Samson

Judges 16:28-31 (NLT)

Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.” Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime.  Later his brothers and other relatives went down to get his body. They took him back home and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, where his father, Manoah, was buried. Samson had judged Israel for twenty years.

Victor Mature.  Do you know who I am talking about?  If not, either you are not a movie buff or too young to remember him.   Victor Mature played the role of Samson in the 1949 Cecil B. DeMille movie “Samson and Deliah” with Hedy Lamarr playing the role of Deliah.  I am not a movie critic,  but I believe that as Hollywood movies go, this movie was relatively faithful to the biblical account of Samson in Judges 13-16.  I recall my horror imagining the pain and suffering when Samson had his eyes gouged out when first seeing this movie when I was maybe 15 years old.  I also was inspired by the strength of Samson given to him by God that enabled him to do mighty things such as killing 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15) and pushing down the pillars of a temple that killed 3,000 enemies of Israel (Judges 16:27-30).

The story of Samson is one of the saddest stories in the Bible.  Although the specifics are different, Samson’s story reflects the stories of many people throughout history.  People whose adult lives begin so promisingly blessed (Samson was a judge of Israel for 20 years), then the consequences of bad choices and sin put their lives to ruin or near ruin, then some recovery as they return to God towards the end of life but never as blessed as the beginning.

Samson’s story is an example of a revered spiritual leader of Israel, but was morally weak and gave in to selfish lusts.  Haven’t we witnessed this in our lifetime—several times—where revered, successful, godly men gave in to lustful desires and their ministry was ruined.  We are aware of  public figure examples, but there are many more little known examples of men and women, spiritual leaders of their congregations, who have succumbed to moral failure.  

Samson demonstrated remarkable faith when he asked God to remember him again and give him strength to destroy the enemy.  God answered his prayer although Samson lost out on life's blessings he could have had.  

Did you know that despite Samson’s relatively sinful life, he is listed in Hebrews 11:32 as an example of faith along with other judges like Gideon, Barak, and Jephthah.  This truth can give hope to anyone who knows that you have fallen greatly from a life of faith to a life of sin.  Like Samson, you can return to God, live a life of faith for your remaining years on earth and be blessed eternally by the Lord.   God is always willing to forgive and even forget (Hebrews 8:12) what you have done wrong when you are willing to come to him in sincere repentance as Samson did.  Of course, it is always best that you not put yourself in a position as Samson did where he committed moral failure.  God readily forgave him, but Samson suffered greatly for his sins.

The main lesson to learn and think about is that if you willingly and repeatedly yield to temptations that lead to sin, you will suffer consequences even though God forgives your sin.  David is another example of this truth.  Is there any temptation in your life where you know that you are like Samson and need to repent and stop now before it’s too late?