Samson - Part 1

So tonight we are carrying on with our series and judges and tonight and for the next two weeks

and we're going to look at Samson

The last judge in the book, but maybe the first one that comes to mind when we think of the judges and from Sunday school all the way up and

His life story is a favorite and it's a story

Although being a favorite that I think maybe

Confuses us ahead the older that we get and the more that we read it and his relationship with his parents and his wife

His relationship with Delilah and his superhuman strength and the riddles that he tells he's he's one of the more

unforgettable and figures in the Bible, so in chapter 13 which we have just read and

We are at the beginning of a new cycle the Israelites are

Worshipping false gods

They're worshiping foreign idols left right in center and

They are again oppressed and made slaves, but again God raises a judge

And he raises a savior a deliverer who is going to come and deliver them from their enemy and in this case

Tonight we're not really introduced to Samson. We're just introduced to his his parents. They are childless

and but the angel of the Lord appears in this chapter and

Tells his mother that she will soon have a son who will live by a certain code who will live by certain rules and

Who will save the people from the Philistines who are ruling over them? She tells her husband about it

He praised the gods that this this mysterious figure would appear again

and the angel does come back tells him to make a burnt offering and

When they make this offering the angel disappears in the flames

Up into heaven and it's not until all of that is passed that we are at last

introduced to Samson the judge

If you've been here for the rest of the series or you even read this book yourself

Looking back over the past 12 chapters

one of the recurring themes is

Is the people of God crying out?

Whenever the enemy oppresses them so they worship false idols

God gives them over to the enemy. They cry out and then God comes and saves them through through a judge

That doesn't that doesn't happen in chapter 13 and

No one cries out

It says in verse 1 that they were ruled over by the Philistines for 40 years. They live in misery and they live in trouble

And they are not free, but they do not ask God

to save them

There is very much a sense that this is the way it is and so the problem in chapter 13 the problem in

Samson's day is that the people are self-dependent

When they are dealing and facing trouble

They look everywhere apart from God to have their needs met

They give all their attention to idols that they have made for themselves and they are self-dependent and inward-looking

When life really gets miserable

They don't cry out

And yet God in chapter 13

Sends Samson. He sends the judge. He sends the deliverer still a

question and you can ask yourself

when reading judges 13 a question that we can ask ourselves tonight is

Are we self-dependent?

Even if you're a Christian you can ask this question. Am I am I self-dependent and the answer

likely at times is going to be yes. It's got to be yes if we are being honest

When I am upset and even miserable. Am I the first port of call?

Do I have the answers to my trouble?

Am I the one who will conquer my fear and worry about the next week month?

year

If your relationships with your friends and family bring pain if if you dread going into the workplace

And every every week if you find that the plans you want to work out are not working out

Are you self-dependent in that situation? Are you the one who will fix it? If you ask yourself that and the answer is yes

God gives you relief in chapter 13 to the self-dependent

God still brings hope

That is what happens in chapter 13. And so just two ways

Tonight to think about how he does that to the self-dependent God still promises to bring hope

He does that firstly

by taking the initiative

He God moves first before anyone else does

in the day of trouble and then secondly

God he reveals himself

And not necessarily his plans

So firstly God he takes he takes the initiative if you're a Christian and and you

get up every morning

And wondering if you could fix your circumstances or if for this past week

You've just been accepting that that life is just the way it is and there's no getting about it

And the truth is that God takes the initiative

God moves towards you

To bring joy into your life look at verse two there was a certain man of Zora

Of the tribe of the Danites whose name was Manoa and his wife was barren

And had no children

Manoa and the father here is a nobody

And his wife she doesn't even get named. She's even more of a nobody

In in this chapter and all we're told about her is the fact that she cannot have children

It says that she is barren the only two people we meet in this chapter apart from God himself

Are of really little significance

and

They have their status or their role completely

Minimised when you when you look at every scene that Manoa appears in in this chapter

and

The commentaries have different views in this but some some would say and it's quite likely that the writer

of the book of judges

He minimizes Manoa's

Character he shrinks his character

Deliberately in this chapter so in verse two he's only a certain man. It's not that important

