Tonight, I’m going to talk about the strongest man that ever lived; someone dynamic, powerful and resilient. A man capable of carrying extreme loads without flinching. His enemies cringe before him. He sends all his foes into panic. Two weeks ago I was speaking about heroes. That’s what I’m talking about now - someone you look up to, a legend that inspires admiration.
But first of all, before we look at Samson and Delilah, let’s bring ourselves up to date with the story so far, which sets the stage for this chapter. Samson, you’ll remember, was born to parents who, up till that time, had been unable to have children.
He was set apart as a Nazarite, meaning he was special, consecrated to God, dedicated to his service. He lived under constant threat of the Philistines. They were a murderous and idolatrous people who, fuelled by a cult of their violent god Dagon, were a scary people to have as overlords. God anointed him with incredible physical strength for his mission to subdue the Philistines.
But instead of describing a Samson who restores order, who overcomes the Philistines and brings settlement, chapters 14 and 15 of Judges paint the picture of a petulant tit-for-tat conflict and revenge attacks that resolve nothing. Samson, if he’s not spending his time partying with his enemies, is picking out victims at random.
A couple of years ago, I watched Stephen Spielberg’s film ‘Munich’. It’s based on the terrorist outrage at the 1972 Olympic Games, when Palestinian extremists from the Black September organisation took hostage, and eventually killed, a dozen Israeli athletes. The film concentrates on the aftermath and in particular the Israeli response codenamed Operation Wrath of God. Mossad agents are given the mission of tracing the men responsible for Munich and eliminating them one by one. Which is what they do; in London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Beirut… all over the place.
But the film shows that their mission only provokes a new wave of attacks against Israel around the world. As for the agents, they begin as the hunters but end up in mortal fear of being tracked down themselves. The film ends with the team leader on the edge of paranoia.
Watching that film, I couldn’t help but think about Samson in Judges 14 and 15 and the situation in the Middle East today. 3,000 years on, it’s exactly the same cycle being repeated between Israel and Palestine, the direct descendants of Samson and the Philistines. It’s the same DNA.
And we saw last week how cycles of vengeance end in tragedy. If you’ve ever politely asked noisy neighbours to turn their music down – and they just turn it up - you know what it is like to contemplate settling the scores. Samson’s life is a reminder that getting even doesn’t work.
It feels good to write a really sarcastic and vitriolic e-mail to someone who has treated you badly, doesn’t it? Oh, the satisfaction when you click ‘send!’
Kathie once wrote a very stroppy letter to our bank after they charged us for an error they had made. I said to her “You can’t send that!” She said, “Why not?” So I said, “It’s written on notepaper with a Bible verse on it!” I wouldn’t have minded if the letter was written on plain paper! She didn’t send it but writing it helped get the anger out of her system.
As someone once said, when feeling cross, “Always apply the space shuttle principle; count down before blasting off!’ If Samson had always done that maybe history would have turned out differently. So that’s the background. Chapter 16 is really important because it gives us an insight into the root of all the rest, from Samson’s point of view. It helps us understand his indiscipline, his chaotic lifestyle.
The Flesh – The Root of Samson’s Indiscipline
When we open the chapter, Samson is in Gaza. True to form, he spends the night there with a prostitute. Tellingly, v1 says ‘he saw a prostitute and spent the night there.’ Samson always was led by his eyes.
How ironic that by v21 those very eyes that led him astray are gone. But, even here, even now, for reasons buried deep in the unfathomable supplies of God’s grace, Samson is still anointed by God. With his awesome, mighty strength, he pulls the city gates, their door posts and the metal bar that secured them, off their hinges and out of their sockets. The commentaries say that these massive doors would have been made from solid timber, studded with thousands of nails and covered in metal to prevent them from being destroyed by flaming arrows. Samson tore all that off the walls.
That feat alone is superhuman. But Samson, apparently just to make sure people got the message that he was not a weed, carried the lot from Gaza to Hebron. Hebron is over 50 kilometres from Gaza - and it’s mostly uphill.
Strongest man that ever lived? It’s hardly surprising that on three separate occasions in this chapter a band of armed Philistines did not dare take him on, even alone, exposed and defenceless - until they learnt the secret of his strength. There was something so unusual about Samson’s physical capability that only supernatural strength could explain it.
And all this despite apparently looking quite normal; as I said about a few weeks ago in case you were away, don’t be fooled by those pictures of Samson looking like the Incredible Hulk. If Samson had a physique like that, Delilah would never have asked him in v6, “Samson, what is the secret of your great strength?” It would have been self-evident. Samson was probably nothing special to look at.
