Entrapped by Weakness | Sunday, September 15, 2024

Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines... Then his father and mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well." But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines... (Judges 14, selected)

Samson had supernatural strength but weak character—and he kept walking straight into traps set right in front of him.

The Irony of the Predictable Trap

We are continuing our study of the life of an individual who had great strength but weak character—a strong man with weak character. We're talking about Samson.

Three thousand years ago, the wise King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 1:17, "Surely, in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird." In other words, how foolish it is to set a trap right in front of the one who is going to be snared by it. It seems crazy and foolish to set the trap where someone can see it—they know where it is, they're not going to step there. And yet so frequently people fall into traps that are awesomely avoidable.

That makes up every suspenseful movie ever made. The main character approaches a door and you think, "He's not really going to open that door—the bad guy is behind it." And of course they always open the door. The bozo always seems to trigger the trap. We see that here in Judges 14, and we'll see it again in the next couple of weeks.

The Setup and the High Expectation

Judges 14 begins with the trap set: "Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines." If you know nothing about Samson except the setup in chapter 13, that's exactly what you'd anticipate.

Before he was born, an angelic messenger—whom I believe is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus—appeared to Samson's father and mother to announce this child would be consecrated to God for life under a Nazirite vow (you can read about it in Numbers 6). Through him, God said, "I will begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines," who at that point had ruled over Israel for at least 40 years. By chapter 14, you can add more time—so for more than 50 years the Philistines had severely oppressed Israel.

Look at how chapter 13 ends: "So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him." If that was all you knew—a divine calling, supernatural empowering, the Lord's blessing, the Spirit's moving—you'd think, "Finally, Israel is going to have a good judge! God is going to move mightily through this man. He is going to destroy the Philistines."

Point One: Don't Underestimate the Weakness of Strong Men

Don't underestimate the stupidity and weakness of strong men. We're going to see it so much today in the text, and even more in chapters 15 and 16 next week.

Samson lived in the hill country at the northernmost tip of Israel among the tribe of Dan, and Timnah was a Philistine city in the valley. Throughout ancient times, Israel often lived in the hill country while the Canaanites and Philistines lived in the valleys. So geographically, Samson is moving down into the valley—but there's a vivid image here of something more than a geographical shift.

We see a similar picture with Abram. When God first called him, Abram set out by faith, came to the land of Canaan, and built an altar at a place he named Bethel—"house of God." But he didn't stay. Genesis 12:8 says he moved to the mountains east of Bethel, pitching his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. Ai means "heap of ruin." Then "Abram journeyed, still going toward the South," and finally, "there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt." Egypt in Scripture is frequently a type of the world, and nothing good happens in Egypt.

The same is true here: nothing good happens in Timnah. This is the same town connected to the wild story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis. Nothing good happens in Timnah—and Samson went there and saw a woman.

Don't underestimate the weakness of strong men. It reminds us of 1 Corinthians 10:12—"take heed when you think you stand lest you fall." It reminds us of Proverbs 16—"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." It reminds us, as Micah says, to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. Even with great strengths and gifts, we should never lose sight that we are also weak. "I am what I am by the grace of God," and "our sufficiency is of God" (2 Corinthians 3:5–6). This is for men and women alike: every strong man has many weaknesses.

Point Two: Don't Underestimate the Strength of Your Flesh

"So Samson went up to his father and mother and said, 'I have seen a woman in Timnah... now therefore, get her for me as a wife.'" His parents pleaded, "Is there no woman among your brethren, or among all my people?" You can almost hear his Jewish mother: "Couldn't you please find a nice Jewish girl?" But Samson said, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well." The Hebrew literally reads, "she is right in my eyes." She was a looker, and Samson wanted her.

The Proverbs would do you well to read—31 chapters, one a day will keep foolishness away. Proverbs 27:20 says "the eyes of a man are never satisfied." Our culture has long encouraged us to lay hold of whatever the eyes see and the heart desires. That is bad counsel, because 1 John says "all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life"—it looks good, I want it, and I deserve it.

