Downfall and Uprising: Samson
And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Judges 16:20
Samson’s heart had become so distant from God over time that he was unaware that the Lord had left him altogether. It was not unusual in the Old Testament that the Spirit of God would leave His servants when their hearts turned away from Him. Though in our current dispensation of the Church Age the believer’s experience with the Holy Spirit is secure — we are sealed with the Spirit (Eph. 1:13–14), and God will slay us before He will abandon us (1 Cor. 11:29–32) — there is still something here to instruct us.
The church at Laodicea had reached a point as a fellowship that was similar to Samson’s plight as an individual — they had so neglected salvation and conversions that there came a time when the regenerate members had practically all died off. All that was left were people going through the motions of Christianity as a religion, or as an expression of cultural solidarity, and Christ was on the outside of the church asking to come in (Rev. 3:14–22).
What do we learn from Samson’s life? We learn that no matter how fine our upbringing or how positive our beginning, we can grow cold in our hearts toward God. We learn that there are results to sinning against God — drifting away from God and turning to the world can bring devastating effects on us and on others. We also learn that no matter how far we fall, or how deeply we are deceived, through repentance and faith God can restore us to Himself and to usefulness to His cause.
The benefit of a good beginning: Whatever else may be said about Samson, we should acknowledge that he had a good beginning in life. His birth was foretold by the Angel of the Lord, whom many of us believe to be the preincarnate Lord Jesus. His mother and father knew their weaknesses as parents and prayed, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born” (Judges 13:8). We cannot but admire their humility and their prayer was one that every believing mother and father should pray at the birth of their child.
So we may understand that, though no home is perfect, Samson did enjoy a good family life and from a young age was taught to trust in the Lord and do right.
His moral compromises over several years resulted in his downfall: Samson’s downfall began years before he was deceived by Delilah. He began as a young man to live a morally compromised life — even though he knew better. He was commanded from birth to take a Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:1–8) — not every Israelite was commanded to do this, but Samson was, by the command of God in His plan for Samson’s life (Judges 13:5). This meant his entire life time he would drink no wine nor would he cut his hair. He was set apart for the Lord.
Someone said that Samson was a “he-man with a she-weakness” and he gave himself over to indulging in sex, women, and, as well as his own personal vengeance. He neglected his wife even to the point that his father assumed he had abandoned her and gave her to his best man. Chapters 14 and 15 describe this man as one who was both the instrument of God and a tool in the hands of Satan. We ask the question, “Can God use imperfect people?” and we have our answer here in the life of Samson.*
We never read of a moment in Samson’s life when he repented of his ways, not until the very end of his life. Each Christian, if we will be honest, will admit that we have sinned and have often needed to repent and confess our sins. Even in ministry, we have often done things in the name of God but not with the Spirit of God leading us. We may quote scripture in anger, use our tongues to slander another — claiming that this is a prayer request when really it is just gossip, and do things carelessly and thoughtlessly. Many servants of God today are addicted to internet pornography, and though they know they are caught in a snare of Satan, they do not know how to experience lasting victory and freedom.
Chapter 16 of Judges tells us the sad story of a man set apart for God who was completely blinded by lust and pride. Delilah slyly sets the trap and Samson falls into it. The Lord had left him, though he was so hardened in his heart he did not even know it. When his enemies seized Samson they took him and bound his hands (sin binds us), took out his eyes (sin blinds us), and put him to work like a beast of burden pushing a grindstone (sin grinds — it becomes tedious, boring, and unexciting). And though the biblical record is silent, we have to wonder what happened to Israel after the Philistines seized Samson, their defender. When we turn away from God in our hearts, others suffer because we are unable to fulfill our spiritual role in their lives.
Would it not be good to have read of some moment in Samson’s life where, like David, Moses, Peter, and others, he was convicted and repented of his sins? But he was caught up in his own reputation, that he had ceased to look for how he was tempted, ceased to worry about how he might offend others, and ceased to pray and commune with God to know God’s heart. He cuts a tragic figure: Samson, the called, gifted, flawed, compromised, arrogant, proud, lustful servant of God. Only after he lost everything did he realize how far he had fallen.
His repentance and final act: Samson had fallen from a high position to the lowest imaginable point. Yet he returned to God in the final days of his life. The Philistines brought him out to perform for them, so they could take pride in his defeat, but as he was there he asked the Lord to strengthen him so that he would again be the instrument of judgment against them.** He also asked that he might die there, ending his life.
The Lord heard his prayer and the final act of Samson was his greatest deed against the immoral Philistines.
Lessons for us: Be careful not to be caught up in pride and lust. No matter what God has done with us, no matter how much respect or appreciation we receive from those around us, always be aware that temptation is there:
1 Peter 5:8–9: Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Whenever the Lord convicts us of sin, be quick to repent and confess and trust in His cleansing. When we will not repent God has a way of setting us aside from fruitful ministry until we do return to Him for cleansing.
We are all flawed in some way, and we all have our sinful tendencies. We can, however, keep our weaknesses in check by at least three spiritual disciplines: (1) the regular devotional reading of the word of God, (2) regular confession of sins and seeking to constantly walk in the Spirit, (3) keeping close spiritual friendships with others, that they might encourage us and even reprove us and warn us when pride and lust begin to show. This means also that we need to let some people get close enough to us that they may in love advise us and warn us when we might be overtaken by a fault.
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*Judges 14:4 says of Samuel marrying his Philistine wife, “…it was of the LORD.” There are two basic ways to understand this: (1) to assume that everything that Samson did in this chapter was of the Lord, (2) to understand that there was placed on Samson’s heart a desire to serve the Lord — to confront the Philistines, their oppressors — but the way he went about it was wrong. I believe the second is the correct interpretation. In this sense Samson was like Moses who in his early days had a sense of righteous indignation against the Egyptians who had oppressed his own people, but he acted in the wrong way, slaying the Egyptian.
**The Philistines and the Canaanite people as a whole, were a culture with many despicable practices — among them child sacrifice. God did not judge the nations that did not oppose Israel, rather with them He dealt graciously. But the Philistines were a violent people, with ungodly religious practices, and they opposed and oppressed the people of God. God punished them so that they might repent and turn to God in faith and obedience.
