Samson’s Final Victory (Judges 16)

Last time we were with Samson, he had finally told Delilah the truth about his strength. Delilah was only with Samson because of the money she could make by helping the Philistines capture him. The truth about Samson’s strength was: That Samson was raised up as a Nazarite. His hair was never cut. Because God was going to use Samson to help overthrow the Philistines and free the Israelites from their domination, and because Samson’s hair was a symbol that he was dedicated to the Lord, God gave Samson amazing strength.
  Samson told Delilah that his strength was in his hair and that his hair was never cut.  As Delilah let Samson lay on her lap, she signaled to a man that was hiding in the other room. He came into the room with a knife for Samson’s hair and the money for Delilah.

 “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” Delilah screamed as she awoke Samson.
“No problem.” Samson thought. “I’ll just do as I have all the other times and put these Philistines out into the streets.” But he didn’t realize that this time, the Lord had left him.
 So the Philistines captured Samson, gouged out his eyes and sent him to Gaza where he was bound in chains and forced grind grain in prison. But before long, his hair began to grow back.

The Philistine leaders decided to throw a huge party. They wanted to offer sacrifices to their god, Dagon, for finally giving them victory over their greatest enemy, Samson. The people were all yelling and screaming with joy. “Dagon has given us victory! The one who has killed so many, is now in our power! Praise to Dagon! Praise to Dagon!”
 Half drunk by now, the people began to demand. “Bring out Samson! We want him to perform for us!
So Samson was brought from prison and placed in the center of the temple between two large pillars. A servant led him and Samson asked him to place his hands on the pillars to rest. The servant did so.
 The temple was filled with thousands of people. Most of the guards and leaders were there to celebrate and to make fun of Samson.
 Then Samson prayed. “Dear God, please be with me this one last time. Strengthen me to get revenge on these Philistines who have blinded me. Please God Almighty. Please!”
 Samson pressed his hands against the pillars and God gave him back his strength. He pushed with all his might. “Let me die with these Philistines!” He cried out. And the temple came crashing down killing the Philistine leaders, many of the people, the guards and Samson. Samson killed far more Philistines in his death than he did while he was alive. This led to the eventual fall of the Philistine empire and the rescue of the Israelites. Just as God told Samson’s parents would happen. Samson rescued his people from the Philistines.

 Wow! What a story! Not just a story.... A true story! “OK," you may ask. “So what? How does this have anything to do with me?” A lot. Remember at the beginning of the Samson story. God told Samson’s parents that He was going to use Samson to carry out his plan to rescue the Israelites, so they dedicated him to God. Samson was given the gift of great strength to carry out the purposes of God. Do you know that God is still working out His plan? He wants to use each of us and the special gifts or talents that He gave us to carry it out. Are you a good singer, speaker, artist, helper, friend, organizer etc..... God gave you a gift. He gives everyone a gift. That gift is not for yourself, but for others and for God’s purposes. Samson, knew he was strong. He used the gift that God gave him to get girlfriends and do whatever he wanted. God gives us a choice. He gave Samson a choice. But God also has a plan and He is not going to let our choices stop his plans. He still used Samson to carry out His plan. Samson could have done life God’s way and his life would have been a lot easier, but he did things his own way and ended up blind and in prison.
How about you and me? Are we joining God in his plan by using our gifts for Him, or is He going to work His plan in spite of us.  If it the latter, we may be in for some uncomfortable times.

Samson and Delilah (Judges16)

After Samson killed many of the Philistines, he went and lived in a cave just outside the town of Lehi where many of the Israelites lived. The Philistines wanted revenge on Samson and raided the town of Lehi. The Israelites cried out to the Philistine army. “Why are you doing this to us?”

 “We are looking for Samson. to pay him back for what he did to us!” The soldiers answered.

So three thousand Israelites went to the cave where Samson was living.  “The Philistines will continue to terrorize our town unless we tie you up and turn you over to them.” They said to Samson.
 Samson agreed to let them tie him up and hand him over to the Philistines. As the Israelites returned to Lehi, the Philistines cheered when they saw that Samson was tied up. Samson stood before the soldiers, then he broke free of the ropes that bound him. They snapped like they were made of paper. Samson found a donkey skull on the ground. He used the jawbone from the skull and killed 1,000 Philistines that day. Then he threw the jawbone away and that place was named Jawbone Hill from then on.

