A Flawed Journey: The Rise and Fall of Samson

Show Notes

Episode 490: 
On this episode, we delve into the story of Samson. We dissect his impulsive and selfish actions, using the gifts God gave him for personal gain rather than for God's glory. We draw parallels to contemporary situations, such as the downfall of famous pastors, emphasizing the importance of using our talents and gifts for the greater good and God's kingdom. The episode ends with a reflection on the lessons we can learn from Samson's story and the need to prioritize God's will over our own desires.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey to our listeners, thank you for tuning in and joining us for another episode assumingly of the Bible Guys. Are you going to sing? Nope? Not today, and I can do good morning? No, good morning? Okay? Come on, all right, well maybe maybe next week. People, I was trying to get you started. I was planning to see so you like to know this really black visions? Come on, moning, come on, okay. I think I want to withhold. I think I think I want you to. Marry right, So, so all of our listeners that love it when Chris sings he's forcing you to fast this week? Yes, and maybe next week maybe maybe if you're really good, if you're really really good. Does anybody really like the fact that I see James? Oh? They love it. There's like three people. Okay, Well today Desiree has for us one of our favorite segments. Yes, Who's most likely? I do like this segment, Who's most likely? Who's most likely? And really we just have to instinctively, as you know. Fast as we can, Yeah, fast as we can top of our head. Answer yep, and we usually agree. That's right. We usually do because we're very similar. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't read these yet, have you yet? So there's five of them. I'll do number one. Here we go. The first one says, who's most likely to spontaneously decide to build a d I Y project without reading the instructions? You? That's me, for sure. That is you. It's not me. Yep. I don't do DIY projects, so it doesn't do any good to read the instructions. I recently took some days off and did a little staycation for about four days. Yeah, and did did some serious DIY projects. It's is good. Yes, I am terrible at DIY projects. One. I'm a starter, not a finisher, so that's a problem. And then I usually cut myself, hurt myself, break a thing. It's twenty five trips to home depot. Right, it's just a miserable. I'm just better off letting experts do. I'm good at some things. I'm not good at the DIY projects. Yeah, terrible at them. Oh that's great. So I'm comfortable with that. I'm secure in my manhood to be able to say I'm not good with power tools or which. By the way, my best friend Jeff Miller, he always talks about the difference between himself and myself. So I did landscaping right, and I actually like had two yards of black malts delivered, went out and just did all this preparation, trimmed everything, cleaned everything, and shoveled all this malts into wheelbarrows. It took me hours and hours and hours. Then I sent him a video and I was like, hey, look and he's like, yeah, he goes, I made a phone call and I said, I said yeah, I said, I spent about one hundred and twenty dollars would you spend He said, I wrote a check for three thousand and the end results and the end result was the same, The. Same is the same, yep, yep, yep. Okay. So here's number two. Who's most likely to try and talk their way into a VIP event with a completely fabricated backstory. That's you. That is one thousand. How many times have you actually done it? Oh, I'm not even exaggerating. I'm not even kidding when I say this. It's over one hundred, over one hundred times you've gotten into VIP events. Yeah, at least you're the wedding crash there was. There was. Weddings are easy. Yeah, I'm not even talking about that. I'm talking about I had a reputation and I'm not even kidding. I remember one time we went to you know, Christian concerts, you know how it is, right, like like like they're only popular in the Christian world, right, But we went to like main venues, like almost like Pine Knob. Type venues, especially back when CCM was really rocking, right, it was big and there's thousands of people showing up with these big concerts. Yes, so we went to this like big venue that was very much like DT Pine Knob and if you live in the. Detroit area, oh door Amphitheater. That was with my youth group, and at the time I was a youth pastor. I had such a reputation of doing exactly this that I remember Gus Morgan, one of my teenagers, looks over at the crowd and says, Okay, he goes, everybody knows you're going to find a way to go, you're going to get backstage illegally, and you're going to shake the hand of the artist, he goes, So go ahead and do it. And I said, okay, And I just saw it as a rise of a challenge because I've done it so many times before, and I said, just watch and learn. So, like, literally, they're all standing there, and within seconds there was a crowd of people who had paid to meet backstage. You know, they were the people with the passes. Yeah, and I went over to them. They had opened the door and I had walked over and I had pretended like I was talking to