Judges 16:1-3 Samson Part 7

This morning we will turn our attention to Judges 16 and see that the story of Samson in Judges 14-16 can be divided into three scenes.

• Scene 1 is Judges 14-15. The beginning of Samson’s ministry.

• Scene 2 is Judges 16:1-3. The middle of Samson’s ministry.

• Scene 3 is Judges 16:4-31. The end of Samson’s ministry.

Over the last couple weeks we saw that Judges 14-15 divided the beginning of Samson’s ministry into three different scenes and that each of these scenes build upon each other. For example,

• Scene 1 is in Judges 14:1-7

• Scene 2 is Judges 14:8-20

• Scene 3 is in Judges 15:1-20

You’ll recall that between each of the stories there was a pause in the action when we came to the words, “After some days...”. (14:8 and 15:1) These pauses were extended moments in time where Samson, and all the other characters in this story, could have looked to the LORD and His Word for wisdom. They could have repented, changed course, and gone in a different direction. We saw, however, that no one took advantage of these moments. Therefore, every story increased in intensity and drama as the consequences for their actions increased as well.

At the end of Judges 15 we read these words, “And he was very thirsty, and Samson called upon the Lord and said, ‘You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?’ And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.” (18-20)

Let me make three observations about vs.18-20. First, in verse 18 Samson is left exhausted and thirsty after defeating 1000 Philistines all by himself. This verse begins with these words, “And he was very thirsty…”. Consider how one moment Samson boasts of this great victory, saying in 15:16, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.”, but within moments he appears to be defeated, saying, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” Question: Have you ever felt like Samson, up one moment and down the next?

Why did Samson experience this? On one hand, he is exhausted and thirsty. On the other hand, he probably feels all alone. Where are those 3000 men of Judah are? In 15:16 when Samson made his boast was it to the air, or were there Judeans around him? They did not give Samson a weapon,or help him in the battle, and now no one is there to give Samson any water. It is in this moment that Samson cries out to God, saying, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

In this moment, like his father back in Judges 13:8, Samson prays. Samson has had many opportunities to pray before in this story, but it is only now that he prays. I think this implies that Samson was not a man who prayed often. It could be, like many people, Samson may only pray when he is desperate and has no one else to turn to for help.

Second, Samson was wise to pray because the LORD answers his prayer in a miraculous way. One of the exhortations in the story of Samson is that God’s people ought to pray. When they humble ourselves and pray God is gracious to answer prayer.

In 15:19a we read, “And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it.” What an amazing miracle. I bet this was good water, in the New Testament when Jesus turned water into wine the official commended the family by saying that they had saved the best wine till the end of the wedding feast. Similarly, this water that came fourth from the hollow place and we read in 15:19b, “And when Samson drank, his spirit returned, and he revived.”

The name of this place was called En-hakkore (15:19c) which means ‘the spring of him who called’. I wonder if this means that this water continued to flow from this place as a testimony to all of what the LORD had done? In Judges 14:8 Samson returned to see the lion that ‘he had killed’, but would he ever return to this place to remember what God had done for him there? Probably not! Samson is a man that seeks refreshment from the world more than from the LORD.

Third, we read in 15:20 these words, “And Samson Judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.” In the past these words have been associated with the phrase, ‘...and the land had rest for ______ years.’, but not this time. After Samson dies Israel will still be dominated by the Philistines. This is seen in the words, ‘Samson judged Israel in the days of the Philistines…’. This period of time is described as the, ‘days of the Philistines’. The Philistines were dominating the culture within the Promised Land. May the church never be described with the culture of this age. The church is to be ever reforming, ever sanctifying, ever increasingly holy. (Romans 12:1-2)

Usually these words show up in the Book of Judges at the end of the story about that particular judge. Therefore, when we come to the end of Judges 15 and read verse 20 we expect the story about Samson to end, however, as we begin to read Judges 16 we discover that the author of Judges has more to say about him.

As we come to Judges 15:18-20 we see that these verses provide another break in the story where we saw Samson praying for the first time. Will this lead Samson to take a totally different path? One prayer can change something, but a life of prayer changes the person. Has a life of prayer changed Samson?

Judges 16:1-3 gives us the first of two stories that reveal whether or not Samson’s life has become more God-centered. We read, “Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. The Gazites were told, ‘Samson has come here.’ And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, ‘Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.’ But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.”

Judges 16:1 begins with the words, “Samson went to Gaza…”. If you had never read this story before what what would you be anticipating the next words would say? We just saw Samson pray and then God did a miracle; therefore, one might hope that Samson is going to Gaza to display things that are consistent to the calling that the LORD had given to him. (13:5)

However, Samson has given us lots of reasons to question his character and wisdom in the past. Because of this we may not be so optimistic about what we may read next. As we continue to read we see that Samson continues to sin. Samson continues to do what is right in his own eyes. (14:3,7) Samson’s life during those 20 years is still not characterized by conformity of heart, mind, and body to the will of God. His life is not characterized by transformation to God’s Word, but by conformity to the world around him. We read in Judges 16:1, “Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.”

