In the case of Samson we see that in everything, God’s hand is working in sovereignty. He chooses the already dishonored tribe of Dan, the first among Israel to lapse into idolatry (Judg. 18). He can do as it pleases Him. Unasked, the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and announced the birth of this child. The details of the chapter are very lovely in many ways, and especially bright in the fresh deductions of faith, of the wife of Manoah. Three strong features present themselves to us here.
First, we have the Nazarite—the one separated to the Lord.
And lastly, “These things” showed to Manoah and his wife.
The Nazariteship of Christ
Now here I would refer for a moment to the Nazariteship of Christ. In the earlier Gospels the Lord is seen in the power of the Kingdom, eating and drinking with the children of it, if they would hear. In the Gospel of John this is all changed. He is a lonely Man from the very beginning of that Gospel, and “His own” are set aside (John 1:11-1211He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:11‑12)). He is a Nazarite all the way through, gathering and leading a heavenly company to the Father’s house. In John 17, where the epitome of this is seen, we find in broad lines, these three things of Judges 13 brought out afresh in all their intensity and reality. His people are separate: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” He says to the Father, “And now come I to thee”: He ascends on high, in the value of the completed burnt offering and the meat offering, in which they were accepted before the Lord. And “These things speak I in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”
The church of God was a Nazarited [separated] one. Instead of retaining this place, she “ate and drank with the drunken.” But Christ was ever a true Nazarite (spiritually, not literally), and when the church has fallen as a whole, the only resource is individual Nazariteship — special devotedness to the Lord. The church of God ever is united to Christ in glory; but to be owned in such a state, those who would be recognized must be separate to Him. There is no other way. They must be Nazarites; and they must keep the secret of this too, with the Lord. To be outwardly so, without inward separation, is terribly solemn. It is to find, when the moment of testing comes, that we have lost our strength.
Samson’s History
Samson’s history is divided into two distinct parts, each ending with the sentence “and he judged Israel... twenty years” (see the end of Judges 15 and 16).
The first division of his history is embraced in Judges 13:1515And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. (Judges 13:15). In it we will notice how full of power is this deliverer of his people. How complete is his victory over the Philistines! In all this portion we note too, that “The Spirit of the Lord” came upon him, in his mighty acts. Also we notice that he is not accompanied by Israel in these acts. Even the men of Judah come down to bind him and to deliver him into the Philistines’ hand!
How striking is all this to our souls! If the saints of God accept the path of Nazariteship in these days, God will be with them in power and blessing. That blessing may extend largely even to those too who have not separated themselves to the Lord, bringing deliverance also to them. But they are opposed to those who have taken this separate path. To accept those who seek His face is but to judge their own path as unsanctified to God.
The Nazarite Place Lost
In the second division of his history all is changed! There is no trace there of the power of “the Spirit of the Lord.” Samson has lost the Nazarite place, and he falls into the hands of the Philistines. He is blinded by his foes, a proof to them at least, that Dagon is stronger than God! Have not God’s people done this today? Have they not lost their Nazariteship, being mixed up with the worldly? And thus accepting the evil, they are blinded and captive, and unable to break their bonds. How well may the Scriptures say to such, “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:1414Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Ephesians 5:14)).
When blind Samson is called to make sport before the Philistine lords at Gaza, and when he leaned upon the pillars of the house on which they stood, God heard his cry. And when he bowed himself with all his might, the house fell upon him and on all that were there. “So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life,” but he falls himself in their destruction.
Thus it will be with the world when God removes the church from this scene, as when Samson himself was removed. More of her foes will be destroyed in her death than she had done in her life, for her removal will be the sign for the crushing judgments of God on the professing church, which alas, is but the world!
The Analogy to Laodicea
There is an analogy to these two sections of Samson’s history in the last two messages to the seven churches in Asia; the one, of Nazariteship in power and victory: the other, of Nazariteship lost, and of blindness and defeat. We find these two features plainly, in Philadelphia and Laodicea.
Philadelphia is indeed the Nazarite path — that moral Nazariteship which meets with the approval of Christ. All is victory with such a state. Yet it is a path in which the secret must be kept between Christ and the soul. “I know thy works”: this must suffice the true heart. It may be asked, “Tell me wherein thy great strength lieth,” but it is a secret not to be betrayed. This answers to the first part of Samson’s history.
But Laodicea follows. She is blind and her Nazariteship is lost. She still thinks herself “rich, and increased with goods, having need of nothing,” yet her strength is gone. She is counseled to anoint her eyes with eye salve, that she may see. She is lukewarm — neither cold nor hot, but nauseous to Christ: He will spue such a state of things out of His mouth.
My brethren, there are lessons here for our souls! We may have to begin again; the days of our former separation may have been lost. But we can begin again! We have a God of mercy to deal with, who has unfolded what is well-pleasing to Him. The moment is coming when the church of God will be removed, in her last stage here; then the judgment of the Philistines will take place. Then the Lord will go forth to battle with His foes, and the saints will be “joyful in glory” (Psa. 149:55Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. (Psalm 149:5)).
Hold Fast Till I Come
Let Philadelphia then remember that He has said, “Hold fast till I come,” and, “Let no man take thy crown.” The day is coming when we shall know the meaning of the words, “After that the Nazarite may drink wine” (Num. 6:2020And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine. (Numbers 6:20)). The blessing of Joseph which ran thus, will then be Christ’s — “The Almighty, who shall bless thee ... the blessings of thy father ... shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of Him that was separate [Nazarited] from his brethren!” (Gen. 49:25-2625Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: 26The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. (Genesis 49:25‑26)). The days of the Kingdom will then have come, and those who have stood fast and walked as Nazarites here will then be owned. (The word “separate” in Genesis 49:2626The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. (Genesis 49:26) is the same as the word “Nazarite” used elsewhere in Scripture).
Those who separated themselves to David of old, in his days of rejection, received their reward in the days of the kingdom. But the brightest gems of his glory were those specially named, who had met these special enemies—”the uncircumcised.” In 2 Samuel 23, where we read the last words of David, we find that he spoke most highly of those who had conquered the Philistines.
F. G. Patterson (adapted)