Samson: Strength, Struggle, and Spiritual Consecration

"And there, we find the book of Judges declaring, in verse 1, 'And the people of Israel again' -- and that certainly is the case. It's 'again.' This is the fourth, or fifth, or sixth time this is said in the book of Judges -- 'And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.'" [00:36:12]

"And, at Judges chapter 10 at verse 6, we read: 'The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord' (or 'in the eyes of the Lord') 'and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.'" [02:30:48]

"So here's the description of what was at the heart of the evil that Israel did in the eyes of the Lord. They went after false gods. And, if you turn back, for example, to Deuteronomy chapter 4 -- a grievously neglected book in the Old Testament; I think Deuteronomy is the third most quoted book in the New Testament; Jesus knew Deuteronomy backwards and forwards -- if you look in Deuteronomy chapter 4, Moses is pressing the claims of the covenant on the people of Israel, and he's making the point that the single most important point of the covenant, which is the sign of fidelity and everything else, is whether you're an idolater or not." [03:09:89]

"And this is why the Lord says here that He 'crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel.' So they're sent into an oppression by the enemies for this sin for 18 years. Well, now, we turn back -- And that's sort of the context in which to read 'they again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord' -- it must be that, again, they had become idolatrous -- and we know that this story will end in the temple of Dagon, right?" [06:24:19]

"Well, the solution has to be that God will raise up a judge again. And God has been doing that. But the judges have become progressively weaker. And the judges themselves have become progressively more sinful. And the fruitfulness of their deliverance has become shorter term. And so, we can almost anticipate what's going to happen with this next judge who's about to come." [08:29:39]

"And then, as so often happens in the Bible, in our worst moments, in our worst moments, the Lord intervenes, the Lord acts, the Lord surprises us. And that's what we have in verse 3: 'And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman.' Now, you know the Hebrew word for 'angel' -- 'angel' is actually a Greek word -- and both the Hebrew word and the Greek word mean the 'messenger' of the Lord. Angels are always messengers of the Lord. They bear a word from the Lord." [16:48:80]

"And so this has to have been news of great joy to this mother, and along with a, with, with a huge surprise. And then comes further words to the mother that are tremendously important for our whole consideration of this story, and why I think the Bible gives so much attention to the parents before Samson comes on the scene. The angel says: 'Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.'" [19:42:75]

"And, in Numbers 6, we're told that some in Israel will be called to a special consecration, will be called to a special separation from the world and its practices; not because drinking or cutting hair is wrong in and of itself, but they will mark their, we might say 'radical' dedication to the Lord, their hyper-consecration to the Lord, by giving up things that would be alright in other people. And it'll be a mark of how completely their lives are set aside to the Lord." [21:53:08]

"And this is crucial, I think, as we conclude this look for the need of Samson. What, what does Israel need in Samson? It needs him to be separate. It needs him to be consecrated. It needs him to be holy. That's one of the meanings of 'holy' -- 'set apart.' We think of Samson as strong. God wanted us to think about Samson as separated. And the tragedy of the story of Samson is his failure to be separated." [24:29:10]

"Women are important in the life of Samson, more important, maybe, than they ought to be. But each of these four acts revolves around a woman. Act 1 is about his mother -- a pious woman, we'll see. Act 2 is about his Philistine wife. Act 3 is about a Philistine prostitute. And Act 4 revolves around Delilah. So women are very important in the life of Samson, and part of what's being said, as is being said in the whole book of Judges: women are very important in the history of redemption, for good, as is the case with his mother, or for evil, as is the case particularly with Delilah, but with the other two Philistine women as, as well." [12:42:26]

"And so, here, clearly, the, the parents of Samson are being presented to us as participating in the kind of judgment and chastisement of the Lord upon His people. And, and you get a sense, I think, that they are very fatalistic about this. They, the, they're resigned. They've given up. Samson's mother, it seems to me, stands in marked contrast with Hannah. You know, when Hannah was not able to have children, what do, what do we read? She pled with the Lord. She prayed. She begged the Lord. She offered vows before the Lord." [15:20:90]

"And, and so we are introduced to a family in Israel that expresses the character of Israel in these days as pretty hopeless, pretty cast down, pretty despondent. And then, as so often happens in the Bible, in our worst moments, in our worst moments, the Lord intervenes, the Lord acts, the Lord surprises us. And that's what we have in verse 3: 'And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman.'" [16:39:70]