“…for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” Judges 13:5
Many have been the sermons preached on the life of Samson, his calling, demise, and final victory, but few have dealt with the root cause of Samson’s massive failure which led to his death. Why should we look at such a matter? Perhaps first of all we should look at the eternal ramifications of Samson’s calling, and the fulfillment of God’s purposes for his life. In that calling, and God’s subsequent dealings with Samson, are revealed keys to his life and ministry, but also, a most fundamental matter that was “secret” and sacred to him. When it was revealed by the deceitfulness of the enemy, the result would be the end of Samson’s life, but most importantly the specific opportunity that God had given to him. All depended upon a secret.
We first discover the mention of Samson when an angel of the Lord came to speak to Manoah’s wife. Samson was not yet born, nor conceived. All we know is that God took the initiative to bring about the birth of Samson to be a deliverer for the people of Israel from the domination of the Philistines. Even though Scritpure tells us that Israel “…again did evil in the sight of the Lord,” (Judges 13:1), and that the Lord delivered them over to the Philstines for forty years, there was certainly during this time those who cried out to the Lord for deliverance. We see specific examples of why God deals with men when we read Psalm 107. Over and over again we see that when men come to the end of themselves, and they sincerely and honestly cry out to God, He intervenes to deliver them, and save them out of their distress and danger. And so must have been the case with the people of Israel under the domination of the idolatrous and wicked Philistines.
When the angel of the Lord came to Manoah’s wife, she described him as being “…a man of God,” whose “…countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible.” (…or awesome) The angel instructed the woman what she should not drink or eat, and that the child was never to have his hair cut, for he would be a Nazarite unto God from the womb until his death. This one point is very important, for it would be a secret embedded in the heart of Samson, the very key to his life and strength. Samson grew into manhood coming to know the moving of the Spirit of God in him, the power of God being manifested, increasingly. From the slaying of a young lion with his bare hands, to the slaying of thirty Philistines at once, he began to know something of this power of God, and what was necessary for it to be given by God, and received. There would come a day when Samson would slay a thousand Philistines, and this to begin to deliver Israel, even though at this time, the issue was one of taking revenge on the Philistines for a terrible wrong that they had done to Samson. But, what was the key to Samson’s power, for we see him engaged in sin with different women, and finally with Delilah, a Philistine? The answer is found in the lock box in Samson’s heart. In essence, in that lock box, that secret hiding place, there was the testimony of an agreement between Samson and God. God had called him to be a Nazarite, one consecrated to God, the testimony of which would be that a razor would not pass upon his head. When Delilah tricked Samson, and he finally revealed to her the singular key of his personal devotion to God, he would forfeit his strength, becoming a blind slave, until his hair began to grow again. With one last appeal to God for strength, Samson would kill more Phiistines at his death than in his life.
Dear Father, Let no cloud come between us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.