Samson’s Ransom

2002 Pastor Tony Cirigliano

       Years ago there was a Christian group known as the Power Team. The average weight of these muscle bound men was about 260 pounds of solid muscle. They preached the gospel, and their great feats of strength would fill auditoriums with young people they told about Jesus! They would break chains with their hands! They would crush huge blocks of ice and rip telephone books in half! They would even burst a hot water pouch by blowing it up with air from their lungs! They got the peoples attention. I’d have your attention too if I grabbed a huge telephone book and ripped it in half! The power team could do push-ups with 400 pounds of cinderblocks on their backs! I maybe could rip the church directory in half and do some pushups with maybe little Hanna Profitt or one of the other children standing on my back!

       Today we are going to hear the story of the strongest man who ever lived!

 

He could probably take on the whole power team and defeat them. In fact he defeated an army single-handedly!

 

It’s a fascinating story of a man who was called by God for a special mission even before he was born!

 

It’s a story about human failure and God’s superhuman love and mercy!

 

We might find that there’s a little bit of this man – Samson in all of us!

 

The story takes place about 1100 years before Jesus was born.

 

The people of God were oppressed by their enemies – the Philistines.

 

At this time a married couple from the tribe of Dan receives a visit from a celestial being.

 

Turn with me to Judges 13:2-5:

 

Judges 13
²   And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
³   And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
⁴   Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
⁵   For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

 

What a remarkable event, and a remarkable message to mortals!

 

This couple was to bear a very special son!

 

These parents were given pre-natal instructions regarding their child.

 

The parents were to watch what they ate from the moment the child was conceived!

 

The world did not really know about pre-natal dietary influences on babies till recent times, but the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy knew about long ago!

 

I want you to also notice something – God recognizes children while they are still in their mo9thers womb – and he even names them!

 

Isaiah

49:¹   Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

In Jeremiah 1:5, it says this:

 

Jeremiah

1:⁵   Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

 

The Lord knows children from the womb! He names them before they are fully formed!

 

Some say abortion is okay because the child is not a person yet because he or she isn’t born!

 

You can go to jail for breaking the egg of an endangered species of bird, but you can murder children in the womb and get away with it – in this world anyway!

 

Someone will have to answer to God for the millions of His children that are aborted – murdered in what should be the safest place of all – their mother’s womb!

 

The marvelous child in our story today had the potential for a great future.

 

Judges 13

²⁴   And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.
²⁵   And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

 

Here begins the strange saga of the man Samson – undoubtedly the strongest man who ever lived.

It’s a story about a boy with great beginnings – yet who messed up his life as he grew into a man, and it’s the story of a man whom God was merciful to!

 

Where did Samson’s failing begin?

 

We are told this in the book Patriarchs and Prophets, on page 562: “Had Samson obeyed the divine commands as faithfully as his parents had done . . . His would have been a nobler and happier destiny. But association with idolaters corrupted him.”

 

Samson’s friends corrupted him!

 

Here’s a lesson for parents and young people!

 

Friends who do not know the LORD can corrupt you!

 

This includes what you see on TV or on video!

 

Spending time with things or friends that don’t know the Lord can be very dangerous!

 

It was for Samson as he began to hang out with the wrong crowd in his home town!

 

Let’s follow his story in chapter 14 of Judges.

 

¹   And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
²   And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, “I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.”
³   Then his father and his mother said unto him, ‘Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?’ And Samson said unto his father, ‘Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.’

 

Samson spent time with unbelievers – with the people who were enemies to Yahweh – the God of heaven!

 

And he became attracted to a non-believer.

 

This must have been his habit – dating outside his faith because his father said, “Is there never a girl from your own people.”

 

The Israelites were told by God not to intermarry with unbelievers because it would lead them away from Him, and from truth!

 

God’s advice is still good today brothers and sisters!

 

But just like Samson ignored God’s Word, and instead did what he wanted, so many do the same today!

 

Samson said, “She pleases me well.”

 

He did what many do today! He made his feelings Lord!

 

The satanic Bible’s number 1 commandment is “Do as thou wilt!” Do what you like!

 

God wants us to live by principle – not by feelings and emotions – the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked the Bible says!

 

The flesh and emotions are Satan’s hunting ground! Those who live by the principles of God’s Word he can’t touch – and living by the Word is how we will resist and defeat the devil!