And then when he eventually meets the angel of the Lord

Everything he says is downplayed or rejected

And in verse 12 he asks the angel what his son's mission is going to be the angel

Dismisses that question completely and just talks about Manoa's wife instead in verse 15

It seems that Manoa wants to cook for the angel that that offer is declined

Verse 17 he wants to know the angel's name

The angel doesn't give it or not directly at least and then when the angel disappears in the flames up to heaven

He is in complete fear

And it's his wife that talks him

Back to his senses his fear is lacking her faith. So in the little we know about Manoa

And in the little we know about Samson's father and his failed attempts

At having some control over what is happening in this chapter

And Manoa is very much a diminished or a dwindling

Figure in this story

And then there's his wife. She's not even named

and

We don't she is completely unknown and the most the most agonizing

aspect to her life the most agonizing aspect to their lives in this story is that

She is bad and she cannot she cannot have children and in this time in history and this ancient history and

in this culture

Being unable to have children is very shameful

and

It wasn't until the likes of sara or rebecca and genesis or manoa's wife here

It's not until they are able to have children that they have any sense of honor

In the culture that they are living in

So the role or the status that manoa and his wife hold

Is completely reduced in chapter 13. That's that's what the writer here is getting at for 40 years

And this land that is being controlled by the philistines

Their hands are in the lives of their enemy for most of their lives if not all of it they're living every day in trouble

And they are part of the self dependent inward looking people and it's in that very moment

In that very place

Where we have to ask how does god bring deliverance?

Well, he takes the initiative it's it's him who works before they could even think of how that would happen

It's him who moves to bring joy

Before it's even a thought in their minds

One writer says this god often begins precisely there

And human obscurity and hopelessness where there is no human energy or ability to serve as a starter

God will bring salvation out of nothingness

In in that nothingness twice the angel says

To manoa's wife behold you shall conceive and bear a son words that were impossible yesterday

Are absolute certainty today

For manoa's wife where manoa and his wife are nobody's god begins to work right in that place

In that situation he moves to give joy and hope to his people he moves first

To bring peace to them

The outcome for you

The outcome for us

Is that god still works he still moves in the same way

You might be anxious that how the next three months of summer are going to look for you you could be

unhappy in your job despite having to spend five out of seven days in that place

You might be finding your relationships with your friends or family extremely difficult

To work out to the point that maybe you do not know what to do

If you find that you are self dependent in in that place

If you find that you are the one who who can fix your trouble god says no

He says that's his job in your life

He is the one who moves to bring joy paul says this in in romans 15 it's the god of hope

uh who brings peace

To your soul the truth is that whether there is no hope where you look forward

And see no joy whatsoever

But it's in that situation that god moves first god takes the initiative he is the one who moves

For the self dependent and judges 13 for the self dependent today

and

god comes to you

He creates hope out of nothing he frees you he brings joy he takes the initiative when you can do

Nothing

So god god moves first secondly

and god god reveals himself

To manoa and his wife and not not his plans not down to the finest detail

so

When we are looking at manoa

And the way in which he tries to control this interaction with the angel

And the writer uses that to show us how insignificant this man is really

Um and in verse 12 is this question that he asks the angel which which gets ignored it gets completely

Bypassed the angel comes to his wife tells her how her son is supposed to live

He tells her that our child will eventually free the people or begin to free them

How that is done the specific details of that?

