Second Chances: Samson

Judges 13-16

Those who are familiar with the Bible know the story of Samson will know he is all about second chances.  Samson loved beautiful women and they were his downfall.  But God gave Samson a second chance to save Israel from the Philistines.  Here is his story.  It is written in first person.  Scripture quoted in this story is from the New Living Translation and is in italics.

Samson’s Story

My parents struggled to conceive me until one day angel of the Lord appeared to my mother and said  “Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4So be careful; you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. 5You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.”   

My mother went to my father and told him what the angel said.  She told my father the angel was frightening to look at, so she knew he was from the Lord.  My parents wanted more instructions so my father prayed the Lord would send the angel back.  And the Lord answered my father’s prayer.  The angel came back and appeared to my mother again.  My father was out in our fields plowing so my mother went to get him so my father could also question the angel.

My father asked the angel “Are you the man who spoke to my wife the other day?”  “Yes,” he replied, “I am.”  “When your words come true, what kind of rules should govern the boy’s life and work?”  13The angel of the Lord replied, “Be sure your wife follows the instructions I gave her. 14She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food.”

Then my father asked the angel to stay while he prepared a goat for the angel to eat.  The angel said he would not eat but for my father to offer the goat as a sacrifice to the Lord.  Then my father asked “What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you.”18“Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too wonderful for you to understand.”

So, my father offered the goat and some grain as an offering to the Lord.  When my father set the fire for the offering the flames shot up toward Heaven and the angel went up in the flames.  My father was so frightened he thought they were going to die.  But my mother, in her usual common sense, said if God were going to kill them, He would have already. 

Soon my mother became pregnant.  She was careful not to eat or drink any of the things the angel told not to eat or drink.  When I was born, she named me Samson.  The Lord was with me and I had unusual strength.

The Riddle

The Philistines were always tormenting Israel.  We as a nation had started worshiping the gods of the nations around us.  The Lord allowed the Philistines to oppress us for forty years. Finally, Israel realized they had sinned against God and cried out for God to save them.  According to my parents I was going to save Israel. 

When I was twenty years old, I visited the town of Timnah.  I saw a beautiful young woman there who I fell in love with instantly.  The problem was she was a Philistine, but I did not care.  I found out who she was and that she was still single.  The way she looked at me I knew she loved me back.  Little did I know back then how wrong I was.  I was so lovesick I went home and told my parents I wanted to marry her.  They tried to reason with me, they hoped I would marry an Israelite woman, but I insisted so my father arranged with the woman’s father for us to marry. 

The day arrived for my parents and I to go down to Timnah to meet the girl and arrange for the wedding.   As we near Timnah my parents went ahead to talk to the girl’s parents.  I saw a lion by the Timnah’s vineyard, and I killed it.  I grabbed the lion by the mouth as it was roaring at me and pulled its jaw apart until it died.  I did not know my own strength.  I felt the Spirit of the Lord come upon me before I killed the lion.  I am not sure how my parent will react to this, so I am not going to tell them.

I finally got to sit down and talk to the girl I want to marry.  She is so beautiful and perfect.  Everything is wonderful and I cannot wait for the wedding.  It is all arranged.  We will come back in two months for the wedding.

When we returned to Timnah wandered off to the vineyard and saw the carcass of the lion I killed.  Apparently, a swarm of bees had made honey in the carcass.  I reached in a took some of the honeycombs.  It was so sweet, just like my bride to be.  I went on to catch up with my parents and gave them some of the honey.  They said it was some of the best honey they had ever tasted. 

My parents went to meet with the bride’s parents to make the final arrangements.  The wedding was just eight days away.  In the meantime, I threw a party at the home we were staying at.  The bride’s parents selected thirty young men to be my companions during the week before the wedding. 

I said to the thirty young men “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. 13But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.”  They all had been drinking and a little drunk so I thought I would have some fun with them, after all they were the hated Philistines.  They said let us hear it!

I replied, “Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.”

For three days they tried to figure it out but could not so on the fourth day they said to my bride to be “Ask your husband to be to tell you the riddle or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it.  So, my wife to be came to me with tears in her eyes and asked “You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”  “I haven’t even given the answer to my father or mother,” I replied. “Why should I tell you?”  From that time on she made me miserable with her crying and begging.  I was broken hearted the woman I loved would cry like that over a silly riddle.  Finally, on the seventh day I gave into her and told her.  She brightened up right away and left suddenly.  I guess she went and told the thirty men because they came to me before sundown and said “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”

I was mad!  I thought my wife to be loved me and would keep my secret but no, she was just playing me.  So, I said “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”  She did not deserve to be called anything better than a heifer for that trick she pulled on me!