 One day the Philistines heard that Samson was spending the night in their town with a woman. They camped out by the city gates and planned on killing Samson when it got light the next morning. But Samson couldn’t sleep. He went to the city gate where the men were sleeping. He ripped the city gates right out of the ground! He carried them on his back all the way to a hill across town.


 Later, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah. The Philistines offered Delilah eleven hundred pieces of silver if she would find out what makes Samson so strong. I guess Delilah didn’t love Samson, because she agreed.

 That evening Delilah asked Samson. “Tell me my dear, what would it take to tie you up so securely that you couldn’t break free?”
 “If I am tied with seven bowstrings that have not been dried, then I will be as weak as anyone else.” Samson answered.
 Delilah went straight to the Philistines and told them Samson’s secret. Delilah tied Samson with seven undried bowstrings and then called the Philistines that were hiding in another room. Samson jumped up and easily broke the bowstrings.
 The next evening, Delilah said to Samson. “You lied to me. Please tell me the truth this time.”
If I am tied up with rope that has never been used before, then I will be as weak as anyone else.
 So guess what Delilah did? yep. She went right to the Philistines. They provided her with brand spanking new ropes. She tied Samson with them and called the Philistines from the other room. When Samson saw the men, he jumped up and snapped the ropes like they were thread.
 Well you would think that Samson would start to catch on that Delilah didn’t have his best interest in mind. But no. The next night, Delilah begged Samson to reveal the secret of his strength, and how he could be subdued. Samson said. “If you braid my hair, and take seven of those braid and weave them into the fabric on your loom. Then I will be as weak as anyone else.”
So after Samson fell asleep, Delilah braided his hair. She took seven of the braids and weaved them into the fabric on her loom. Then she called out and the Philistines charged in. Samson jumped to his feet. He yanked his hair out of the loom and chased the Philistines out of the house.
 Now Delilah resorted to tears. “You have lied and made fun of me.” She cried. “Please, please, please, if you love me, tell me the secret of your strength.”Day after day, Delilah, cried, pouted and nagged Samson. Finally he said. “Ok, ok stop your whining! My hair has never been cut. I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me and I would be as weak as anyone else.” The Philistines hid in the other room as Delilah lulled Samson to sleep as he lay on her lap. Delilah was sure that Samson told her the truth this time. Next time we’ll find out if he did.

God warns us in the Bible about who we becomes friends with. Bad company corrupts good character. (1 Cor. 15:33) Which means if your best friends are not good, sooner or later, you’ll become more like them. The Bible also says not to marry someone who believes differently then you do about Jesus. (2 Cor.6:14) Because two people serving God together, gives Him glory. One serving and the other not serving Him is harder than one person serving God by themselves. I know what you are thinking... “well Jesus had dealings with a lot of bad people.” Yes that is true, but His friends were His apostles, Martha, Mary and Lazarus.

Samson the Lion and the Wedding (Judges 14)

 So Samson grew into a very strong young man. God had great plans for Samson. He was going to use Samson to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. Remember how God used Moses and his leadership skills to free the Israelites from the Egyptians? Now God was going to use Samson and his physical strength to free them from slavery again. This time from the Philistines.
 Samson travelled back and forth from his home to the city of Timnah. One day while in Timnah he saw a beautiful Philistine woman there. He went home and told his mother and father that he wanted that woman for his wife. Samson’s parents tried to talk him out of it because the Israelites were only supposed to marry Israelites. Especially since Samson was being raised as a Nazirite for God.  Some of the rules for Nazirites were 1. No alcohol. 2. Not to touch anything dead. 3. To never get a haircut. So Samson, being set apart for God, surely should not marry a Philistine woman, but his parents finally gave in and said yes.

