Samson pt.1: The Judge who was Betrayed Riddle – Who is this famous person in the Bible? • Who’s birth was announced by a divine messenger? • Who’s mother had a miraculous conception? • Who’s purpose was to be born to “save”? • Who was a holy Nazirite? • Who spoke in parables? • Who was endowed with the Spirit with incredible strength? • Who was handed over to the enemy by their leaders to be mocked and scorned and to suffer at their hands? • Who accomplished their greatest victory in their death? Barry Webb, “The correspondences [between Samson’s career and Christ] are too numerous...to be simply brushed aside as fanciful. The fact is that when the story is read in the context of the Bible as a whole, we discover even here… intimations of things to come.” Samson is a forerunner of a better King to come (King David) and a final Savior and Judge to come (Jesus). Samson is the final judge in Judges (20% of Judges). Israel did evil again. God raised up Samson but,something is different this time in the usual Judge cycle: • Israel seems to accept their oppressors/oppression – for 40 years. • Israel did not out cry out to God for help. • Israel never repented of sin. • Israel never fought against her enemies. • Only one in Israel fought. Only one cried out to the Lord, and that was Samson. • At the end of Judges Israel self-destructs – one relationship at a time. • Samson judges Israel in the midst of many personal betrayals. Betrayed by his . Judges 13:24 (NLT), “When her son was born, she named him Samson. And the Lord blessed him as he grew up. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he lived in Mahaneh-dan, which is located between the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol. 14:1 One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. 2 When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.” 3 His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?” • Who was Samson’s tribe? Dan. • Notice, the Spirit stirred him when he lived in, Mahaneh-dan (the camping place of Dan). Samson is stirred, because the tribe of Dan is camping/leaving. They failed to take possession of their tribal territory in the Promised land, so they were leaving town. Who would want to marry into that? • The Philistines are newcomers in the land, and not on the list of those forbidden to marry. The key verse is Judges 14:4 (NLT), “His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.” • Because of this verse we can take a more positive view of Samson, knowing God is at work! Betrayed by his . Judges 14:12 (NLT), “Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. 13 But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing…” 14 So he said: “Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.”...15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?” 16 So Samson’s wife came to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.” • Samson’s riddle with his groomsman, put his new bride to be in danger. • What is the riddle? • The riddle is about the lion Samson killed with his bare hands. The lion is the eater. Something sweet is the honey Samson ate from the carcass of the lion months later. • What it wrong for Samson to eat honey from a dead lion? Samson was a Nazarite and he was not to touch a dead body – but, this refers to a dead person, not to an animal you kill. • In the riddle, the LORD was again at work, giving Samson an opportunity to strike the Philistines down. Betrayed by his . Judges 14:18 (NLT), “So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!” 19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. 20 So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding. • The Spirit of the Lord is strengthening Samson to do this. He is not just settling a score; it is the occasion for the LORD to bring divine judgement on the people who have ben oppressing Israel for 40 years. • The Spirit of God fills Samson 4 times (more than any of the Judges). This is holy war starting here. • Samson knows the men threatened his wife – you plowed with my heifer – is not an insult to his bride, but the cause for judgment on them. • Samson goes home, but in Judges 15, Samson tries to get back with his wife. They haven’t had a honeymoon. He still loves her, even though she betrayed him. • That’s when he finds out his father-in-law gave Samson’s wife to another man – his best man – a double betrayal. FIRE! Samson burns down the Philistine wheat fields and vineyards with foxes and fire. The fire is an attack on the Philistine homeland, their economy, their false god, Dagon, the god of grain. • And in return, the Philistines fight fire with more fire – taking Samson’s father-in-law and former wife and burning them to death. • After the fires, Samson hides in a cave in Judah, just south of Jerusalem, where he should find sanctuary. Betrayed by . Judges 15:11 (NLT), So 3,000 men of Judah went down to get Samson at the cave in the rock of Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you realize the Philistines rule over us? What are you doing to us?” But Samson replied, “I only did to them what they did to me.” 12 But the men of Judah told him, “We have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines…” 14… But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax… 15 Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it. • Remember, Judah is the strongest tribe, the most victorious, the first to enter the Promised land/fight. • But, Judah betrays Samson. Judah won’t fight the Philistines. • V11 – is the saddest verse in Judges so far. “Don’t you realize the Philistines rule over us? What are you doing to us?” • Judah settles to be ruled by the Philistines. • Like the Stockholm Syndrome, they have pity on their oppressors. Samson is the problem, so they arrest Samson. Shocking! Judah will not save their savior (sound familiar?) • The Spirit of the Lord fills Samson with strength, he defeats 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. • NOTICE: Judah’s 3,000 men have gone home, leaving Samson to fight alone for Judah’s homeland. • The jawbone is mentioned so many times to emphasize again that the instrument of war doesn’t matter, it is the Spirit of the Lord that wins the battle. CONCLUSION: Judges 15:18 (NLT), Samson was now very thirsty, and he cried out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory by the strength of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagans?” 19 So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank. Then he named that place “The Spring of the One Who Cried Out,” and it is still in Lehi to this day. 20 Samson judged Israel for twenty years during the period when the Philistines dominated the land. • Finally, someone in Israel cries out to the Lord – and its Samson! • Samson acknowledges the Lord. He is God’s servant. He thanks God for the victory, but he is thirsty! • The Lord brings water from the rocks to revive Samson – just as He did for Moses! • Samson was indeed fulfilling his mission for the Lord. • Samson is the forerunner of a greater Savior to come, who was rejected by Judah and hung on the cross and cried out, “I am thirsty.” • Samson will live to fight another day… for 20 years he will be Israel’s judge. Why Judges is important reading for us today: So we will be equipped to live in our times. To understand that if there is no truth, and if everyone does what is right in their own eyes, then betrayal will become the norm. To ask not, what’s wrong with them? But to ask, what’s wrong with us! If the Judges would read about us, they would say, what’s wrong with you people! Who are we being dominated by? What are we being dominated by? How have we forgotton the Lord in our generation.