And that's the question that manoa has

He says in verse 12 now when your words come true

What is to be the child's manner of life and what is his mission?

and the angel's answer to that

Is to talk about manoa's wife the angel's answer to that is not to answer it at all

And you can ask why not you can ask why that is the case

Until you see what he does reveal

God reveals himself not completely but he reveals something of himself

And who he is and what he is like so

The main point here is that it's the angel of the Lord who appears to the couple

um

It's the angel of the Lord and the the keyword

In the Hebrew the keyword in the original language is messenger

The messenger of the Lord so in one way this is a messenger sent from God and in another way this messenger this angel

is unlike any other angel

Um in the bible he first appears in Genesis 16 to haigar a slave woman

Who who falls pregnant by her master Abraham?

and she is treated awfully by

Abraham's wife sara and so she runs away she flees she has to get away

And the angel of the Lord appears to her and tells her that

Her descendants from from this from this time of trouble her descendants are going to be more than she could ever number

He tells her that good will come from this and after the angel says this

She asks the question

Have I really seen him?

Who sees me

Is she's asking if she's actually seen God physically?

Is the messenger divine is the question has he been sent by God?

Or is this God appearing in physical form to manoa's wife? What what is vague?

um in the old testament

becomes clearer

When jesus appears in the new in john's gospel. He says what I say

Therefore I say as the father has told me

Jesus the son of God who is God

Speaks as he has been sent by God the father

It's high it's highly likely it's it's it's most likely in the early church and the church throughout history has supported this view

That the angel of the lord who appears in the old testament

Who appears in judges 13 is is jesus?

He is pre-incarnate. This is the physical the visible existence of jesus

Before he became human

God the father sends out the message and god the son brings it to the people he is the messenger

Manoa and his wife meet with god who reveals himself

To them so when Manoa asks god what his plan is for the unborn son. He doesn't answer it. He just shows

who he is

When Manoa asks the angel his name he doesn't give it. He just says that it's wonderful

And all he is saying is that it is it is too much to take in his name encompasses too much about him

And

He is far too holy and just and yet far too kind and gentle that this couple will ever fully understand it

God's concern and love towards nobody

Like Manoa and his wife and every other human is impossible to fully understand Manoa doesn't get his name

But he begins to work out who he's speaking to

He will not be fed but he asks for the sacrifice. He doesn't tell him his name

In other words, they can never fully know his character

And he disappears in the flames of the sacrifice and Manoa says in verse white two we have seen god

God god does not tell them

How the next 20 years of their lives are going to work out looking after this child

He doesn't tell them how their son will begin to save the people from the enemy. He tells them that it's far more important that they know him

And what he is like and know what the future is if if you are desperately trying to work out

How the rest of the year is going to look at if if you want the answers right now god

God calls you to be satisfied and knowing him

And not

Simply his plans it's far more important

That you wake up in the morning and remind yourself that god is so gentle and so caring towards you that they

That you will never fully understand it

The next few weeks and months of your life are completely outside of your control

But god thinks so much of you in that place

And he loves you so much that he protects you in ways that you will never know

To the self-dependent god says it's far more important that you know him

than know his plans

And so the question is the question from that is

Do you know him?

And not just know about him not just know often, but do you actually know him?

It is his love and gentleness real real towards you or do you reject it because you are the one who's in charge

of your life

Are you so self-dependent that it's enough to know about god and not really know him?

God calls you to trust in him so that you can really know him

And not just about him

When you prepare for the rest of the week when when you want to fix the trouble that's in it

God says be satisfied and knowing him rather than his plans see how gentle and loving he is towards you

Towards those who trust in him so loving and so gentle that it's too wonderful

for us to fully understand

So to the self-dependent

God moves first he brings hope where there is nothing

And he wants you to know him

Before you know his plans. Lastly, this is a sound that I want to hear from you

Before you know his plans lastly this this is a samsung series

So we should we should probably say something about samsung. There are so many parallels here between the sending of samsung

and the sending of jesus

And at the end of the chapter samsung is born and it says that god blessed him as he grew up and the spirit of god

stirred him

And and it's just telling us that his character is being molded from a young age. Maybe even as he's growing up

He realizes that he begins to realize this this gift of strength and health that he has

so much so much in this chapter

It points us to to believing that samsung really is going to be the greatest judge

Where all the other judges appear and deliver the people in some way

Their stories usually end in failure of some kind. We think surely not with samsung

His birth is announced by the angel god himself who appears twice

The angel gives his mother strict instructions how to raise her son. He's supposed to be a nazarite

um

Which just means well it comes from number six

Where there is a code or rules given to people who want to live especially close to god

Who want to have a more intense communion with him?