somebody that I held the door, and just when the security guard turned his back, I snuck in there. And I just left my. Kids there you go. And then and so literally they were they were outside waiting for me. They had no choice. Okay, I waited out. They waited outside like almost an hour. So back in the nineties, that was really cool. Now the FBI is watching you, you know that, right. I think that nobody cares. They're gonna know they think you're a terrorist or something. You know what I always used to say, I would say, what are they gonna do? Throw me in like in music jail? Yes, right, yes, And if they do so, well, they should have Okay, wow, so lots of times, and I mean, dude, you have like a hundred of those kind of stories. I've heard so many crazy stories. Okay, I am not that guy. I wait in line if I didn't pay my way, I just assume I'm not supposed. To do the thing. I've never done it one time, never. Wow, Yeah, I am that guy. Wow. Okay. Who's most likely to get stuck in a public place because they're too busy talking to someone to notice they were locked in? Me? Yeah, that's that's me. That's you, that's me. That's really funny. They were too busy talking to someone to notice they were lucky. Yeah, there's been so many times just chit chatting and suddenly realize there's nobody here. All right. Number four. Who's most likely to build an elaborate fort out of furniture and then insist on spaying the night in it. I've actually done that. I've done that one hundred times as well. Yeah it might be us. Oh let's vote for we we yes? Yeah, so we used to have this couch with huge, firm, large cushions that were perfect for doing this. I currently still have holes in my ceiling in my living room because my daughter Tory, who was dating her current boyfriend, Like, and we're talking like high school stuff. We're talking like she was like junior year of high school, and she goes, Dad, can you build us a fort to watch TV in? And so I put nails in the ceiling and hung bed sheets to the nails and created this elaborate like fourth that turned into a massive tent that enclosed the TV. Yeah, and they had to and the only way to get to it was you had to crawl through a tunnel on the carpet, through this big long tunnel and then it just sort of turned into this massive cave. That's super cool. Yep, super cool. Yes. Number five, number five. Who's most likely to accidentally create a viral video by doing something completely unexpected in a public You? That's me as well, Yeah. Because because remember I'm standing in line doing what I'm supposed to do. Yeah, I'm and I'm I'm usually wanting to do pretty crazy things. Yeah wow. Yeah. Okay, So there you go, just another little insight into the mind and reality of Chris and Jeff. Yes, yes, wow, thrilling, thrilling stuff. Yeah, well that one wasn't you know, I elaborated a little bit, but we probably need to move on. So, well, here's what I would say, is we could keep this up and really impress people with our really amazing stories, or we could get into, you know, the life of Samson. Yeah, and so which do you think would be better? Oh, let me think, let me pray about it. Yeah Samson. Okay, so we're in. We're just going to go through the four chapters of Samson's life right there, because his life is spread over four chapters. Starts in Judges thirteen ands and Judges sixteen, So we're reading fourteen. Now he had the announcement of his birth and his parents committing to raise him to honor God. That's in chapter thirteen. Then in chapter fourteen suddenly, now he's an adult. Right, So between thirteen and fourteen a lot happens, but we don't know what it is. Yeah, probably at least teenager or above. Right, Yeah, I think he's inn. I think he's an adult adult. What do you think thirty? Yeah? Really, Well, he wants to get married, and usually Israelite men getting married would have been in their thirties. Okay, yeah, But anyways, one day, here's what it says in Judge's fourteen one. One day when Samson was in tim No. One of the Philistine women caught his eye. When he returned home, he told his father and mother, a young Philistine woman and tim had caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me. His father and mother objected. Isn't there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites that you could marry? They asked, we must Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife? But Sampson told his father get her for me. She looks good to me. His father mother didn't realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time. As Samson and his parents were going down to Timna, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timna. At that moment, the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion's jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat, but he didn't tell his father and mother about it. When Samson arrived at Timna, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her. Later, when he returned to Timna for the wedding. He turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion, and he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it, but he didn't tell that he'd taken the honey from the carcass of the lion. As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timna, as