Samson Agonistes

Judges

Samson Agonistes

April 24th, 1960 @ 8:15 AM

Judges 13-16

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD. And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion. So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so? And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people. And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend. But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her. And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives. Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock. And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi. And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread. And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.
Related Topics: Dagon, Marriage, Repentance, Samson, Strength, Tragedy, Judges 1960, 1960, Judges
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Dagon, Marriage, Repentance, Samson, Strength, Tragedy, Judges 1960, 1960, Judges

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SAMSON AGONISTES

Dr. W. A. Criswell

Judges 13-16

4-24-60    8:15 a.m.

 

You who are listening on the radio are sharing with us the services of the First Baptist Church in Dallas.  In following through the Book of Judges, chapters 13 through 16 tell the story of Samson.

One of John Milton’s epic poems is entitled “Samson Agonistes”—the agony of Samson.  It is one of the great, great poems of all time.  And that is where I got the title of the message this morning; Samson Agonistes, Judges 13 through 16.  And if you wish to open your Bible, you can easily follow this sermon out of the Book.  It starts off with that familiar pattern.  “The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years” [Judges 13:1].  That is a long, long time to serve under the dominion of an iron heel and a mailed fist, forty years.  And this is the way that the Lord began to deliver His people.

“And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife had no children, she could not bare” [Judges 13:2].  Then beginning at the third verse, you have a visitation from the Lord as He appeared to the wife of Manoah and said that she should have a child [Judges 13:3].  And then He gave specific instructions about that child; no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb [Judges 13:5]. Then in the seventh verse He says, “no wine nor strong drink, neither shall he eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death” [Judges 13:7].  The woman, the wife, went to her husband and told him of this unusual apparition from heaven.

And Manoah prayed to God that the vision, the visitation might be given unto him, and the Lord hearkened unto the prayer of Manoah, and the Angel of Jehovah came again, the second time [Judges 13:8-10].  And Manoah arose and came unto the Man; “And Manoah said to Him, Now, let Thy words come to pass.  How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?  And the Angel of the Lord said unto Manoah” [Judges 13:11-13]; and then He repeats the same instructions and interdictions that He had given to the woman [Judges 13:13-14].

The child is to be holy and is to be separated unto God from his birth.  He is to be a Nazarite.  He is not to drink any strong drink.  He is to obey all of the Mosaic injunctions of clean and unclean in his habits of eating, and diet, and life.  And the sign of his dedication unto God is to be the growth of his hair [Judges 13:5]. Now this is not an unusual thing.  All through the Scriptures there were Nazarites; all through the Scriptures.  Samuel was a Nazarite [1 Samuel 1:11].  Others dedicated to God, separated to God were Nazarites. There was in the law of Moses, a section of the legislation that pertained to the life of the Nazarite [Numbers 6:1-21].  So this is not unusual.  This is not strange.  It is not peculiar.  God just chose this life to be especially separated unto Him.

Now that Nazarite is a type, a symbol of the separation unto God of His people in this world.  The word for church, ekklēsia means “the separated ones.”  And as long as God has a separated people in the world, God seems to stay His hand of judgment.  But when God’s separated people identify themselves with the world, judgment always falls, always.

In the Book of Genesis, it says, “That the children of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all whom they chose [Genesis 6:2].  And God said, ‘My Spirit shall not always strive with man, a hundred and twenty years’” [Genesis 6:3].  A hundred and twenty years, and then the awful devastating judgment fell, and the living flesh of the earth was destroyed by the flood, only saved by the righteousness of righteous Noah [Genesis 7:1-24].

You know, I do not know of anything more devastating than to see God’s people intermarry with the people of the world.  You would think that the righteous would lift up the ungodly and that, by the intermarriage, the whole world would become godly.  Such is the depravity of human nature; and such is the power of the world.  Whenever you have an intermarriage like that, it does not lift up the ungodly, but the ungodly pull down the righteous.