Suddenly I felt strong again.  I jumped on my camel and went to Ashkelon and killed thirty men and took their clothes.  I brought the clothes back and gave them to the thirty men.  I was still mad and told my parents let us just go home.  I am too mad to marry right now my wife to be needs a lesson so she can just wait to get married.  So, we went home.

But as time went on, I started to miss my wife to be and forgave her.  I killed a young goat and went to her father’s house to say I am sorry and to marry her.  However, when I got there and wanted to go up to my fiancé’s room her father said no.  “I truly thought you must hate her,” her father explained, “so I gave her in marriage to your best man. But look, her younger sister is even more beautiful than she is. Marry her instead.”   I became incredibly angry at this and said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.”

I was so angry, and my strength had returned so I went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied their tails together with a flaming torch between them.  They were so frightened, and I let them into the fields of the town of Timnah.  The foxes burned down all the fields of wheat and barley then they went into the vineyards and destroyed them too.  After that I caught the foxes again and untied them and let them loose.  The townspeople were hopping mad!  They found out it was me and why I did it and took revenge on the poor girl and her family for marrying her off to my best man.  They burned the house down while they were all asleep.  This made me angry again since they killed the woman I loved.  I killed many of the Philistines the next day. 

I did not want to return to my parents house any more for fear the Philistines would harm my parents, so I went to live in a cave.  I was right.  The Philistines attacked a town called Lehi.  The townspeople said to the Philistines “why are you attacking us?  We are peaceful people.”  The Philistines replied “We’ve come to capture Samson. We’ve come to pay him back for what he did to us.”  So, the townspeople said they would hand me over to the Philistines in three days.  The Philistines vowed to leave the town alone after they had Samson.

The Capture

While I was living in my cave three thousand men came to me and said “Don’t you realize the Philistines rule over us? What are you doing to us?”  I said I only did what I did because of what they did to me.  They replied, “We have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”  I said okay but please do not kill me yourselves.  They tied me up with new rope and I stayed that way until we arrived at the Philistine town of Lehi. 

The Philistines came shouting at me like they were victorious.  I laughed and broke the new ropes like they were mere thread.  I picked up a jawbone and killed a thousand of the Philistines.  After this victory I judged Israel for twenty years.  The Philistines continued to rule over Israel, but they stayed away from me.  Until one day I met Delilah.

Delilah and the Final Chance

I fell in love with Delilah right away.  I spent all my time with her.  I thought she loved me too.  One day she came to me and asked me why I was so strong?  I lied and said, “If I were tied up with seven new bowstrings that have not yet been dried, I would become as weak as anyone else.”  That night I woke when Delilah said wake up the Philistines have come to capture me.  She had tied me up, but the bowstrings were no match for my strength. 

A few days later she confronted me and said, “you do not love me, or you would tell me what makes you so strong”.  So, I lied again and said if I were tied up with brand new rope my strength would leave me.  I love this woman, but I am not going to tell her where my strength comes from.  Of course, she woke me up and I was tied up but snapped the new rope like before.

She tried again a week later.  She was crying “You’ve been making fun of me and telling me lies! Now tell me how you can be tied up securely.”  “If you were to weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on your loom and tighten it with the loom shuttle, I would become as weak as anyone else.”  I told her.  Guess what?  She awoke me again and my hair was tied to a loom and I broke free easily. 

After that Delilah nagged me every day to tell her where my strength came from.  I finally gave in and told her the truth.  “My hair has never been cut,” I confessed, “for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.”

That night I awoke, and my hair was gone.  I felt as weak as a newborn.  The Philistines came into the room and captured me.  They took me to prison and put out my eyes.   They forced me to grind grain for them.  I felt like God would never forgive me.

Yet as time went on my hair started to grow back.  I started to feel like my strength was back again too.  One day the Philistines came and brought me out of prison.  They led me up to their temple of their god.  They surrounded me and shouted “Our god has delivered our enemy to us! The one who killed so many of us is now in our power!” 

I could sense there were people all around me and more on top of the roof of the temple.  I asked the young servant who was leading me to put my hands on the pillars holding up the roof.  He did and I prayed to God to forgive me and asked Him to restore my strength.  I knew what I had to do, and I knew I would die doing it.  I took ahold of the pillars and pushed with all my might.  I heard a loud crack and the roof came down on top of me.  I killed many Philistine that day.

Second Chances for Samson

Samson loved the wrong women, and, in the end, it cost him his life.  But God gave him second chances to make things right for Israel.  How has God given you second chances?