was the custom for elite young men. When the bride's parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town to be his companions. Samson said to them, let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, i'll give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. But if you can't solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. All right, theakered, let's hear your riddle, So she said, out of the one who eats came something to eat out of the strong came something sweet. Three days later, they were still trying to figure it out. On the fourth day, they said to Samson's wife and Tys, your husband explained the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father's house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor? So Samson's wife came to him in tears and said, you don't love me. You hate me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer. I haven't even given the answer to my father and mother. He replied, why should I tell you so? So she cried whenever she was with him, and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day, he told her the answer because she was tormenting him or with her nagging. Then she explained the riddle to the young men. So before sun set of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer, what is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? Samson? If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have solved my riddle. That is a statement. That is a statement, that's a choice. Then that was a choice. Then the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he went down to the town at Ashkalan, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who'd solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. So his wife was given a marriage to the man who'd been Samson's best man at the wedding. Well, so his wife was given in marriage to the man who'd been Samson's best man. Yeah. Yeah, so that means, you know, there would be this long celebration before the consummation of the of a marriage, and so until the consummation, it was just a commitment. They were engaged, they were, but they were called husband and wife. Yeah right, because this is the beginning of the wedding. But he basically he divorced her before they consummated their marriage. Yeah, that's that's pretty unbelievable. And that it's crazy. Yeah, and if you hadn't plaid with my heifer, you wouldn't have solved my Yeah. Hey, you know on those things where people write in and ask us big questions. Yeah, Chris, I'm curious, what does that mean? Plot with my heifer? Yes, well, you know it's uh, it's my field, it's my cow. Righth you went into my barn. You you uh, you know you that's you're you're in your that's what he's saying, right, I mean, there's not a sexual thing. He's calling his wife a heifer, a cow. Yes, yes, yes, that's that's Uh, that's unbelievable. And and uh, you know what you know, the funny thing is here is that it says that God was going to use this idea that Samson wanted a wife with the Philistines. But at the same time, Uh, wasn't he forbidden? No, he was. He wasn't forbidden to. All of the Israelites were forbidden. That's what it was. This wasn't this wasn't a condition of the Nazarites. That's right, right, So he wasn't forbidden by God. This wasn't the disobedience to God. Yes it was. It was against God's. Law, against God's law to be a part of that. So Exodus thirty five, Deuteronomy seven, he said, don't marry them. Oh, don't talk to them, don't. Live among them. So that's a standard law. But it's not a Nazarite boo issue. It's it's the law of Israel. You cannot marry people from other nations. You must marry within your own nation, with your own people. Isn't it interesting how God could take something out of disobedience and he's going to use it for good? And isn't that the way that God does? Sometimes he takes our mistakes, he takes our bad choices, even things that are you know, not good. And what He's going to do sometimes is You'll have to find a way to bring beauty from ashes. That's right. So I think it's a it's one of those deals that it's not that God made him sin, right, which is the sin. It's a sin to break God's law. Wasn't that God made him sin, It was that God was going to use this bad decision to the war because he's he's he goes and kills thirty guys, right, Philistines, And this is the beginning of Samson establishing among the Philistines, you cannot defeat me, but you're gonna pay. I'm going to exact a heavy price. But it shows a lot about his character and I look at this when I read those first few verses, I just think, what a snotty brat. Right, she looks good to me, Go get her? Yeah, he demands it, right, right, a young Philistine woman in tim to cut my eye. I want to marry get her for me. He doesn't say please, he doesn't say is it okay, He doesn't look for counsel. He just makes a demand. His father goes, don't go to the pagan Philistines to get a wife. Right? You know his father just asked the angel, you know several years before, how do we how do we rais ing? What do we do? We want to go God's way, That's what he's saying. So he knows the laws of God and then he but he doesn't bring it up. This is a sin against God. He's just saying he's talking poorly