Trinity Baptist Church

The Life and Times of Samson

Unriddling the Riddle

Judges 14:15-20

 

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If you were in attendance last Sunday evening, you will remember that the object of our study, Samson posed a riddle to the guests at his bachelor party. 

 

It is found in verse 14.  The background of the riddle was when Samson killed the lion that attacked him in the vineyard of Timnah and his later return and finding honey in the carcass. In the giving of the riddle, Samson had made an expensive wager with his wedding guests. It was this expensive wager that drove the wedding guests to take certain actions to solve the riddle.

 

Tonight I want to take a look at the actions and methods of the guests and Samson’s response to them and see what we can learn from them. 

 

In James 1:14-15 we find, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." If you want to see a vivid illustration of that, then just read this text in Judges 14. 

 

Just to refresh our memories, Samson was in Timnah, a city of the Philistines.  He was in a place that did not fear God and was surrounded by a people that did not know God. The values and principles of the Philistines were quite different than those of the people of God.

He was in a place and around people that would pull him away and pull him down spiritually.

 

That is very similar to where we find ourselves most of the time. It is true of our culture, our schools, our workplaces, and for some of you, even your family.  We are in a world that has a value system that runs contrary to God's.

 

So let's walk through the story and see how temptation operates. Let's begin by first thinking about:

 

1. Facing Temptation

 

Judges 14:14

 

Samson's riddle stumped them. They no doubt put their heads together and tried their best to come up with the answer to the riddle. But try as they may, they could not come up with an answer.

 

So in desperation, they try blackmail. 

 

verse 15

 

I want to draw your attention to the word "entice." They were so desperate, they asked Samson's new wife to entice him to get the answer to the riddle.

 

They are asking Samson's new wife to seduce him, to do whatever was necessary to learn the answer to his riddle. If you know anything about Samson, you should know that was the perfect plan.  His physical attraction for this woman is what got him where he was to begin with. 

 

It’s interesting, isn’t it, how Satan always know just exactly how to bait the trap. The writer of Hebrews reminds us to “lay aside the sin which so easily entangles us”.  For all of us there is that “besetting sin” that gives us more trouble than anything else in our life. 

 

Now in regard to that, let me remind you, temptation is

 

 

You may be saying, but you just told us there was something in our life that gives us more trouble than anything else.  That sounds like it is exclusive, not common. 

 

The particular sin may be exclusive to you, but the experience of sin is common to us all. 

 

Listen to 1 Corinthians 10:13. We read, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

 

The Bible is telling us that temptation is a common thing for all of us. In fact, the word "common" comes from the word from which we get the word human and humanity. When the Bible says that temptation is common, it is saying that it is human, an experience of humanity. Or simply stated, it is a part of life.

 

There are some things that are just a part of life. Getting old is one such thing. Our hair turns gray, except for you women. It is amazing how your hair never turns gray. It may turn different colors, but it never seems to turn gray.

 

As we get older the muscles of our youth turn to flab. One fellow went to his thirty-year High school reunion and he said to a friend, "See John over there. He's got so bald and so fat he didn't even recognize me." Someone has said that four signs of approaching old age; baldness, bi-focals, bridges and bulges. A lot of things change with age. It is part of life.

 

In fact, I came across a little song recently called, “You just don’t look good naked anymore!”  Aging is just a part of life.  Not unlike sorrow and suffering is temptation. 

 

It is human. It is a part of who and what we are.  It is part of our human existence. If you are human, and I trust most of you are, temptation is common.

 

Now if temptation is common, that means it is

 

 

Because temptation is common it is certain. Because it is a part of the human existence it will be a part of your human experience. If you are not tempted, then you are dead and we need to get you to an undertaker as soon as possible. You will start stinking soon. If you are alive and breathing then you can expect temptation.

 

And unfortunately we, like Samson, can get ourselves into situations that just invite temptation.

 

The place we find him and the people he is around only put him into a situation that invited and invoked temptation.