There is no such a thing in this earth or in the history of this world as the intermarriage of godly and ungodly people lifting up this earth.  This is a tragic thing when one of our girls marries a godless boy or when one of our godly boys marries a worldly girl.  The Book says you are at liberty to marry only in the Lord [2 Corinthians 6:14-18].  A Christian is not to marry in the world.  He is not to marry an unbeliever.

One of the most sorrowful things in this earth is to see young people go down to a bar and sit there and find a wife at the bar; a date he picks up somewhere on the street, or in a honky-tonk, or a jive joint, or a den or a dance hall.  Those things lead to interminable heartache.

If we didn’t do anything down at the church but have young people societies—BYPU’s, Training Unions—where Christian young people could meet other Christian young people, the church would be well, well having a reason for existing.  And if we didn’t do anything in those societies and unions except introduce Christian people to one another, they would well apologize, make a defense for themselves.

This boy, this Nazarite, was to be separated unto God, just like all of God’s people.  He is a type of an ekklēsia, the separated ones.  They belonged to God.  And the tragedy, the agony of Samson is going to lie in his departure from the prayers and appeals of his parents, and of his people, and of his going down and out in the world to find his companion, his wife, his social life.  It will end in a tragedy, as it always ends in sorrow and heartache unspeakable.

Now, isn’t this the brightest promise though, the most glorious, glorious vista that you could ever think for?  Twice the unusual birth of the son is announced from heaven, and these parents wonderfully obey [Judges 13:2-14].  When we come down to the twenty-fourth verse, in the time allotted, “The woman bare a son, and called his name Samson” [Judges 13:24].  That is sunlight, it is built—his name is built upon the Hebrew word shemesh for “the sun.”  “And the woman bare a son, and called his name “Sunlight,” Samson.  And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.  And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan” [Judges 13:24-25].

I want to expatiate for a minute upon that little verse there.  And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan.  And throughout the story, every once in a while, you will find the little sentence, “And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him” [Judges 14:6, 15:14].

That is a fine illustration of the difference between the days of the Old Testament and the days of the New Testament.  In the days of the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came intermittently.  The Spirit of the Lord would rest upon Saul [1 Samuel 11:6].  The Spirit of the Lord would come upon Jehu [2 Kings 9:6-10].  Elisha, when he was called upon at a certain strategic time in the life of his people, said, “Play instruments, that the Spirit of inspiration may fall upon me” [2 Kings 3:15].  So they played instruments as Elisha waited for the Spirit of the Lord to come upon him.

But in the prophecy of Joel, “It shall come to pass afterward, someday, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And upon My servants and upon My handmaidens in those days, will I pour out My Spirit” [Joel 2:28-29].  For, said the third chapter of John, “God giveth not unto Jesus, unto Him, the Spirit by measure” [John 3:34].

It is not intermittent and it is not just so much, but it is illimitable.  It is as vast as the infinite reaches of Almighty God Himself.  And the Lord said to His disciples, “You tarry, until that Promise from the Father of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God comes upon you” [Luke 24:49].  And on the day of Pentecost, the great new era and age and dispensation of the fullness of the Spirit began [Acts 2:1-42].  Any man, anytime, anywhere, any child, any youth, any boy, any girl, any preacher, anybody can have as much of the Holy Spirit of God as his heart will open to receive, and as he by faith will take; anybody, anywhere, anytime.

“Upon My slaves, upon My servants, upon even My handmaidens, will I pour out the Spirit of God” [Acts 2:18], says the Lord in that day.  We can have as much of the Holy Spirit of God in this church as we are willing to receive.  There is no limit.  “For God giveth not of the Spirit by measure unto Him” [John 3:34].

In the fifth chapter of Ephesians, we are commanded to “be filled with the Holy Spirit of God” [Ephesians 5:18].  This is the new day, the new inspiration in which we live.  But in that day, the Spirit of God was poured out, was given, was fachti intermittently.  Today we can have God’s Spirit world without end, to the height and glory of the infinite itself.

