WE have the distinct warrant of God’s word for regarding Samson as a believer—a man of faith. His name is amongst those mentioned by the Apostle where he asks, “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets; who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Not a few of the wonders here enumerated were fulfilled in Samson’s history.
You have been warned, again and again, against supposing that every man of faith is to be looked up to as an example in everything. Far from it. Noah was a man of faith, but yet was overcome with wine. Lot was a “righteous” man, but still settled in Sodom, and narrowly escaped from it with his life. Samson, too, was undoubtedly a man of faith, and did not, at last, escape with his life; but he slew more in his death than in his life. That God should tell us such a man was a believer is surely an encouragement to any one, however guilty, to turn to God and believe on Jesus. But let it not encourage us to sin. That would indeed be a sad abuse of God’s word, and of his mercy. May God keep all the readers of “Good News” from such a fearful course.
Samson was a Nazarite from his birth. The Nazarites were peculiarly separate to God. When sin had once entered, and overspread the world, separation to God became the only path of blessing. It was because of this Abraham was called of God, and Israel kept apart from all the nations of the earth. Then, within the nation of Israel, the Levites were separated to the service of God, and the sons of Aaron to be his priests. The Levites were one whole tribe, and the priests one whole family of that tribe. But, besides these, there were Nazarites, who might be of any tribe, who were, either of their own accord, or by God’s appointment, peculiarly separated to God. If you read the sixth of Numbers, you will find that, for the time anyone vowed a vow of a Nazarite, he was to drink no wine or strong drink, and there was no razor to come on his head. Even if his father or mother died, he was not to touch their bodies, or defile himself, because the consecration of his God was upon his head. All the days of his separation he was holy unto the Lord.
Need I say that it is not in these outward things that true separation to God now consists? “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” It is by these that believers are now separated to God; but then these have their practical effects, and it is in the effects that the separation is seen. The outward privations of the Nazarite are thus a lesson to us to abstain from everything that is inconsistent with the holiness of God; and it is just in proportion as we thus live and walk that we shall find God with us, to strengthen us for anything he may give us to do.
Samson was a Nazarite from his birth. This was the secret of his strength. It was not size of bone or strength of muscle that made him the strongest man: it was God who gave him this wondrous strength so long as he kept his Nazarite vow. Nor did he give it him all at once, so as to make him independent of God, When the young lion roared against him, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid. This became the occasion of his famous riddle, and of the revenge he was enabled to take on the Philistines for deceitfully finding, it out. Then, as a recompense for further treachery on their part, he caught three hundred foxes, and, by their means, set the standing corn of the Philistines on fire. The Israelites themselves take part with the Philistines against Samson, and bind him with new cords to deliver him into their hands. But when he came to Lehi, and the Philistines shouted against him, “The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.” It was then that with the jawbone of an ass he slew a thousand men. After this, and after having thrown away the jawbone, he was so sore athirst, that, no water being nigh, he had to call on the Lord to rescue him from death. “Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?” Thus had the strong man to own his weakness before God. But out of weakness he was made strong. “God slave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived,’ This was life out of death indeed. What had been death to a thousand of the enemy, became thus life to the fainting one who had wielded it to their destruction.
Samson’s history closes at Gaza. It had been the scene of one of his mightiest triumphs, when, the gates of the city having been closed upon him to ensure his, captivity, he took gates, and posts, and bar, and everything belonging to them, and carried them up to the top of the hill. Of what use was it contending with such a man? Of none, so long as he was true to his Nazarite vow. This Samson himself well knew; but, deceived by a woman, he betrayed what was a secret between the Lord and himself, and she used it for his destruction. Another had similarly wrung from him, by her entreaties, the knowledge of his riddle, and had betrayed it to her Philistine friends. And yet, unwarned by this deception, and by the evident treachery of the one who was practicing upon him, he suffered Delilah to weary him out, “It came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb; if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” How sad that he should thus reveal to an enemy the secret of his strength! The Philistines were not slow to use it against him. Delilah said, “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.”
Dear young Christian reader, be warned by Samson’s case. Let who will solicit thee to forsake the Lord, to do what thou knowest to be contrary to his word, be firm and absolute in thy refusal. Thy tempter may not know what is at stake. But thou knowest right well, that to yield is to forfeit peace of conscience, liberty in prayer, boldness in confessing Christ, and, it may be, to bring open disgrace on his name. Samson never thought, when he put off Delilah with one pretense and another, that it would end in his disgrace, captivity, and death. And so with thousands who have begun to tamper with temptation. They thought they could go so far and stop but when they have gone thus far, they find themselves under a power that draws them onward, while the very will to resist seems paralyzed, and they become a prey to sins of which they would once have deemed themselves incapable. It is in the path of obedience to God that his strength is made perfect in our weakness. May our dear young Christian friends be warned in time, and have grace to heed the warning voice. To Samson, the consequences of his folly were most disastrous. “The Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison-house.” What a picture of a soul betrayed by his own folly, and become the dupe of Satan. His eyes put out, and toiling, in darkness, as Satan’s victim, led captive by him at his will. They even propose to bring him forth, at a great festival they make to Dagon, their god, and have him show his strength for their amusement. “And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call fur Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made them sport.” Thus low may a man of faith sink, if he daily with temptation, and betray to the enemy the secret of his strength. But oh! the grace of our God. The Philistines little thought how the day would end. They had sport of another kind before the sun went down. The world gains nothing, in reality, by leading God’s people into captivity. God’s people lose much—lose everything—by complying with the world’s ways. But the world only secures thereby a heavier doom. Samson had, doubtless, humbled himself for his folly before the Lord. In the darkness of his prison-house, he had confessed his sin; and with the growth of his hair, which never should have been shaved, his strength returns. Of what worth to him was his life in this world, to grind the enemy’s mill, and make sport for them to the praise of their god? He prefers to die; but he looks to God that his death may be more of a deliverance for Israel from the Philistines than his life had been. Led by the lad who held him by the hand to the pillars on which the vast hall rested, where the lords of the Philistines and others were congregated by thousands, “Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.” How little did the gay multitude above, assembled there to look down and see their blind’ and humbled foe make sport for them, imagine what was passing between him and his God! How would their faces have paled, and their knees smote each other, had they known the destruction that was at hand. “And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.”
The lessons of Samson’s history are for our Christian readers. May they be written on all our hearts. Better to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart, and in his strength refuse all solicitation to evil, than by any dalliance with it lose the light and strength of the Lord’s gracious presence, and become a tool of Satan, even though God in his grace should grant, as he did to Samson, recovery and victory in the end. But to any of you who are not yet Christians, we would once more say, Be warned in time. Flee at once to Jesus as your Saviour. Otherwise, you may be as near destruction as were the Philistines in the hall of their idolatrous mirth. “When they shall say, Peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape.” Now, there is a place of refuge, a covert from the storm. Jesus invites you to himself. Fall at his feet; believe in him; trust his precious blood; confide in his love; and you will find him
“Through time, and to eternal days
Your never-failing Friend.”