about the Philistines. Instead of he's talking about the negative. Instead of elevating God's word, he could have elevated God's Hey, God has a better way. Hey, we know what God's word says. Let's go God's way. He doesn't do that. Instead, he's like, oh, stinking Philistines are pagans. Why would you want right? So he's kind of attacking the girl that Samson wants instead of elevating God's words in law right. And so then Samson's argument is again back to the girl, making it. Sound like it's good advice as opposed to commandments, right, right, like, hey, it would be better advice to do this. And he's attacking the philistine people. Is the way that Samson would have taken it. He's pagan philistines as opposed to elevating the importance of God's word. Right. So God's word isn't anti others, it's pro what's best, right, That's what's happening. And so I think sometimes parents are tempted to go after and talk about how bad that friend is or rather than elevating God's better way, right, does that make sense? And so this what they do and instead, so then his argument he comes back and he argues for her as a person, right, she she go get it for me. She looks good to me. And so this is what happens, is he gets what he wants on this. He's just kind of snotty, which I think is a temptation. They couldn't have a baby, They couldn't you know, they were barren for so long. He's an answer to their prayer. So in some ways, you know, they're very curious and excited to raise him the way that God said to raise him, and the other way they spoil him rotten. Right, certain that way. Well, so all we know is they named him Samson and the next verse is he demands what he wants. Now he gets it. There's another thing here where he touches the dead carcass of a lion. Yeah, and yet it says that he's not supposed to touch anything. Dead that would be. That's so it wasn't in the declaration from the Angel of the Lord, but that is in what we know from the Nazarite bows mentioned in the law. So the law highlights what a nasaray would be, and that would be one of them is that they couldn't touch a dead a dead animal. It doesn't it doesn't say that when the when the angel uh No told manah oh oh. Yeah, he just says razor wine and food and forbidden food. Yeah, I don't eate the forbidden food. Okay, So I'm using my other knowledge here. Yeah, yeah, your other knowledge deep deep nine deep cross referencing here. Yeah, Well, I didn't. I wasn't realizing even about mirroring outside of your tribe here. And then then I looked at the Life Application study notes you referenced Excess thirty four and Deuteronomy seven. I was like, wow, that looked and I was like, oh, he's all right there. But you know what, the fact that he was able to. Reach good resources makes you look smart. Yes, yes, well, I mean that's the reason why we encourage. The Life Application said about them. That's exactly right, that's exactly right. But anyway, so he so he disobeyed. It seems like he's sort of not being respectful to his parents. He's he's going outside of God's law but wanting to marry philistine. What we know about in an azard, he's not supposed touch anything dead or and clean. And he reaches reaches into the carcass of a lion, right, and guess what it's all about what pleases him? And he's being sneaky's not telling his parents, right, he's not, Dude, you just killed a lion with your bare hands, and you're not going to telling your mom and dad. And by the spirit of the Lord coming upon you, huh, Right, Like like a glory to the God's story and so and so it's all because she looks good. It's all because hey, that honey looks sweet to me. Right, and so not only does he partake of the honey himself, but then what does he do is he gives it to his parents and doesn't tell him because I have a feeling him being as right. Had he said, hey, I get this from the day carcass of a lion, they would they probably wouldn't have accepted it. Right. So there's there's all sorts of sermons in here, but it's really in this moment seeming like whatever pleases him, that's what he wants, that's the season of life he's in. Well, this is there's another out here in the life Afication Bible says Samson impulsively used the special gift God gave him for selfish purposes. Right, And I think about that, you think of sometimes you and I are amazed or shocked. And Christians in general tend to be shocked. Even the world lost people tend to be shocked when they see a pastor flame out. There's been several famous pastors here lately that have gotten themselves in trouble. Lately. Right, Yes, it's every generation, every Yeah, kind of a young superstar pastor from a couple of years ago, hanging out with celebrities, super cool guy everybody. Wanted to be and he was cooler than all the rest of us. And now there's a series on them. Yeah, exactly, And and I mean it's it's one after another after another. It's a temptation to take these supernatural gifts God gives and use them for our own benefit. So you know, you can talk about, say the pastor that is referencing incredibly attractive person, magnetic person, just draw that's a gift from God and it's supposed to be used drop people to Jesus through the message. That a pretty good communicator, right, he's