2/23/2010 8:38 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Samson destroys himself
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Judges 16:23-31
Message of the verses: “23
Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to
Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, "Our god has given Samson
our enemy into our hands." 24 When
the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has
given our enemy into our hands, Even the destroyer of our country, Who has
slain many of us." 25 It so
happened when they were in high spirits, that they said, "Call for Samson,
that he may amuse us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he
entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the boy who was holding
his hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may
lean against them." 27 Now the
house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there.
And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was
amusing them. 28 Then Samson called to
the LORD and said, "O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen
me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for
my two eyes." 29 Samson grasped the
two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them,
the one with his right hand and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, "Let me die with the
Philistines!" And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the
lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his
death were more than those whom he killed in his life. 31 Then his brothers and all his father’s
household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and
Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel
Before
commenting on the above verses I wish to think about the overall life of
Samson, for in many ways his life was sad as the man whose name meant light
lived most of his life in darkness because makes one think of Proverbs 25:28
which states, “Like a city that is broken into and without walls Is a man who
has no control over his spirit.”
Proverbs 16:32 is another Proverb that perhaps Solomon may have been
thinking about Samson when he wrote 16:32 “He who is slow to anger is better
than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”
Dr. Wiersbe
quote Alexander Maclaren who write this on the life of Samson: “Instead of trying to make a lofty hero out
of him, it is far better to recognize frankly the limitations of his character
and the imperfections of his religion….If the merely human passion of vengeance
throbbed fiercely in Samson’s prayer, he had never heard ‘Love your enemies’;
and for his epoch, the destruction of the enemies of God and of Israel was
duty.” I find that difficult to
understand whether or not Samson was doing all of this out of just duty or if
he truly wanted to honor the Lord with his death, and thus his life had changed
when he lost his sight and then had a time to reflect upon his life when he
could see and then drew close to the Lord.
In Samson’s
life one can see that he was a man who liked to play jokes on people and now at
what is the end of his life he is asked again to amuse the people at the party
to honor their god, Dagon. It is no
wonder that the Philistines were so mad at Samson for burning their fields, for
Dagon was the god of grain. It is rather
ironic that at this party the Philistines were giving glory to their god, but
in the end, because of their deaths the God of heaven will receive glory.
The words
that the KJV uses for “make sport” come from two different words. “The first means to celebrate, frolic, joke,
and entertain; and the second means to perform make sport, and laugh.” The second word means laughter and it is
related to the word from where Isaac get his name, for his name means
laughter.
I suppose
that there is a difference of opinion as to why the Lord answered the prayer of
Samson seeing how he would die if God answered his prayer. Was Samson dying for the cause of Christ so
to speak, or was he simply trying to get revenge. John MacArthur writes the following from his
study Bible: “The full strength of
Samson, renewed by God, enabled him to buckle the columns. As a result, the roof collapsed and the
victory was Israel ’s not Philistia ’s. He
died for the cause of his country and his God.
He was not committing suicide, but rather bringing God’s judgment on His
enemies and willing to leave his own life or death to God. He was the greatest champion of all Israel
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I must say that I have learned a lot about
myself from studying the life of Samson.
If the conclusion that John MacArthur comes up with about Samson is
correct that he was serving his country and his God then Samson did indeed
finish strong and that is one of the things that I have learned from studying
his life that it is very important to finish strong. One can loose all of the rewards he has
gained for serving the Lord if he does not finish the race strong and that is
my desire. Samson was a man who allowed
his passions to interfere with his walk with the Lord and therefore sinned
against the Lord. I can understand this
for at times I have struggled with my passion and it has interfered with my
devotion to the Lord. By God’s grace and
some hard work things are much better now and my purpose is to serve the Lord
and not to look back but to do as Paul says in Phil. 3: 13 “Brethren, I do not
regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting
what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward
the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
1. To press on toward the goal for the prize of
the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
2/23/2010 9:54 AM
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