 

Someone has said, temptations are sure to ring your doorbell, but it is your own fault if you invite them for dinner.

 

We don't need to open the door for temptation because we are going to have enough trouble with it as it is.

 

Trochilus, one of the disciples of Plato, miraculously escaped from a storm at sea in which the ship was sunk and he himself almost perished. When he reached home, the first thing he did was to order his servants to wall up two windows in one of his chambers which looked out upon the sea. His fear was that on some fine, bright day, looking out upon the sea when it was calm and tranquil and flashing in the sunlight, he should again be tempted to venture upon its treacherous waters.

 

As Christians, we ought to wall up the open windows of our life to avoid the enticement of temptation.  We ought to do all we can, especially if it is common and certain to avoid temptation in our life. 

 

So number one, just mark it down, we will FACE temptation.

 

Because of that, let me say a word about

 

2. Fighting Temptation

 

 

 

These Philistines used a couple of methods on Samson's wife to get her to get the answer of the riddle from him.

 

Verse 15

 

You talk about putting pressure on someone. They threatened to burn the house of her family.  In fact, depending on how you read the text, it may have even been a threat to burn her and her family with the house. 

 

So first they use blackmail and threats.

 

Then they accused her of being an accessory to Samson’s plot. 

 

You will find that in verse 15 as well. 

 

They were saying, "You are conspiring with Samson to take everything we have. If we do not come up with the answer to the riddle we will have to come with the expensive garments that we wagered." Again, they were accusing her of working with him to cause them to lose the wager.

 

So beginning in verse 16 she goes to work to save her family and herself by trying to get Samson to reveal the answer to the riddle.

 

Now Samson is moving from facing temptation to fighting temptation. And in this section, we get to see how temptation works. 

 

First of all, the temptation attacks a weakness

 

 

verse 16

 

First, she turned on the tears. You fellows know that when the wife starts crying the husband is usually in trouble. Can I get an amen there!

 

Then she said, "If you really loved me you would tell me what the riddle means. You must hate me since you haven't told me what the riddle means."

 

She knows how infatuated Samson has been with her since the first time he saw her. She knows that he is crazy about her, so she works on his feelings. She knows that he has a weakness for her, so where she works on him is in that area of weakness.

 

Temptation always comes in a form that appeals to our weaknesses. Do you remember the words of James that I shared with you in the beginning? He said, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lusts, and enticed" (James 2:14). Temptation always attacks us in the area of our lusts, in the area where we are most susceptible and vulnerable.

 

And as I said a moment ago, Satan always knows where to attack. There are those particular areas of weakness that each of us have. What may bother me may not bother you and vice versa. Yet, we all have those areas that we must guard with extreme caution.

 

Temptation always attacks a weakness, but it’s deeper than that.  Temptation attacks your will.

 

Look at Samson’s response to his wife in verse 16

 

Samson hadn't told anyone about his encounter with the lion, including his own parents.  Maybe it was because he knew it violated his Nazarite vow, iI don’t know. 

 

But look at how his wife responds in verse 17

 

She didn't give up easily. She kept crying and begging him to tell her. What was she doing? She was trying to break down his will.

 

Temptation is very consistent and persistent. It has been well said that opportunity only knocks on the door once, but temptation bangs on the door constantly. Temptation keeps knocking with the objective of breaking our will down. Samson's wife kept crying and crying, and asking him over and over, day after day, trying to break down his will.

 

I once read an article about one of the methods used by interrogators to break the will of uncooperative Iraqi POW's. Heavy metal music was played for hours at a time. They even used children's music from Sesame Street and Barney to break down their will. They made them listen to the music for prolonged periods of time. The idea in the method of interrogation is that if one has to listen to something they dislike for a prolonged period of time the brain and body functions start to slide, one's train of thought slows down and eventually the will is broken. I'll confess that about 15 minutes of Barney would break my will.

