Judges- Chapters 13-16

In the life of Samson, whose name means “strength,” we find the pillar motif, for God intends Samson to become a pillar of purpose. Although Divinely ordained a Nazirite, one set apart to God, Samson also represents a house divided, a life teetering precariously between two unequal pillars, the pillar of God and the pillar of self.

The woman destined to become Samson’s mother is described as one who is “barren, and bare not” {13:2}, a double emphasis on fruitlessness. Beholding and creating substance before it manifests, the God of faith determines purpose, pronounces the Word and performs the act. Fulfillment of the angel’s spoken prophecy proves greater than her present condition, “For lo, you shall become pregnant and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” {13:5}. The purposes of the Ever-Now God are set on the pillar of His Word.

Unlike one who makes a temporary Nazirite vow, Samson is ordained by God to be a Nazirite for life. As “one separated and consecrated to the Lord…there shall no razor come upon his head” and…“All the days of his separation and abstinence he is holy to the Lord” {Num 6:5, 8}. Of the child Samson it is written, “And the woman [in due time] bore a son, and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him” “{13:24}. Of Jesus it is written, “And the child grew, and waxed strong in the spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him” {Luke 2:40}. Within this contrast lies an early indication of Samson’s frequent failure to walk in wisdom. Samson’s response to his first recorded encounter with temptation establishes a pattern he follows throughout his life. “Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines” {14:1}. Contained in the word “Philistine” is the meaning “to roll (in dust) – roll (wallow) self” and “Timnah” means “to weigh out.” It is here that God begins to weigh Samson’s character and obedience. Succumbing to the lust of his eyes and the lust of flesh, Samson commands his parents, “Get her for me; for she is all right in my eyes” {14:3}. These words reflect the state of the world around him, for “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” {17:6}.

Although God continues to use him as a one-man army, Samson’s physical prowess outweighs his spiritual vigor, and his failure to resist temptation initiates his spiritual crumbling {v 17}. Nonetheless, his exploits of physical strength testify to God’s faithfulness and mercy to His people: “And [Samson] judged [defended] Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years” {15:20}.

“Then Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in to her” Ironically, the word “Gaza” means “strong,” “prevail (strengthen self).” At midnight Samson “arose and took hold of the doors of the city’s gate and the two posts, and pulling them up, bar and all, he put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is before Hebron” {16:3}. What a great contrast between Samson’s ability to perform physical exploits and his inability to keep the gates of his eyes and the posts of his own morality.

Giving way once again to the lust of his eyes and flesh, Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman. Here, too, we find an unheeded warning, for Delilah’s name means “languishing.” Under her continual pressing, himself now comfortable in the lap of the scornful, Samson finally tells her the secret of his strength. Weakened and wearied from Delilah’s constant torment, he falls asleep, only to awaken unaware that his hair, the outward symbol of his Nazirite vow, has been shaved. “And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as I have time after time, and shake myself free. For Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him” {16:20}. Unless God’s faith is the substance (ground, confidence) of our own, we set the pillars of our expectations upon such unsure foundations as faith in ourselves, faith in our past achievements or even faith in our faith. Familiarity with God’s working through him has spiritually blinded him even as the Philistines blind him naturally. Perhaps as the Philistines bind him and gouge out his eyes he catches a glimpse of his own spiritual blindness.

Stripped of his sight, his strength and his strands, Samson has nothing left of himself. By the time his hair grows back, he has learned to lean his entire being on God as his Pillar, and like Paul, Samson can say, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) there dwelleth no good thing” {Rom 7:18}. In one final prayer, he beseeches, “O Lord God [earnestly] remember me, I pray You, and strengthen me, I pray You, only this once” {16:28}. “And Samson laid hold of the two middle pillars…And he bowed himself mightily; and the house fell upon the princes, and upon all the people that were in it” {v 29-30}. Like a boomerang, God sends into reverse the enemy’s boast that “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand” {16:23}.

Only when Samson surrenders the pillar of self can he become the pillar God has destined him to be. Prior to his final surrender, his dedication to God has been incomplete, a blend of God and self, an unstable and unsteady pillar of mixture. For most of his adulthood Samson is double-minded (two-souled); but neither his human frailties nor his sins prevent God from acknowledging him as a man of faith among those “who through faith subdued kingdoms…[and] obtained promises” and “who out of weakness were made strong” {Heb 11:33-34}.

-Ruth French

May Newsletter 2003 | Am I Ready to Rule with Christ? | Get It Together part 2 | Present Day Fathers part 2

Pastor's Journal May 2002 | Progress of Maturity part 2 of 2 | Pillars and Posts part 2 of 3

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