Now, one other thing about this before we leave it.  “And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson.  And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan” [Judges 13:24-25].

I want to make a comment about what God’s Spirit can do for a man.  Wherein lay the strength of Samson?  Was he a giant physically?  He was not.  I suppose that Samson was the size of an ordinary man.  There is never an intimation in the Scriptures that he had an unusual size at all.  He was not like an Og [Deuteronomy 3:11].  He was not like Sihon [Judges 11:19].  He was not like Goliath [1 Samuel 17:4].  For the Scriptures say that the Philistines could not understand wherein lay his strength.  That is the reason they hired Delilah; to find out his secret, if Delilah could [Judges 16:4-5].

Now, had Samson been a giant, a tremendous Goliath, why, it would have been; you would not have had to seek why he was strong.  Just look at him.  He is seven and a half feet tall.  He weighs four hundred pounds, and his arms are like beams, and his hands are like hams, and he has got the strength of forty men.  You would have had no trouble finding out his secret at all had he been a giant, had he been a Goliath.  But the secret of the strength of Samson was a mystery to the Philistines and they could not fathom it out [Judges 16:4-5].

I give you an illustration of that exactly.  You take an ordinary wire and tie it to a big motor and see if that wire can turn that motor.  But you put on the inside of that wire a secret something that the scientists have no idea what it is; you call it “electricity.”  Nobody knows what electricity is.  Electricity is a name for something nobody knows what it is.  You put that wire to that motor and electrify it, and that wire will turn great wheels and industry and fill the whole world with strength and energy.

Now, that’s the way with the body and life of Samson.  He was an ordinary man, but when the Spirit of God came upon him [Judges 15:14], there was power in him beyond anything that the world had ever seen, and it was an astonishing phenomenon to the Philistines.  And that’s the Spirit of God in you and in us [Acts 1:8].

What God can do with just an ordinary man or woman or youth filled with a dynamic and the energizing power of the Spirit of God, is beyond anything a man could ever describe.  Like Moody one time said, “It is yet to be seen what one man wholly given to God could do for the world.”  Well, the secret of his power lay not in his physique.  It lay in the Spirit of the Lord that was in him [Judges 15:14].

Now we come to the touch of earth.  Isn’t this the tragedy of all sorrows, Samson. You know, Samson is like that vision that Nebuchadnezzar saw; that big idol and it stood upon feet that were part of iron and part of clay, the iron and the clay mixed together [Daniel 2:33-34].  That’s Samson; part of him the strength of God and part of him the weakness of clay.

Now the fourteenth chapter, “And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.  And he came up, and he told his father and his mother, ‘I have seen a woman’” [Judges 14:1-2], down at the bar on the dance floor.  She is a stripteaser and she pleases me.

“Then his father and his mother said unto him,” Son, “is there not a woman, among the daughters of the” First Baptist Church and among all of thy Christian kindred and people?  Why is it that you go down to the honky-tonk, and the dance hall, and the beer bar, “to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”  And Samson said unto his father . . . “she pleaseth me well” [Judges 14:3].  I like her act, never saw anybody that could undress like that.

I tell you to us to live in the little Christian circle like we live in, that seems preposterous but ninety-nine percent I suppose of this world is like that, is like that.  Whether the girl is a Christian or not, whether the girl is saved or not, whether she is devout or not, whether she is godly or not, that doesn’t matter.  What matters is, “I like her act.  “She pleaseth me well” [Judges 14:3].

 You know it doesn’t hurt if you have a Christian father and mother to listen to them.  They may sound “old fogeys,” and they may look as if they belong to another age and another generation and they should have died forty years ago—that is the way young people so often look on their parents—but it sure doesn’t hurt if you have a godly father and mother to listen to them.  Well, Samson wouldn’t do it.

Now I haven’t time to go through all that story of the wife at Timnath.  It finally ended in the Philistines burned her up, and burned up her father’s house, and burned up her family, and burned up the place where they lived, and destroyed everything about them, everything about them [Judges 15:6].  Now that is the end of the story.