I often thought about how the LORD kept Samson from marrying that Philistine woman which would have been against His revealed will in scripture. Many of us can testify first hand how the LORD has often preserved us from sin. And yet, there are other times that He allows us to engage in sin if we are not careful to walk in the means of grace that He provides to strengthen us. When we neglect these things we will often be overcome by the power of sin in us, in the world, and those temptations that Satan puts before us.

Samson goes to Gaza. This was one of the five leading cities among the Philistines. The name Gaza means ‘strong’ and it speaks of the fact that it was a very strong fortified city with a strong military component. This strength was supported by the strength of their economy because they were situated on a Mediterranean trade route which made this city very wealthy.

If Samson went to spy upon this city he gets side tracked pretty quickly and he engages in sinful things. This is what happened to Samson between Judges 13:24-25 and Judges 14:1-5. While Samson is sinning the word gets around that he is in the city. We read in v.2, “The Gazites were told, ‘Samson has come here.’” Then we read, “And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, ‘Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.’”

When the residents of Gaza hears that Samson is in the city they respond in several ways.

• First, they do not hesitate, but respond quickly to the threat that is among them. We read, “And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night…”. I would assume that there was quite a contingency of soldiers brought in to do this for two reasons. First, the threat was great, Samson is in the city! Second, this is a rich and powerful leading fortified town. They would have had a large contingency of soldiers there. They knew what Samson had done to those 1000 men in Judges 15.

• Second, they came up with a plan. They intend to surrounded the place, set up an ambush, and lie in wait till morning.

• Third, they make clear intentions, saying, “we will kill him”. Some threats are so great that you simply have to try to take them out when you are given the opportunity. Observation: The Philistines saw Samson as a threat, but Samson never could see his sin as a threat.

Because of the way the Philistines are reacting we might think that Samson will soon find himself in a hopeless situation, but while these things were being put into motion Samson is already on the move. We read, “But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.”

Imagine the scene that has just been described in verse 2. Samson is in one of the leading towns of the Philistines. This is a fortified city, a rich city, a city with a strong military force. Therefore, they would have wanted the bragging rights of having said that they had killed Samson. Therefore, they would have planned some big operation , spared no expense, and left no stone un-turned to kill their enemy.

When the leaders of this city hear that Samson is in the city they take decisive and immediate action. This is their chance to defeat their greatest enemy! The word goes out and everything gets put into motion. What could go wrong!?

Well, while this is happening Samson was sleeping but he unexpectedly gets up and leaves the city. We are not told why Samson does this, but I think it is safe to assume that Samson is being led by the Spirit in this whether he knows it or not. There are times in this story when the Spirit and His work is expressly mentioned, but there are other times when the Spirit is not mentioned. This is one of those moments when the Spirit is providentially working and Samson may not even know it.

Because of this Samson is staying a step ahead of his enemies and it appears that he arrives at the gate before everything is set up. Instead of just leaving, Samson makes a mockery of the Philistines and the strength of this city by removing the gates from the entrance to the city. He leaves the city vulnerable to attack. Again, we read, “...he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.”

Hebron was 35 to 40 miles away from Gaza and there is a debate as to just how far Samson carried these doors. Some argue that he did not necessarily carry them very far, others argue that he probably carried them half way, 20 miles or so. I personally don’t have any problem with believing that Samson, filled with the Holy Spirit, could have carried these doors as far as Hebron. This would have been quite a demoralizing act for the Philistines. It would have been a national humiliation for them!

Imagine all those overly excited Philistine soldiers showing up to the gates of the city where they believe they will kill Samson, but when they arrive the gates are gone. They look around for them but they are nowhere to be found. When they do find them they are 35 to 40 miles away by a large Israelite town.

Application:

In this story Samson was surrounded, trapped, and marked for death. However, Samson walks out of Gaza unharmed and carries away the very thing meant to confine him. Similarly, Jesus was surrounded by His enemies and marked for death. No one thought that He could escape and that all hope was lost. However, on the third day Jesus walks out of the tomb, leaves behind the grave clothes, and frees believers from sin’s prison (Romans 6:6–7). In our story Samson’s escape anticipates the greater liberation Jesus brings to his people.

In this story Samson tears the gates off the walls and carries them far away. This leaves the city exposed to danger. Similarly,

• Jesus breaks the gates of Hades. Matthew 16:18- “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”,

• Jesus disarms rulers and authorities. Colossians 2:15- “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”,

• Jesus destroys the power of death. Hebrews 2:14- “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”.

Samson lifts a crushing burden of these doors, carries it far away and up a hill, and in this act he humiliates the enemy. Similarly, Jesus carries the cross up the hill of Golgotha, bears the weight of sin, and triumphs over the enemy. Although Samson prefigured these things we see in this story that he never applied these truths by faith and had great victory over sin that leads to sanctification. Let us look to Christ and lay aside these sinful weights and run our race.