In scripture, when something important and divine is about to happen through a person, it often begins with their parents' temporary infertility. It happened to Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth, and in this bit of scripture, to Samson's mother. Though the parents interpreted their childlessness as faultiness, God had simply placed a pause on their ability to conceive. And the reason is because He has a plan and a place for that child to be born into. He arranges the perfect circumstances for that child to live out his specific purpose within the grand scheme of God's plan; we learn how that applies to our own life through the life of Samson in the Book of Judges.
Superficially, Samson comes across as a bit of a contradiction; in comparison to the sanctity that surrounded his conception, the choices Samson makes in his life seem rather reckless. But God was behind all of it, and the intended end result achieved.
- BIRTH OF SAMSON, THE NAZIRITE
An angel was sent to the mother of Samson both to inform her of her impending pregnancy and to instruct her on how she was to rear the child. God wanted Samson to be raised as a Nazirite, which meant that from conception, his mother was not to imbibe alcohol or eat any unclean foods. She was also instructed to never cut her son's hair. God was arranging for a child to be born as a representative of dependence on the will of God.
Samson's parents heeded the word of the angel once Samson was born; he grew and the Lord blessed him. So is it then strange that once grown, Samson's first recorded act was to deliberately contradict God's word? For Samson fell in love with a woman forbidden to him, a woman of an ancient people called the Philistines who believed in false gods and lived corruptly. In Deuteronomy 7:3, God taught His people to marry like-believers, because non-believers would lead them away from their faith. Samson's parents were troubled by their son's request for the Philistine woman. Yet Samson insisted, and the reason why was given to us: "it was of the Lord,... he sought an occasion against the Philistines."
God had a plan to infiltrate the Philistine nation, via Samson and make a display of His power against the power of their false gods and corrupt lifestyle. So God encouraged Samson to marry a Philistine, creating an opportunity for another region of the world to hear what He has to stay about corruption.
- STRONGER THAN A LION
While walking through a vineyard, Samson came across a young lion. Normally this would be a terrifying situation. But actually this was a personal moment between Samson and God, arranged of course, by God. For the Spirit of God came mightily upon Samson, and Samson was able to tear open and kill the lion. And this occurrence happened to exhibit the strength of God within Samson; the famous strength of Samson, so wrongly attributed to Samson, actually came from God.
The whole situation serves as this metaphor: within the vineyard, that is: the protection of God, we have strength enough from God to be stronger than the enemies that happen upon us. All of this happened before Samson took the woman as his wife. When he returned to the place to retrieve her, he came across the deceased lion. This time, the lion was filled with honey, and Samson ate it.
In other words: Samson recognized that his strength came from God. It's not important that Samson ate honey out of a lion, his strength was not sustained by the honey. It is important that Samson was sustained by the honey, the word and strength and will of God. He took all of it into his life, body, mind and soul. It was sweet.
Psalm 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste,Sweeter than honey to my mouth!Psalm 19:9-10... The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.More to be desired are they than gold,Yea, than much fine gold;Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Samson then turned his experience into a riddle in order to churn up the Philistines: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." The riddle captured the attention of the Philistines. Samson's experience with the lion procured an audience, and Samson the Nazirite was on the stage. The riddle churned up the people. They wanted the answer, but of course were unable to guess it. They did not witness Samson with the lion or the carcass with honey. But the real reason they were unable to answer the riddle was because they did not know the word of God. They did not have the spiritual wisdom to figure it out.
So the people told Samson's wife to pull the answer from him and to pass it on to them; they were desperate for the answer because they had made a large bet that they did not want to lose. She agreed. She wept and guilt-tripped Samson into telling her answer to the riddle: "What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?"
Indeed Samson answered the riddle with two questions. The answer to those two questions was the heart of the issue: God. Not the machinations of people. Not the might of a man. God. A lesson the Philistines needed to learn. In Deuteronomy 9:4, God explained that His campaign against nations such as the Philistines was due to their wickedness. God infiltrated their camp with His message in an effort to teach them about righteousness. Samson told the riddle, not because he was tricked but because it was meant by God to be told.
- WITH THE JAWBONE OF A DONKEY
Samson continued to pretend to be out-played by the Philistines. He allowed himself to be captured by the Philistines after a retaliatory attack he made on them when they remarried his wife to another man. While bound at wrists with cords, the Spirit of God came mightily upon Samson once again and the cords came off of his hands. Freed, Samson picked up the jawbone of a donkey and killed a thousand men. The metaphor in this, even when the resources are limited, the strength of God is not. The Philistines were unable to subdue or even thwart Samson because of God's spirit over his life.
Samson thanked God for the victory, and then became thirsty. He thought the extreme thirst would kill him. The symbolism is that without provision from God, the spectacular display of strength would have killed him. But because Samson remembered God in victory, God remembered Samson in his near moment of defeat. God provided water, the living water (John 4:13-14), and revived Samson's spirit. If we are going to achieve beyond the boundaries of human ability, we need divine sustenance.
