Samson - Saint and Sinner
(Part 1 - The Making of a Judge in Israel)
Chapter 7

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AS we have seen already, verse 4 of Judges chapter 14 is really the key to the understanding of the various happenings recorded in Judges 14 and also Judges 15. It is because God purposed to cause a confrontation with the Philistines for Samson, that all the events followed. Verse 4 of Judges chapter 14 must be the verse which unlocks for us the understanding of the various events which are recorded in Samson's life. We see here the strange but sure ways of God's providential actions for Samson, and so we may learn for ourselves that, though God's actions in our lives may sometimes be beyond our understanding, he is working for our good and the good of his people, and that God's ordering of our lives is sure.

Because of the revelation which we have in Judges 14:4 we cannot look upon the fact of Samson again turning aside, when he went down to Timnah to marry his wife, as just and incident recorded to complete the story. Nor can we treat all the details of the bees in the carcass of the lion, and Samson feeding on the honey, as incidental.

The fact that Samson, on this journey to Timnah, again leaves his parents, in this case to look at the dead carcass of the lion, cannot be taken as a chance happening. All the events of this little episode are an integral part in the events which lead up to the confrontation with the Philistines. God purposed the confrontation, so we must believe and understand that the events that brought this about were ordered by God.

It was God's purpose that the bees should swarm and make the carcass of the lion their home. It was God's purpose that Samson should turn aside to see this fact, and be nourished by the honey. It was God's purpose that Samson should keep secret from his parents where he found the honey, and it was God that put the riddle in his mind and the conditions concerning the solving of it. Nothing here was by chance. It is doubtful if we can ever say that anything that happens to a believer is ever by chance. God is continually working providentially in our lives.

We need to have this fact of Gods providence in this incident firmly in our minds as we look at the verses in Judges which record the fact of the bees in the carcass of the lion, and Samson's finding of them, and his actions that followed, and as we seek to interpret their significance, because there are some very strange features in it.

Firstly, the Nazarite vow, as given to us in Numbers chapter six and verse six tells us, that while the vow was in force, the Nazarite must not go near a dead body, let alone touch or come in contact with it. Yet Samson here, evidently under the providential working of God, not only turned aside on purpose to look at the carcass, but touched it. In fact the original killing, which was forced upon him, as we have seen again in God's providential working in his life, was a contact with a dead body. Nor can we get around this difficulty by saying that in Numbers only human dead are mentioned, and not the animal dead. Nor can we mitigate the problem by deducing that the lion's carcass now must have been picked and bleached clean, and without corrupting flesh covering it. The injunction in Numbers is concerned with coming in contact, and so being defiled, with the corruption brought about by death. The fact is that Samson was under the providential hand of God, and his contact in this way with the carcass of the lion was ordered by God, even though he was a Nazarite.

Secondly, there is a problem with the nature and habits of bees. Bees are apparently particular where they nest, and do not normally have contact with decaying flesh or with dead bodies, yet here are a swarm of bees making their home in the carcass of a lion. Again we must see the hand of God. They made their home there because it was the will of their creator that they should. God is active in his creation. Men may turn away from the will of God, but the rest of creation obey the will of their creator, even if it contradicts their natural habits.

Thirdly, again we have to ask why Samson turned aside. Was it simply a chance action that he turned aside at all, and that when he turned aside from his parents, he turned just at this point. We can only answer that there was certainly no chance in it whatsoever. Samson may not have been conscious of any constraining power, but nonetheless it was God who governed his actions. This must be so, because this part of the story was essential in the events which lead up to the purposed confrontation with the Philistines.

What may we learn from all this? Surely that God orders all the details of our lives as we seek to live in his will and follow it. We seek guidance from God. More often than not we find that knowing God's guidance is difficult, and that knowing whether a decision is right is often hard to determine. When we have made a decision we may very well be in doubt as to whether we have discerned the will of God correctly. But what this episode in Samson's life assures us of is, that if we are seeking to know and do God's will, God most surely guides and keeps us in his will.