 One day while Samson was going back to Timnah, a lion attacked him. Samson killed the lion with his bare hands! He continued to Timnah and talked with the woman that he wanted to marry. Things went well and Samson left with joy in his heart.
 Some time later, Samson’s parents were in Timnah making the final wedding preparations. As Samson was walking toward Timnah, he decided to check out the dead lion that he had killed. He noticed that bees had made some honey in the carcass. He stuck his hands into it and scooped out some honey and ate it. He brought some to his parents to eat, but didn’t tell them where he got it because he wasn’t supposed to touch anything dead.
 While Samson’s father was making some last minute wedding preparations, Samson decided to throw a party. He invited the 30 men in his wedding party. He told them a riddle. He made them a bet that they couldn’t guess the answer in seven days.
The men actually threatened Samson’s wife if she didn’t get the answer to the riddle and tell them. For seven days Samson’s wife cried. “If you loved me, you tell me the answer to the riddle. You must not really love me!”
 Finally, Samson gave in and told her the answer. She went right to the 30 men and told them. The next time they saw Samson, they answered his riddle. Samson was furious because he knew that he was tricked! He killed 30 Philistines. Then he left Timah and went to stay with his mother and father.







 After a few weeks, Samson cooled down and went back to Timnah with a young goat to make up with his wife. A young goat back then, was like a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. I don’t think a young goat would would melt a woman’s heart now a days.

 Samson knocked on his father-in-law’s door. His father-in-law answered and said. “I didn’t think that you were coming back so I gave my daughter in marriage to your best man.”
Now Samson was really mad! He burned the Philistine grain fields and the piles of grain that had been stored. He burned their olive trees and their grapevines.
 “Who did this?” The leaders inquired. “Samson!” The people replied. And so the leaders of the Philistines took Samson’s wife and her father and burned them to death. This is how the Philistines and Samson became bitter enemies. Samson was determined to get revenge. He went out and killed many of the Philistines.
 Do you see God working in this story? Even though Samson made many mistakes, God is using his mistakes to work out His plan of freeing the Israelites from the Philistines.. The word for this is God’s sovereignty. God has a perfect plan. We are not perfect, but He wants to use us anyway. Isn’t that amazing! Now I’m not saying that we can do as we please and God will use us anyway. There are consequences to disobedience as we will soon see in Samson’s life.
 A lot of people discover that God has a plan for their lives as they get older. Samson’s parents knew that God had a plan for Samson before he was even born. The fact is. God had a plan for you before you were born ... just like Samson. Discovering God’s plan for our lives is an exciting adventure!

The Birth of Samson (Judges 9-13)

Like we said last time, after Gideon died, the people went back to their old ways. They began worshipping Baal and living wicked lives. Why would the people worship a wooden statue? Because a statue doesn’t expect much. The people wanted to do their own thing and they knew that God would require obedience and sacrifice.  Here is an example of just how wicked their lives had become.
 Believe it or not, Gideon had 71 sons! After he died, the sons took over as the leaders of the Israelites. One of his sons, Abimelech, wanted to be the ruler all by himself. He went to the town that his mother was from (Shechem) and persuaded the people there that it would be better for them if he were their king. The people agreed. The town took up a collection from the Baal Temple for Abimelech and he spent the seventy silver coins that they gave him on some soldiers.
 Abimelech took his soldiers to his fathers house and killed sixty-nine of his brothers. One of his brothers named Jotham escaped.

 Jotham climbed to the top of a mountain and shouted to all the people of Shechem. “If what you did by making Abimelech your king, is pleasing to God, may you find joy and peace while he is your king. But if what you did is dishonoring to God and to the name of Gideon, who defeated the Midianites for you, then may your time under Abimelech’s rule be filled with sorrow, pain and unrest.” Then Jotham went and hid because he knew his brother wanted to kill him.

 After three years, God decided it was time to stir up some trouble between Abimelech and the town of Shechem. The whole town began to badmouth the Abimelech. But he had spies in the town. They reported back to him what was happening. Abimelech knew that it was a matter of time before the whole town would revolt against him, so he wanted to make the first move. He took his army and stationed them outside the Shechem city limits.  The men of Shechem were no match for Abimelech and his men and when they came out defend their city many of the Shechemites were killed. The rest ran back and told the people to hide in the temple. Abimelech told his men to gather some branches. They laid the branches at the base of the temple and burned it down, killing the people in it. The rest of the people ran to the center of town where there was a huge tower. They took refuge in it, but Abimelech told his men to get more branches. He laid the branches at the base of the tower and has Abimelech was leaning over to start them on fire, a woman dropped a brick off the roof of the tower. It landed on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull.
 Abimelech was barely alive. “Take your sword and kill me!” He told one of his soldiers.. “I don’t want it known that a woman killed me.” So the soldier finished him off.

