Word Live: Destroyer
Recall with gratitude some of the answers to prayer with which God has blessed you.
Bible passage
Judges 16:23–31
The death of Samson
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, ‘Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.’
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
‘Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain.’
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, ‘Bring out Samson to entertain us.’ So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, ‘Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.’ 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ‘Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.’ 29 Then Samson reached towards the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel for twenty years.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
Given the central concern of Judges, it is fitting that Samson’s final prayer references God’s sovereignty (v 28). There is therefore more than a touch of irony in the Philistines declaring that Dagon has delivered Samson into their hands (vs 23,24). God’s sovereignty is a blessing sometimes in a surprisingly good disguise! There is also irony in Samson asking the God he forgot to remember him (v 28). It’s as though the cycle of idolatrous disobedience followed by crying out to God that characterises Israel as a whole in Judges is reflected in Samson’s individual life. It is, perhaps, indicative of the depths to which Israel has now spiralled that Samson’s prayer is motivated by a desire for personal revenge rather than for his people’s deliverance (v 28).
Given the circumstances, it is nothing short of astonishing that God answers Samson’s prayer (v 30). The sovereign God of the book of Judges is a God whose grace and purposes always win out over human weakness. Samson’s execution of his calling was – to the end – far from perfect. Even so, God in his sovereignty is faithful to his promise that through Samson would come the beginning of Israel’s deliverance from Philistine oppression (v 30; 13:5). Mercifully, God does not discard those who disappoint him.
Author
Nigel Hopper
Respond
Reflect on what you have learned from the book of Judges about God, about the different judges, and about its relevance to your life.
Deeper Bible study
Give thanks that Jesus ‘is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.’1
In 2019, the golfing world was amazed when Tiger Woods won The Masters, fourteen years after his previous victory in the tournament. In the intervening period he had been publicly humiliated by moral failure and had undergone surgery to repair serious and painful damage to his spine. There is no such recovery and resurgence for Samson, however. Approaching death, he is ‘blind, disheartened, shamed, dishonoured, quelled’.2 However, there are glimmers of hope: he does finally pray to the Lord (v 28), as Israel has failed to do during his lifetime; his prayer is answered and, amazingly, he is included in the men of faith in Hebrews 11:32.
Typology is a strand of biblical interpretation which encourages us to see in Old Testament characters and actions some pale imitations or mysterious previews of our Lord Jesus. These are types of Christ, his footprints in these scriptures. It seems almost blasphemous to suggest that Samson is such a type, but we have already noted some similarities between his conception and birth and that of Jesus. In addition, both Samson and our Lord were empowered by the Spirit of God in their mission to save Israel, both were betrayed by someone close to them, handed over to Gentile occupying forces and mocked in their weakness. Samson’s death could be seen, like that of Jesus, to be a moment of victory, but their prayers and their attitude towards those who put them to death show that they have little in common here. Jesus’ victory is that of self-giving love; Samson’s is akin to that of a suicide bomber.
As we look back on the life of Samson, his deeply flawed character and his ultimately fruitless attempts to free Israel, is a desire for a better Saviour awakened in us? Thankfully, we know of such a one!
From our study of Judges, what insights have you gained concerning God, ourselves and Jesus?
1Heb 7:25 2 Samson Agonistes, line 563
Author
Paul Oakley
