That Death Won't Work - Judges 16:1-31

Sermon Series: In Need of a Greater Rescue

Chapter 16 opens with a strange set of verses. In verses 1-3 the author and narrator recounted a specific event that took place in Samson’s life, but he did so with very few details and no obvious purpose. He started off the chapter telling the readers that Samson went to Gaza. Most of chapters 14 and 15 had taken place around the Philistine town of Timnah, but in chapter 16 the location had changed - Samson had traveled to a Philistine town some 45 miles away from his own home near Zorah. What had taken Samson so far away from his home? The answer appeared to be his continued pursuit of Philistine women. The author and narrator informed the reader that while Samson was at Gaza he saw a prostitute, went to her, and proceeded to spend the night with her. While all of that was taking place the reader was also informed that news of Samson’s presence in Gaza was made known throughout the city. And in response to that news the author and narrator announced that the men of the city set an ambush for Samson at the city gate with the hopes of killing him. These details give us some important insight regarding the spread of Samson’s reputation among the Philistines and the threat that he imposed. In the last two chapters it was almost exclusively the Philistine men and women of Timnah who had suffered as a result of conflict with Samson. But by the time the reader gets to chapter 16 of Judges it seemed that news of Samson’s exploits and the damage they had caused to their Philistine countrymen had made it throughout all the Philistine territory and that all the Philistines were now looking for opportunities to take revenge on this very powerful and very dangerous Israelite man. The author and narrator concluded the short recounting of this event by telling the reader that Samson did not wait until morning to leave the prostitute. Instead he arose at midnight and proceeded to the gate of the city. The reader expects that Samson will be attacked by the ambush waiting for him there, but this isn’t what took place. Instead Samson came to the gates and the author and narrator told us that in his great might Samson “took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron” (16:3). How exactly did all of that take place? That’s a great question that the author and narrator doesn’t answer for us. The reader is left to assume that perhaps God caused a deep sleep to come over the Philistine men lying in ambush so that they were not awakened by all the noise that Samson would have made pulling up the doors of the gate. And how was Samson able to carry such enormous and heavy gates the 40 miles from the coastal town of Gaza to the highland city of Hebron? Again the reader is left to assume because the author and narrator did not tell us specifically. It would seem that God’s strengthening would be necessary for such an enormous feat, so the reader is left to assume that God’s Spirit has come upon Samson and enabled him to perform such a superhuman-type task.

Perhaps the most significant question concerning verses 1-3 is, “What is the purpose of these verses?” The author and narrator did not make that clear, so as readers we have to make a responsible effort to discern the purpose from the surrounding context and clues. Given the content of the rest of chapter 16 it appears that perhaps the most reasonable explanation for verses 1-3 is that these verses are setting the stage and laying a foundation for the remainder of the chapter. The main narrative in the remainder of chapter 16 concerned a harsh conflict with the Philistines and an unimaginable demonstration of superhuman type strength that all originated with Samson’s involvement with another Philistine woman. The content of 16:4-31 is hard to fathom at some points, which makes the content of 16:1-3 so valuable. The author and narrator used those verses and the description of those events to lay a foundation upon which he could build the narrative of verses 4-31; because of the details given in verses 1-3 we have grounds for believing the events which transpired in verses 4-31.

The Samson narrative that we will spend the rest of our time examining this week is perhaps the most familiar of the Samson narratives (though I would guess that most of us are not as familiar with the narrative as we like to think we are). The author and narrator began this final Samson narrative in verse 4 by stating, “After this he [Samson] loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah” (16:4). This is the third woman in the last three chapters that has been appealing in Samson’s eyes and with whom Samson has pursued relations. And just like the unnamed woman in Timnah, Delilah proves to be a weakness for Samson. The author and narrator said that “the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ‘Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver’” (16:5). In 14:15 some of the Philistine men had blackmailed Samson’s wife, threatening her with death if she did not discover the answer to Samson’s riddle. In 16:5 the lords of the Philistines didn’t threaten Delilah with death but enticed her with extravagant riches, and Delilah was unable to resist such an offer. Beginning in verse 6 Delilah began to relentlessly pursue the source of Samson’s great strength in a surprisingly open and honest approach. “So Delilah said to Samson, ‘Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you’” (16:6).

Now before we go further into the text we need to make one thing clear that will help us in understanding Samson’s answers to Delilah’s continuous questioning. Samson seemed to understand that his great strength was unmatched by any others’. And because his unbelievable strength and might had been so clearly demonstrated in his victory over the lion and his previous conflicts with the Philistines, Samson had great confidence in his ability to overpower those who might try to take him captive. So we shouldn’t be confused about Samson’s understanding of Delilah’s questioning. Samson had not misunderstood her question. It seems more likely that Samson saw Delilah’s question as a game by which he could treat his God-given strength as a toy and have further opportunities to demonstrate his unmatched power and strength. So Samson began to answer Delilah’s question with a series of false answers – answers that would entice the Philistines into a confrontation with himself, and by which he could prove his superiority over them.