 God punished Abimelech and the town of Shechem for murdering Gideon’s sons. (Judges 9:56&57)

The Israelites went through several more judges (rulers), but they continued to turn their backs on God. God grew angry and took His hand of protection off the Israelites and they fell into the hands of the Philistines and became their slaves for forty years. Do you realize that God’s hand of protection is upon you and me? Our lives are so fragile! God is the sustainer of all things. Which means that He keeps everything and everyone going.

 Well the Israelites finally realized how self-centered they had been living, and they cried out to God for help. God is so compassionate, caring and forgiving. He decided to raise up a judge that would rescue the Israelites from the Philistines.
 God sent His angel to the wife of a man named Manoah. The couple had not been able to have children, but the angel assured them that they would have a son. The angel also said that their son must be dedicated to God as a Nazirite. (Which meant that he could never get a haircut, never drink alcohol or never touch any dead thing).
 When their son was born, they named him Samson. God blessed him as he grew. His parents kept their part, and never gave him a haircut.

Gideon, the Rest of the Story (Judges 7 & 8)

So when we left Gideon and his servant, Purah, they had gone down into the valley where the Midianite army was camped. Gideon was amazed when he saw how many of them there were! But God had suggested that Gideon listen to some of the Midianites. God knew that Gideon would be encouraged when he heard what they were saying.
 Gideon and Purah reached one of the tents that was posted along the outside of the Midianite army camp. They could hear some men speaking, so they leaned in closer to listen. One of the men was telling his friend about a dream he had the night before. “ I had a dream that a loaf of barley bread came rolling down the hill and knocked a tent flat to the ground.” He said
 His friend said, “ Your dream can only mean one thing. God has given Gideon victory over the Midianite army!”
 When Gideon heard the dream and the interpretation, he thanked God and returned to his own camp.
“Wake up!” Gideon enthusiastically shouted. “The Lord has given us victory over the Midianites!”
Gideon divided his 300 men into 3 groups and gave each each man a ram’s horn and a clay jar with a torch in it. “Watch me and my group.” Gideon said. “As soon as we blow our horns, blow your horns and shout!”

 It was just after midnight when Gideon and his 100 men reached the edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly, they blew their horns and broke their jars. They held up the torches in their left hands and shouted. When all 300 of Gideon’s men blew their horns, broke their jars, held up their torches and shouted, God confused the Midianite and they began to fight against each other!  Out of 120,000 soldiers in the Midianite army, only 15,000 survived. Gideon and his men captured them. The Israelites had won the battle! And there was no doubt that it was ALL God.
 When Gideon returned to the Israelites, the people began to shout to Gideon. “Be our ruler! Be our ruler!”
But Gideon declined the position. “ I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you! However, I do have one request. You have collected many treasures from the enemies after we defeated them. Can each of you give me one gold earring and toss it into this cloak that I have laid out on the ground?”
 “Certainly!" They exclaimed. “Gladly!” And each person tossed a gold earring onto the cloak. When the last earring was collected, it added up to 43 pounds. Gideon took the gold, melted it down and had it made into an ephod. An ephod is a protective garment, like a chest protector that the priests wore. Gideon wanted something to remind the people about the protection of God, but the Israelites began to worship the ephod instead of God. 40 years later, Gideon died and the people went back to worshipping Baal. Remember when we first began the story of Gideon? Baal was the god that the Israelites were worshipping. Gideon led the people away from Baal and toward God. But when he died. the people went back to their old ways. They were really following the leadership and confidence of Gideon, instead of really following God.