a great networker's he's a person that can help move people forward and do. It churismatic, magnetic, yep, and very compelling. And instead he wound up using it for himself and wound up hurting his marriage, hurting his ministry, hurting tons of people who looked up to him. Right, and this is what you see. You watched the series, No, I never watched any of those things. I don't listen to the podcast. I don't I already know bad stuff happened. I watched, I watched the whole thing, and my wife and I did, and it was it was what a good what a good heart this guy had. He just he flamed out, Not because he was I don't think caught up in his own fame. I think he flamed out because the pressure broke them. It just broke them. So that's easy, that's an easy out. But I can tell you he used the supernatural gifts God gave him to sin Yep, So I can tell you. You know, Samson could say, well, there's a lot of pressure on me. I was really tough, and the Philistines were. I'm telling you, if I was going to make a documentary about myself, that'd be the same argument. Yeah right, Well, when you're trying to re establish your fame, yeah, dude, he put it on Netflix. So when you're trying to re establish your frame and get some back of what you used to have, you're gonna have all kinds of excuses as opposed to just admitting I used the gifts God gave me from myself and I chose to do the wrong thing. Samson never does that. Samson doesn't do that. Samson never confronts his sin until the end, and he barely does it then. Right, And so what happens is God has these supernatural gifts, and he goes out and just walking along the way, just kills a lion so he can have it. He gets ticked off because these thirty guys figured out his riddle, so he goes and kills thirty Philistines, steals their clothes to pay off the debt that he owes. He's just using these extra ex ordinary gifts that God gave him for himself. Right. And I'm not saying that you're wrong or you're bad on that. I'm just saying it's really easy when I'm trying to re establish my reputation to go on Netflix and tell people a gentler way as to why I got into sin as the post, admitting I used my own gifts. And in this I think it's important for us to not look for excuses but to accept responsibility. Yeah, there's no doubt what you're saying is right, but then there's the belief the best side too, where because that's obviously the negative side, right, you can say, well, that's why he did it, but there's probably a sense to where he feels like he let so many people down, He let the world down, right, in a lot of sense, he feels that way. So what he wants to do is he wants to you know, talk about God's grace, God's repentance, you know, how God can redeem somebody. He wants God to get the glory somehow through this thing that he did that was so bad, right, and so he wants to bring good out of bad. So he figures, hey, God has given him the opportunity to send the message of grace and forgiveness through this, through this Netflix thing, and maybe people will come in, and you know what, it's another way to perhaps you know, show the side of a pastor. If I had multimillion dollar book deals and all that kind of stuff, and I also had a PR firm, they would tell me to do exactly the same thing and to find something other than my own response. I agree, I agree, right. What Samson didn't have is he didn't have a PR firm, and he had no interest quite honestly, in fixing his reputation. He just lived for himself. And that I think is the danger right as we look at the at the thing at at Samson's life as opposed to, you know, pushing people to go watch a Netflix thing. So in this situation, what you have is you have a young man and we see it today. This is why why I brought up those other issues. You have a young man who's choosing to use gifts from God for himself. And I think that that really is the the lesson for us to learn because we're going to go on and he just spirals. He starts to spire a out of control over the next couple days. When we pick back up next week, and it's fair for us to say, God, why am I doing it? Am I preaching so that other people will listen to me? We're preaching to lift Jesus high? Am I leading so that other people will follow me? Or am I leading people to Jesus? And it'd be the same for anybody, any Christian? Why do I do what? You know? There are people out there that are gifted at making money. Why why are you making money for you so you can just buy a bigger boat in another house. Go ahead, But maybe God gave you that ability to fund his kingdom. Maybe there's a deeper purpose that goes way beyond just your talents that God gave you for yourself, and that is I think the great lesson from Samson is it's not about you. It never was about you. It's only about him and his kingdom, and God is going to use Samson as a tool. But Samson could have been so much greater. He could have been the greatest of all of them, and instead he flames out because he just lives for himself, right, And that's my frustration with Samson. I love the story of Samson, I hate the story of Samson at the same time. Wait, we are definitely at our time, so we gotta wrap this up so hopefully we will see you next time on the bubble guys. Mhm m