And so they're not allowed to drink from the vine. They're not allowed to have the haircut. They're not allowed to touch any dead body

and everything about this chapter tells us that samsung is the judge that we are waiting for at last

We are supposed to be excited when we read this chapter because

Because finally here is a true judge

Who is going to save the people properly

And yet we read the next three chapters and we are let down in almost every way

When we look at him

Maybe possibly more so than every judge before him samsung fails it just about every turn

Even even thing of the rules that he's supposed to live by the rules that are given to his mother

um

He he kills a lion

He kills a 30 men and then a thousand men and then thousands at the end of his life

His head is cut

Who knows what he did when he walked through the vineyard?

One writer summarizes samsung quite helpfully he says samsung will prove to be the judge who is the least interested

In being a delivery that the last hope of israel in judges is

a judge delivery who chases women instead of enemies and who avenges

And who avenges personal grievances instead of delivering his nation from the oppression

Because he fails

Because he only begins to save his people from the philistines

Because he only partly saves them from their trouble another judge needs to be sent and 1400 years later one is sent

And his birth is announced by an angel too many

And she is told that he will really be the savior

Offer people who are oppressed and where samsung was controlled by his impulses

Where he chased every woman who came across his way

And killed out of rage jesus walks into the wilderness and though he is tempted he gives up all the power in the world

Where samsung gets so angry and kills jesus asks the father to forgive those who are torturing him

Samson is supposed to deliver these self dependent people who have no problem living with the philistines and yet he fails and he dies

jesus went to the cross and he died not out of rage

Not out of revenge

But to deliver to save to really save everyone who would believe in him

Are you are you self dependent? Do you get up in the morning and immediately think how you're going to fix your trouble?

God took the initiative 2000 years ago

When he sent jesus

When you go into this week your hope the hope that god gives you this week is the fact that the perfect judge died and yet rose again

God took the initiative and the hope that he gives you

Is the fact that jesus died and rose again for all who would believe no matter how weak they are

Just to finish two things you could do this week

After after reading judges 13

We at times tend towards being self dependent if we're being honest we think we can fix our trouble when really we we cannot

And yet god promises deliverance

For that very pain

God promises to relieve us from that

And we can't do that

Pain and god promises to relieve us from that two things you can do

Do not do not be passive

the the opposite

of self dependency

Or self dependency is one extreme being passive is the other extreme and pro proverbs 16 9 answers that

The heart of man plans his way

But the lord establishes his steps

You can plan you can prepare for

How this week is going to look

You can think and pray about how to be active in your trouble, but you need to do that in a way that pleases god

In a way that acknowledges that his way is best his way is so much better than yours

That he might redirect your steps

Do not be self dependent going on what you think is best do not be passive either

And and said watch that your ways align with him secondly

Pray pray really specifically what what we read earlier or what we quoted earlier from paul and romans 15

Pray that the god of hope would give you peace

Pray that god would make jesus resurrection your greatest hope god takes the initiative he moves first he did it by sending his son

Your greatest hope is the resurrection telling you that nothing in your life is going to separate you from the life

that you have with jesus

And telling you that everything broken will be fixed so paul encourages us in romans 15 13 to pray that we would be filled with peace

The simplest the the best thing you can do this week is pray that god would fill you with peace

in the day of trouble

If you're self dependent pray and realize like samson's parents did

That your hope comes from someone else who someone who took the initiative someone who chooses to reveal himself to you every day

Though not necessarily his plans

Let's pray

Our lord and god we thank you for your word

We pray this week as we head into that we would be satisfied knowing you

And maybe not necessarily knowing the specifics of how it will look

But even in trouble even in our self dependency lord we pray

That we would turn to you and

Find hope in the fact that your son came and died for us so help us we ask for jesus' sake amen