 God has put leaders in our lives. Preachers, pastors, teachers etc.... But they are just human beings. As we learned before, all human beings fall short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23) We should never be a “pastor follower” or a “teacher follower”. We should be a “Jesus follower” because he is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.(Hebrew’s 13:8)  He is without sin (Hebrews 4:15) and He loves us. (John 3:16)
 Here is an interesting fact about the Bible that is perfect for this lesson.
- Psalm 118 is in the center of the Bible. There are 594 chapters before it and 594 chapters after it. If you add them together, it comes out to 1188. The center verse in the Bible is Psalm 118:8. Isn’t that cool? And here is what that verse says. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in men.”
 God works through people...so don’t stop listening to your pastor or learning from your Sunday school teacher. They are like signs along the road of life, pointing to God. They are not your heart’s destination. Jesus is :)

God gets Gideon ready for battle (Judges 6 & 7)

When we left Gideon, he was brought out into the streets where the people wanted to kill him because he destroyed the altar of Baal and the Asherah poles.
Gideon’s father spoke up.” Let’s let Baal punish him. After all it was Baal’s altar that was destroyed.”
 The Israelites agreed to leave Gideon in the hands of Baal. So what do you think happened to Gideon? That’s right. NOTHING. Because Baal is a made up God that the Israelites began worshipping, nothing at all happened to Gideon.
 In the meantime, the armies of Midian, Amalak and the armies from the east joined forces and began to move in toward the Israelites who were already living/hiding in caves because of recent attacks. The spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he blew a ram’s horn. This was a call to the Israelite men to take up arms against the invading armies. 32,000 men showed up!

 Gideon wanted to make sure that he heard God correctly so he prayed. “God if you are really going to use me to rescue the Israelites, please give me a sign. I will put some wool on the ground. If I wake up in the morning and the wool is dry and the ground is covered in dew, then I will know that you will help me rescue the Israelites as you promised.
 God’s promises are rock solid. If God promised, He will do it! The Bible is full of God’s promises. (over 6,000 of them!) We don’t need to ask for a sign... God already gives us His word.
 But God gave Gideon his sign. In the morning the wool was dry and the ground was wet.
“Please don’t get mad at me God.” Gideon said as he felt the dry wool. “But could you give me another sign? This time let the ground be dry and the wool wet. Then I will know that you will help me rescue the Israelites.”

In the morning the wool was wet and the ground dry!  Gideon knew what God wanted him to do. The very next morning, Gideon and his army got up early and began to move toward the enemy armies. Then God spoke to Gideon. “Gideon, you have way to many men in your army. Call all your men together and ask them if any of them are afraid of the enemy armies. Send them home.”
 So Gideon called all his men together. “If any man is fearful of the battle before us, he may return to his home.” Gideon proclaimed. 22,000 men went home that day! Wow! That only left Gideon with an army of about 10,000 men. (Which was very little compared to the hundreds of thousands of men in the enemy army).
I’m sure Gideon was a little nervous. What was God up to? Guess what? god spoke to Gideon again. “You still have too many men in your army. Go down to the river so that the men can get a drink of water. The men who drink straight from the river like a dog lapping up water will be the ones you will send home. The men who cup the water in their hands and bring it up to there mouths will be your army.

 I’m sure when Gideon saw most of the men lapping up the water like dogs, he got even more nervous. 9,700 men were sent home. That left Gideon with an army of 300! Yikes! Why do you think that God wanted a smaller army? God wants us to know that He is the reason for victory. That is why He sometimes waits until the last minute, till all hope is lost before He pulls us through.
 By now the enemy army had moved in closer and they were camped in the valley just below where Gideon and his army of 300 stationed. God spoke to Gideon again. “ Gideon, I’m sure you are a little nervous about the battle tomorrow. Tonight I want to let you know that I have everything under control. Take your servant Purah and sneak into the enemy camp. What you hear will surely encourage you and make you eager to fight this battle. So Gideon took Purah and started down into the valley. From where they were perched, they could see all the camels that the enemy had. The camels looked like sand on the seashore! Way too many to count!  With lumps in their throat Gideon and Purah descended into the valley and made their way to just outside one of the tents. Two men were speaking inside. Gideon and Purah listened closely as one of the men shared his dream with the other man.
 Next time we will find out what the dream was. If it encouraged Gideon. And if Gideon and his army of 300 were able to defeat the vast armies that were moving in on them.
 God wants us to love Him, trust Him and obey Him.  Because He loves us. He is in control. And He wants the best for us.