In 16:7-9 Samson deceived Delilah the first time. He told her that if he was tied up with seven fresh bowstrings (some English texts translate the word ‘tendons’) then he would lose his great strength and become like other men. So the author and narrator said that the lords of the Philistines brought seven fresh bowstrings to Delilah and that while Samson was sleeping several Philistine soldiers entered the house to ambush Samson and Delilah tied him up with the bowstrings. Expecting Samson’s strength to have departed Delilah then cried out, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” waking Samson from his sleep. But the first ambush failed because Samson’s strength had not departed and he simply snapped the bowstrings Delilah had used to tie him up and defeated the Philistine soldiers.

In 16:10-12 Delilah’s second attempt to hand over Samson is revealed. She began by confronting Samson with his deception and then asked him again to reveal to her the secret of his great strength. This time Samson told her that if he was tied up with new ropes that had never been used he would lose his strength and become like other men. So Delilah sent for more Philistine soldiers who waited inside the house in ambush and when Samson fell asleep Delilah tied him up with new ropes. Delilah again, expecting Samson’s strength to have departed, cried out, “The Philistines are upon you Samson!” waking him from his sleep. But this second ambush failed just as the first one had because Samson’s strength had not departed from him and he snapped the ropes right off of his arms.

In 16:13-14 Delilah tried a third time to hand over Samson to the Philistines. She began again by confronting Samson with his deception and then asked him again to tell her how he could be overpowered and bound. Samson’s answer this third time was particularly unique, and also a lot more dangerous as he was getting a little closer to giving away the true source of his strength. Samson told her that if she took his hair and wove it together with other fabric and fastened it then he would lose his strength and would become like other men. So the author and narrator said that when Samson fell asleep Delilah took his seven locks of hair, wove them together with other fabric, and then fastened it tightly with a pin. Then for a third time she woke him up by crying out, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And for a third time the reader discovered that Samson had deceived Delilah, that his strength had not departed from him, and that he was able to escape by pulling out the pin which had fastened his hair to the other fabric and the loom.

Having realized that Samson was just toying with her and with the Philistines, Delilah intensified her efforts beginning in verse 15. Like Samson’s Timnite wife had done earlier in chapter 14, Delilah began accusing Samson of not really loving her. “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and you have not told me where your great strength lies” (16:15). Delilah was arguing that “real love” doesn’t keep secrets – that if Samson really did love her he would be completely honest when he answered her question. Additionally the author and narrator wrote, “And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death” (16:16). What seemed to have started off as a game got old for Samson. It seemed that Delilah was constantly accusing him of not loving her and constantly questioning him about the source of his strength. She was relentless and Samson just couldn’t take it anymore. Samson felt compelled to answer Delilah’s daily accusations that “his heart was not with her” by telling her “all his heart,” and so in 16:17 Samson finally revealed the truth, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

The author and narrator didn’t reveal what it was about this particular answer that caused Delilah to know that he was finally telling her the truth, but something clued her in. “When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, ‘Come up again, for he has told me all his heart’” (16:18). So the author and narrator said that the lords of the Philistines came up with the promised money. He revealed that Delilah got Samson to fall asleep lying with his head on her lap and he said that once Samson fell asleep Delilah called in another individual to shave the hair off of Samson’s head. (It seems highly unlikely that Samson could have actually remained asleep while someone else was shaving his head, but the author and narrator already set a precedent for this in verses 1-3. In seemed highly unlikely in those verses that the Philistine ambush could sleep through Samson pulling up the city gates and walking past them with the gates on his shoulders. But just as we mentioned that God may have been responsible for causing a deep sleep to come over those Philistines, it is possible that God caused a deep sleep to come over Samson in this situation). With Samson’s hair removed, so was his strength. The author and narrator told the readers, “Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him” (16:19). As she had done in her previous attempts to bind Samson, Delilah woke Samson from his sleep by crying out, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And just as he had done in the three previous episodes Samson rose ready to defeat the Philistines who were awaiting him in ambush. “And he awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free” (16:20). Only this time there was tragic news! Samson had risen to take on this Philistine ambush, “but he did not know that the Lord had left him.” The One who had been empowering Samson was no longer with him and without God Samson was truly powerless. Now listen to what the author and narrator said in verse 21. “And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison” (16:21). Samson had not been able to shake himself free. He had not been able to defeat the Philistine ambush. He had been caught, he had been tortured, and he had been reduced from “deliverer of Israel” to doing the work of the lowliest slave. One commentator put it this way, “Samson had been left without strength, without sight, without freedom, without dignity, and without God.” We have never seen more clearly the rescuer in such great need of rescue.