 

On his way down to Timnath for his wedding, Samson was attacked by a lion.

 

He tore the lion apart with his bare hands! I doubt any of the Power team would be able to do that!

 

As long as Yahweh the Lord was with him, Samson was invincible!

 

On one occasion, he killed 1,000 Philistine soldiers with the jawbone of a donkey!

 

On his way back from Timnath, Samson saw that bees had made a hive inside the carcass of the lion he had killed.

 

He took some of the honey and ate it, and he brought some home to his parents.

 

After his father went down to Timnath to make arrangements for his wedding, Samson held a feast for his friends.

 

At the feast, Samson tells them a riddle about the honey in the Lion’s carcass.

Judges 14:14

14    And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

 

Samson’s friends were angry that they could not solve the riddle.

 

No doubt Samson insulted their intelligence and gloated over them.

 

His friends then threatened Samson’s fiancé’s life.

 

She then pleads with Samson to tell her the riddle.

 

He told her, and she in turn told her countrymen the answer.

 

They then came to Samson with the answer to the riddle.

 

And Samson, with a sense of humor it seems says this to them as recorded in Genesis 14:18:

 

18    And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, what is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? and he said unto them, 'If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.'

 

And in Samson’s response to this, we see a second defect in Samson’s character.

 

Besides disobeying God’s counsel and instructions, he failed to subdue his passions!

 

Samson was used to doing what he wanted!

 

He became angry with his wife, he abandoned her, and later he wanted her back!

 

Not because he loved her, but because he wanted to fulfill his desires!

 

But some time had passed, and his fiancé or wife had married another.

 

And because he could not have her back, he became angry.

 

The Bible says he caught 300 foxes – which must have taken some time – so he held a grudge and nurtured a grudge and bitterness.

 

Then he tied their tails together and set their tails on fire and let them loose among the standing grain of the Philistines – destroying their crop!

 

Thos who act on their passions – instead of principle do not consider others that are hurt by their actions!

 

Look with me at chapter 16, verse 6 of Judges:

 

6        Then the Philistines said, ‘Who hath done this?’ And they answered, ‘Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion.’ And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

 

Because of his actions, Samson’s wife and her father were burned to death!

 

How terrible when we let our feelings and emotions control us instead of the principles of God’s Word!

 

In Patriarchs and Prophets, on pages 567-568, the inspired pen tells us this:

“Physically, Samson was the strongest man upon the earth; but in self-control, integrity, and firmness, he was one of the weakest of men. Many mistake strong passions for a strong character, but the truth is that he who is mastered by his passions is a weak man. The real greatness of the man is measured by the power of the feelings that he controls, not by those that control him.”

For 20 years Samson judged Israel in this manner.

But as is the case with all who stray from God’s Word and act on their feelings instead of what God says, Samson was heading for a terrible fall!

One cherished sin can nullify the effects of the gospel!

Samson compromised principle over and over again until he went too far!

Judges 16:1 “Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her.”

Samson now embraced sin!

He was to be a Nazarite dedicated to God! He was to be holy!

Oh the bewitching power of sin!

Many a good man and woman have been led astray from God by the flesh!

Today pornography is pumped into the people’s homes via the internet – TV, videos –

I had to put a filter on my e-mail because I started getting these pop up ads in my e-mail!

You close one – five others pop up!

Satan’s temptations will pop up in your life!

You know, I believe the Lord’s servant was aware of a day when temptation would come like flaming handbills - ads! - that's what handbills are!

Listen to these words about how we can live above the low and the crude!

God will have a people zealous of good works, standing firm amid the pollutions of this degenerate age. There will be a people who hold so fast to the divine strength that they will be proof against every temptation. Evil communications in flaming handbills may seek to speak to their senses and corrupt their minds; yet they will be so united to God and angels that they will be as those who see not and hear not. They have a work to do which no one can do for them, which is to fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life. . . . – God’s Amazing Grace, page 36

We have a work to do! We are to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of eternal life!

 If you love God and live by principle, inspiration says you can live above the flaming handbills that the devil pops up at us!

I want to be like that – what do you say?

How sad that Christians called to be holy – to be dedicated to God dally with the devils adulterous plans!

