Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

The Birth of Samson

Judges 13

Jdg 13:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD

delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

Jdg 13:2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites,

had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. Jdg 13:3 The angel of the

LORD appeared to her and said, “You are sterile and childless, but you are

going to conceive and have a son. Jdg 13:4 Now see to it that you drink no wine

or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, Jdg 13:5

because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his

head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will

begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

Jdg 13:6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God

came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him

where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. Jdg 13:7 But he said to me,

‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other

fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a

Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.’ ”

Jdg 13:8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: “O Lord, I beg you, let the man of

God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be

born.”

Jdg 13:9 God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman

while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. Jdg

13:10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who

appeared to me the other day!”

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

Jdg 13:11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he

said, “Are you the one who talked to my wife?” “I am,” he said.

Jdg 13:12 So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be

the rule for the boy’s life and work?”

Jdg 13:13 The angel of the LORD answered, “Your wife must do all that I have

told her. Jdg 13:14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine,

nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must

do everything I have commanded her.”

Jdg 13:15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “We would like you to stay

until we prepare a young goat for you.”

Jdg 13:16 The angel of the LORD replied, “Even though you detain me, I will

not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the

LORD.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.)

Jdg 13:17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, “What is your

name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?” Jdg 13:18 He

replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.’” Jdg 13:19

Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed

it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah

and his wife watched: Jdg 13:20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward

heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and

his wife fell with their faces to the ground. Jdg 13:21 When the angel of the

LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized

that it was the angel of the LORD.

Jdg 13:22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

Jdg 13:23 But his wife answered, “If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would

not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown

us all these things or now told us this.”

Jdg 13:24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and

the LORD blessed him, Jdg 13:25 and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him

while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

Introduction

Slide - 1

I hope you found the video clip that we looked at earlier helpful…in explaining

something of God’s holiness…because it helps us to understand how it is

possible for us to be able to stand in the presence of a Holy God…

At the minister’s conference…I attended last week…we explored the subject of

holiness…it sounds heavy…but…it helped me as we unpacked what holiness

meant…

Perhaps…like me…you have struggled to think of yourself as holy…because

we know that we are not pure in our thinking…and in our actions…so human

feelings play a part in our understanding…perhaps trying to remind us that we

trip up and we fail sometimes…therefore…we can’t be holy…

And yet…despite all of the complex ritual and routine which would normally be

performed by the priests in the tabernacle…at that time…

Despite the normal etiquette for approaching God…God…chose to use

Samson…and…at this stage in the story we would see no problem in that…but

as the story unfolds…we will see Samson slide into a state of moral decline…

And yet…at a time of moral decline in Israel…God…the Holy God of Israel…

was still at work…a work of deliverance…of His people…

Slide – 2

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD

delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years… (Judges

13:1)

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

It took 40 years…and cost Samson his life…but…as if they chose to get there

the hard way…rather than the easy way of trusting God…the Philistines were

eventually defeated…

And this si how it ended up…

Slide – 2b

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...” (Judges 16:28)

Starting Well

But it started well…

Slide - 3

So…One thing to note here…at the beginning…like so many things in life is

that…they start well…

The wife of Manoah…nameless…was sterile and childless…the situation was

hopeless…in fact…unlike previous situations where there the people are in need

of deliverance…one difference is that…they do not cry out to God…

Perhaps because it is just so hopeless…the oppression by their greatest

enemy…the Philistines…That is…until the Angel of the Lord appeared and

promised Manoa and his wife a child…and they trusted him and he was true to

His word…for Samson was born…

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

I can remember when I first became a Christian…vaguely…as it was over 40

years ago now…but you start of with loads of zeal and good intentions…I am

going to stop doing this and that…but of course…within no time at all…I

would fail at something…and think…well surely I can’t be a Christian after

all…

And...sometimes…this happened because people around me had set the bar so

high…I was told to get rid of my pop records and so on…don’t conform to this

world…but to be like Jesus…

Some of the advise I got was useful…but some of it was a bit skewed…because

the emphasis was for me to do certain things in order to be purified…

A bit like the temple priests…the Levites…I could never seem to be good

enough and would live in fear of being zapped…like the character in the

video…

And…for sure…God does set the bar high…to approach him…in our unclean

state is likened to approaching the sun…we would be consumed…but for the

fact that God has come out of the temple…has stepped down to our level…

And…he did this in Jesus…therefore he can purify us by his blood…which

atones for sin…and for his presence…

We…become the temple…the place where God resides…and spreads his

healing touch to others from…

So…the stories in the bible then…including this one about Samson…is not so

just about what great men and women have done…

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

Its about…what God has done…often through flawed men and women…

Samson…and the people of the age that they lived in…are not unlike the people

of the age that we live in…

They do evil in the eyes of the Lord…they are unconcerned by His Holy

presence…but God still seeks to deliver them…to bring them to purity…

through Jesus…and His atoning sacrifice…

Can we be sure today then…that we can stand in His presence?

