Samson Defends Himself (Judges 15:9-20)

2/19/2010 7:56 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Samson defends himself

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Judges 15:9-20

 

            Message of the verses:  “9 ¶  Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi. 10  The men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" And they said, "We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us." 11  Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And he said to them, "As they did to me, so I have done to them." 12  They said to him, "We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not kill me." 13  So they said to him, "No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you." Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 14  When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands. 15  He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it. 16  Then Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men." 17  When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.

    “18 ¶  Then he became very thirsty, and he called to the LORD and said, "You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" 19  But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank, his strength returned and he revived. Therefore he named it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. 20  So he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.”

            In Judges 13:5, at the end of the verse God told Samson’s wife that he would begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.  Now the twentieth verse of chapter fifteen it says that Samson judged Israel for twenty years, so the days of Samson judging Israel were about to end.

            There are a number of interesting illustrations in this rather long section of Scripture that can teach me things if I am willing to listen to them.  Samson seemed to be kind of a loner and so the people of Israel must not have seen him as their ruler or judge.  They were content to have the Philistines rule over them as seen verse eleven.  Perhaps if Samson would have gotten the support of the three thousand men to help him fight in the power of the Lord against the Philistines then the story may have been different, however Israel was content to be ruled by the Philistines and that is a sad commentary for them.  Israel was in sad shape because they were cooperating with their enemy, for this is treason when you think about it. 

            There seemed to be something heroic about Samson’s decision to allow the Jews to capture him and be given over to the Philistines for if he would have run away, and he surely could have done that, the Jews would have been defenseless against the Philistines for they had no weapons to fight with.  “1Sa 13:19  Now no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, "Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears.’”

            The NASB talks about a fresh jawbone of a donkey that Samson used, for if it had been an old one it would not have worked for it would have been bridal.  This must have been quite a seen as Samson began to slay the Philistines and watching him were the Jews who did nothing even though they could have picked up the slain soldiers swords to help out, but Samson was a loner and they may have sensed it, but just the same they should have helped him.

            The battle is over and now he is thirsty and so he cries out to the Lord for water after making a poem about killing the Philistines.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that the poem is “based on the similarity between the sounds of the Hebrews words hamor (“donkey”) and homer (“heap”).  James Moffatt renders it: ‘With the jawbone of an ass I have piled them in a mass.  With the jawbone of an ass I have assailed assailants.’” 

            Now back to the thirsty Samson.  I can’t remember Samson calling on the Lord before he becomes thirsty.  Why do people care more about their physical needs as compared to their spiritual needs?  That’s a good question, for when one looks at the prayer requests in a church today most of the requests are about physical needs.  Another thing to be seen here is that there are many places in the Scriptures where trouble or testing follows triumph.  Think about Israel’s great triumph when they crossed the Red Sea and then they are tested by not having any water or Elijah’s victory on Mount Carmel followed by his running from the wicked queen and becoming so depressed that he wanted to die.  Paul writes in one of the great NT passages these words:  “2 Cor. 12: 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”  It seems that when believers have great triumphs that in order to keep them (us) humble there comes a trial, but it is the same God who gave the triumphs who will give the victories. 

            God give Samson water through a miracle out of a hollow place and so Samson does not die.  It was good to see Samson calling on the Lord.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think of Jobs words for my spiritual meaning today when he writes:  “Job 2:10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”  It is easy to accept good things from the Lord, but when trouble comes more lessons are learned through them than through the good things, for many times I must admit, that I forget to praise the Lord for those good things and take them for granted.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Remember to praise the Lord for all things that He sends me for they all have their purpose, to make me more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2/19/2010 8:53 AM