We should know …

“She said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’  And he awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’  But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him” (Judges 16:20).

                When our hearts are hardened, we cannot gain any insight (Mk. 6:52).   We do not know over what we stumble (Prov. 4:19).  We do not understand what Jesus is saying to us (Jn. 8:43).  It is because we cannot hear His word (v.43).  And even we hear His word; we cannot understand (Dan. 12:8).  We do not know we are doing evil (Ecc. 5:1). 

                When we look at the today’s passage Judges 16:20, we see a famous judge Samson who did not know.  He did not know at least three things: 

First, Samson did not know that going near to the Gentiles women was going far away from the Lord. 

When we look at Judges 14:1-2, we see Samson going down to Timnah and saw a Philistine woman and want to get her from him as a wife.  It was because she looked good for him (v.3).  Was there no woman among the daughters of his relatives, or among all the Israelites, that he went to take a wife form the uncircumcised Philistines? (v.3). This was against the Moses’ Law, intermarrying with the uncircumcised Philistines (Dt. 7:3).  Samson shouldn’t have intermarried with the Philistines woman.  After they were separated, Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went in to her (Judg. 16:1).  After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sore, whose name was Delilah (v.4).  As a result, Samson went far away from the Lord. 

                Second, Samson did not know that going far away from the Lord is sinning against God.

                As Samson pursued relationships with these three Gentile women, he forgot about God’s given calling as a Nazirite.  He began to commit sins against God.  As the Nazirite, Samson had to dedicate himself to the Lord.  He should abstain from wine, strong drink and vinegar.  All the days of his separation he should not eat anything that was produced by the grape vine.  All the days of his vow of separation no razor should pass over his head.  All the days of his separation to the Lord he should not go near to a dead person.  All the day of his separation he was holy to the Lord (Num. 6:2-8).  But when we look at Judges 14:5, Samson went down to Timnah with his parents and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah.  He should have gone to that vineyards (cf. 13:4).  And in those vineyards, he tore a young lion which came roaring toward him when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily (14:5-6).  When he returned later to take the woman in Timnah, Samson turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion and saw a swarm of bees and honey that were in the body of the lion (v.8).  So he scraped the honey into his hand and went on eating as he went (v.9) He even gave some of them to his parents without telling them where he got it (v.9).  He shouldn’t have done it.  He shouldn’t have turned aside and look at the carcass of the lion.  He shouldn’t have go near to the dead body of the lion.  And he shouldn’t have touched it.  But he did.  And later on, Samson was enticed by Delilah and told her where his great strength was (vv.15-18).  He told her all that was in his heart (vv.17-18).  Why did he do that?  It was because Delilah pressed his daily with her words and urged him that Samson’s should was annoyed to death (v.16).  He couldn’t refused her temptation because he was already far away from the Lord.  Shouldn’t he have gone near to God and told Him all that was in his heart?  Instead, how could he do that to the Gentile woman?  As a result, Samson’s seven locks of his hair were shaved off (v.19).  And his strength left him (v.19). 

                Third, Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

                After Delilah made Samson to sleep on her knees and shaved off the seven lock of his hair, she began to afflict him but his strength left him (v.19).  Then she said “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” (v.20). So Samson woke up from his sleep and said “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free” (v.20).  But he did not know that the Lord had departed him (v.20).  Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes (v.21).  And they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains and he was a grinder in the prison (v.21).  The lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands" (v.23).  They praised their god (v.24).  And when they were in high spirits, they called Samson so that he might amuse them (v.25).  What a miserable situation that was!  He probably did not know this would happen to him. 

                Although Samson did not know that going near to the Gentiles women was going far away from the Lord, going far away from the Lord is sinning against God and there would be a severe consequence to his sins, at least one thing that he knew.  He knew that even when he cried out to God in his miserable situation, God would listen to his prayer.  This was his prayer: “O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes” (v.28).  Then Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and other with his left (v.29).  “And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life” (v.30).

                The Scriptures Psalms 49:20 says “Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish” (KJV).  We who believe in Jesus are in honor.  We are precious in God’s sight and we are honored (Isa. 43:4).  We should know this fact.  And we should know that when we go near to this world instead of His Word, our hearts will be hardened and we will be far away from the Lord.  We will for sure commit sins against God.  And we will be in a miserable situation.  But let us not forget that even when we are in the miserable situation, when we cry out to God He will hear us and will answer our prayer according to His will.  As we know this truth, let us have hope in the Lord!

“…  and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.” (Daniel 12:10b).

James Kim