And…we can be reassured today…that…even if we started well…yet get

ourselves side tracked…that we can still rely upon that same atoning sacrifice

for our deliverance and purification…

God uses flawed Christian Leaders…as John Brenton makes clear in his work

on Samson…and he uses flawed and ordinary people…to deliver others…

Therefore…we all can…regardless of our past…come to Him today…

Our World – Their World

Slide - 4

Its always tempting…and a good thing too…but never easy…to make

comparisons between our world and their world…it’s not usually straight

forward but sometimes we can…

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

Maybe one thing that we should be assured of today is that…regardless of the

appearances of world leaders…and others in responsible positions…God can…

and God will…still be at work…

He can see the bigger picture…

It won’t have escaped your attention…that…on Friday we witnessed the

inauguration ceremony of the president of the United States…

I don’t know what words to use to describe his speech….and we saw the

discomfort…perhaps…on the faces of the outgoing president…and previous

ones…as Donald Trump…seemed to pull apart…everything they had ever

worked for…or built up…

And…the interesting thing for me was…that he did this in God’s name…we

will make America great again…and God…is going to be in on it…

Not only that…having probably done more to destabilize the world in that short

speech…than all of the years of the cold war… ( Sorry if that’s an exaggeration)

he then went on to quote the bible…in an attempt to instill some words of

unity…

Slide – 4b

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! …

(Psalm 133:1)

I could not find the right one…but one of the news channels put up one of these

word clouds…just after the speech…and the picture was anything but

unifying…

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

So…in our world…we have a very rapidly changing situation…where we are

waiting to see the outcome of all sorts of things…including Trump…Brexit…

the Middle East…an increasingly aggressive Russia…and so on…

It’s a heady mix…isn’t it?

But…their world…was continually being ruled by men who led the people into

evil…who failed to listen to the warnings of the prophets…

They failed to live up to the moral standards of their Holy God…and they failed

in their calling to be a unifying factor in a world of violence and moral

decline…

To entertain the stranger…feed the poor and act in defense of the defenseless

and oppressed…

It’s never exactly the same…but here is one thing we have in common for

sure…then…and now…there are leaders who are not as in control as they think

they are…

Their words and actions are continually being scrutinized by the God…who…as

depicted in the story of Babylon and the writing on the wall…is the God of the

unseen hand…

Yesterday…I had a conversation on the phone with a lady who…just before

Christmas lost her husband…and I had the privilege of conducting the funeral

on 23rd December…

Just 3 weeks later she lost her last surviving brother…and I will be residing over

that private funeral in Brora next Monday…

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

It’s just too painful for her to go through another funeral of any size…but…she

told me this…I am content to trust the unseen hand…as I place my loved

ones…and my future into His care…

That’s called faith…

And…despite his moral decadence…Samson is commended for his Faith…

Let’s not get to the end too quickly…but…in Hebrews 11…this most unlikely

superhero…is commended for his faith…

Slide - 5

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon,

Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and

gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the

fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness

was turned to strength… (Hebrews 11:32-34)

So…whatever happens in our world…whatever happened in the Israelite’s

world…at the time of Samson…

The key to walking in step with God…is faith…Jesus came so that every

generation…might walk with him…

Letting God turn our weaknesses to Strength

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

And key to walking with him…is not constantly putting ourselves down for our

failures…or never getting off the starting block because we are not good

enough…

Nor is it continually justifying our sinful actions by the virtue that God will use

me anyway…but it’s learning to let him turn or weaknesses into strength…

Slide – 6 – click 3 times

Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and

sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing

while Manoah and his wife watched:

Jdg 13:20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of

the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell

with their faces to the ground… (Judges 13:19-20)

That’s what happens with Samson…because…in the end…he fulfilled his

commission despite his weaknesses…but that’s for later…meanwhile…

There is much more we could have said…just in this opening account of

Samson’s life…

The parallels with the birth of Jesus…the blessing of God…the spirit of the

Lord being with him…verses 24-25…

But…perhaps it is natural that our thinking should be coloured by his

unfortunate lifestyle…that we could miss the wonder of this story here at the

start…

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Samson – The Weak StrongmanPart 1 – The Birth of a Superhero

(Judges 13:1-25)

So…before we go it…let’s remember…and apply to our own lives…

That God is the God who can use us…despite of our weaknesses…

because when we allow him to transform our lives…

We realise…it happens…not because of our own strength…and despite

of our own weaknesses…but because of…his purity and love for us…

The God of the ascending flame…of the burning bush…is the God who

descended in tongues of fire at Pentecost…

And he is the same God and Spirit who can burn up the dross in our

lives…Will we then…hand our super powers over to him…

Therefore…we can accept the new birth…the new status that he offers…we

can…because of Jesus…

The one who stepped down in weakness but was raised in power…

Perhaps in Samson…we can see something of ourselves…and God at work

despite that…

In Jesus……we not only see the pattern that we can follow…as we trust in

him…but we can be transformed by him as well…so that we can be Holy too…

May God Bless You and encourage you in this…whatever you walk into…this

week… Amen

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