Let me warn you that the devil has bewitching power of sin that can be resisted only by God’s Spirit working through His Word and in cooperation with our will!

Samson got in the habit of ignoring his conscience! Inspiration tells us that “while in the harlot’s house, the accusing voice of conscience filled him with remorse.” PP, p. 565.

He should have listened to his conscience! He should have lived by principle and not by the flesh!

Look with me at Judges 16, verse 4: “And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.”

Here we see another of Samson’s failures.

As a Nazarite, Samson was under obligation to never drink wine nor strong drink.

The Vale of Sorek was known for its fine wineries in Samson’s day – he had no business being there, but Samson did what he wanted!

In Patriarchs & Prophets, on page 565, we are told this: “The vale of Sorek was celebrated for its vineyards; these also had a temptation for the wavering Nazarite, who had already indulged in the use of wine, thus breaking another tie that bound him to purity and to God. The Philistines kept a vigilant watch over the movements of their enemy, and when he degraded himself by this new attachment, they determined, through Delilah, to accomplish his ruin.”

Samson was now approaching the point of no return!

In the Vale of Sorek, Samson becomes infatuated with a woman named Delilah (“one who consumes”)

The Philistines found out about Samson’s infatuation with Delilah and approached her offering her 1100 pieces of silver if she could find out the source of Samson’s great strength.

So Delilah begins to question Samson about his strength.

And Samson plays games with her telling her that if he is tied with seven bow strings, he will lose his strength. – She called in the Philistines, and he broke the strings.

Then he told her that is she used seven new cords – then weave seven locks of his hair!

Each time Delilah called in the Philistines, and Samson routed them!

Was this guy kind of dense upstairs?

Sin does that to you! You don’t think clearly when you stay away from God’s Word!

Samson also made the fatal mistake of presuming that the Lord would always bless him, and be with him!

Because God is long suffering, sinners take liberties with sin!

Let’s pick up the story in chapter 16, verses 16 & 17 of Judges.

“And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; ¹⁷   That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

She nagged Samson every day until his soul was vexed?

Do any of you husbands have wives that vex your soul?

Or is it the other way around?

Sometimes we can vex each other!

By the way, yesterday Mary Ann and I celebrated our 32^nd wedding anniversary!

We have been vexing each other for 32 years!

But true love makes up for the vexing! What do you say?

Back to Samson – I imagine he was very sad when he told Delilah; I have been a Nazarite from my youth.

My strength comes from the Lord. If I be shaven, I will be like any other man.

Delilah might have said, “You, a Nazarite? Ha!”

Maybe he was ashamed to say. Perhaps today there are many who, if they knew, some Adventist Christians might say, “You, and Adventist? Ha!”

It’s time God’s people live their convictions – all of us – what do you say?

Let us never shame the Lord!

Ellen White, in Patriarchs & Prophets, page 566, wrote these words that help us to understand that Samson’s strength was no in his hair per say.

 

“Little by little he had violated the conditions of his sacred calling. God had borne long with him; but when he had so yielded himself to the power of sin as to betray his secret, the Lord departed from him. There was no virtue in his long hair merely, but it was a token of his loyalty to God; and when the symbol was sacrificed in the indulgence of passion, the blessings of which it was a token were also forfeited.”

 

Samson had crossed the line – that invisible line of sin – the line Sodom and Gomorrah crossed I the line that those who lived before the flood crossed – the line that Ananias and Sapphira crossed – the line that Saul crossed – the line that Nadab and Abihu crossed!

 

That step too far past God’s forbearance!

 

This is a line that all who dallies too long with sin will cross one day!

 

There is a time when the Lord says as He did with Ephraim in Hosea 4, verse 17.

 

He said, “Ephraim is joined to his idols, leave him alone.”

 

Samson had crossed that line.

 

Delilah the consumer then called in the Philistines to collect her 100 pieces of silver because she knew that Samson had told her the truth.

 

Then while Samson slept in her arms, probably drunk, she had Samson’s hair cut off.

 

He was betrayed by someone he loved for 1100 pieces of silver.

 

1100 years later, Someone far greater than Samson was betrayed by someone He loved for only 30 pieces of silver!

 

While Samson slept, Delilah begins to inflict pain on Samson.

 

Sin will do that to you if you dally with it!

