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SAMSON: PART IV—Missing the Train

This morning, we are taking a look at the last days of Samson—not exactly

a Mother’s Day Sermon. But, I will say this—Samson was the kind of guy that

only a mother could love. If his singing voice was even a fraction of his great

strength, he would have made a perfect duet partner with Merle Haggard in

singing his famous lyrics: “Mama tried to raise me better, but her

pleading, I denied. That leaves only me to blame 'cause Mama tried.”1

And with that in mind, I want you to think about a theological concept.

This theological doctrine has been debated back and forth for years and it’s

called “predestination.” It probably originated with St. Augustine, but it is

especially identified with the 16th century Reformation leader, John Calvin. Now

you can find all kind of long-winded explanations as to what this means, but you

some fairly straightforward definitions of predestination appear in standard

theological dictionaries. For example, one definition reads like this: “In its

normal and proper sense, the term [predestination] refers to . . . the

knowledge and choice, made by God before time began, of . . . men as

to their final blessedness with God [i.e. those chosen to go to heaven]

or damnation apart from him [i.e. those predestined to go to hell and

there’s nothing they can do to prevent that].”2 Now, there are all kinds of

nuances and variations regarding this belief. Generally, Presbyterians are

strongly Calvinist and accept the very strict form of predestination; whereas

Methodists follow the teachings of John Wesley and reject any strict form of

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predestination. Baptists are typically on both sides of the fence, depending who

you talk to, but are mostly somewhere in the middle.

So when it comes to accepting the doctrine of predestination, I endorse

that middle ground claimed by many Baptists. I don’t believe in the strict

Calvinist view that says some people are automatically saved and the rest are

automatically destined for an eternal fiery fate. However, I agree with the

concept that certain things are predestined by God to happen. And by that I

mean that God has, even before the beginning of time, ordained that certain

events are going to take place in history and those events cannot be altered.

Most importantly for humanity, God has pre-ordained A PLAN whereby those

who put their trust in Him and are obedient to Him WILL BE SAVED. All have the

hope of salvation if they trust and obey. But, even those who claim to be

Christians, are destined for hell, if they do not follow God’s plan for their lives—

specifically, if they fail to heed His Word. I believe that there is no better

example of this in the entire Bible than in the story of Samson.

Last week, we saw how Samson gave in to anger and revenge thereby

departing from God’s plan. This week we’ll cover the conclusion of his story that

focuses on an even greater character flaw that Samson showed again and

again—his lust for women: more specifically, Philistine women. In Judges 16, we

again find him headed to a Philistine town—this time to the town of Gaza. So

why was he headed there? Verse 1 sums it up very concisely when it says: “One

day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to

spend the night with her.” Judges 16:1 (NIV) By now, we can’t be shocked by that.

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As we have come to see from his past actions, this is fairly typical “Samson-

behavior”—again, clearing disobeying God’s laws. But this little adventure was

going to expose Samson to some real danger because the Philistines leaders got

wind of the fact that Samson was in town, so they planned to kill him during an

early pre-dawn raid of the prostitute’s house. As it turns out, Samson may have

sensed something was amidst, so he gets up in the middle of the night and starts

to leave. The only problem was that Gaza was a walled city and at night the

massive gate leading into the city was closed. But, Samson, with his great

strength didn’t need any key to the gate—he just picked it up off of its hinges

and walked on out. In the morning, when the Philistines found that, not only

was Samson gone, but that they were missing one of the key parts of their

defensive wall—the gate—and they were furious and even more determined to

put an end to Samson’s continuous activities that were becoming very

embarrassing to them—you can’t just have some Israelite walking off with your

city gate!

But, what on earth were they going to do—it seemed to them that they had

tried everything, but just couldn’t overcome Samson. Except now, the

Philistines’ luck was about to change—because it is at this point that they learn

something that pricked their interest. It’s that pivotal verse in Judges 16:4 that

simply says: “Some time later, he [Samson] fell in love with a woman in

the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.” Judges 16:4 (NIV)

And when the Philistines heard about this, something must have occurred

to them. They finally saw a pattern to Samson’s behavior that presented his

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greatest weakness. Earlier, Samson had turned his back on God when, back in

Chapter 14, he had taken a pagan, Philistine wife. In this last incident, he had

just risked being killed by coming into Gaza to satisfy his lusts with a loose

woman. And here we have Samson falling in love with another woman—who

was in all likelihood a Philistine—the infamous Delilah.

