Join me if you would tonight
in the book of Judges chapter 15, and I just have to review
verses 4 and 5 for just a moment, because it is such an astonishing
event, and it is the fulfillment of a verse of scripture, and
usually we apply this verse of scripture to you and I. where
it says, being made willing in the day of his power. But we
find out that everything is under that great control. And here
in these two verses, we read about 300 foxes doing exactly
what is not natural. Everything that goes on here
is not natural. It is not natural for them to
be around fire and stay controlled. It's not natural for them to
have their tails tied together. It's not natural for them to
come to a man by the name of Samson or anybody else. And when
they left, it is not natural for them to run in a straight
line. It's not natural for them not to go in any direction that
their nose leads them because they're after food. So if you've
seen a fox, they don't do much straight running. It's lots of,
well, these 300 foxes, it says in verse four and five, and Samson
wet and caught 300 foxes and took firebrands and turned tail
to tail. These are all absolutely contrary
to the nature of the critter. and put a firebrand in the midst
between their two tails. And when he had set the brands
on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines
and burnt up both the shocks and also the standing corn in
the vineyards and the olives. Now this destruction was enough
to get the attention of the Philistines. This wasn't two acres. This was
a lot of their food supply had been burned up by these foxes
and God had directed them. Now, remember what it says. Turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Psalm 110, verse three. Psalm 110, verse three. And we read in that passage of
scripture, Psalm 110. And verse 3, it says, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. And last week we looked
at, so is everything else. These critters were made willing
in the day of God's power. He went completely, they went
completely against their natural instinct. God controlled them
in such a way that they did exactly what God intended for them to
do. Now, I don't think that we lost the fox. I think when they
got through, that firebrand was burning true and they went off
and did the rest of their life. So it doesn't say, I'm just surmising,
but there were 300 foxes that were used here and it did get
the Philistines attention. Samson caused the Philistines
to come up and come after him. So we know that it did that.
All right, going back to the book of Judges chapter 15. As
we go through here, we notice some interesting things. And
once again, or twice again, or three times again, Samson is
a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ, a wonderful picture of
our Savior. And it really adds to what we
find the Lord saying. And Lauren and I were talking
about this today, that there are a lot of people, and we visit
with them all the time, and they can't see a thing in the Old
Testament except history and legalism. And yet, because of
Christ's instructions to the church, that in all the things
in the Old Testament he revealed himself, we can go and by God's
grace and by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, we can see him
in all of those sacrifices, see him in the tabernacle, the temple,
see him in the Levite priest, see him, see him, see him, banners
over Israel. It's just constantly the water
from the rock. And in fact, God used Paul to
write about that rock and that water from that rock in the New
Testament. And he said, this rock is Christ. So inside dope. I'm looking at the Old Testament.
It is a statement about our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Well, in verse
five of the Book of Judges, chapter 15, we read this. It says here,
and when they had set the bands on fire, he let them go into
the standing corn of the Philistines. and burnt up both the shocks
and also the standing corn with the vineyards and the olives.
So a very extensive consumption of the food supplies of the Philistines. The Philistines had come into
the land of Israel, they had overrun it, and now they were
dictating how people were to do and they were gaining a lot
of tariff from the Israelites. They taxed them and they made
them pay tariffs. And then it says the Philistines,
then the Philistines said, who hath done this? Now, this is
a very interesting verse of scripture because the end of this, Samson's
wife and father-in-law is fulfilled right there, right in this verse,
what those friends of Samson's wife said will be the consequence
if you don't tell us about that Riddle, there we go, that riddle.
All right, so the Philistines said, who hath done this? And
they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timonite, because he had
taken his wife and given her to his best man, his companion.
And the Philistines came up and burnt her and her father with
fire. Serious. results, but they noticed that
it is reported that Samson had done this. Samson had done this. Now verse seven, and Samson said
unto them, though you have done this, yet will I be avenged of
you, and after that I will cease. And he smote them hip and thigh
with a great slaughter. Now this term, hip and thigh,
is a proverbial expression used in this part of the world at
this time. And it means a merciless slaughter. It means a great and complete
slaughter. It doesn't mean that he beat
their thighs and their hip to injure them. It means that he
destroyed them. And this is a term that was used
to acknowledge this fact that he had destroyed these Philistines. So through this time, we're seeing
time and then again and again, that Samson is being used of
God to do what he was told he was going to do before he was
born. he is going to destroy many of the Philistines. They
smote him hip and thigh with great slaughter, and he went
down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etham." Now some of
the translations and some of the commentators say that there
was a cave or Some cleft in the rock here, that's where he went
to. He's just not sitting up on top of a rock. Whatever it
makes, it doesn't matter. He went down and he's waiting.
