Lessons from the Life of Samson, Delilah, Sampson Overview, Beth Shemesh, Israel, Philistines

[Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to the Holy Land and this biblical site of Tel Batoche we're in the area where Samson and the Philistines and the events that happened between Samson and the Philistines took place this is where he let the foxes on fire you can see vineyards down here below I should mention this also as the same route that the Philistines returned the ark of the covenant in beth-shemesh which is just up the road just a little bit from here and you'll also be able to see in this video Samson's hometown his tomb and the things that happened are right here in this area so in this video we're going to be focusing upon the life of Samson and the things that took place here now the life of Samson is probably one of the most difficult persons in the Bible to really understand because what you see is this blend between God's Sovereign Grace and Samson's human choices and they kind of mesh and is far from perfect but God accomplishes his will yet in the midst Samson is a very immature spiritual believer exercising his own human choices that turn out kind of bizarre at time so anyway we're going to be looking at some of the things that happen right here some amazing fascinating things happened right here so Timna and I should mentioned this tel Batoche that we're filming you can see it kind of in the background it's not big but that is the biblical Timna and so a lot of events happened right here so Timnath is where kind of Samson's life centers around so we've chosen this tel here to do this now Timna is about 10 acres in size and it's located about halfway between Joppa a coastal town on the Mediterranean Sea and Jerusalem and it's on a main thorough as well as on one of the routes that go up to Jerusalem from the coastal plain now Tim Neff is mentioned 10 times in the Bible and it's in a rich agricultural area as you can see and it's by the stream called the Newhall sort of stream now as we mentioned Sampson is a very interesting Bible fig that presents some significant challenges to understand and many have kind of tripped over this and don't really know how to understand the life of Samson because sometimes it appears like God's doing some things weird or it appears like Samson's a way out of God's will so in this video we're going to help you understand the life of Samson because it does present some some deep theological analysis in order to get right so we're going to really help you in this area and at the same time we're going to see some amazing things that took place right here so the life of Samson is a blend of God's sovereignty and Samson's human choices many decisions Samson made were sinful and foolish however despite his sinful and foolish choices God still used him to accomplish his sovereign purposes however it appears Samson's choices negatively affected what he could have accomplished for God had he been more obedient and wise Samson's life seems to reveal a very immature believer who follows their sinful desires rather than walking in the spirit and exemplifying wisdom and spiritual maturity now in order to understand Samson's life we have to understand something about the book of Judges the period of the judges takes place in a period of Israel's history when they were very spiritually immature so they were a spiritually immature people at this time there are two famous leaders Moses and Joshua had died and now they were on their own in the book of Judges shows a struggle of the nation of Israel and kind of floundering they don't have a leader and they're just kind of searching and there's a phrase that is repeated over and over in the book of Judges and that is they had no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes and you see this kind of bizarre events that take place now Samson is listed in Hebrews 11 in the Hall of faith chapter as a person who had faith so we're going to talk about some of the negative choices of Samson but at the same time he was a man of faith he's found in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 as a person who was of faith so we do want to give him the credit where credit is due but we will also reveal some of the weaknesses that he had as well now Samson had a supernatural birth and purpose like Sarah Rebecca Rachel Hanna and Elizabeth the mother of Samson was barren and was unable to have children and you kind of see that theme regularly in scripture where before a person of great importance comes on the scene the mother is barren and God does a supernatural work so God visited Samson's parents through an angel in judges 13 it says there was a certain man of Zorah and you can see in this video tells ora of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoah and his wife was barren and had borne no children should mention that Samson was from the tribe of Dan eventually Dan moved the tribe of Dan moved up to northern Galilee up in the Caesarea Philippi area north of the Sea of Galilee but at this time they were still the tribe of Dan was still here in this area then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her behold now you're barren and have borne no children but you shall conceive and give birth to a son now therefore be careful not to drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing for behold you shall conceive and give birth to a son and no razor shall come upon his head for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines so God's purpose for Samson was to begin to deliver the nation of Israel from the hands of the Philistines he was a Nazarite and God ordered Samson to be consecrated by being a Nazarite from birth meaning separated or dedicated that was what the term Nazarite means separated or dedicated now this was a unique vow applicable during the Old Covenant of national Israel whereby a non Levite and Samson was a Danite he was not a Levite could dedicate his life to full-time service to God this vow required that their hair not be cut no alcoholic beverages were to be consumed