Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. - 1 Chronicles 16:11
Good morning. Today we will continue our 3-part study of Samson - the 12th judge named in the book of Judges. In our message last Sunday, we read about how the Angel of the LORD appeared to Samson’s parents, Manoah and his wife, to tell them of his coming birth. We discovered that Samson was a miracle baby, conceived by and born of a mother who was previously barren. Finally, we found out that Samson was a special child, set apart as a Nazirite by God from the womb, who would someday begin to deliver his people from the Philistines.
The Bible doesn’t give us any information about Samson’s childhood. There is a gap of around 20 or more years between Samson’s birth at the end of chapter 13 and the events we’ll discuss today in chapters 14 and 15. Our focus this morning will be on the strained and contentious relationship between Samson and the Philistines and how it developed.
I. SHE LOOKS GOOD TO ME (Judges 14:1-11)
Samson, now a young man, traveled to Timnah in the land of the Philistines. While there, he saw and was strongly attracted to a beautiful woman. When he returned home, Samson asked his parents to arrange a marriage between him and this woman. His parents were disappointed that he had rejected the daughters of Israel and instead desired to marry an uncircumcised Philistine, yet Samson insisted. They did not realize that this was God’s plan.
So Samson and his parents went to Timnah together. Along the way, a young lion sprang out from the vineyards at Sampson. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him and he killed the lion with his bare hands. Apparently he was not with his parents when this occurred - they didn’t see it happen and he didn’t tell them about it. When they arrived and found the beautiful Philistine woman and her family, arrangements were made for Sampson and her to be married. Samson and his parents went home to wait.
When the betrothal was over, Sampson returned again to Timnah with his parents to get his new bride. He turned aside to see the carcass of the lion he’d killed earlier, and found a swarm of bees and honey were in its lifeless body. Samson scraped some honey out of it with his hands and ate. He even offered some to his father and mother, who also ate. However, once again they didn’t see the lion and Samson didn’t tell them where the honey had come from.
After arriving in Timnah, a customary wedding feast was thrown to celebrate the joyous marriage. However, the Philistines seemed somewhat unsettled by Samson. They sent 30 young men to befriend him, mingle with him, and keep an eye on him.
II. RIDDLE ME THIS (Judges 14:12-20)
Samson proposed a riddle to his 30 young Philistine companions. He stated that if they could solve the riddle before the end of the 7-day wedding feast, he’d give each of them a linen wrap and a change of clothes. If they couldn’t solve it by then, each of them would have to give Samson a linen wrap and a change of clothes. They accepted the challenge and Samson gave them the riddle, “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” What was it?
3 days passed by and the Philistine men couldn’t figure out the answer. So they threatened Samson’s beautiful young wife to entice him into telling her the answer - otherwise they’d kill her and burn down her father’s house. So she began weeping and telling Samson that he didn’t love her because he wouldn’t tell her the solution to his riddle. Samson initially resisted her, stating that even his parents didn't know. Eventually her charms were too strong, and he told her the answer. She immediately went and told her Philistine kinsmen and they came to Samson with the solution on the last day of the wedding feast.
Samson was furious that these “companions” had used his wife to lure him into revealing the riddle. So he went to the nearby city of Ashkelon and killed 30 Philistines, took their linens and clothes, and gave them to the young men as their reward for solving the riddle. Obviously, this didn’t sit well with the Philistines nor the bride’s father and Samson’s marriage was revoked. His wife was given to another man, most likely 1 of the 30 supposed friends.
III. FIRE IN THE FIELDS (Judges 15:1-8)
Some time later, during the wheat harvest, Samson again returned to Timnah determined to acquire the wife that had been taken from him. However, her father refused to let him go in to her because she was now married to someone else. Instead, perhaps out of fear of what Samson might do, the father offered his younger daughter to become his wife. Samson rejected this outright, as such a substitution was completely unacceptable.
Samson was greatly disgruntled and upset because he’d been denied, so he went out and captured 300 foxes. He paired the foxes up and tied torches between their tails. Then he lit the torches and released the foxes in the fields, vineyards, and groves of the Philistines. As a result, much of their grain, grapes, and harvest was burned up. When the Philistines learned that Samson had acted out of anger because his wife had been withheld from him, they went and killed both her and her father. A heartbroken Sampson vowed revenge upon them for the death of his forbidden love. He ruthlessly struck the Philistines with a great slaughter, killing an untold number of men, and then took refuge at the rock of Etam.