So they go to Delilah and have a little proposition for her. Verse 5 states:

The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure

him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can

overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us

will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.” Judges 16:5 (NIV)

Historically, there were five principal Philistine rulers at this time. So if

each one offered eleven hundred shekels of silver—well, then you are talking a

huge amount of money. Some commentators say it could have been equivalent

to millions of dollars today.3 And with all this money at stake, Delilah keeps

after Samson relentlessly in an effort to get him to disclose the secret to his

strength. The first three times around, Samson toys with her. He just makes up

things and tells her they are the source of his strength. Finally, Delilah plays the

“love” card and confronts Samson with this line: “15 Then she said to him,

"How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is

the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the

secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him

day after day until he was tired to death.” Judges 16:15-16 (NIV) And with this,

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Samson finally gives in and says: “No razor has ever been used on my head

because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head

were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as

weak as any other man.” Judges 16:17 (NIV)

Now up until this point, Samson had broken everyone one of his Nazarite

vows—except one. The only vow that he had not broken was the one that said

he would never allow a razor to touch his head. And now he had willingly put his

hair in jeopardy by leading Delilah to believe that his hair gave him great

strength. Of course, his hair didn’t give him strength—God did. But God had

given him strength time and time again, as long as he was a Nazarite, in the hope

that Samson would finally use that strength in the way that God intended—to

lead the Israelites against the Philistines. And as Samson lie asleep in his lover’s

lap, a Philistine barber came and shaved all that long hair from his head. But,

Samson had constantly broken God’s laws and his Nazarite vows before and

these breaches never seemed to have any adverse effect on him. God surely

would overlook this most recent indiscretion as well. But, Samson was wrong.

God is patient, but eventually his patience comes to an end. When we reject

God’s ways and constantly “do what is right in our own eyes,” one day God gives

us over to our own ways—and the results are always tragic.

In this regard, it is funny that you could substitute Samson’s name into

some of the Scriptures in the New Testament and they would describe him to a

tee. For example, the 1st chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans would describe

Samson perfectly. Romans 1:21-26 (NIV) might read like this: 21 For although

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[Samson] knew God, he neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to

him, but [Samson’s] thinking became futile and [his] foolish [heart was]

darkened. 22 Although [Samson] claimed to be wise, [he] became a fool.

. . 24 Therefore God gave [him] over in the sinful desires of [his] heart to

sexual impurity for the degrading of [his body] with [the Philistine

women]. 25 [Samson] exchanged the truth of God for a lie. . . 26 Because

of this, God gave [Samson] over to shameful lusts. Or we could relate

Samson to Revelation Chapter 3, as Warren Wiersbe does in his commentary

where he so accurately states: “Samson's long hair was his ‘royal crown’

and he lost it because of his sin. [Then Wiersbe quotes from Revelation

3:11 (NKJV) which says:] “Behold, I come quickly! Hold fast what you

have, that no one may take your crown.” 4

No one took Samson’s crown from him—he gave it away. With his

head shaved, Samson was as weak as any other man. So the Philistines

were able to capture him, and they immediately gouged his eyes out—

which is ironic in light of the fact that their women had been oh so

“right in his eyes.” Then, they threw him in prison and forced him to

grind grain—which was humiliating because he was forced to do this on

his hands and knees with hand stones—which was typically the task of

a woman.

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And then comes that verse of hope—the one that simply says:

“But his hair started growing back.” Judges 16:22 (TEV) And we begin to wonder if

maybe God is going to give Samson another chance. The next thing we know is

that Samson is being dragged out into a Philistine religious celebration where the

they have gathered in this huge building and are shouting and laughing that their

god—Dagon—had overcome Samson, thereby implying that Dagon had defeated

Samson’s God as well. Judges 16:25 (NIV) describes it this way: While they

were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.”

So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

Now when it says Samson “performed for them”—he wasn’t singing “Mama

Tried,” or telling jokes or doing a dance routine. No, what was going on was a bit

more cruel than that. What they’d likely do was to force Samson to walk around

as they placed blocks in front of him to make him trip and fall—all to the

amusement of these Philistine crowds.

And then we come to the climatic part of the whole story. In the closing

portions of Judges 16 we read: 26 Samson said to the servant who held his

hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so

that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was crowded with

men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the

roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson

perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD,

remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more. . .”

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And with those words, the tension builds as we begin to wonder if this may

be where Samson will finally come forth with all his strength and do something

for God rather than to pander to his own lusts, or his anger or his desires for

revenge. Maybe—just maybe—Samson will use the strength God gives him to

scream out with all that was within him that Dagon is just an empty idol made of

nothing more that stone and wood, but that the God of Israel is the only true

God—the only One worthy of praise and worship. It may cost him his life—

surely the Philistines would kill him if he did this—but what a noble ending that

would have been—finally standing up for God, rather than feeding his own

immoral self-interests.

What will he do? What will Samson say? We are so hopeful with

anticipation! Perhaps Samson knew the encouraging words from the Book of

Job that say: “You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will

fulfill your vows.” Job 22:27 (NIV) But, then our spirits plummet as his motivation in

asking God for this strength is revealed when Samson says: 28 “Let me with one

blow GET REVENGE on the Philistines for my two eyes.” And we whence

because we see that Samson hasn’t learned anything; he hasn’t changed at all.