The capture of Samson was an extraordinary victory for the Philistines. The author and narrator revealed that it was a victory they attributed to more than just their own abilities. The Philistines saw the capture of Samson as evidence that their god had proven his superiority over Samson and Samson’s god. “Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, ‘Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.’ And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, ‘Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us’” (16:23-24). The irony in what the Philistines were saying/singing was amazing. The Philistines were declaring to their god what the Israelites should have been declaring to Yahweh. It should have been the Israelites, led by Samson, saying “Our God has given our enemy [the Philistines] into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” But it wasn’t the Israelites declaring these things to Yahweh– because Samson had been too busy doing what was right in his own eyes he never fulfilled God’s call for his life and as a result it was the Philistines making great boasts of their god.

As the author and narrator continued to recount the story he informed the reader that celebrating Samson’s capture wasn’t enough for the Philistines – they wanted to admire their trophy. “And when their hearts were merry, they said, ‘Call Samson, that he may entertain us.’ So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars” (16:25). Samson wasn’t brought out to sing, dance, or tell jokes. Samson was brought out so that the people could see his lowly estate; so that they could see the torture that had been done to him; and so that they could amuse themselves by boldly hurling insults at the one they used to live in great fear of. This is what it meant for Samson to entertain them. The lords of the Philistines and the Philistine people had gathered together for this great celebration at either a Philistine palace or perhaps a temple of Dagon (the text doesn’t specify). What is clear is that it was a large structure with a balcony or rooftop that was supported in large part by two columns and which provided an open view of the place where Samson had been brought out and put on display. The author also specified who was in attendance. He said that all the lords of the Philistines were there and in addition to that there were approximately 3,000 Philistine men and women gathered on the roof to be amused by what was taking place below. Below them the beaten, blinded, and powerless Samson had been led by the hand of a boy into this great celebration and the author and narrator recalled that the boy had helped Samson find the two supporting columns of the building so that Samson could lean against them.

There, in the middle of all that was taking place, the author and narrator allowed the reader to come close to Samson one last time to hear the last prayer that Samson would offer. And although Samson’s physical sight had been taken away from him, Samson continued in his life-long habit of only ‘looking’ upon himself and only ‘seeing’ his own needs. “Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes’” (16:28). Nowhere in these last moments of Samson’s life do we see any remorse for his disregard for his calling; nowhere do we see any concern for Israel as a whole (whom he failed to rescue). Samson wanted to be avenged for what had been done to him but his choices had left him powerless to do anything about it - so Samson called out to God. He needed supernatural strength to carry out his plan and God was the only One who could provide it. Samson called out to God for entirely selfish reasons. “And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ Then he bowed with all this strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it” (16:29-30). God graciously answered Samson’s prayer. We don’t know why – the author and narrator didn’t tell us. But the weak and powerless Samson received supernatural strength from God one last time and he pushed over the support columns of the building causing the roof to collapse and killing many (if not all) of the Philistines who were there. Samson had avenged himself in his own eyes. But it’s the next part of verse 30 that revealed something even more telling. “So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life” (16:30). Our first instinct might be to read this as recognition of a great accomplishment, but it isn’t. The insight the author and narrator offered in this statement is a tragic one. As the one God had raised up and called out to deliverer Israel from the Philistines it should have been Samson’s life that was marked by great defeat of the Philistines. Had Samson been living out his calling he most certainly would have struck down a countless number of Philistines in the process of delivering Israel from Philistine oppression. Then (if the pattern held consistent – which there is no reason to believe that it would not have) Samson would have died peacefully while overseeing an Israelite nation at rest. But that’s not how the narrative of the last judge ends. The author and narrator revealed to the readers that Samson accomplished more in his death than he did in his life. This isn’t good news – this is sad, tragic news.

For the last two chapters we have noted the author’s emphasis on Samson’s self-centeredness and disregard for God’s calling on his life. And in chapter 16 we continued to see this in the way Samson used his God-given, supernatural strength, not to deliver Israel from the Philistines, but in order to toy with the Philistines and amuse himself. And all of this was leading up to the author and narrator’s account of Samson’s dramatic death. None of the previous narratives of the judges that came before Samson included such detail concerning their deaths. In the previous narratives of the preceding judges the author and narrator concluded very briefly and matter-of-factly that Israel had peace during the time that these judges were overseeing Israel and that the judges died (presumably in comfort and peace). This is the first time that the author and narrator gave details concerning a judge’s death and the first time that a judge died not having accomplished the assignment that he had been given. This change in pattern should sound an alarm in our minds – there is something incredibly significant about this judge and this death that the author and narrator wanted us to see! So what is it? The author and narrator has been using the lives of the judges and deliverers in his book to help foreshadow the great Deliverer who God had promised to send – the Deliverer who would provide a greater rescue for all people than just a physical deliverance from their physical oppressors. Samson was clearly not that deliverer (in fact he hadn’t even managed to physically deliver the Israelites from the Philistines). But there was something important about Samson’s death that the reader needed to understand that would help us to clearly identify the great Deliverer when He showed up on the scene. Here’s the crucial take away from the Samson narrative in chapter 16 - a deliverer’s death ought not to be about avenging one’s self in anger – it ought to be about rescuing others out of love. Don’t miss the very clear detail the author and narrator provided for his readers concerning Samson’s motivation in his death. In verse 28 Samson pleads with God, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Samson was angry about what had been done to him. He was bitter about the torture, the ridicule, and the mocking that he had endured. And more than anything else he wanted to get back at these Philistines. Samson’s death was all about avenging himself!

