The Life and Times of Samson
Sad Confessions from the Cleft of the Rock
Judges 15:9-12
In Matthew 12:34, Jesus to the Pharisees, “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Simply stated, Jesus was saying that what a man says and talks about is an indicator of the heart. Whatever is in the heart is revealed by the mouth. As the old adage says, “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket”.
If a person's heart is full of Jesus, he or she will talk about Jesus. If a person's heart is full of the world, they will always be talking about the things of the world. If a person's heart is full of anger, hate, and revenge, they will speak negatively of others. If we will listen to a person talk, we will learn what is important to them. We will learn what they believe and how they feel.
As we continue looking at the life of Samson, we find Samson taking refuge in the cleft of the rock of Etam. We learn that at the close of verse 8.
I didn’t touch on it last week, but the phrase about the hip and thigh was used in reference to a wrestler who is in an all out attack against his opponent and the indication is, it was a great slaughter.
You may remember the background is this ongoing, back and forth battle between Samson and the Philistines.
It began with a silly wager based on a riddle that Samson proposes to the guests at his wedding, and has now escalated to the destruction of the Philistines crops, the death of Samson’s wife and her dad, and the slaughter of an untold number of Philistines. And now we find Samson dwelling in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
1 Chronicles 4:32 indicates that Etam is located in the area occupied by the tribe of Simeon. It was a natural stronghold. Perhaps Samson retired to the cave of Etam just to get away from everyone or he expected retaliation from the Philistines for what he had done. If he was expecting retaliation, he was not disappointed.
Because verse 9 tells us that is exactly what happened. The Philistines came looking for a fight. The Philistines were not about to take what Samson had done lying down. It was now their turn to get even.
Now, in the context of all of this, there are three statements or confessions that are made that are very insightful. Two of these confessions are made by the children of Israel and one is made by Samson.
I want us to take a look at these three statements tonight and see what we can learn.
Verses 9-12
I want to call these statements confessions because in making the statements they are making us aware of where they are spiritually. First of all, notice
1. The Confession of a Bound Life
The presence of this large number of Philistines caused the children of Israel concern.
verse 10
There was no doubt that when they saw this large number approaching they feared that the Philistines had come up against them.
Even though they were told by the Philistines that they had come for Samson, there was still a fear that they might take their anger out on them.
verse 11
What a tragic confession is made by these three thousand men of Judah--we are ruled by the Philistines.
The word “rulers” describes how they were under the control and domination of the Philistines. What a tragic state for God's people to find themselves in, dominated and controlled by their enemy. The children of Israel had once lived in Egyptian bondage, but God had delivered them and brought “out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand” (cp. Exo. 32:11).
He had brought them out of the land of Egypt and had brought them into the land of Canaan. He had brought them out of a life of being overcome to a life of being an overcomer.
And yet here they are being ruled by the Philistines. They are confessing to living far beneath their spiritual privileges and God's plan for their life. God did not bring them out in order for them to be again dominated by their enemy. He brought them into the land of Canaan that they might live victoriously over their enemy.
A believer is always living beneath their spiritual privilege when they are living a life that is dominated by the world, the flesh, and the devil. The Bible says in Romans 8:37 that “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” The Apostle Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ.”
The Bible says in 1 John 5:4, “For whosoever is begotten of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
The Bible is very clear that as a Christian we can live victoriously, rather than dominated by our spiritual enemies.
In the opening chapter of Reginald Wallis' book entitled The New Life he asks: “Should a Christian expect and experience constant triumph, every day and all day, over sin and self? Is the victorious life really practical, or is it just an attractive subject for conference gatherings and an in interesting topic for discussion? Is it merely a pet theme for extremists and fanatics, or is there actually a sane, Biblical experience of practical triumph within the reach of every believer, irrespective of temperament, circumstances, environment, or changing times and conditions?”
The answer to his questions is YES! Hallelujah, YES!
One translation of 2 Corinthians 2:14 reads like this: “Thanks be unto God, who leads me on from place to place, in the Train of His Triumph to celebrate His victory over the enemies of Christ.”
Listen: No believer has to live ruled by the Philistines of this life--the world, the flesh, and the devil. We can and should live victoriously over them rather than dominated by them.
And yet, that is exactly where we find the children fo Israel. Why were they there? I think we find the answer in
Leviticus 26:14-15, 17.
God's promise was that if they obeyed His commandments He would protect them from their enemies and be their defense. On the other hand, if they disobeyed Him, He would allow their enemies to overcome them. The children of Israel were ruled by the Philistines because they had not hearkened unto God and His commands.
When we began our study of Samson we looked at Judges 13:1 which plainly states the reasons why the Philistines were ruling over them.
13:1
They had displeased God and the result was the rule and domination of the Philistines over them.
If we do not honor God in and with our life and obey His Word and will for our lives, we will find ourselves dominated by the world, the flesh and the devil.
Sin always leads to slavery. Disobedience always ends in domination. If we are not living in victory sin is always the reason. If we are pleasing the Lord in all we do and in all we are, we cannot expect to overcome the spiritual enemies of our soul. “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us?” What a sad confession. It is the confession of a bound life.
Then there is a second confession that is made, and this one is made by Samson himself and it is
2. The Confession of a Bitter Spirit
verse 11b
Last week we looked at how Samson was motivated by revenge. He had set their field on fire as an act of revenge for how they had gained the answer to his riddle. T
Verses 7-8
And now we get to hear the anger and bitterness he held in his heart as he says, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
He says, “They got what they deserved.” Samson's confession is that of one who possessed a bitter spirit. What he had done had not been motivated by carrying out God's plan of judging the Philistines, but rather the selfish agenda of getting even with them for what they had done.