The Philistines did it.  They did it to this woman at Timnath.  They did it and, of course, when they did that to the wife of Samson, well, you can imagine what Samson did to them.  On one occasion of hearing that story, he picks up the jawbone of a jackass and slays one thousand of them [Judges 15:15].  Why, the whole story is fraught with every ungodly angle and facet that you can imagine.

What would you expect in that kind of an environment, and that kind of a world, and that kind of a life?  What do you expect?  Ah, Samson, Samson!

Now in this little moment, we must go on.  And it came to pass afterward when his first wife was burned up by the Philistines and her father and father’s house and all that they had, when the Philistines burned up everything about her; both her person, and her family, and their possessions, the Philistines burned them up; “It came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah” [Judges 16:4].

Now I want to comment first about Delilah.  What was the matter with Delilah?  You listen.  Had Delilah been a fine wonderful girl, there would not have been anything wrong with Samson’s loving Delilah, nothing at all.

Rahab is an ancestress of the Lord Jesus [Matthew 1:5].  Ruth is an ancestress of the Lord Jesus [Matthew 1:5].  Both of them were heathen, pagan woman.  But Rahab, by faith, gave her heart to Jesus, and Ruth, by faith, took Christ as her Savior.  The Jehovah God, which is the only God, was Rahab’s God and she trusted Him [Hebrews 11:31], and was Ruth’s God: “Thy people shall be My people” [Ruth 1:16].

“Those folks at the First Baptist Church will be my folks” and the God they adore and love will be the God I adore and love.  There was not anything wrong that Rahab is in that genealogy of our Christ and that Ruth is there [Matthew 1:5].  Had Delilah been like that, there would not have been anything the matter about Samson’s loving Delilah [Judges 16:4].

Well, what was the matter of Delilah?  This is what was the matter with Delilah.  She was for sale!  “Give me eleven hundred”; this is Judges 16:5, “give me eleven hundred pieces of silver, and I will deliver him into your hands.”  And in the eighteenth verse: “and the lords of the Philistines came upon her, came up to her, and brought money in their hands.”  Here are the eleven hundred pieces of silver [Judges 16:18].

Now I don’t need to expatiate on this.  There is not anything that is as vile and low as a woman selling for money what God has bestowed upon her and to use the rich endowments of God for money.  “You give me money, and I will be in the dance show.  I will strip.  You give me money, and I will go to the stag party and put on the show.”  Or, “You give me money, and I will sell you my very person.  You give me money and I will betray to you; anybody who reposes love and confidence in me.  Give me money.  Give me money.”  That’s Delilah.  “You give me eleven hundred pieces of silver, and I will deliver him into your hands” [Judges 16:5].  That’s Delilah.

So, she enticed him [Judges 16:6], and he said, “You bind me with seven new bow strings,” you have it translated “withes,” green withes—”You bind me with seven bow strings that are still not dried,” and you would call it catgut.  “You bind me with green catgut, seven strands, and I am just like any other man” [Judges 16:7].  And she bound him [Judges 16:8].

“Up, the Philistines are here.”  And he broke them as though they were nothing.  She says, “You mocked me.  You mocked me.  Tell me the secret of your strength” [Judges 16:9-10].  And he said—and, oh don’t you tremble in your soul as he begins to speak about the locks of his hair?—he said, “If thou weavest the seven locks of my hair with the web”; the loom, “I will be just like all other men” [Judges 16:13].

And so she got him asleep and they wove the locks of his hair in the loom.  And, “Up, the Philistines are upon thee”; and he arose and with the hair of his head dragged around that entire loom as though it were nothing [Judges 16:14].  And she said, “You do not love me,” and she pressed him daily and vexed him to death [Judges 16:15-16].  Brother, what a nagging, nagging, unending soul of a female can finally do to the strongest constitution “and his soul was vexed unto death” [Judges 16:16].

