Judges Part 3: Samson预览

Samson’s Tragic End

This final scene shows Samson’s arrogance on full display. Alone, unarmed, he walks into enemy territory, fearing no one and nothing, to spend time at a brothel.. Oddly, he is likely the only believer in town and perhaps the worst missionary in the history of the world. In the morning, the strong man pulls up from the ground the city gates and the posts on which they hung and carried them to a hill, perhaps to make sure that his mocking of his enemies could be seen by all.

Unable to be defeated by armies of men, Samson is about to be chopped down by one woman, as we see starting at Judges 16:4. Curiously, this woman lives down in a valley, closer to Hell, and the man with a strong body and weak mind is carelessly wandering into disaster.

The capture of Samson was regarded by his enemies as their demon god defeating his God. For them, the entire conflict was spiritual warfare. There are two ways that Satan seeks to defeat you: One is to overwhelm and destroy you; the other is to seduce and entice you.

What we hate can destroy our life. So can what we love. In Samson’s day and our own, comfort, pleasure, entitlement, prosperity, and ease make us soft and set us up to be seduced and then destroyed. In our day, this includes addictions of every kind, causing people to be destroyed by no one but themselves.

This is also the story of Samson. He had become so callous to the presence of God in his life that “he did not know that the LORD had left him.” In the final scene of his life, Samson cries out to God for only the second recorded time.

While ancient, Samson’s story is also incredibly relatable. Not only do we live in the days of the judges, where everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes; we have been like Samson, and all know believing leaders who have followed his tragic example.

After 300 years of wars and 12 judges, nothing really changed. Like gravity, evil keeps winning and pulling everyone and everything down toward Hell. This sets the stage for the rising up of King David, from whom would come the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, who alone is the perfect leader, able to defeat Satan and sin and to deliver us from ourselves. The little story of Judges is part of the big story of Jesus, who came not just to die for Samson’s sin, but to die for our sin!

What is most shocking for you to learn about Samson that you did not know before starting this study?

Thanks for studying Samson in Judges 13-16 with us. For more free resources, visit realfaith.com.