Judges 16:18-31 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Judges 16:18-31. Let’s go!
Judges 16:18-20 (NIV)
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands.
19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
On verses 18-20: Verse 19 says “his strength left him” and verse 20 says “the LORD had left him”. In many ways verses 19 and 20 are talking about the same thing. After Samson had ignored God for so long, finally God, who was the source of Samson’s strength, removed His hand of protection from Samson’s life.
Judges 16:21-30 (NIV)
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison.
22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.”
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. When they stood him among the pillars,
26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.”
27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform.
28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other,
30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
On verses 21-30: Samson went to the grave a spiritually immature person, bent on vengeance till the very end. Still, in his last moments, a blind, short haired Samson finally sees spiritually, possibly for the first time, and realizes that his great strength came from God, not from anything else. So Samson prays that God would strengthen him just once more and with his last breaths Samson uses that strength to bring the temple of Dagon down on all the Philistine rulers and even on himself.
Did Samson’s life have to end this way? No. Samson could have lived a much more inspiring and glorious life if he would have given much more room to God. Amazingly, despite Samson’s sin and mistakes, God still sovereignly accomplished His purpose for Samson’s life. God said, “he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5) and that is what Samson did. Did God accomplish His purpose for Samson the way that God would have wanted to? No. God would have much preferred that He and Samson enjoy a lifetime of walking together. There would have been so much more blessing, peace, joy and victory for Samson and his people had Samson actually walked with God. Instead, God used Samson like a cold, blunt instrument because that’s about all the room Samson had given God.
What can we learn from this? In His sovereignty God will accomplish His purpose for your life one way or the other. The question is how. Will He accomplish His will in relationship with you or in spite of you? How much better to be used by God and to walk with Him too than to be a blunt instrument that God uses but eventually throws away.
Judges 16:31 (NIV)
31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years.
On verse 31: Despite all of his flaws and mistakes, remarkably Samson is honoured in Hebrews 11 for his faith (Hebrews 11:32-34). That is the amazing mercy and grace of God. In His mercy God would rather honour the little bit of faith that we have in Him than to harp on all the ways that we missed the mark.
Father, thank You for the all the mercy You have on us, that despite all the mistakes we make, You still choose to honour us for the little bit of faith we have in You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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