Welcome to another Bible study in the Book of Judges. The judge is a familiar one, Samson. Judge Samson, if you will. I suppose that he's the best known of the deliverers in the Book of Judges. He's been called a strong man who was weak. We've noted in the Book of Judges a cycle of events taking place over and over again. It runs something like this. First sin, then slavery. Usually they were taken over by some enemy power. Then a time of servitude which brought them much sorrow, which led to repentance and a calling out to the Lord for help. And then the Lord would send a deliverer or a judge. They would serve the Lord for a time, but then again plunge back into sin. The cycle we're going to have before us at this time begins in chapter thirteen and verse one. This is Judges chapter thirteen. In verse one, if you have your Bible handy, we'd invite you to read along with us. Judges chapter thirteen, verse one. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. And so it was forty long years under the fist of the Philistines. Almost fifteen thousand days of slavery. The Lord reached down and gave a son to a family of the Danites who lived in Zora, a little town on the western slopes of the hills of Judah. Look it up sometime in the maps in the back of your Bible. I feel we miss a great deal because we don't look up Bible cities on a map. And you will note on the map that this family of Danites lived not far from the land of the Philistines. God gave special instructions to Manoa, concerning this son that was to be born to them. He was to be a Nazarite. This involved not drinking wine or using any product of the vine, not touching a dead body, and no razor was ever to be used on his head. The message concluded with these words, And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. This new deliverer, for various reasons, would only begin to deliver the children of Israel from the Philistines. One very interesting incident during the angel's visit to Manila and his wife occurred when they asked the name of the angel. The answer he received from the angel was this, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? Or the word secret can be translated wonderful. This gives us reason to believe, as in the case of Gideon in our last study, that this was the Lord Himself appearing in the form of an angel. From Isaiah nine, we learn that the Lord is wonderful. He's a wonderful counselor, it says. Yes, we also learn that as we trust Him, as Savior, that He's wonderful. When the incident was over, Manoa said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. Some feel that he was a pessimist, while his wife... was an optimist, for she answered, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meal offering in our hands. Neither would he have showed us all these things. And she was right. When we know the Lord and have trusted him for salvation, we can well be optimist, because the best is always ahead for the Christian. The Bible says the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more under the perfect day. The next verse that we read in Judges is this. And the woman bear a son and called his name Samson. And the child grew and the Lord blessed him. The name Samson means sunny. You know, spelled S-U-N-N-Y. Or sunshine. I imagine he did much to brighten that little home in Zora. Samson grew in to be a strong man. His parents helped him to understand that he was a Nazarite. that among other things the razor was not to be used on his head. As we noted before, Samson's hometown of Zora was not far from the land of the Philistines. One day Samson went to his parents with this request. I have seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines, now therefore get her for me to wife. In other words, I want her for my wife. His parents tried to change his mind to try to get him not to marry one of the Philistines. This was one of the enemies. But his response was, get her for me, for she pleases me well. Someone has commented that there are God-pleasers, man-pleasers, and self-pleasers. Samson was a self-pleaser all his life. F.B. Meyer says in regard to this turn of events, it was a bad match. In the beginning of lifelong trouble, young people cannot be too careful as to their first love match. Pray before you let your heart go. Take advice of parents and friends. Whatever you do, marry only in the Lord, with the Lord's approval. It is impossible to have perfect fellowship with one who is not agreed with you in your deepest nature. Samsun would not listen to the warning of his parents. So they went with him to Timna. You'll notice on the map that it wasn't very far away. And as they traveled, a young lion roared at Samson. In the power of the Lord, Samson was able to kill the animal. Later he stopped to see the lion and found a swarm of bees that had made some honey in the carcass of the lion. In getting the honey, Samson surely touched the body of the lion. And this was against the Nazarite vow, that is, touching a dead body. He gave his parents some of the honey, but he did not tell them where he got it. Samson was continuing along the road of self-pleasing. At the wedding feast, Samson made a riddle out of the lion and honey incident. If the guests could solve his riddle, he would give them thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments. If they couldn't solve it, They were to give him the same. The riddle went something like this. Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet. I'll repeat that. Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet. This riddle was a difficult one for the Philistines. Instead of thinking it out, they threatened his wife with death by fire. She persuaded Samson to tell her the answer to the riddle. So on the day appointed, they answered, What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion? Samson knew they had gotten the answer from his wife. Everything seemed to go wrong as far as Samson could see it from that time on. His wife was given to another man. In his anger, Samson burned the shocks of corn, the vineyards and the olives of the Philistines. In return for this, the Philistines burned the woman who had been his wife and her father in fire. This was the very thing that they had threatened her with when they wanted to know the answer to the riddle. More and more we are seeing just what the Philistines are really like and what a mistake it was for Samson to go in that direction for a wife. When Samson learned of what they had done with his former wife, he again lashed out at the Philistines and slaughtered a good many. you would have thought that the children of Israel would have appreciated what Samson was doing to deliver them. But no, three thousand men of Judah went to see him. And as it were to say, Tattat, hear the words they said to him, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is it that you've done to us? He answered, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. These rulers... told Samson that they had come to bind him and to deliver him over to the Philistines. How foolish people can be. Here they were going to bind the one man who was doing something to oppose the Philistines. Samson allowed them to bind him and to turn him over to the Philistines. Let's note what happened, for this was one of Samson's finest hours. The Philistines shouted against him, And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, upon Samson. And the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire. And he found a new jawbone of a donkey, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. Following this, there was a period of twenty years that he judged Israel. They did not have complete victory over the Philistines, but As we noted before, Samson was to begin to deliver Israel. We have one more chapter in Samson's life, and it's a dark one for the most part. Three women brought about the downfall of Samson. We've already noted one of them. In chapter sixteen we read Samson went to a harlot in the land of the Philistines, and then there was Delilah. Samson should have learned his lesson by now, but no again. He went to the Philistines for a wife. The princes of the Philistines offered Delilah around five thousand dollars if she could learn the secret of Samson's great strength. She loved money far more than she loved Samson. And so she bent every effort to get that five thousand dollars. Samson lied to her three times about the secret of his strength. But finally, under great pressure, he said, There hath not come a razor upon mine head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and like any other man. Delilah made him sleep upon her knees. She had the seven locks of his head shaved off. Then she cried, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before and shake myself. And he whist not that the Lord had departed from him. He didn't understand that the Lord had departed from him. The Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison house. A very sad chapter in Samson's life. One writer comments, the tragedy is Samson. In spite of his great beginnings, he failed in the hour of crisis and opportunity. The bigger the man, the greater the fall. The story of a man that might have been. Samson, as a result of sin, had lost his strength. He had lost his sight, and he could no longer judge. He had lost his opportunity of service. We have noted in these studies in Judges that nations have gone into slavery because of sin. Here we have an individual. We'll continue our studies in Samson and the Judges next broadcast. One thing we'd like to see is that in the closing hours of his life, he called out to the Lord for help. We'll see that next broadcast. Here we wish he had done this sooner. We would urge you along the same line, call out to the Lord now for salvation. He longs to hear your cry. He has finished the work of salvation on the cross for you. It is now for you to repent of your sins and trust him for salvation. Remember, decision determines your destiny.