May 29: GOD’S PLAN FOR SAMSON (part 5)

And [Samson] judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines. Judges 15:20

After being turned over to the Philistines by his own people and emerging victorious (15:15), the people of Judah made Samson judge. They had failed to unite under God in the wake of the victory. The anticlimactic, “afterthought” nature of this promotion might have left Samson wondering if his people truly wanted him as judge, or if they were merely afraid of him for his great strength. Simultaneously, both the Philistines and the people of God were made painfully aware of their own physical weaknesses, in light of the incredible strength of Samson.

This scenario has a spiritual parallel. How many people (whether pagan or “religious”) after living their entire lives in selfishness, realize their own weakness of character and make a profession of faith? Is it sincere? Or just a selfish afterthought? Following decades of trusting in their own character, last-minute confessions fall from the lips of the dying. Fortunately, our God can peer straight into the heart of every individual and judge for certain who is (and isn’t) yielded to Him.  

Of the five main cities of Philistia, Gaza was the most strongly fortified. While Samson was serving as judge, he visited a harlot in Gaza. This bold action sprang from the wrong step he had taken years earlier by insisting on a wife from among Israel’s enemies. One wrong step tends to prepare the way for another… Also, he trusted in his great strength and in the fear of himself among the Philistines. To venture among his deadly enemies was brazen indeed. Aware of his presence and confident that their prey was hemmed in, the inhabitants of Gaza lay in wait for him. They were eager for revenge. The plan was to kill him as he exited the gate next morning. But in the middle of the night, likely smitten by his conscience, he remembered how he’d broken his Nazirite vows. However, by God’s mercy, he sensed the incredible strength returning. God had not forsaken him, and he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron (16:3). In your mind’s eye, see the man’s silhouette as he carries this incredibly heavy load up steep terrain for nearly forty miles… In a dramatic foreshadowing of Christ, Samson was stripping his enemies of a symbol of their strength and making a display of their defeat at Israel’s doorstep (later, Hebron would be King David’s first capital – see 2 Samuel 5:1-5).

By God’s grace, Samson had narrowly escaped disaster. He never again chose to venture into Philistine territory. But his longing for sensuous pleasure took him to the Valley of Sorek (this name means choice vine or premium grape) near Zorah, his hometown. Here he met Delilah, whose name in Hebrew means delicate.

Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7

See also: Job 11:14; Proverbs 28:13; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Ephesians 4:22-24; Hebrews 12:1; 1 Peter 2:11; 1 John 1:9