IV. THE DEADLY JAWBONE (Judges 15:9-20)
The Philistines came and camped at Lehi on the western edge of Judah. They told the Judahites that they’d come to arrest Sampson and take him back with them to Philistia. At this time, the Philistines ruled over this region of Israel and the Judahites didn’t want to cause trouble. Therefore, Judah agreed to retrieve Samson for them. 3,000 men of Judah were dispatched to the rock at Etam to take Samson into custody. When they arrived, Samson voluntarily surrendered himself to them on the condition that they not kill him, so they bound him with new ropes and led him back to Lehi.
When the Philistines saw him, they shouted for joy at his capture. Suddenly the Spirit of the LORD came upon Samson and he broke the ropes that constrained him as if they were burnt and brittle. Freed from his bonds, Samson picked up the jawbone of a donkey presumably lying on the ground and used it to kill 1,000 Philistines. After the massacre ended, he boasted of his victory, tossed the jawbone aside, and renamed the place Ramath-Lehi which translates “hill of the jawbone”.
Samson became very thirsty, perhaps from the intense fighting that had just occurred. He cried out to God in thanksgiving for His deliverance, but also to request a much needed drink. The LORD split a hollow place (likely a hole or crevice) in the ground and water flowed from it. Samson drank, was strengthened and revived, and named the site En-hakkore which means “Fountain of the Crier”. This spring is in the city of Lehi. Samson judged Israel for 20 years during the days of Philistine oppression.
CONCLUSION
Over the course of today’s message, we read that Samson singlehandily killed a lion with his bare hands, 30 Philistines to take their clothes, several more Philistines who murdered his wife, and 1,000 more Philistines with a donley’s jawbone. Whenever the Spirit of God came upon him, Samson was endowed with incredible, superhuman strength. For this reason, he is sometimes thought of as “the Hercules of the Bible”.
Despite his physical strength, Samson also exhibited several character flaws. He seemed more infatuated by a woman’s appearance than by her character or faith. He was highly susceptible to her charms, which would turn out to be his downfall. He was extremely volatile and lacked-self-control, prone to destruction and violence whenever he became upset or frustrated. Finally, he was obviously ambivalent about the terms of the Nazirite vow, as evidenced by touching the carcass of the dead lion. Samson was an impulsive, reckless, and shallow man in many respects… yet God still used him in spite of his shortcomings.
Good morning. Today we will continue our 3-part study of Samson - the 12th judge named in the book of Judges. In our message last Sunday, we read about how the Angel of the LORD appeared to Samson’s parents, Manoah and his wife, to tell them of his coming birth. We discovered that Samson was a miracle baby, conceived by and born of a mother who was previously barren. Finally, we found out that Samson was a special child, set apart as a Nazirite by God from the womb, who would someday begin to deliver his people from the Philistines.
The Bible doesn’t give us any information about Samson’s childhood. There is a gap of around 20 or more years between Samson’s birth at the end of chapter 13 and the events we’ll discuss today in chapters 14 and 15. Our focus this morning will be on the strained and contentious relationship between Samson and the Philistines and how it developed.
I. SHE LOOKS GOOD TO ME (Judges 14:1-11)
Samson, now a young man, traveled to Timnah in the land of the Philistines. While there, he saw and was strongly attracted to a beautiful woman. When he returned home, Samson asked his parents to arrange a marriage between him and this woman. His parents were disappointed that he had rejected the daughters of Israel and instead desired to marry an uncircumcised Philistine, yet Samson insisted. They did not realize that this was God’s plan.
So Samson and his parents went to Timnah together. Along the way, a young lion sprang out from the vineyards at Sampson. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him and he killed the lion with his bare hands. Apparently he was not with his parents when this occurred - they didn’t see it happen and he didn’t tell them about it. When they arrived and found the beautiful Philistine woman and her family, arrangements were made for Sampson and her to be married. Samson and his parents went home to wait.
When the betrothal was over, Sampson returned again to Timnah with his parents to get his new bride. He turned aside to see the carcass of the lion he’d killed earlier, and found a swarm of bees and honey were in its lifeless body. Samson scraped some honey out of it with his hands and ate. He even offered some to his father and mother, who also ate. However, once again they didn’t see the lion and Samson didn’t tell them where the honey had come from.
After arriving in Timnah, a customary wedding feast was thrown to celebrate the joyous marriage. However, the Philistines seemed somewhat unsettled by Samson. They sent 30 young men to befriend him, mingle with him, and keep an eye on him.
