MORE ABOUT SAMSON AND FAITH
Tuesday – June 12, 2018, Sivan 29, 5778
Greetings and welcome back to this powerful study of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and without faith powered by love we can do nothing of eternal consequence concerning the Kingdom of God. Those of you receiving this teaching on Facebook I would encourage you to sign up for it to come in your email as well. Just click on the link to WordPress and you will see a box on the right side near the top to enter your email address. That makes the daily delivery of this teaching more certain due to the changing algorithms of social media. Now let’s get back to our primary text by reading it aloud.
Hebrews 11:32-34 (KJV)
32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, 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.
As I discussed yesterday these people of old who did mighty things for God were in many cases very flawed. Samson is certainly not an exception to that observation. We all must be pushing forward every day, guided by the Holy Spirit to be more and more like Christ. And, yes, that is attainable otherwise Jesus was lying when He said we were to do what He did and even greater thing. Also, right from the creation we know we are in the image and likeness of God, we are of like kind, we are to be an exact reflection of our Heaven Father just as was Christ Jesus. Now, let’s take a look back at Samson and our secondary text.
Judges 13:1-5 (KJV)
1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
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.
When we chose evil, the LORD has no choice but to allow us to be taken into bondage by our demonic enemies. We open the door to evil and the enemy floods our life. Most if not all of us know all too well that he comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. We make the choices for our lives, we are and were created as freewill creatures. God never plans evil for any person! The only plans that God has for us are wonderful! Will we believe, declare the desired result, and receive? The desired result is the will of God, the terms of this Blood Covenant. Again, in this account of Samson the Israelis chose evil and once again they are in a mess. Have you ever noticed how many of these families of faith the woman is barren? Abraham’s wife Sarah, Isaac’s wife Rebekah, and Jacob’s wife Rachel, Hannah (Samuel’s mother) and here Manoah’s woman (wife). In every case God opened the womb and, in every case, it was to accomplish great things for His people, for all peoples, and for the Kingdom of God.
Notice in verse four the admonishment that this child, Samson, was to eat nothing which was unclean. In Judges chapter fourteen Samson kills a lion and later finds a honeycomb in the dead carcass, an unclean thing, making him unclean. Further he dishonors his father and his mother by giving them the unclean honey. To be unclean is to be out of right standing with God, open to the devil. From this point on Samson’s life goes from bad to worse. He loses his wife, goes from harlot to harlot finally ending up with a woman named Delilah. Before we speak about Delilah Samson initially dishonored his parents and was unequally yoked when he, a Jew, married a Philistine woman.
As we proceed to the fifth verse we find that this child, Samson, will be a Nazarite and the central issue is that his hair is never to be cut. The hair a covering, is never to be removed, it is representative of the Anointing, if the hair is removed the Anointing is removed. In addition, unlike other Judges, he will only “begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines”. If you have been following this along in the Bible you will see that these Philistines live in Garza, same place as modern-day Garza and the home of the modern-day terrorists, Hamas. As our story proceeds Samson ends up with Delilah however the Philistines bribe her to find out the secret of his strength. You know the account, he tells her the secret to his strength is his hair, she cuts it and sure enough he is as other men. They take him captive, gouge out his eyes, and make him a slave. We are not to be like other men, we are to be superior to other men like Daniel and like Samson in this account. All of this was put in motion by not honoring his father and mother repeatedly starting in chapter fourteen.
In the end Samson redeems himself to some extent. His hair regrew as did his beard in captivity and he knew that his strength was regained. Let’s review his end in Scripture.
Judges 16:22-23 (KJV)
22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
23 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.
Judges 16:26-31 (KJV)
26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.
27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
28 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.
31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.
From verse thirty-one above it would appear that Samson’s father and mother are dead. His dishonoring them and partaking of the unclean thing not only brought deception and destruction into his life, but into his parents lives as well, and delayed the deliverance of Israel. Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
2 Peter 1:2-4 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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