He is still the same self-centered, vengeful person that he has always proven to

be. And the final verses describe Samson’s last efforts on this earth as follows:

29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the

temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one

and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the

Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the

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temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more

when he died than while he lived. Judges 16:26-30 (NIV)

Earlier, I said that Samson’s story may best indicate the true nature of

predestination. Before Samson was born, the angel of the Lord appeared to his

parents and indicated that Samson would be a Nazarite and he “would BEGIN to

deliver God’s people.” This, in the Calvinist sense, would be the preordained part

of God’s plan. No matter what happened, this was going to occur because from

the beginning of time God had declared that this was going to happen. And for

all of Samson’s faults, the angel’s pre-ordained prediction of Samson’s role in

this story was completely fulfilled. He did BEGIN to show that these Philistines

were not invincible—they could be defeated. In fact, with God’s strength, a

thousand of them could be wiped out with nothing more than the jawbone of a

donkey. So, a Calvinist would be pleased to know that predestination was

affirmed here.

But, it was affirmed in a very different manner than most Calvinists would

admit. The overall purpose and plan of God was achieved—indeed, through

Samson many Philistines were smitten and this certainly began—as God had

planned—a process that would be taken up by Samuel and completed by

David—a process that would rid the land of Philistines. Yet, on a personal level,

God had given Samson a great opportunity. And that opportunity was to

accomplish this plan as a great Judge and leader of Israel—not as the egocentric,

lusting, angry and vengeful man that Samson chose to be. When the angel of the

Lord met with Manoah’s wife at the outset of this story, He gave her specific

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instructions as to how Samson should be raised—he must be raised as a

Nazarite, under all of the strict Narzarite vows. When we read this, we

immediately think that Samson will be a great leader, a great warrior—he could

have been an Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc and Gen. George Patton all rolled

into one: a military genius, with a religious zeal for the God of Israel, who would

be an aggressive attacker with no mercy on any of those who stood in the way of

God’s mission. But in this respect, Samson was a complete failure. Although

God’s plan proved to be predestined, Samson’s participation in that plan was up

to him. And he quite deliberately chose not to participate, and because of that

Samson’s salvation may very well be in doubt.

But don’t let your salvation be in doubt. Ask yourself what is the central

part of God’s pre-ordained plan? The answer is the birth, ministry, crucifixion

and resurrection of His Son, Jesus—who came and bore my sins and yours to

open the way to salvation—a salvation to those who both believe in Him and

chose to follow His commandments. There are other important parts to God’s

unalterable plan—in fact, we are studying parts of it in our Sunday School class—

the prophecies of the Book of Revelation and how this world is coming to an

end—fairly soon, I believe—and how Jesus will defeat Satan and death for a final

time, and how God’s Kingdom will ultimately be established here on earth.

That plan is it place. That plan can’t change. The most important question

that you can ask of yourself in this life is whether you are living your life like

Samson—following YOUR plan, doing what is right in your own eyes—or is your

life one of obedience to God and in sync with His plan? Under the plan that

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Samson chose, he wished to live among the Philistines and he chose to die

among the Philistines—and quite honestly, I suspect that that is who he will

reside with for all eternity, along with the prostitute of Gaza and Delilah.

But, God has a different plan for you. In the Book of Jeremiah, God tells us:

“I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of

you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” Jeremiah

29:11 (MSG) And that future is in Jesus Christ—chose His plan, participate in His

plan. For all of those who trust and obey Him, they are predestined to live

eternity within the Kingdom of God.

There is an old, old song written by Roy Acuff called, “Glory Bound Train.”

A few of the lyrics read like this: “Come and listen, won't you brother? /

Have you heard or don't you know / There's a train that's bound for

Glory / Will you ride it when it goes? /--- / Have you made all

preparations? / Reservations are complete / When you hear that

whistle blowing / Will you be there at your seat?”

Jesus has prepared a seat for you on that train. There was a seat there for

Samson too. But, Samson missed the train. Or, more accurately he thought that

he could ride his own train, and chose to do that. But, the truth is the tracks of

God’s plan were laid since the beginning of time—and their course never

changes—that is predestined. And, God’s train is the only one available; there

are no other trains. Jesus Christ has punched your ticket—and His did that on

the Cross. All you have to do is get on board. Or, like Samson, you can just

totter around the station until it’s too late—because one day that train is leaving

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the station—with or without you. Getting on board is a choice left strictly up to

you.

Let us pray.

Darvin Satterwhite, Pastor ©2016

May 8, 2016

Forest Hill Baptist Church

1Merle Haggard, songwriter, Published by Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.

2 Daniel G. Reid, ed., “Predestination,” in Dictionary of Christianity in America, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 927. 3 John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary – Old Testament,

(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 269.

4 Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary – Be Available (Judges), (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 153.