What is the most valuable thing that you possess? Does this possession draw your attention away from God? In Judges 15 and 16 we are given glimpses into the life of Samson continuing from what is described in chapters 13 and 14. He was set apart as a Nazirite from before his birth and it was evident that the Spirit of the Lord was with him. Samson was blessed with an amazing strength from God. He was used by God to begin freeing the Israelites from the Philistines. Samson used the strength which God blessed him with to judge Israel for twenty years.
Continuing the story of Samson’s wife, the riddle, and the killing of 30 men to pay reward of the riddle from Judges 14, chapter 15 shows us the amazing strength that God blessed Samson with. When Samson returned to his father-in-law to claim his new wife he finds that she was given to another man. Samson gathered together three hundred foxes and used one hundred and fifty torches to burn the fields and crops of the Philistines. In response to Samson’s actions the Philistines camp within Judah to capture Samson. Three thousand men of Judah went to Samson to inquire why he has provoked the Philistines. In the end Samson is bound and turned over to the Philistines but the strength that God gave him was able to deliver him from the cords that bound him. Samson proceeded to take the jawbone of a donkey and using it to kill a thousand men. Unfortunately Samson boasts of how he killed these thousand men without acknowledging that his strength was only from God. It is all too easy to take credit for what God has done in our lives. How do we keep God as the focal point of our existence? Isn’t it ironic that once Samson boasts of his prowess with the jawbone of a donkey he becomes extremely thirsty? It truly was not coincidence that Samson became thirsty because in his need Samson finally acknowledged that God was the one who granted his deliverance and sustains him, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” Judges 15:18
In Judges 16 we see multiple attempts to capture Samson by the both the Gazites and Philistines. Samson had a weakness and the people who tried to trap him seemed fairly keen in knowing that he had a weakness for women. Samson goes to a harlot and the men of Gaza seek to trap him in the house and kill him in the morning and most notable is Delilah who consistently sought out Samson’s source of strength so he could be captured by the Philistines. Delilah tied Samson’s actions of not telling the source of his strength directly with his love for her. What does Delilah truly love? She is looking forward to the reward for finding out Samson’s secret. After constant pressure by Delilah, Samson reveals that God is the source of his strength and that he was a Nazirite from birth who has never cut his hair. Daily poking and temptation will lead to a fall and failure. No matter how much physical strength Samson was blessed with it could never conquer his sinful nature.
Samson is finally caught by the Philistines and his eyes are gouged out. When the Philistines cut Samson’s hair what happened for him to lose his strength? As a Nazirite what does your long hair symbolize? Samson is humiliated and became a slave to the Philistines. Over time Samson’s hair started to grow back after being cut. Did this growth show Samson’s dependance on God, his renewed faith, or a renewed blessing from God? In Judges 16:28 Samson prays to God, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged for the Philistines for my two eyes.” Samson then brings down the large house he was in killing a multitude of Philistines. In the end I think it is important to remember that God is ultimately in control of all things and that our success only is granted by the grace of God. Samson had amazing strength but it came to mean nothing compared to his relationship with God. Do I value my relationship with God enough? Lord open my eyes to see the beauty of Scripture. Please grant my thirst be quenched by the truth of the word of God alone. Let me not turn aside to the ways of the wicked but wholly stay focused on you.