The mystery behind his strength was not his muscle bulk; it was God’s promise to bless him as a dedicated, consecrated individual.
Remember; the spiritual battles you are called to fight and win will be in the strength God supplies, not in your own.
The Apostle Paul was a winner. He wrote about a third of the New Testament, planted churches all over the Middle East and Southern Europe, healed the sick, raised the dead and probably hit holes in one and played lead guitar with his teeth as well! How did he do all that?
Here’s his explanation; “insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities and distresses.” And he’s not talking about obstacles. He said that those weaknesses were the prime reason why the power of Christ showed so clearly in his life. “Insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities and distresses.”
Those things throw us on to God’s mercy until we are thoroughly dependent on him alone. This is what Paul is talking about when he says that the power of God is made perfect in weakness. It goes some way to answering questions like these:
- Why am I bullied and teased at school?
- Why can’t I find a job?
- Why do I feel trapped in this unhappy marriage?
- Why do I feel so tired all the time?
- Why is nothing working in my life?
- Why is my sister seriously ill?
- Why do I have no friends at work?
“Insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities and distresses.” “My grace is sufficient for you, it’s enough, when all is stripped down, it’s all you need. When you get to the end of your strength, God’s strength is all you’ve got left.”
Samson wasn’t satisfied by God’s grace though. Samson needed to satisfy his passions and desires as well - and even his amazing strength didn’t always bring glory to God.
Chapter 16 shows that, even though he was bold before men, he was powerless before women. In this chapter this unaccountable, proud, self-absorbed, disproportionately violent, ungrateful and sexually loose man finally finds out how strong he really is.
Cecil B. De Mille’s 1949 epic ‘Samson and Delilah,’ was a box office hit, but it was trashed by the critics. One, for example, dismissed it as “the most expensive haircut in history.” Another trashed it for its shallow excesses (containing more chariots, more temples, more peacock plumes, more beards and more sex than ever before in the history of cinema).
As for De Mille, he said this; “We’ll sell it as a story of faith, a story of the power of prayer. That’s for the censors and the women’s organizations. For the public it’s the hottest love story of all time!”
But the thing is, it’s just not. For Samson, though it says in v4 that he fell in love with Delilah, by v16 he was tired to death of her. How steamy is that? He spends his time winding her up. She’s just another chick in the long line of easy women he hangs out with. The hottest love story of all time? Give me a break.
She spends the entire chapter nagging him, grinding him down, plotting his capture and public humiliation. Oh, she probably kisses him with all the passion he wants, but we know she’s faking it. She’s arranging for her mates to put his eyes out. For money what’s more. The hottest love story of all time? I don’t think so.
In a word, as Terry said a few weeks ago, Samson’s Achilles heel is what the New Testament euphemistically calls ‘the flesh.’ Or in the version we have here in church ‘the sinful nature’. It’s fallen human nature under the power of sin.
It is the inclination in our make up to slide away from the right path; it’s like a traitor within who is in league with an enemy outside. It’s when I’d much rather read my books and magazines than God’s word. It’s that disposition we all have to resist or at least neglect God in our lives. Romans 7:25 warns that it has a power to enslave people. Romans 7:18 says that there is nothing good in it.
The flesh is what makes Delilah nag and manipulate and whinge instead of having a straight, guilt-free, conversation. Proverbs 19.13 says that a nagging wife is like a constant, dripping tap. Ladies, it’s excruciatingly annoying. Don’t do it!
It’s the flesh that makes Samson lie to her and play with her instead of simply saying, “Look, I’m not telling you, it’s a secret, don’t ask again.” Guys, teasing is patronising and ungodly. Don’t do it either!
It’s the flesh in Delilah that takes one look at the money in v5 and decides it’s more important than the relationship. It’s the flesh in Samson in v17 that gives away his priceless secret just for a bit of peace and quiet. It’s “Hey, I just can’t be bothered any more to uphold God’s standards in my life.” That’s the flesh.
For men, lust tends to work through what they see. That’s why Job said, “I made a pact with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” (Job 31.1)
Nicky Lee in the Marriage Book writes this; “Many men at some point in their lives, often during their school days, have been exposed to pornography… The danger of pornographic material is that it arouses our sexual desires in a way that leads to lust rather than to a loving relationship. It can easily become an addiction.”