and no touching of anything dead was allowed this was according to judges 13 this Nazarite vow and number six now God also provided Samson with unbelievable superhuman strength to be used against the Philistines providing Samson's vow of submission was fully kept and we'll see later when his hair is cut off he loses his strength so his superhuman ability was related to keeping his Nazarite vow now when Samson was grown he comes down here to Timna from zoara's or is just a few miles up the road kind of a few miles up the valley and Timna is the tell that we're overlooking here and you can see that in judges 14 that says then Samson went down to Timna so he came down from zoar down to Timna from his hometown right down here and saw a woman in Timnath one of the daughters of the Philistines so he came back and told his father and mother I saw a woman in Timnath one of the daughters of the Philistines now therefore get her for me as a wife and here's where some people are saying you know Samson was just following his flesh and maybe he was but anyway it's interesting here it says he said to his father get her for me as a wife then his father and his mother said to him is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives or among all our people that you should take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines but Samson said to his father get her for me for she looks good to me however his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord for he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines meaning God was seeking an occasion against the Philistines now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel so this event that Samson comes down here to Timna and wants this this Philistine wife really is of the Lord now that might appear like a problem we're gonna see that there's really no problem in the fact that Samson did seek out this woman that was not forbidden and let me tell you exactly why now as I mentioned this verse has caused much debate and appears very difficult to understand didn't God forbid the Israelites to marry foreign women and why would Samson desire an unbelieving wife who it appears he was just attracted to because of her outward beauty so here's a at first some challenges but we're gonna answer those so follow along now first of all god only prohibited the Israelites from marrying Canaanite women from the seven nationalities that made up the promised land the Philistines likely had conquered and settled or had been transplanted to this location here and were not part of the people group of Canaan so the Philistines did not originate from the Canaanite groups infected by the amorite sins as mentioned in Genesis 15 the Philistine land was considered separate from the Canaanite land as mentioned in Exodus 13 and the people group was distinguished from the Canaanites as mentioned in Joshua 13 so the Philistines weren't part of the seventh nationalities that made up cave Canaan that the Israelites were forbidden to marry now also Boaz married Ruth who was a Moabite from whom the lineage of David and Christ came so the Israelites weren't forbidden to marry all forward women just certain foreign women those being the Canaanites so there is no direct conflict with God's commands and his possible moving in the heart of Samson to be attracted to a Philistine woman however even if it were sinful of Samson and arose wholly of him and God simply allowed it for his own purposes it still could be something of the Lord whether God is actively doing or passively allowing it he is working that is simply how God operates in a sinful world human sin and God works despite that sin now Samson demonstrates his superhuman ability by killing a lion with his bare hands so here we now begin to see God supernaturally using Samson and demonstrating and using his supernatural superhuman strength says in judges 14 then Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother and came as far as the vineyards of Timna and interestingly right here there's vineyards right by this tell here that we're shooting this from from old ancient Timna and behold a young lion came roaring toward him the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so that he tore him as one tear as a young goat though he had nothing in his hand but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done so here we see this blend of God's sovereignty moving and leading Samson but we also begin to see some of Samson's foolish choices so here Samson neglects the wise counsel of his parents and so we will begin to see the cost that he pays for that so now we're gonna see Samson breaking his Nazarite vow he's gonna touch something dead now God's gonna have mercy on him but we still see Samson beginning to relax and making these human choices that are not biblical and that are not godly choices and we're not according to the Nazarite vow so when judges for Tina says now he went down and talked to the woman and she looked good to Samson when he returned later to take her he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion and behold a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion so he scraped the honey into his hands and went on eating it as he went when he came to his father and mother he gave some of it to them and they ate it but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion so here Samson violates part of his Nazarite vow and he touches this dead carcass so next Sam stones going to throw a party for his marriage marrying this Philistine woman and he proposes a riddle but then he succumbs to his wife's pressure to reveal it so here we Samson falling and not not being strong in his faith and succumbing to the pressure of this Philistine woman so in judges 14 it says then his father went down to the woman and Samson made a feast there for the young men customarily did this when they saw him they brought thirty companions to be with him so we have this feast of the Philistines and Samson and his family now this customary feast was literally a drinking party now we're not certain whether or not