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Transcript 274E — Samson Loses His Strength [Judges 16]
CALLER: Back in the Book of Judges, we have the story of Samson, and everyone thought his strength came from his hair. Now did he believe that his strength came from his hair? Was this his own deception?
HC: The question is raised, Did Samson know that his strength came from God rather than from his hair, from the length of his hair?
I don't really know. There may be information that would indicate this. The fact that he let his hair grow was a figure that he was in complete submission to the will of God. This was really the characteristic of a Nazarite vow, complete submission to the will of God. And when he allowed his hair to be cut, it was indicative of the fact that he was rebelling against the will of God. And then of course his strength departed from him.
CALLER: Okay. Well, did he allow his hair to get cut?
HC: Yes. He was troubled by his wife again and again and again and again. And first he kidded with her, and said, "You've got to bind me with a certain amount of this or that." And then the Philistines would come, and then he would knock these things off of his body and he would destroy them. But she kept at him and kept at him, and wearied him and wearied him.
And finally he gave in. Finally he took his eyes off God and succumbed to her wiles and gave her the truth, that if she would cut his hair, then his strength would leave him. And so she knew at that point that he had spoken all of his heart. And at this point was the moment when Samson was disobeying God. He was being enticed by Satan, if you will, and succumbing to the wiles of Satan.
You can read about this in Judges 16.
CALLER: In so much of the Old Testament there are things that seem so insignificant. But I tell myself, "This has got to have some kind of meaning, but I just don't see it."
HC: Yes. Samson, in the Bible, is really in a real sense a figure of the church. And notice. He judged for twenty years. And somehow I sense that that might be related in some way to the fact that the New Testament church continues approximately 2000 years. But that may be guessing a little bit, or it may be speculative.
But at any rate, the Holy Spirit would come upon Samson and he would do marvelous exploits on behalf of God. And then again he would be very carnal. And this is the way the church has been throughout the New Testament period. There are times when the Spirit of God burned very brightly, as, for example, in the days of the Reformation, or the days of the early church of Acts.
And then again there were periods, like the Dark Ages, when the wick was burning very low. Then we finally see that Samson's strength has departed altogether. His eyes are put out and he's thrown into jail, because he has rebelled against God altogether. And this I believe prefigures what is going to happen to the church, which we are really on the threshold of. The church, the body of Christ, becomes more and more snared by other gospels. It rebels more and more against God. And so finally the Gospel is silenced. Samson's eyes have been put out, and the Philistines rejoice because their enemy has been silenced.
And then, when it looks like all is lost, even as in Samson's case God gives him strength so that in his end on this earth he kills more than in all the twenty years of his life, so the church is given tremendous strength at the end, as it judges the unsaved upon Christ's return, and gets the complete victory over the unsaved by removing them into hell. I see a very distinct relationship in the life of Samson to the life of the New Testament church.
Thank you for calling.