We have seen or heard of extraordinary strength that suddenly rises within ordinary people at specific times when their loved ones are pinned under the weight of a vehicle,  heavy tree branches, or in other forms of dangerous situations that trap them.  Ordinary people will rush to give aid without thinking of their abilities.  An adrenaline rush overwhelms us with strength beyond us to help in the rescue. Let us not forget who put this within us.  That rush of strength is part of our DNA, given to us by our Creator who made us in His image. 

The Philistines ruled over Israel. The Israelites cried to God to save them. God provided a leader called Samson.  We learn that it is God who always provides strength to do his will. In Samson’s case, God supplied extraordinary physical power!

Today we read about one of many incidents of Samson’s use of his God-given strength.  Coupled with a rush of adrenaline Samson kills a lion with his bare hands!  Samson will perform other feats of strength beyond what most humans of that day could accomplish—as God’s Spirit leads him.  God gave Samson all he needs to be a new leader who would rescue His Chosen from the powerfully oppressive Philistines. 

This is yet another story of God who rescued His people using an unlikely, ordinary person to do extraordinary feats. Samson is not perfect but with God becomes the perfect person for what God wants to do in and through him.  There is no one like our God!

Judges 14

Samson’s Marriage

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.)

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.

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.

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.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Samson also loves to tell riddles as a way to assess the wisdom of others in his strategy to seek truth.  Only by trickery, using the woman he loves, can the Philistines solve the riddle.  Truth of betrayal is discovered so he gives the woman to one of his friends.  How sad, as we read this story.  We can all remember times when we, too have been betrayed by someone we thought we could trust, right?!

But let’s go back to the beginning of this passage.  The Lord had given Samson a godly heritage, and he had been raised to honor the Lord, but when Samson fell in love, he wouldn’t listen to his parents’ warning. Samson had wandered four miles into enemy territory where he was captivated by a Philistine woman and decided to marry her. This, of course, was contrary to God’s law. We can often trace the beginning of sins in our lives to a decision we made to be somewhere we should not have been.

However, God uses Samson’s lack of wisdom in this case for His purposes to free His people once more from turning from Him to live under the bondage of a foreign nation—The Philistines. God is good—perfect even—AND He uses existing evil in the world for His purposes without being contaminated by it.  What a mighty God we have!

Samson’s character:  Since the guests had played dirty, technically Samson could have refused to pay the price, but he generously agreed to keep his promise.

Samson’s weaknesses: cute chicks.  First the Philistine woman enticed him, then she controlled him, and then she betrayed him, which is the way the world always treats the compromising believer. Samson could kill lions and break ropes, but he couldn’t overcome the power of a woman’s tears. 

Secondly, the passion to get even seemed to govern Samson’s life. His motto was, “I only did to them what they did to me” which will lead to his downfall.  The passion of hate builds when we are betrayed by those we love the most.  Hate breeds the sin of revenge, a sin we must seek God’s help and His power to avoid.

If we’re looking by faith into the face of the Lord, He can guide us with his eye, the way parents guide their children. But if we turn our backs on Him, He has to treat us like animals and harness us. Samson was either impetuously rushing ahead like the horse at the start of a race or stubbornly holding back like a stubborn mule.  God had to deal with Samson with His wisdom…as He did many other leaders who followed after Samson!  David, “the apple of God’s eyes,” for example, also struggled in doing the total will of God writes of God’s wisdom to all of us;

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” Psalm 32:8-9

Instruction from God is a daily discipline on our part as we seek His good, pleasing and perfect will.  Paul writes how to do this;

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2—Read all of Romans 12 to get the full picture!

Lord,

I give all of me to be filled with all of you.  Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul, and restore the eternal joy of you in me and me in you.  Thank you for being with us always. Thank you for saving us; then equipping us for service to you and others in ways that demonstrate your love for us. Thank you for helping us by the inexplicable power of your Holy Spirit. To you be the glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen

But wait, there’s more…see you tomorrow!