It has been well said that what life does to us depends a great deal on what life finds in us.
Samson, as we have seen, had been going downhill spiritually. Considering the attitudes he has previously demonstrated, it is not surprising that we find such a bitter spirit within him. If something different had been found him he would have viewed all that had happened from a different perspective and reacted in a different way.
If we are not careful, when someone does us wrong it can leave us with a bitter spirit. However, as Peter Marshall said, “If you hug to yourself any resentment against anybody else, you destroy the bridge by which God would come to you.” Bitterness greatly affects our relationship with not only others, but even God.
Let me draw your attention to Hebrews 12:15 for a little New Testament commentary on what we see in Samson’s life.
The writer of Hebrews speaks of bitterness “springing up.” The words carry the idea of germination or growth, such as the germination and growth of a plant. At first there is only a seed in the ground. That seed germinates and springs up as it is nurtured and nourished from the nutrients in the ground, the rain that falls upon it, and the sun that shines upon it.
The same is true of bitterness. If we dwell upon what has been done to us, keep talking about it, rather than laying it before the cross, it will only grow and grow until it manifests itself in a heart filled with bitterness.
Quite often when we have been done wrong it consumes us. It is all we think and talk about. It is constantly on our mind. This only allows bitterness to germinate or spring up in our heart.
We must treat any mistreatment or wrong-doing as a weed in a garden. We must pluck it up by the roots. We must treat bitterness as an enemy of our heart just as we would a weed an enemy to a healthy and beautiful garden. If we water it and fertilize it, it will grow until it takes over our heart.
In fact, the writer of Hebrews talks about this bitterness “springing up trouble you.”
The word “trouble” speaks of how bitterness disturbs, distresses, and troubles us. It will create great agitation of the heart. Bitterness pushes out good things such as joy and peace, and fills the heart with anger, feelings of revenge, and hatred. Where once there had been joy, now there is nothing but a restless and disturbed heart.
Dr. S.I. McMillan in his book None of These Diseases gives a vivid description of a heart filled with bitterness.
He writes: “The moment I start hating a man, I become his slave. I can't enjoy my work any more because he even controls my thoughts. My resentments produce too many stress hormones in my body and I become fatigued after only a few hours' work. The work I formerly enjoyed is now drudgery. Even vacations cease to give me pleasure ... the man I hate hounds me wherever I go. I can't escape his tyrannical grasp on my mind.
When the waiter serves me porterhouse steak with French fries, asparagus, crisp salad, and strawberry shortcake smothered with ice cream, it might as well be stale bread and water. My teeth chew the food and I swallow it, but the man I hate will not permit me to enjoy it ... the man I hate may be many miles from my bedroom, but more cruel than any slave-driver, he whips my thoughts into such a frenzy that my innerspring mattress becomes a rack of torture.”
Bitterness always troubles the one whom is bitter. It, as Dr. McMillan said, makes us a slave to the one who hurt us. Bitterness allows that person to continue hurting us. It always whatever made us bitter to continue to cause great distress and disturbance in our life.
It is obvious that Samson was a man filled with rage over what had been done to him. His actions, although used of God to carry out his purposes, were the actions of a man who was filled with nothing but feelings of revenge. When he carried out his revenge, his response was, they only got what they deserved. What a sad confession on his part. What a sad confession on our part if we feel the same.
In the last statement we see not only the confession of a bound life and a bitter spirit, but also:
3. The Confession of a Barren Soul
verse 12
Notice very carefully the reason why the three thousand men of Judah came to cleft of the rock of Etam.
It is made clear in their statement, “We have come down to arrest (bind, KJV) you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.”
Perhaps this statement is as much a commentary on the spiritual barrenness of their soul as any that has been made to this point.
When it was learned that the Philistines had come to capture Samson, the men of Judah, Samson's own people, aligned themselves with the Philistines.
As Warren Wiersbe said, “This is the only time during Samson's judgeship that the Jews mustered an army, and it was for the purpose of capturing one of their own men!”
What a sad commentary on the spiritual barrenness of their soul. What a tragic confession on their part that they were aiding the enemy. It is always sad when those who name the name of Christ join with the enemies of the Christian life and enter into their activities and participate in their purposes and plans.
Perhaps what causes the greatest damage to the cause of Christ are those who profess to be Christians but practice anything but a Christian life. I think about a man who got up in a revival meeting and said, “I've not been what I ought to be, I've robbed hen roosts, I've stole hogs, I've got drunk, I've told lies, I've slashed with my razor, but thank God there is one thing I have never done. I've never lost my religion.”
It is that kind of religion that gives a black eye to the cause of Christ. When we align our self with the world, the flesh, and the devil; when we act like the world, and participate in the world, and make the objectives of the world our own, it is a commentary of a heart that is spiritually barren.
Now Samson is not spotless or without fault of his own, but he was the man God had anointed and appointed to be their deliverer from the Philistine bondage. Obviously, the men of Judah cared less who and what Samson was. To bind him and turn him over to the Philistines was an act of defiance. It was a rejection of what God wanted to do for them.
There is so much that God wants to do for His people. To reject His plans and purposes for our life reveals much about the condition of our hearts. It reveals how utterly spiritually barren our soul is. It says that the spiritual has no place in our life. It declares that we have no room for God.
I see it happen Sunday after Sunday. Every preacher knows what I am talking about. You put before the people of God the claims of God and the call of the heavenly. It goes in one ear and out the other. It is as if there is no concern or care about what God asks. There is a deaf ear or dead heart, I am not sure which, but there is a defiance of the things of God. It is like they say, “My life is mine. I will do with it what I want.”
What sad confessions we find coming from the cleft of the rock.
Let’s pray
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