II. RIDDLE ME THIS (Judges 14:12-20)
Samson proposed a riddle to his 30 young Philistine companions. He stated that if they could solve the riddle before the end of the 7-day wedding feast, he’d give each of them a linen wrap and a change of clothes. If they couldn’t solve it by then, each of them would have to give Samson a linen wrap and a change of clothes. They accepted the challenge and Samson gave them the riddle, “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” What was it?
3 days passed by and the Philistine men couldn’t figure out the answer. So they threatened Samson’s beautiful young wife to entice him into telling her the answer - otherwise they’d kill her and burn down her father’s house. So she began weeping and telling Samson that he didn’t love her because he wouldn’t tell her the solution to his riddle. Samson initially resisted her, stating that even his parents didn't know. Eventually her charms were too strong, and he told her the answer. She immediately went and told her Philistine kinsmen and they came to Samson with the solution on the last day of the wedding feast.
Samson was furious that these “companions” had used his wife to lure him into revealing the riddle. So he went to the nearby city of Ashkelon and killed 30 Philistines, took their linens and clothes, and gave them to the young men as their reward for solving the riddle. Obviously, this didn’t sit well with the Philistines nor the bride’s father and Samson’s marriage was revoked. His wife was given to another man, most likely 1 of the 30 supposed friends.
III. FIRE IN THE FIELDS (Judges 15:1-8)
Some time later, during the wheat harvest, Samson again returned to Timnah determined to acquire the wife that had been taken from him. However, her father refused to let him go in to her because she was now married to someone else. Instead, perhaps out of fear of what Samson might do, the father offered his younger daughter to become his wife. Samson rejected this outright, as such a substitution was completely unacceptable.
Samson was greatly disgruntled and upset because he’d been denied, so he went out and captured 300 foxes. He paired the foxes up and tied torches between their tails. Then he lit the torches and released the foxes in the fields, vineyards, and groves of the Philistines. As a result, much of their grain, grapes, and harvest was burned up. When the Philistines learned that Samson had acted out of anger because his wife had been withheld from him, they went and killed both her and her father. A heartbroken Sampson vowed revenge upon them for the death of his forbidden love. He ruthlessly struck the Philistines with a great slaughter, killing an untold number of men, and then took refuge at the rock of Etam.
IV. THE DEADLY JAWBONE (Judges 15:9-20)
The Philistines came and camped at Lehi on the western edge of Judah. They told the Judahites that they’d come to arrest Sampson and take him back with them to Philistia. At this time, the Philistines ruled over this region of Israel and the Judahites didn’t want to cause trouble. Therefore, Judah agreed to retrieve Samson for them. 3,000 men of Judah were dispatched to the rock at Etam to take Samson into custody. When they arrived, Samson voluntarily surrendered himself to them on the condition that they not kill him, so they bound him with new ropes and led him back to Lehi.
When the Philistines saw him, they shouted for joy at his capture. Suddenly the Spirit of the LORD came upon Samson and he broke the ropes that constrained him as if they were burnt and brittle. Freed from his bonds, Samson picked up the jawbone of a donkey presumably lying on the ground and used it to kill 1,000 Philistines. After the massacre ended, he boasted of his victory, tossed the jawbone aside, and renamed the place Ramath-Lehi which translates “hill of the jawbone”.
Samson became very thirsty, perhaps from the intense fighting that had just occurred. He cried out to God in thanksgiving for His deliverance, but also to request a much needed drink. The LORD split a hollow place (likely a hole or crevice) in the ground and water flowed from it. Samson drank, was strengthened and revived, and named the site En-hakkore which means “Fountain of the Crier”. This spring is in the city of Lehi. Samson judged Israel for 20 years during the days of Philistine oppression.
CONCLUSION
Over the course of today’s message, we read that Samson singlehandily killed a lion with his bare hands, 30 Philistines to take their clothes, several more Philistines who murdered his wife, and 1,000 more Philistines with a donley’s jawbone. Whenever the Spirit of God came upon him, Samson was endowed with incredible, superhuman strength. For this reason, he is sometimes thought of as “the Hercules of the Bible”.
Despite his physical strength, Samson also exhibited several character flaws. He seemed more infatuated by a woman’s appearance than by her character or faith. He was highly susceptible to her charms, which would turn out to be his downfall. He was extremely volatile and lacked-self-control, prone to destruction and violence whenever he became upset or frustrated. Finally, he was obviously ambivalent about the terms of the Nazirite vow, as evidenced by touching the carcass of the dead lion. Samson was an impulsive, reckless, and shallow man in many respects… yet God still used him in spite of his shortcomings.