Gideon Hears From God (Judges 6)

Today we begin another book of the Bible, Judges. Judges were God-appointed leaders that handled the disputes among the people and ruled according to God’s direction. Now that the Israelites had entered the promised land, everything was perfect. Right? Wrong! Hundreds of years had passed and the Israelites had turned their backs on God. They were even worshiping gods made of clay, wood and bronze.
 We can look at the Israelites and say to ourselves, “What is the matter with them? God delivered them from slavery and now they were sinning against God!”
 If we look at our own lives using the Israelites as an example (Which is what Hebrews chapter 4 says we should do), we can think of how the Israelites were freed from slavery, and how God freed us from slavery to sin when we accepted the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and made Him Lord of our lives.  Have you ever doubted that God wanted the best for you? I have. It’s hard when things are not going right. The Israelites doubted God and they ended up wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years. The promised land for the Israelites was a land of “rest”. We can find rest in Jesus. He even called us to lay down all the hard stuff and find rest in Him. (Matthew 11:28)  God loves when we believe Him and trust Him and find rest in Him.

 It’s also easy to forget what God did for us when things are going great. The Israelites were in a land that already had houses built and farms planted. When a new generation of Israelites came along, they took everything for granted. Have you ever just expected things to be good without thinking about God and thanking Him. It’s easy to do. So God let things get bad for the Israelites. Has God ever let things get bad for you so that you remember that He is control and that He alone should be worshipped.
 God provided judges to the Israelites to get them back on track. The Israelites would follow God’s leading for a while, but when a judge would die, the people would turn their backs on God again. This happened over and over for hundreds of years.

 Today we will be looking at Gideon. God called him to be the fifth judge. There were four judges before him and one was a woman named Deborah. In the days of Gideon, the Israelites were going through a rough time. God allowed the evil Midianites to ruin all the Israelite’s crops, steal their cows and goats and take over all their land. It was so bad that the Israelites had to hide in caves.
 Gideon was hiding from the Midianites while he was threshing wheat.  Suddenly an angel sat down and spoke to him. “Hello mighty warrior! God is with you.” (God knows who we can become with Him. Gideon was afraid and hiding from the Midianites. Far from being a mighty warrior!)
 "If God is with us then why isn’t He doing miracles like He supposedly did for our great grandparents.” Gideon snapped back.
 The angel didn’t answer him but instead told Gideon that God wanted him to save the Israelites from the Midianites.
 “Hold on!” Said Gideon. “ Our tribe is the smallest of all the tribes. My family is the poorest of all the families in our tribe. And I am the youngest member of my family! How am I supposed to save the Israelites?” Have you ever made excuses for not doing what God wants you to do? There isn’t an excuse in the world that God would accept.. God can use the smallest, the weakest or the poorest. (1 Corinthians 1:27-28) God can use you and He wants to use you. Don’t worry! He wants to bless you too.
 “God will be with you.” The angel answered.

 Gideon wanted to make sure that the message he was hearing was really from God. So placed some bread and meat in a basket on a rock. Suddenly the rock burst into flames. The meat and bread disappeared in the flames. Gideon looked up and the angel was gone. Gideon knew that the angel WAS from God. We don’t have to wonder if God is talking to us because we have the Bible. God speaks to us through the Bible.
 That night, God spoke to Gideon. “First I want you to destroy the altar that your father has built to Baal (a fake god that the Israelites were worshipping). Then I want you to use the rocks to build an altar to me. I also want you to cut down the Asherah poles (poles used in worshipping Baal) and burn them  on the altar". The next night Gideon did as the Lord had said. Gideon waited till it was late at night because he was afraid of what all the people would do to him if they caught him.

 The next morning, all the people saw that the altar to Baal had been destroyed. They knew it was Gideon! They wanted to kill him. They called him and his father out into the streets.
 Next time we’ll find what happens.