Samson drank because the scripture doesn't say but there's a possibility that he did and if he did he would be violating another of his Nazarite vows then Samson proposes a riddle and his wife deceives him into telling her and she then tells her kinsman so then the Spirit of God comes upon Samson and he killed thirty Philistines it says in judges fourteen nineteen then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle and his anger burned and he went up to his father's house but Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend so this turmoil here causes a problem Samson's mad he leaves his friends deceive him he goes on up kills these Philistines and goes back on up to his hometown of Zoar now then Samson seeks revenge because his wife had been given to one of Samson's good friends so in judges 15 it says Samson went and caught three hundred foxes and took torches and tied the fox's tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails when he had set fire to the torches he released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines thus burning up both the shocks and standing grain along with the vineyards and the grove so they raised wheat here in this valley as well right now they've got grapes they've got olives but the wheat fields are dormant right now they'll soon be planting them and anyway so Sampson right in this area lit the fields on fire with these foxes and just burned everything up well you can imagine that that caused a lot of problems so the Israelites deliver Samson to the Philistines bound in new ropes as a result but Samson breaks the ropes like wax and kills 1,000 Philistines so in judges 15 14 it says when he came to lay he and you can see in these photos this place it's close to Zora the Philistines shouted as they met him and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that burned with fire and his bonds dropped from his hands he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it so then after Samson kills these thousand Philistines with the jawbone you can imagine how that must have been well he was he was exhausted and tired and thirsty and God supernaturally provides for him it says in judges 15 18 then he became very thirsty and he called to the Lord and said you have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised but God split the hollow place that is in leahy so that water came out of it when he drank his strength returned and he revived therefore he named it in hot core which is in Leahy to this day so he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines then Samson does something that is absolutely forbidden he commits adultery with this harlot so once again we see this blend of God using him but Samson making these foolish choices along the way so we have God's sovereignty the human element God's so big and powerful he can use the human agent who's fallen yet Samson could have done much more if he would have been obedient and walk closer to the Lord and judges 16 it says now Samson went to Gaza and Gaza is right along the Mediterranean Ocean south of Tel Aviv and saw a harlot there and went into her when it was told to the gazettes and the gazaís were part of the philistines saying samson has come here they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city and they kept silent all night saying let us wait until the morning light then we will kill him now Samson lay until midnight and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the to post and pulled him up with the bars then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron so this would have been about 45 miles or around 75 kilometers from Gaza uphill and Hebron is around 3,000 the 3500 feet so Samson went from sea level carrying these massive huge gates that probably weighed tons 45 miles up a steep hill up to Hebron he was an absolutely superhuman person so even though Samson committed sexual sin with the prostitute God had mercy on him and delivered him anyway so once again God's sovereignty the human agent God is still big enough to even use the sinful fallen agent in his great sovereign plan so then Samson is defeated by the Philistines so Samson's bad choices finally catch up with him and now he is going to be defeated by the Philistines it says in judges 16 for after this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her entice him and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him then we will give you 1,100 pieces of silver so they were going to pay her off big time for this and so also we can see that Samson has this continual weakness for women as a hard time controlling his sexual appetite so then Delilah deceives Samson and the story is that Samson went in and Delilah kept trying to entice him and finally she just says please tell me if if you really love me tell me and finally Samson gives in to her and he tells her the secret of his great strength and says if you cut off my hair I will lose my strength so he fell asleep on her lap she called in the Philistines and they cut off Samson's hair tragic and then Delilah speaks to Samson and says the Philistines are upon you Samson and he awoke from his sleep and said I will go out at as other times and shake myself free but he did not know that the Lord had departed from him then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains and he was a grinder in the prison so Samson's foolish choices finally catch up with him and God's mercy finally comes to an end at this point God's going to once again offer mercy at the end of Samson's life but Samson continually makes these sinful choices breaking his Nazarite vow going into a prostitute and then taking this Philistine woman Delilah telling him his secret so he just has this spiritual immaturity wherein he does not follow God's strict commands and therefore he pays a great price his eyes are gouged out and he becomes a grinder that is they had this big pole that went out this grinding stone and he would spend all day every day going around just grinding the grain and that was really the job of auxins and in animals of that nature so a