The wise King Solomon tried that thesis. In Ecclesiastes 2 he wrote, "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired and refused my heart no pleasure." He would have fit perfectly in California in 2024. And his conclusion? "Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Nothing was gained." How many lives could be preserved—so much pain, sorrow, and failure—by considering that conclusion.

James 1 says each one is tempted when drawn away by his own desires and enticed; desire, when conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when full grown brings forth death. Don't underestimate the strength of your flesh and its weakness in the face of temptation.

Point Three: God Works Through Our Weaknesses

Now we come to one of the head-scratchers of Scripture. Verse 4: "But Samson's father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD." Wait—what? Deuteronomy 7:3 explicitly commanded that God's people were not to take wives of the Philistines. Yet here is Samson, divinely called and empowered, going to Timnah, and we read, "they did not realize that it was of the LORD," for "He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines."

How do we reconcile this? Notice the text does not say the Lord was seeking for Samson to marry a Philistine—it says the Lord was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. Could God have stirred Samson to go down to Timnah to begin moving against the Philistines, and Samson got distracted by a cute Philistine? That's entirely possible—I'm sure you've never met a young man distracted by a girl. Could Samson have misunderstood what God was directing? Possibly. We're not entirely sure.

Whatever the case, this is not the only place where God moves His purposes forward in spite of the unfaithfulness of the vessel. Go through the Scriptures—Jacob, Gideon, Moses, David, Peter, Paul. The list is infinitely long, because all God has to work with is flawed and broken vessels. As it's been said, God uses crooked sticks to draw straight lines, because all He has are crooked sticks.

Don't underestimate God's ability to accomplish His purposes through our weaknesses. 1 Corinthians says He has chosen the foolish things, the weak things, the base things, the things despised, the things which are not. Why? Because that's all He's got to choose from—and so that no flesh would glory in His presence. If God only ever used the rich, the good-looking, the strong, and the brilliant, every one of us would say, "God can't use me." But when we see God use a dumb dude like Samson, I have to say, "I think God could use me, because I fit the bill." Praise God for His grace.

God's counsel will stand. Isaiah 46:10 says no purpose of God will be thwarted. Job 42:2 says God's will accomplishes what He pleases. This is good to meditate upon as we approach another presidential election. The temptation will be to freak out—what are we going to do? But the awesome thing about being a Christian is we know how it ends. God ultimately has a kingdom He will rule and reign over forever. My hope is not in this world or this kingdom; God is on the throne and in control.

The Lion in the Vineyard

"So Samson went down to Timnah... and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise a young lion came roaring against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand."

This is another face-palm moment. Numbers 6 gives three requirements of a Nazirite: don't partake of anything from the fruit of the vine; don't touch anything unclean, especially something dead; and don't cut your hair during the period of the vow. Where is Samson hanging out? In the vineyards. He's not eating the fruit of the vine, but he's awfully close to it—maybe not the best plan for a Nazirite.

He's walking a fine line between faithfulness to his vow and the folly of the flesh. This strong man is boldly going where wise men would never go, and he's attacked. He does these things because he's a fool—a strong fool, but a fool. You can be rich and a fool, good-looking and a fool, even intelligent and a fool. Romans 1 says, "professing to be wise, they became fools." Foolishness is evidenced by a person's actions.

And notice: "the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily" while he was in a place he ought not to be. An important reminder—you can have spiritual power and still do unspiritual things. We ought not to boast in the spiritual power we have.

Point Four: Don't Underestimate the Sweetness of Temptation

"Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased him well." Hebrews says sin is pleasurable for a season. After some time, when he returned to take her in marriage, he "turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass."

Come on, Samson. A Nazirite was not to touch anything unclean—yet he turns aside to look at the dead lion. He's playing stupid games, and you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. He's about to win the jackpot.

