Samson Pulls Down A Temple Judges 16:22-31
Looking back
GIDEON'S ARMY OF 300 (JUDGES 7:1-25)
SAMSON IS BORN (JUDGES 13)
SAMSON AND DELILAH (JUDGES 16:4-21)
TODAY: Samson Pulls Down A Temple Judges 16:22-31
Explain that when we make mistakes.
If we ask for forgiveness, God will cover our mistakes with His grace,
Though we have made mistakes, God can still use us!
As we saw last week, Samson was the man who “could have, should have, but did not.”
As a Judge for Israel, Samson achieved a great military victory over the Philistines; but Samson did not remain faithful to God.
His downfall was his love for a Philistine woman named Delilah.
Though he killed a lion with his bare hands, carried city gates away, broke the bonds of his enemies, and burned up the crops of others, he could not conquer his own desires nor control his passions.
In our last lesson, we saw the sad consequences of his foolish choices.
Samson was carried captive by the Philistines, who robbed him of his sight and made him grind grain.
The story of Samson could have been over.
Yet, in his pitiful condition, Samson cried out to the Lord.
Judges 16:22-31
21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 22 However, the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. 23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy!” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, The destroyer of our land, And the one who multiplied our dead.”
Samson’s hair began to grow again after it was shaved.
It is interesting that the Philistines did not cut his hair again, knowing that it was a sign of his strength.
Perhaps they thought he could work harder for them if he was stronger, yet they did not fear his strength because he was blind.
These people had no fear of God, as we see by their joyous celebration of Samson’s capture.
They believed that it was their god, Dagon, who delivered Samson into their hands;
Dagon, the West Semitic god of crop fertility,
was worshiped extensively throughout the ancient Middle East.
Dagan was the Hebrew and Ugaritic common noun for “grain,”
Dagan was the legendary inventor of the plow.
so, they had a great and joyous sacrificial festival in honor of their god. Dagon, a deity that resembled the body of a fish with the head and hands of a man,
Dagon was one of the principal gods of the Philistines.
All the people took part in this festival, singing songs of praise to the god whom they thought had given them their enemy.
Yet, their god did not hear their singing because he was not alive.
Our God and Lord Jesus Christ is alive and delights in the praises of His people.
25 So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So, they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
26 Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple so that I can lean on them.”
27 Now the temple was full of men and women.
All the leaders of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed.
When the people were “merry,” they called for Samson desiring that he make sport for them.
They wanted him to put on a show—to become the fool of their games.
Matthew Henry comments, “It was an instance of barbarity to trample thus upon a man in misery, at the sight of whom a while ago they would have trembled.”
How sad are the consequences of Samson’s foolish sins?
The Bible says sin is pleasurable for a season; but in the end, it will destroy those who give in to it.
Satan had enticed Samson through his weakness and lust. He promised him pleasure in a relationship with Delilah…
Now, we see Satan in the jeering crowd watching as Samson, once a mighty man for the Lord, reaps his own destruction and misery.
28 Then Samson called to the LORD, saying, “O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!”
Samson “called unto the Lord…”
Samson was not the type of man that we would look up to;
in fact, his life was marked by failure.
When he called out to the Lord, the Lord heard him.
In Psalm 66:19-20 we read, “but verily God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer or His mercy from me.”
How good to know that we can call out to God for help in our time of need!
Although we do fail and make mistakes, God remains faithful and ready to forgive.
In Psalm 86:5 we read, “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.”
Samson asked God for strength one more time, to avenge himself of the Philistines for his two eyes.
Let me be very clear about this, The Bible does not accept and allow revenge.
Rom 12:19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
1Pe 3:9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
Mat 5:38¶ “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Mat 5:39 “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
Though we have made mistakes, God can still use us!
29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. 30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people who were in it. So, the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
After Samson had prayed to the Lord for strength for this last great feat,
He embraced the two middle pillars on which the building was built and leaned on them. With his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other.
He said, “Let me die with the Philistines!”
He then bent the two pillars with force and the temple fell on the princes and all the people who were there.
God granted Samson’s final prayer and the temple was demolished,
killing more people in Samson’s death than he had killed while he lived.
(Before this event, he had killed at least 1,030 Philistines.)
God’s judgment came upon a people who had made a mockery of God and His servant.
The shame of Samson’s sin was taken away in his death;
God in His mercy forgave and used a man whose own failures had bound Him.
31 And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel for twenty years.
Samson’s brethren and relatives came to take Samson’s body away for burial between Zorah (his birthplace) and Eshtaol in Manoah’s tomb.
Samson’s 20 years of judgeship over Israel ended.
Samson’s life was not one to hold up as an example of courage or virtue.
Rather his failures and the consequences he suffered can be a warning to us not to allow our selfishness and lust to rule over us.
Samson had little regard for the rights and property of others; he was often driven to act out of revenge and governed by selfishness and lust.
He was prey to the enemy’s temptation.
He had great ability and was endowed with physical power by the Holy Spirit, yet he was overcome by his weaknesses and suffered the consequences.
Yet, despite all his failures, his story does not end in failure;
for he once more called upon the Lord in faith.
God honored his faith and bestowed His mercy.
In fact, we find Samson listed in God’s “Hall of Faith” in
Hebrews 11:32.
Heb 11:32¶ And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:
PRAYER
Lead the children in a prayer
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