The Bible clearly teaches that the wages of sin is death (see Romans 6:23). And so in order for God to rescue and deliver all of humanity from their sin and its consequences the great Deliverer whom He had promised to send was going to have to die. He was going to have to become a substitute for all of humanity – paying the penalty that each of us deserved. The Deliverer’s death was a necessary part of God’s plan. But when the Deliverer died, His death couldn’t be about avenging Himself, it would have to be about rescuing others. And unbelievably that is exactly what we see in Jesus’ crucifixion! The NT teaches us that God wrapped Himself in flesh, sending His only Son, Jesus, as the Deliverer from sin. This was the mission and the calling that God had given Jesus, and Jesus carried it out in perfect obedience and righteousness. The NT also teaches that in the hours leading up to Jesus’ death, Jesus was taken by the Jewish religious leaders, who mocked and ridiculed him, and that He was then handed over to Roman soldiers, who tortured Jesus in horrendous fashion. Just as Samson had been tortured, mocked, and ridiculed prior to his death, Jesus also was tortured, mocked, and ridiculed. But Jesus' life didn’t revolve around Himself like Samson’s did. Jesus’ life revolved around God’s plan for His life and God’s glory. Jesus understood the necessity of His death. And so the NT author Luke records these extraordinary words of Jesus in his gospel account, “Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left. And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’” (Luke 23:32-34). Jesus didn’t cry out in anger, “Father let me avenge myself in this death for the torture and ridicule I have endured these last few hours!” No! Instead, Jesus in great love, compassion, and mercy pleaded with the Father to forgive them. He knew that He was dying for the very ones who had ridiculed Him, for the very ones who had tortured Him, and for the very ones who were now nailing Him to a cross. Jesus loved them and was paying the wages of their sin for them. That’s what the death of the real Deliverer was supposed to look like.

And so now we have the opportunity to sing and declare the song of verse 24 (the song that the Israelites were supposed to be declaring, but which the Philistines were declaring at the time). The prophet Isaiah wrote these words concerning God’s plan for salvation and His promised Deliverer, “O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt You; I will praise our name, for You have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure . . . He [the promised Deliverer] will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day [the day the plan of deliverance is fulfilled], ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation’” (Isaiah 25:1, 8-9). According to Isaiah, part of God’s plan for salvation (a plan which God formed long ago) was to swallow up and defeat our enemy – death. And when death had been defeated we would be able to rejoice in the One who defeated him and saved us from his grasp. Many generations later the apostle Paul wrote these words in his first letter to the church at Corinth, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). Because Jesus, God’s promised Deliverer, came and paid the penalty for sin and rose to new life again, death was defeated! Our enemy had been destroyed. So those who have trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord can now cry out with all the others who have made that same choice to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord the song of victory in Judges 16:24, “Our God has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”

This is the extraordinary news and story of the Bible. We are all guilty of sin and chasing after things other than God in hopes that those things will delight and satisfy our hearts. Those sins left us separated from God and both helpless and hopeless to do anything about our condition on our own. But God had promised to do what we could not! He had promised to make a way of rescue from sin and its consequences available to us, by sending a Rescuer. And God was faithful to His promise – He sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to take humanity’s sin upon Himself and to die as a substitute for each and every one of us. Jesus died the death that we deserved, taking all of God’s wrath and condemnation upon Himself. So having completely and fully paid the penalty for our sin, He now offers us new life in Himself. But this exchange demands a response from us. This gift isn’t just bestowed upon us – it is offered to us. So we have to decide whether or not we are going to reach out and receive the gift of forgiveness and salvation. It’s simply a matter of understanding that we are sinners; understanding our need for a Savior; believing that Jesus is the only One who can save us; and believing that He died for us in our place. The Bible tells us that if we will believe those things and then turn from chasing after our own desires to following after Jesus then we will receive God’s forgiveness and salvation. Have you made those decisions? Would you be willing to? Are you still uncertain, but willing to talk about it some more? What decision do you need to make today?