For women, it doesn’t usually work the same way. Sila Lee, in the same book, writes this: “A woman can become addicted to fantasy through what she sees or reads, making real life seem dull, routine and empty of the love and intimacy she craves. Many popular novels encourage such fantasising. But seeking to escape from reality on a regular basis through what is often regarded as harmless entertainment can be dangerous for a marriage.”
The New Testament emphasises the need to train our minds. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things” (Philippians 4.8).
John Wesley once preached on the flesh and asked some provocative questions: “Have you betrayed your own soul to temptation, by eating and drinking to the full, by needless familiarities, by foolish talking, by levity of dress or behaviour? Have you used all the means which scripture and reason suggest, to prevent every kind and degree of unchastity?”
It hardly needs saying, but this is a difficult age for young people to think christianly about the opposite sex. And not just young people actually. Probably most of us, if not all of us, at some time in our lives, have battled with these issues.
In fact, let’s have a show of hands! Or perhaps not… No, of course we struggle. And yet the hormones that charge round our bodies, the libido we all have, our appetites and desires, our passions and drives were all designed by God. It is not sinful to appreciate the beauty of an attractive person of the opposite sex and I don’t think we should feel bad if we do. That’s God’s handiwork!
Food is good for you and overeating is bad for you. A little wine is good for the heart, too much is bad for the liver. Sex in the context of God designed it for is a vital component of building a healthy relationship of absolute trust. And when it is removed from a committed, enduring covenant, while usually pleasurable, it gets devalued and often ends up in unwanted children, sexually transmitted diseases and less stable relationships.
Jesus set the bar high when he said that looking at a woman lustfully is committing adultery with her in the heart. The Message paraphrase of Matthew 5.28 is brilliant; “Don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices - they also corrupt.”
By Jesus’ standard, who can boast tonight?
I’ve known people who like to spend the first six days of the week sowing their wild oats and the seventh praying for a crop failure. And they say, “Couldn’t we have a 21st century edition of God’s law and call it the Ten Suggestions?”
Let's be real. By Jesus’ measure, we all fall, just as spectacularly as Samson, the man who never had the stability or the gravitas of a real man of God and never fulfilled his potential. And what becomes of us if we have fallen?
Ending
I told you at the beginning that I would talk about the strongest man that ever lived; a tough and resilient man. One capable of carrying heavy loads without flinching, a man who sends panic into all his enemies, someone you look up to, a legend that inspires awe.
I wasn’t thinking about Samson. He must be one of the weakest men in God’s word. He was easily led and inadequate. A slave to all his passions, his outbursts and his excesses, he never mastered anything, least of all himself. He had zero character and no moral fibre. I wasn’t thinking about Samson at all.
I was thinking about the one we have come to worship tonight; the Son of Man, the Son of God; Jesus Christ. The cross behind me is our constant reminder of the heavy price he didn’t flinch from paying - in full - to deliver us from the powers of darkness and win for us peace with God.
If you were the only person on earth who needed to be freed from the tyranny of the flesh and the slavery of sin he still would have done it just for you.
The strongest man who ever lived was tied to a post and relentlessly flogged, his back torn open from 40 lashes. They take him out onto the street and load the bar of his cross on his shoulders.
- He climbs the Via Dolorosa leading up out of the city before a jeering crowd
- Unlike Samson, he refuses to return evil for evil
- He, at no moment, attempts to flee the hell that awaits him at the place of the skull
- Nor does he shrink back when they press a crown of thorns upon his head
- He determinedly stretches out his arm to be nailed down to his cross
- He can, if he wants to, call 10,000 angels to get him out of there - and he doesn’t do it He carries, alone and abandoned, the intolerable weight of the sins of the world
- He takes on himself our sicknesses, our sorrows, our sin and our shame
- He forgives all those laughing at him, insult him and spit at him
- He takes the blow of indescribable pain and distress
- He cries in anguish as his Father turns his face away and is torn from his presence
- Even then, in the jaws of death itself, he doesn’t give in – he goes on to the end
- He disarms, on the cross, the principalities and powers of evil
- He makes a public display of them, prevailing over them by his death and resurrection
- He plunders hell and crushes Satan under his feet…
That is the strongest man that ever lived, full of grace and truth.
He knows everything about of you; your highs and your lows, your great strengths and your lamentable weaknesses, that which you are proud of and that which you are not - and, amazingly, he still loves you just as much.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 24th October 2010
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