Don't underestimate the sweet seductiveness of temptation and sin. He sees the hive of bees and thinks, "I like honey." So "he took some of the honey in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion."

Samson has now made himself ceremonially unclean and officially broken his Nazirite vow. Worse, he's given the unclean honey to his parents, who unknowingly enter into sin as well. Your sin is never a private matter—it always affects others. It is insidious, dangerous, and destructive.

In 2024, probably the most privatized sin is pornography. People say, "It's no big deal, it's only my thing, it's not affecting anybody." I guarantee it's affecting you and everyone around you in ways you can't comprehend. And now with AI-generated imagery, people claim it harms no real person, so it's fine. I guarantee you it is destroying your soul, and I believe it's greatly affecting our culture for the worse. It always affects others.

The Riddle and the Wedding Feast

Samson's father went down to the woman, and Samson gave a feast, as young men did. When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him—he doesn't seem to have many friends, so they recruited thirty Philistines to hang out with this loner.

Samson said, "Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can explain it within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. But if you cannot, you shall give them to me." They said, "Pose your riddle." So he said: "Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet." We know the answer because we've read the story—they did not.

For three days they couldn't solve it. On the seventh day they threatened Samson's wife: "Entice your husband to explain the riddle, or we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us to take what is ours?" Tactics haven't changed in 3,200 years.

So she wept on him: "You only hate me; you do not love me." He said, "Look, I have not explained it to my father or mother; should I explain it to you?" But she wept on him the seven days of the feast, and on the seventh day, because she pressed him so much, he told her—a foreshadowing of future trouble. She explained it to her people, and before sunset the men said, "What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?" Samson replied, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle." No comment.

Point Five: God's Purposes Will Stand No Matter What

"Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon"—one of the key Philistine cities—"and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back to his father's house." And Samson's intended wife was given to his best man.

Don't underestimate the weakness of strong men—but also don't underestimate God's ability to accomplish His purpose through weak individuals. He will ultimately accomplish His purpose, and we can hope and trust in that—maybe not to the extent or speed it could have happened had Samson been completely dedicated, but God's purposes and plans will stand no matter what.

Samson is a man full of contradictions, like every one of us—one of the strongest men, divinely chosen and empowered, yet repeatedly falling into traps set right in front of him. His story reminds us that even those chosen for great purposes can fall prey to their own weaknesses. "Take heed when you think you stand lest you fall." These things were written for our instruction and admonition (1 Corinthians 10).

We live in a time much like Samson's world—filled with carnality and brokenness—and God is seeking instruments He can use for His glory. He has called and empowered every one of you to be part of that task. But it requires dedicated consecration. Samson's flaws—especially his weakness for women and his pride—led him into compromising situations again and again, ultimately to brokenness and devastation. Yes, God accomplished major things through him, and yes, his name is in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11—but I'm always left thinking it could have been so much better.

So his story reminds us to maintain humility, to be vigilant against temptation, to trust wholly in God's overarching plan, to guard our eyes and hearts, to seek wise counsel (which Samson never did), and to never underestimate the power of temptation—it's far stronger than we think. Though the spirit be willing, the flesh can be so weak. When I read this text, I think: don't waste your life. By grace we've been saved through faith—not of ourselves, not of works, lest anyone should boast—but we were created for good works in Christ Jesus, that we should walk in them today and this week.

Closing Prayer

Father God, thank You for this text of Scripture and for the story of Samson, even with all of its issues. Every one of us standing here is a person with lots of issues, and yet You love us, call us, save us, sanctify us, and desire to use us for Your glory and Your name's sake. Would You help us by the enabling power of Your Spirit to commit ourselves and our way to You, to trust in You, and to allow You to work in and through us by Your Spirit for Your glory? God, please accomplish great things through our lives, through this church, and through the body of Christ throughout this county and this nation. Do a work, we ask in Jesus' name—and all those who agreed said, Amen.