The ways of God in our lives, as we can see from this story, sometimes are not what we would expect or perceive as normal, but having the desire to be obedient to God, he will not allow us to stray, and will keep us in his purpose even when his purpose seems to be contradicting our understanding of his ways.

The Apostle Peter came across this problem very forcefully when God purposed he should go to minister to the gentile Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. Peter's understanding of God's ways up to this point was that Salvation was for the Jews alone. God now meant him to be a minister to lead a gentile into salvation. God made sure Peter followed his will by giving him the powerful vision of the unclean animals he was called on to kill and eat. Each time in the vision when Peter refused to obey because he would not eat unclean animals God had prohibited, the reply from God was, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean". This has very powerful application as we view God's actions with Samson in his bringing about confrontation with the Philistines.

We shall find, as Samson did, that God orders our decisions at his good time. He orders them so that we fulfil his perfect will. There is no detail of our lives that is not under his control.

This must be an extraordinary comfort to us in the perplexities of life. There is so much we find difficult or cannot understand, but we can rest on the assurance that God works perfectly and certainly in our lives, and that all events are under his guidance, direction and control.

We have not yet finished with all that this incident can reveal to us and teach us. From the provision of the honey, Samson is protected and fed and is able to provide for the needs of others - his parents in this case.

There is a parabolic meaning surely in this fact, both for Samson and for ourselves. Samson's action after God had brought confrontation with the Philistines - his killing of 30 of them - was going to provoke great anger in the hearts of the whole nation of the Philistines. They are not going stand for such attack, nor will they leave such an action unavenged, not if they can possibly help it. So the confrontation with the Philistines brought about by God was going to destroy any good will the Philistines may have had towards Israel. Any tempering of their oppression would be reduced to nil. The confrontation was going to cause the Philistines to afflict and oppress more that ever before. How would Israel fare in this situation?

Firstly, Samson was protected from the bees anger. We must assume, because there is no other conclusion we can come to, that Samson had no protection from the bees when he took their honey. In the normal course of events we would expect the bees to swarm angrily upon anyone who robbed them of their honey. Nothing like this seems to have happened. Samson took the honey without any harm to himself. The hand of God was there controlling the situation and protecting Samson, and curbing the natural reaction of the bees. So we can see that when God promotes an action he can protect, and does protect from what would be the normal adverse reaction. He is able and does prevent people from reacting with the anger they would normally do, and so in the case of Samson's action against the Philistines, which God would cause him to perform, God's people would suffer no harm. God could and would protect both Samson and Israel from the Philistine retaliation after they had been provoked by the confrontation brought about by God.

Further, Samson was supernaturally supplied with food, and there was also provision for his parents. Samson is taught by this, and we are taught also, that the welfare of God's people are in his concern and care and that he is well able to supply all their needs. If the Philistines turned against Israel after the confrontation, and sought to rob them of their food and livelihood, God was well able and would supply all their needs. We may learn that the welfare of the people would also be included in the providential workings of God.

When God gives his servants a work to perform, he does not just supply the immediate needs of power and strength, but he looks after all the resulting needs and consequences caused by the ripple effect. Samson was to be given by God supernatural power to bring God's just judgement upon the Philistines for their oppression of Israel. God was also going to be active in keeping Israel from any harm which may follow from this judgement.

By the killing of the lion Samson knew that he would be given power and strength to have victory when called upon to attack the Philistines. By the bees and the honey he would be assured and know that God would be protecting in the consequences that would follow from such a victorious assault.

In the churches ministry and work, this is always true. God provides all the resources for any action he may require us to do and call us to perform, but he will not only provide for the immediate action, but for all the consequences and needs that may follow. If God in his gracious power and blessing brings reviving grace to a congregation, so that many souls are added to the church and are counted amongst the saved, he will also give his church the grace and ability to nurture those new converts and will provide for their protection from all the angry counter attacks of the evil one.