The Spirit of the Lord & Samson

Emmanuel Baptist Church of Nipawin Sermons

Passage: Judges 13:25-15:20 | Message By: Josh Bondoc | Series: Prone to WanderYou can have a seat, since you must be tired after reading all of those verses! The reason why we did that is because this is such a huge text, so I won’t be reading each verse throughout the sermon (otherwise it will add another hour to the sermon)... Instead, I’ll just point you to the section that we’re in as I explain it, so you’re going to need your Bibles to track along. If you haven’t been with us, or simply need a refresher, we are going through the account of Samson. Last week, we saw the narrative of his birth and chapter 13, and the reason for that is because of verse one. Peace In Israel’s Eyes In 13:1, we see that “the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Now, this sight motif is key throughout the book of Judges, so keep an eye out for that (pun intended) throughout our passage today. As we heard last week, this phrase has appeared six times already prior to chapter 13 (Jdg. 2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6)—mainly to show Israel’s sin cycle prior to God raising up each judge, but also to show the spiritual and moral blindness of Israel. In other words, Israel again did what was wrong in God’s eyes—so God saw it fit to give them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years—which, as we also heard last week, was the longest time of Israelite oppression in the book of Judges. Yet, as we’ll see throughout our passage today, there is no sense of war or conflict happening between the Israelites and Philistines during this time. In 13:2, we are told that Samson’s parents lived in Zorah—which was Israelite land just north of the Philistine border! In 13:9, Manoah’s wife was out sitting in a field by herself without Manoah to protect her from any Philistines. In chapter 14, Samson goes down south to Philistine land multiple times, interacts with Philistine men (and women, he was more interested in them), then goes back home up north to Zorah—without getting killed. This tells us that the Israelites were somehow living in strange peace with the Philistines, even though the Philistines ruled over Israel. This was peace in Israel’s eyes. As Josh Lees mentioned last week, this doesn’t seem to be a “normal sin cycle” where Israel would cry out to God for help against their oppressors. They are content with the Philistines ruling over them instead of remembering Gideon’s words when he told Israel that “the Lord [YHWH alone] will rule over you” (8:23). And yet, a son is born to begin delivering Israel—because God acts out of his own initiative to save his people, even without them asking. That’s just who God is, and how much he loves his people. This helps us understand the end of chapter 13 when the Spirit of the Lord began to stir Samson—which is our first main point. The Spirit of the Lord begins to stir Samson (13:25-14:3) “And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol” (13:25). This word “stir” in the Hebrew has the sense of “disturbance.” So what does it mean that the Spirit of the Lord began to “disturb” Samson? Well, as we’ve seen, Samson grew up during this time of peace with the Philistines (as Israel saw it), and now the Spirit of the Lord has begun to stir or disturb this strange peace. When the Spirit of the Lord came upon prior judges like Othniel (Jdg. 3:10), Gideon (Jdg. 6:34) and Jephthah (Jdg. 11:29), it was always right before they went to war and delivered Israel from their oppressors. So could it be that the Spirit is stirring Samson—for war against the Philistines? After all, this stirring or disturbance begins in Mahaneh-Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol, which in chapter 18 is the place where men from the tribe of Dan will set out from for war (Jdg. 18:11-12). Based on the immediate context, it’s more likely that the Spirit started stirring Samson during a typical day’s journey from up north in Zorah to Eshtao...