If we are going to achieve as soldiers within this righteous army, we need God. If we are going to change the world with the mere, metaphorical, jawbone of a donkey, we need to remember God. Our spirits need to be sustained and revived by Him.
- FOR I HAVE BEEN A NAZIRITE
It became the sole intent of the Philistines to find out where Samson's strength came from. God had neatly arranged the situation. The answer they were so desperate for was the message God wanted, all along, to give them.
Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, but their story was not of love. Delilah worked with the Philistines in a deceptive plot to unearth the "secret" of Samson's great strength. Once they found out, their plan was to overcome Samson, bind and afflict him. In three attempts, Delilah asked Samson the source of his strength. Three times Samson lied.
And then Samson told Delilah the truth.
- “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.” And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
- Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
- Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.”And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”—
And then Samson told Delilah the truth.
Samson explained that his strength came from his vow as a Nazirite: "for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb." But to Delilah and the Philistines, it seemed as though he was saying that his strength came from his hair. They would soon learn to discern the difference. They heard: if you cut my hair, my strength will leave me. But Samson actually meant that if he was ever cut off from God his strength would leave him. If he ever betrayed his vows to this cause of righteousness, his strength would leave him. The hair was merely symbolic.
With the truth, the Philistines were finally able to capture Samson. They shaved his hair and bound him. When Samson attempted to run away as before, he realized that the strength of God left him. They put bronze chains around Samson's hands and imprisoned him.
But Samson's hair began to grow back.
Delilah is infamously known as a betrayer. But did her manipulative antics cause Samson to succumb to temptation and abandon his God? No, God, with Samson, out-maneuvered Delilah and everyone else. Samson divulged the "secret" precisely when he was meant to, as he was meant to. As he was destined to do even before birth!
Indeed Samson's hair began to grow right back. His hair, the symbol of God as His strength, his vow of a Nazirite never to cut it or change faith. It grew back, immediately. His strength grew back, because strength from the Lord is not something someone else can ever take away from you.
- THE TEMPLE OF THE FALSE GOD
The Philistines were so ruthlessly excited about capturing Samson that they decided to offer a great sacrifice to their "god" Dagon. And this is where God's plan finds fulfillment. The Philistines were ignorantly convinced that their false-god was stronger than Samson's God, our God. They thought that Dagon had broken Samson's strength. But it was actually God who had temporarily, and for the purpose of teaching the Philistines a lesson, removed Samson's strength and allowed him to be captured.
With the temple of their false god filled with men and women, the Philistines brought Samson up from his prison cell to perform. They thought the performance would lame and weak; after all, they believed they had subdued Samson. They meant to mock him. Samson entered the temple, thousands of Philistine eyes on him. And as all of them were gathered together for their false god, Samson called aloud to the True. Samson prayed aloud for the strength of God he had known all his life... and he received it. Samson placed his hands on each of the two supporting pillars the temple and pushed. The temple of the false god came pouring down in a great display of the strength of the True God. God's campaign against the Philistine's wickedness accomplished through Samson.
God placed Samson in perfect position to make an incredible display of God's unbeatable strength. Samson will not have been the first (or the last) to discover that what God considered to be the "perfect position" was often a prison cell surrounded by enemies. Because God, and Jesus, have the intent to spread the righteous word of God throughout the world. This message of righteousness is meant for the people who live in opposition to it. In order for the message to be heard by the right people, God places His people in what at first appear to be the wrong places. Betrayed, captured and imprisoned, Samson was exactly where God wanted him to be!
With the temple of their false god filled with men and women, the Philistines brought Samson up from his prison cell to perform. They thought the performance would lame and weak; after all, they believed they had subdued Samson. They meant to mock him. Samson entered the temple, thousands of Philistine eyes on him. And as all of them were gathered together for their false god, Samson called aloud to the True. Samson prayed aloud for the strength of God he had known all his life... and he received it. Samson placed his hands on each of the two supporting pillars the temple and pushed. The temple of the false god came pouring down in a great display of the strength of the True God. God's campaign against the Philistine's wickedness accomplished through Samson.
God placed Samson in perfect position to make an incredible display of God's unbeatable strength. Samson will not have been the first (or the last) to discover that what God considered to be the "perfect position" was often a prison cell surrounded by enemies. Because God, and Jesus, have the intent to spread the righteous word of God throughout the world. This message of righteousness is meant for the people who live in opposition to it. In order for the message to be heard by the right people, God places His people in what at first appear to be the wrong places. Betrayed, captured and imprisoned, Samson was exactly where God wanted him to be!
The takeaway for us is that if we are committed to God's cause of righteousness, He is working through us to accomplish His purposes. Whether we realize or not, God is working in the details of our lives. He is expertly using our life and voice and choices to accomplish the plan He made for us before we were born.