Day and night, night and day, and in the middle and both ends and oh how she worked on him.  And finally he told her his secret.  “I have been separated [a Nazarite] unto God from my mother’s womb: if thou shave the locks of my hair, the sign of my dedication, I shall become weak, and be like any other man” [Judges 16:17].

And Delilah said, “Bring the money.  Bring the money!  I have found the secret.”  And the lords of the Philistines came unto her and brought the money, and put it in her hand; put it in her hand, eleven hundred pieces of silver [Judges 16:18].  And she, when he was asleep, cut off the locks of his hair, and said, “Samson, the Philistines be upon thee” [Judges 16:19-20].

And he said, I will go out as in other times, and I will slay the enemies of God.  And he shook himself to arise, “but he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.  And the Philistines took him.”  He was like any other man, “and they put out his eyes.”  They gouged out his eyes.  “And they bound him with fetters of brass”; and he ground, and ground, and ground in the prison house [Judges 16:21].

And in his humiliation, “The lords of the Philistines gathered themselves together” and said, let us make a great holiday “unto Dagon our god.  He is stronger than Jehovah, the God of the Jews” [Judges 16:23].

So in a great amphitheater that was built somehow where in the center were two columns that held it up; then out on either side, those great, great beams stretched on those two columns in the center of that amphitheater.  And the lords of the Philistines and all the great and mighty in the land of Philistia gathered in that amphitheater by the thousands.  And they hollered, and cried, and yelled, and said, “Bring Samson who represents the God Jehovah, bring him out.  And before Dagon our god let’s let him make sport” [Judges 16:24-25].

And Samson hears them as he is presented to them in humiliation.  Samson hears them make fun of the God of his father, and the God of his mother, and the God of his people.  When they made sport, Samson said to the boy who led him by the hand, “Would you put my hands that I may feel of it upon the pillars that hold up the house, that I may lean upon it?” [Judges 16:26].

So the boy took the blind Samson and put one of his hands on one of the pillars that he might feel of it; took the blind man’s hand on the other pillar that he might feel of it.  And Samson prayed, “O God just this one time, remember me, O God.  And he took hold of those two middle pillars upon which the house stood.  And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.  And he bowed himself with all his might” [Judges 16:28-30].

Did you ever wonder why it is in Hebrews 11:32, he is numbered among the heroes of faith?  By faith Samson, Abraham [Hebrews 11:17], Moses [Hebrews 11:24], Samson; why, bless your heart, let’s see you do that.  Let’s see you do that.  You grab a hold of one of those tremendous pillars that hold up a great building, and let’s see you bow against it in faith.

Why, you don’t have that faith.  I never saw anybody that did, but Samson did.  In his blindness and in his misery, in his agony and in his heartache, he put his arms on those pillars and believed in God [Judges 16:28-30].  And Samson was justified by faith [Hebrews 11:32].  And in his repentance, in his sorrow, in his humiliation, God heard his prayer and enrolled him among the heroes of faith [Hebrews 11:32].

While we stand and sing our hymn, somebody you give his heart to the Lord, somebody you to put his life with us in our church, while we make this appeal would you come and stand by me?  “Pastor, here I am.  I want to give my heart and life to Jesus.  I want to come into the fellowship of the church by baptism.”  How ever God shall say the word and lead the way, would you make it now?  While we stand and while we sing.

SAMSON
AGONISTES

Dr. W. A. Criswell

Judges 13-16

4-24-60

I.
Birth of Samson

1.    Announced by God
twice

2.    Full of golden
possibilities

II.
Nazarite

1.    Type of
separation

2.    Picture of God
separating out His people

3.    Tragedy is
Samson’s departure from God and departure from separation

III.
Samson was not a physical giant

1.    Philistines
could not figure out why Samson was so strong

2.    The Spirit of
God was the source of Samson’s strength

IV.
Touch of this earth

1.    Samson’s
arrogance

2.    Delilah

V.
Retribution

VI.
Restoration

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