 

And I’ll just be honest, I think we ought to use any and everything we have to get the information necessary to protect American citizens.  I’m so sick of the limp-wristed, left wing liberal bleeding hearts.  It makes me want to throw up!  That’s all for free and has nothing to do with Samson, but I just felt like you needed to let out a good amen!

 

Temptation will assault the will trying to get you to break down and yield to the temptation. At first Samson fought the temptation to tell his wife the answer. It took her several days to break him down. That’s a reminder that you will not only fact temptation, you’ve got to fight it!

 

How do we fight temptation? Charles Spurgeon said, "Learn to say no; it will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin." Another said, "Flee temptation and don't leave a forwarding address." Paul said to Timothy, "Flee also youthful lusts" (2 Tim. 2:22). Sometimes the best way to fight is to flee.

 

And let me add, when you run, run straight to Jesus! That is the secret to overcoming temptation. It is the secret of the Christian life period! Only He can resist your temptation. 

 

Paul said in Romans 7:24-25, "O wretched man that am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He knew that only through Christ could he overcome the world and his flesh.

 

Unfortunately, we sometimes lose the fight with temptation. That was certainly true of Samson.  He faced it; he even fought it, but we find him

 

3.  Falling To Temptation

 

verse 17

She kept on nagging and pestering him until finally he broke down and told her the answer to the riddle.

 

Warren Wiersbe said, "Samson could kill lions and break ropes, but he couldn't overcome the power of a woman's tears."

 

Samson faced temptation. He fought temptation. But eventually he fell. 

 

And the results are terrible. 

 

verse 18

 

Ol’ Samson has quite a way with words doesn’t he? 

 

Now to be fair to Samson, he wasn’t being disrespectful to his wife, although I sense a little sarcasm there. 

 

More directly he was accusing them of cheating on the wager.  You see, heifers weren’t used for plowing. Therefore, the Philistines had used a method that was not normal. Can you not sense how disgusted he was with both his wife and the wedding guests. Yet, that is always the outcome of yielding to temptation. Temptation may promise you happiness, but in the end it delivers nothing but heartache and sorrow.

 

Hebrews 11:25 said of Moses: "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." The pleasures of sin are always short lived. They are only seasonal. They are never lasting and the end result is always displeasing and disgusting. Always remember that temptation is a liar.

It promises you one thing but delivers another.

 

Then notice verse 19

 

Samson traveled twenty miles to the coastal town of Ashkelon and killed thirty men, stripped the corpses and paid his debt.

 

And again we have to deal with one of those oddities in Scripture.  It’s the second time in the life of Samson that we read, “And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him”. 

 

The first is in verse 5 when he kills the Lion, and now we find that again in reference to killing Philistines to settle a bet. 

 

Why does it appear the Spirit empowers Samson to do things that are not of God? 

 

I think it is a case of God overruling and fulfilling His purpose in spite of Samson's disobedience and defilement. God's purpose will always be fulfilled! He had called Samson to judge the Philistines, not be and act as one of them. He overruled and used the moment to fulfill His purpose.

 

The larger lesson is when we yield to temptation there are disastrous results. Yielding to temptation will destroy your testimony. It can destroy relationships. It will try to destroy your joy, peace, and happiness.

 

Many of you will recognize the name Stephen Foster. His music and songs have become a part of our American heritage; Beautiful Dreamer, Oh Susanna, Camptown Ladies, Swanee River, to name just a few. The end of his life was tragic. He died an alcoholic with only 38 cents in his pocket and a scrap of paper with the words, "Dear friend and gentle hearts." He died in New York's Bellevue Hospital after fainting and falling across a wash basis which broken and cut a slash in his neck. He died without anyone knowing who he was. A friend identified his body in the local morgue. He was only 37 years old.

 

What happened to Stephen Foster? The bottle had a grip on him that literally took him to the gutter. The name so revered was the owner of a life so ruined by sin.

 

Sin always has disastrous results. As for Samson, the worst was yet to come. May we learn from the tragic steps of his life, lest the same be our story.