MAKING IT ABOUT GOD

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."

His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?"

But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me." (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass.

Now his father went down to see the woman. And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms. When he appeared, he was given thirty companions.

"Let me tell you a riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. If you can't tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes."

"Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear it."

He replied,

"Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet."

For three days they could not give the answer.

On the fourth day, they said to Samson's wife, "Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father's household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?"

Then Samson's wife threw herself on him, sobbing, "You hate me! You don't really love me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer."

"I haven't even explained it to my father or mother," he replied, "so why should I explain it to you?" She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,

"What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?"

Samson said to them,

"If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle."

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.

Burning with anger, he went up to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to the friend who had attended him at his wedding.

Judges 14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Despite a parent’s best efforts to raise their children properly and set the right example, there are times when the child chooses to reject everything they were taught to go their own way. In doing so, often times they turn away from God and His expectations as well. Such is the case with Samson.

For in Chapter 13, we studied how his parents, Manoah and his wife, were people who trusted and believed in God…obedient and faithful to His word and will. And in return, God blessed them with a son who would deliver Israel from the oppressing Philistines.

Well, as Chapter 14 opens, we see that Samson isn’t quite as compliant as his parents…not even close.

For right away, we read where Samson becomes interested in a Philistine woman and commands his parents to “get her for me as my wife." His words were very disrespectful and dishonorable to his parents since custom had them selecting the woman their son would marry, making arrangements with the girl’s parents in advance of the wedding. Obviously concerned because Samson’s request was in violation of God’s command to not intermarry with any Canaanite, Samson’s parents ask him, “Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" They were trying to subtly get Samson to realize his error in judgment but he simply persisted in wanting them to get the Philistine girl for him, refusing to submit to their wisdom. He was set on having it his way.

And so, Samson and his parents “went down to Timnah together” and, along the way, Samson was attacked by a young lion. Scripture tells us that the “Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power” so that he could tear “the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat”. All this happened away from his parents who never knew what took place because Samson didn’t tell them. They all arrived in Timnah and Samson “talked with the woman and…liked her.

After this first meeting, Samson and his parents returned home for awhile only to eventually return to Timnah. As they traveled back, Samson passed by the carcass of the lion he had killed earlier. He noticed that there were a “swarm of bees and some honey” in the carcass which Samson “scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along”. He would also give his parents some as well after he rejoined them, never telling them where he had gotten it.

In eating the honey from the dead carcass, Samson had once again shown his unwillingness to be obedient to God’s requirements since a Nazarite was to have no contact with anything dead. But Samson wanted the honey and so he got it, regardless of whether it was against the will of God or not. Once again, he was set on having his own way.

Manoah, Samson’s father, “went down to see the woman” his son wanted to marry and meanwhile “Samson made a feast” where “he was given thirty companions”, all Philistines. The fest was actually more like a party where drinking was prevalent. It’s thought that Samson participation in the feast implied that he also drank in the festivities, another violation of the Nazarite vow. But again, Samson was set on having his own way.

Well…in the midst of the feast, Samson tells his companions a riddle but there are strings attached. If the Philistine companions could answer the riddle “within the seven days of the feast” then Samson would give them “thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes” (garments and clothes were highly valued in this day). However, if the Philistine companions could not answer the riddle, then they would have to give Samson “thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes."
The companions agree to the riddle and Samson tells them.

We see the riddle is centered on Samson’s victory over the attacking lion and the honey he would later find in the carcass. Samson had contrived a puzzle that was impossible for anyone but him to know…for he was alone in both instances…when the lion was killed and when the honey was eaten…and told no one about it. So in essence, there was no way Samson could lose the wager without telling someone the answer. He had set everything up to have his own way.

Well, the Philistine companions pondered the riddle for “three days” and “could not give the answer”. On the fourth day, they began to worry that they would lose the bet and have to pay Samson so they went to his wife and pressured her to get Samson to tell her the answer. To make sure she complied, they threatened her and her family saying”…we will burn you and your father's household to death”. They also accused her of inviting them there on purpose to rob them, thinking she might have been in on the riddle with Samson.

So Samson's wife went to him and cried saying, “You hate me! You don't really love me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer." Notice she didn’t tell Samson the real motive for her wanting to know. Samson resisted her prying telling her that he hadn’t “even explained it to (his) father or mother” and so wondered why she would think he would tell her. So he refused to tell her and so his wife “cried the whole seven days of the feast”. Finally, Samson could take it no more and “finally told her” on the seventh day. And immediately, his wife told the answer to the Philistine companions that had threatened her.

Armed with the answer, the Philistine companions went to Samson “before sunset on the seventh day” and told him the answer to the riddle. Sensing he had been betrayed for how else would they have known the answer except by his wife…the only one he had told…Samson chastises them before going to the Philistine town of Ashkelon where he “struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle”. And after paying the bet off, Samson was “burning with anger” and “went up to his father's house”, abandoning his wife who he saw as having deceived him. Actually, Samson was mad because he hadn’t gotten his own way for once…and was throwing a fit about it.

The chapter ends with Samson’s wife being “given to (a) friend who had attended him at his wedding since he had left her with no indication that he would ever return. This will lead to problems as we move into Chapter 15.

In Samson, we see a flaw that so many of us have or have had at one time or another. For we too often want to have everything our way. We are far less likely to submit and compromise than we are to selfishly seek our own gain. And our world has ever more become reflective of this attitude…as we see a prevalence of the “I and Me” mindset over the “we and us”.

So how can we combat the urge to make it “all about me” in our lives?

By making our lives all about the Lord instead.

For if we center our lives on the Lord and His desires, we will always be led to the right and just ways…the ways that will always be centered on the needs of others over our own. And through that shift in attitudes, we find our way to a life of peace, joy and contentment that we never could find when we were centered on ourselves.

We can only wonder how very different Samson’s story would have been had he not been so set on having his own way in everything. Let us seek to learn from his mistakes and apply better principles to our own lives as we seek to uplift and glorify the Lord through everything we do, say and think. If we make our life all about him and not about us, we can do just that. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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