossians 1:15-20
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Our lives are not about ourselves
This fact can save you a lot of heartache and turmoil. Your life is about Jesus. Take a sigh of relief, because you don’t have to determine your future or define your identity by yourself. You can let Jesus do it, because it’s his job. You can also rest assured that Jesus always does a good job. The purposes of God are the most wonderful things for us, even if they might be hard to understand or cope with at times. When we make our lives about ourselves, that’s when we run into a lot of serious problems. Samson, though called by God for great things, let his pride, anger, and lust wreck havoc on his life and there were consequences for those. He had a special anointing on his life, yet he preferred the pleasures of world. As a result, this anointing was taken from him and God handed him over to himself. The last thing that we should ever want is to be fulfilled by our own power. When we forget who and what our lives are about, it only ends poorly. So enough with the intro, let’s look at Samson’s story, starting with his parents’.
SAMSON’S PARENTS
Judges 13:1-7
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. 2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
Jesus is the Angel of the Lord
-I’ve addressed this in previous teachings, so I won’t here, but this angel of the Lord here is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. Later, Monoah says “We have seen God!”, and he wasn’t wrong. Jesus is truly directing this situation and calling Samson.
-Jephthah made a foolish vow in the previous story, and God demonstrated that only he is the one who should be making vows.
-God told her to dedicate her son to the Lord with no alcohol and long hair. It is interesting that God himself made this vow, and it wasn’t done voluntarily. Nazirite vows as described in Numbers 6 were for people that wanted to be “consecrated” for God’s service, but there was a voluntary element by the individual in that text. John the Baptist in the New Testament might have been dedicated as a Nazirite as well, as he met some of the descriptors of the Nazirite vow.
Judges 13:8-18
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” 9 God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!” 11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?” “I am,” he said. 12 So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?” 13 The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.” 15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.” 16 The angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.) 17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?” 18 He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.
Jesus himself does three things for this family in preparation for the coming hero of Israel, Samson. Take note of these actions of Jesus and relate them to what he has done in your life.
1. Jesus meets them
The parents desperately sought Jesus’ guidance for how to raise their son. And he answered their prayers by showing up.
2. Jesus directs them
He gives both parents the directions now of the Nazirite vow
3. Jesus redirects them
They wanted to do one thing for Jesus, but He told them what he actually wanted them to do. “I can’t eat with you, but instead, sacrifice that goat to the Lord.” Jesus hadn’t revealed his name yet - the “mystery” of God’s name was revealed in Christ and through the gospel message. There were progressions of the way that God revealed himself. Theologians call these “dispensations”.
How has Jesus done either of these three things in your own Christian journey?
Judges 13:19-25
19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord. 22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!” 23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.” 24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
God’s glory and power is shown, and begins to “stir”
Monoah’s response is understandable and similar to many in the Bible. When the power of God is truly experienced, it brings us to our knees. This often-forgot story in the Bible shows the Jesus’ heart and how he works in his relationship with us. He is kind and meets us where we are, and is also all-powerful and worthy our worship, fear, and adoration. Because of this encounter with God’s power, “The Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.” God’s hand is truly in all of this. Regardless of Samson’s future obedience, God has a plan for his life.
SAMSON’S BEGINNINGS
God is Sovereign
This is a deep concept: God simultaneously orchestrates human history, yet also gives people the freedom to do what they want. He is the king that gives orders and can intervene whenever he desires, yet he loves and promotes his people’s autonomy. God is the King, the Judge, and the Hero in Samson’s story, but he still desired Samson’s willing participation and obedience. Regardless of Samson’s choices, the King’s orders needed to be fulfilled. In God’s sovereign authority, Samson’s life would not be completely wasted.
To further grasp the concept of God’s authority, we need to understand the two differing agenda’s at play in Samson’s life.
-God had the agenda of killing Israel’s enemies to preserve them for Christ to come into the world and save people from eternal damnation.
-Samson had the agenda of hooking up, looking cool, and being the hometown hero.
Application: Who’s agenda are you sold out for? Are you maturing in the ways that the Lord is requiring of you?
Judges 14:1-4
Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” 3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
We’ve Got to Grow Up
-Right away, we see the dysfunction in this family and the immaturity in Samson. “Mommy, daddy, I want that!” In addition to the fact that he wants a woman like he wants a piece of chicken, he has an entitled attitude. Samson is a big infant.
-He rejects his parents wisdom and pursues the foreign woman anyway.
Judges 14:5-7
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
-God was with him and empowered him, even though he made a foolish decision! It also may have been a warning from the Lord.
Have you ever had a divine warning? Divine discipline?
Judges 14:8-14
8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9 He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass. 10 Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. 11 When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions. 12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13 If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” “Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.” 14 He replied, “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet. For three days they could not give the answer.
-Taking honey from the Lion’s carcass violated his Nazirite vow of not touching anything dead. He also made his parents complicit by lying to them about it. We’re starting to see the wheels come off at this point.
-So God’s guy Samson is set up to marry this Philistine woman, and they're getting ready for the wedding. 30 Philistine guys are making up the groom’s party to celebrate. His consecration for God’s purpose is being completely neglected, and instead he is submitting to the pagan culture.
-Now he poses a riddle, which according to scholars was a popular form of entertainment among people in middle-eastern cultures. He gets a friendly wager going, and the masculine immaturity is shining through Samson’s narrative. Notice these three markers of Samson’s spiritual and emotional immaturity:
Doesn’t listen to wisdom
Impulsive, lustful
Needless “flexing”, picking stupid fights
This immaturity leads to bloodshed.
Judges 14:15-20
15 On the fourth day, they 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 steal our property?” 16 Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.” “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” 17 She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people. 18 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?” Samson said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.” 19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.
So Samson’s got a weak spot for ladies. He obviously prefers their physical attributes over their spiritual attributes, and look how devastating the results are for everyone. Let this be a warning to us to prioritize the deeper integral parts of people rather than their appearance. God chose David because of his heart (even though he was good-looking too), because that is what he has always been more concerned about. People look at appearances, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). We should strive to be the same.
Desiring the enemy’s pleasures will always have consequences.
-If we don’t take a hold of our destructive thoughts and behaviors, they will guide our lives and they will lead us on a path of destruction. All of the chaos in this story began with his lust and lack of self-control. This led him to compromise and a spiral of more foolish decisions — and spoiler — the same issue would end up destroying him.
-Yes God used him in spite of his weaknesses, but we must not take advantage of God’s grace as an excuse to live in sin. As we see from Samson’s life, there are consequences to living in spiritual immaturity.
-It is a tragedy when people of God that have the anointing of the Spirit, willfully choose the path of destruction. We are called to mature in our faith, not just stay babies our whole lives.
God is the real hero at the end of the day in this story and in ours. God’s agenda will always win out in the end. Samson’s agenda of obtaining a foreign, good-looking wife didn’t win out anyways. He wound up only creating a lot of drama and destruction. That’s the thing about sinning when you’re anointed by God: you can’t enjoy it anyways. Let’s do what we can within our own lives to adapt to His agenda and start erasing ours.