tremendous price that Samson paid now at the end of Samson's life God uses Samson once again in his death and the reason he does it is because God's name is mocked so this is really special here so when God's name is mocked and his glory is given to false gods he chooses once again to use Samson for his sovereign purposes so in judges 6 23 it says now the Lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their God and to rejoice where they said our God has given Samson our enemy into our hands when the people saw him they praise their god this Dagon for they said our God has given our enemy into our hands even the destroyer of our country who has slain many of us so they are mocking God Yahweh and they are saying that dag on their God is bigger than Yahweh and that their God has overtaken Yahweh and Samson and Israelites so that's going to cause God to rise up and you'll note one thing in Scripture whenever God's glory whenever his name whenever him being the one true God is challenged he rises up and reveals his strong hand against them so we'll see that it says so it happened that they were when they were in high spirits as to the Philistines when they were in high spirits celebrating their victory and worshiping their God Dagon and diminishing the true God of Israel Yahweh it says they said call for Samson that he may amuse us so they called for Samson from the prison and he entertained them and they made him stand between the pillars then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand let me feel the pillars on which the house rest that I may lean against them now the house was full of men and women and all the Lords of the Philistines were there about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them so they were mocking Samson and giving glory to their God Dagon and celebrating their victory over Israel then Samson called to the Lord and said O Lord God please remember me and please strengthen me just this time o God that I may once again be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes now we should note that the time during which Samson was grinding and in many many days months possibly years passed miss Samson's hair grew back and so now he has his strength once again and he feels for the pillars and had asked the boy to show him where the pillars are and Samson said let me die with the Philistines and he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the Lord's and on 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 then his brothers and all his father's household came down and took him brought him up and buried him between zorah and eshtaol in the tomb of manoa his father thus he had judged Israel 20 years and so once again in this video you can see this tomb the believed place where Samson is rested so what can we learn as we wrap up this video here about Samson's life once again we begin by saying that Samson's life is very challenging to understand so let's wrap this up and let's put together what are some real sound biblical theological answers for what appears sometimes as some difficult things to understand so first thing we can learn is God is sovereign and uses sinful people for his purposes and even in God's garden of grace broken trees produce fruit so God is so big that he can even use simple people for his sovereign purposes we also learned that Samson failed to listen to the counsel of his parents so that caused him problems it also appears that Samson was bitter and vegetable which also caused him problems Samson had a weakness for women which caused him problems Samson broke many of his Nazarite vows and therefore lost his strength Samson walked in the flesh instead of the spirit much of the time and Samson had raw abilities but never refined them and submitted them fully to God's control and lordship so he had this supernatural strength but he didn't really refine and submit them to God's Authority therefore it cost him dearly and Samson paid a heavy price for his continual neglect of submitting to God it cost him his eyes it cost him his life and and he spent his time before he died going around this stone grinding wheat like an animal so Samson failed in many ways but once again dodge still used Samson he's mentioned in the book of Hebrews as being a man of faith so he did have faith even though he had many weaknesses as well and God used his faith but God also punished him for his weaknesses and once again it cost him his life so we can see from Samson's life some great great lessons we see God is sovereign we see God supernaturally called Samson we see that God gave him supernatural strength and we see that God did use Samson but at the same time we see that Samson because of his human weaknesses and because of his disobedient spirit and his kind of lack slothful spirit in obeying God and not being fully devoted to the Lord we see that Samson's life was cut short and we see that Samson's ministry was diminished and weakened as well some great lessons for us today if we want to have a strong faithful ministry we need to be obedient to the Lord we need to be serious and devoted to Christ instead of being kind of lackadaisical in our walk with Him God can still use weak people and he does but how much more if we would refine ourselves and if we would grow to spiritual maturity God could use us even more and that's the tragic lesson of Samson he could have been used far more but he was used a little bit and then he pays a serious price because of his disobedience to the Lord so great lessons for us today thank you for watching I hope you've enjoyed this video and god bless you

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Keywords: Samson and Delilah, samson, delilah, biblical timnah, timnah Israel, zorah israel, samson's tomb, beth shemesh, life of samson, lessons from the life of samson, israel, holy land, bible teaching, lessons from the bible, lessons of samson, miracles of samson, samson devotional, study of samson, study of samson and delilah

Id: YWClvqUyKVw

Length: 28min 37sec (1717 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 20 2019