 

Look with me at Judges 16, verse 20: “And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.”

 

Notice that the Bible says that Samson wist not – knew not that the Lord had left him!

 

Samson had played games once too often with sin!

 

The Lord had left him – Samson is joined to his idols, leave him alone!

 

Samson said to himself, “I’ll shake myself, and I’ll do like before – like I always have done.”

 

But it was not to be!

 

Samson didn’t know that he crossed that invisible line when the Lord said “Enough is enough!”

 

The Philistines then rushed in, and they overcame Samson easily. His own strength was no match for the enemy!

 

Just like us! We can defeat the devil only in the strength we get from a connection with the Lord – not in our feeble strength!

 

What do you say?

 

And the Bible says that the first thing they did to Samson was to gouge his eyes – to take away his sight!

 

The Bible says, “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

 

Samson was blinded by sin!

 

Then they took Samson and put him in chains of bronze, and they took him to Gaza to be a laughing stock!

 

There was once a blacksmith who boasted that he could make a chain that no one could ever escape from.

 

He one day fell in disfavor with the king and was chained up in a dungeon.

 

He knew that every chain had a weak link.

 

He held the chain up to the moonlight and examined it link by link.

 

He was horrified to see his initials on the chain!

 

Samson was held by the chain that his sins had forged – like the proverbial chain Jacob Marley carried with him.

 

Look with me at verse 21 of chapter 16: “But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.”

 

Notice that the Philistines made Samson go round and round grinding grain – getting nowhere!

 

Sin will blind you – bind you, and grind you down – and you’ll get nowhere fast!

 

What a lesson here for us!

 

Yet friends, this story doesn’t end that way!

 

Samson had a merciful God who loved him!

 

Yahweh – our heavenly Father was willing to overlook Samson’s failures and give him another chance at eternity!

Our heavenly Father is grieved by our sins, and yet he is ready to forgive if we but ask Him in sincerity!

 

It came to pass that a great feast was held in honor of the Pagan God Dagon whom the Philistines worshipped.

 

Look with me at Judges 16:23-25: “Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, 'Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.'
²⁴   And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, 'Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
²⁵   And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.”

 

What a shame and a travesty! He who was called from the womb to be a man of God – who could have been a great example of virtue for all mankind was no a blind circus clown for those that mocked the true God!

 

Think of what shame Samson brought upon himself, and upon his heavenly Father!

 

The devil loves to lead servants of God into sin so that he can taunt Jesus with their failures!

 

I have seen many powerful ministries consumed by sin! It’s always so sad!

 

But unbelievable as it may seem, this same Samson was listed by the apostle Paul in Hebrews chapter 11 when he names the champions of faith!

 

Turn with me to Hebrews 11:32-34: “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: ³³   Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. ³⁴   Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

 

Samson named with the champions of faith? How could that be?

 

Let me read you something from Patriarchs & Prophets, page 566: “In suffering and humiliation, a sport for the Philistines, Samson learned more of his own weakness than he had ever known before; and his afflictions led him to repentance.”

 

Samson repented! And we have a loving God who gave His only begotten so that we could be forgiven!

 

While blind and in chains, and while he had failed his Lord and was being mocked – when all seemed lost Samson repented and asked God for forgiveness and strength!

And God heard his prayer!

 

Turn with me to Judges 16, verses 28-30.

“And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
²⁹   And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
³⁰   And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.”

 

Samson was forgiven! And with forgiveness always come strength!

 

What God had called Samson to do in the first place when he gave him his strength – he did at the end of his life – The leaders of the Philistines were all there – the intelligentsia of the enemy was destroyed, and they were never the same again!

 

God listened to the prayer of Samson, and He will hear your prayer too!

 

If anyone here has blown it, has made all the wrong choices, and is in need of help form Jesus – it’s available!

 

All we have to do is cry out in repentance as Samson did!

 

Samson found mercy! Samson was forgiven by the grave of the Messiah who was to come to be a ransom for all!

 

Jesus was Samson’s ransom, and He’s your ransom too!

 

Jesus said these words recorded in Luke 4, verse 18: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

 

Jesus came to give back sight!

 

He came to heal the broken-hearted!

 

He came to set the captives free!

 

He’s here right now!

 

Stand as we sing Amazing Grace – Come up for special prayer if you feel impressed!