That's the interesting thing is, he went so far and is waiting. He knows that some things are
going to happen. And so he's not running to the
ends of the earth. He just goes up there and is
waiting. And we're going to find a thousand men of Judah come
to visit him. But before that happens, it says
the Philistines went up and pitched in Judah and spread themselves
in Lehi. And the men of Judah said, why
are you come up against us? And they answered, to Bind Samson
are we come up, and to do to him as he hath done to us." So
they knew they were on the right trail. They come to Judah, to
the tribe of Judah. Now, when we read in the scriptures,
we find that there's a lot of positive things said about the
tribe of Judah. We have our Savior is the Lion
of the tribe of Judah. And it is through Judah that
the Lord Jesus Christ was brought into this world. And the author
of the Holy Spirit shares with us through some writer of the
book of Hebrews that this tribe was not mentioned to have any
of the priesthood. And since we have a change of
priesthood, we must have a change of law. Well, isn't that wonderful? We're not under, we're not bound
by the Levitical law, we're under the law of Christ. And so this
line of the tribe of Judah, our Savior, the Lord Jesus, came
through that line, and we notice so many good things about it.
But the problem we face in this next two, three verses of scripture
is the commentary. This is the commentary on the
verse that we find in chapter 13 and verse 1, that Israel again
did evil in the sight of the Lord and Judah is not exempt. they went along with. They followed after the idolatrous
worship that others that we think were a little lower on the totem
pole, Ephraim, my goodness, we find a lot said about Ephraim,
and he's on the negative side of the line, but really, Judah? Yes, we in fact find out that
everybody in Israel was affected by this problem. The only three
people that we have that God saved out of that problem that
we know about. There may have been others, but we know of three
that were saved out of the same problem. They were not exempt
from idolatry. They were no more exempt from
idolatry than Abraham was. That's why Joshua wrote about
Abraham and said he worshipped idols on the other side of the
river. These people in Israel at this time had forsaken the
Lord and any semblance of worship of him and had turned to idolatrous
worship. And it says he did it again.
They did it again. Well, here we have Judah. Now
these guys, this thousand guys, you know, I thought to myself
as I was reading through here, wouldn't it have been great if
they said, you know, we want to join you. We're a thousand
good warriors and we want to join you because we really appreciate
what you're doing to the Philistines. But that does not happen. They do not bring that report. They are caught up in the problem
that affects everybody that is ever born into this world. And
that is to have a negative view of God and a negative view of
grace. We just can't get out of it.
We're just really blind about that. And we'll follow this out.
The Philistines go up to Judah and they plan to do to Solomon
what he has done to them. And there's a great concern of
the men of Judah because these Philistines are up here. And
then it goes on to say, the men of Judah said, why are you come
up? And then in verse 11, it says, then three, excuse me,
I mentioned a thousand, 3,000. men of Judah went up to the top
of the Rock of Etham. Now, there is where Samson is. He's not run off to the hinterlands. He is in a very notable place.
They know where to go. They arrived there. And as I
thought, why didn't they say? You know, 3,000 men. That was a whole lot more men
than Gideon had when he defeated the whole army. He had 300. So 3,000 men with a good leader,
Samson, a strong leader, an extraordinary leader, would have probably been
a great defense against the Philistines and an offense about defeating
them. But notice what they come up and report. Notice this. This
is just disheartening, if you please. This whole thing is disheartening,
what they say. It tells us there, and they went
up to the top of the Rock of Ether, verse 11, and said to
Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over
us? Don't you know who's ruling over
us? The Philistines are ruling over
us. What a statement they are making
here and how far they have gone away from God. Now they never,
by nature, were never there, but there was a little more respect
from time to time throughout the Old Testament from Israel,
the children of Israel. And at this time we have 3,000
probably good warriors that could have done a great deal against
the Philistines, particularly if Samson had led them. A good
captain could have led them, and they could have done a great
deal of damage to the Philistines, and yet they come up with this
report. Samson, don't you know that the Philistines are ruling
over us? Now, we may say something like
that in our natural state, but in our spiritual state, isn't
it wonderful we can say our Lord is ruling over us? God is ruling
over us. He rules in the armies of heaven
among the inhabitants of the earth. It is his rule that is
exampled every day. It is his rule that is authored
every day. And we find that through the
scriptures that this is presented time and time again. The men
of Judah go up with this comment. It is such a tragic review of
their spiritual position before God. Don't you know the Philistines
are in charge of us? You know, that's kind of like
the people there in the days of Stephen or the days of Peter
and John. Don't you know Rome is over us?
And in fact, they go so far to say to Pilate, if you're not
a friend of Caesar, So we have this really strong
breakdown in this. They demonstrated through this
whole thing that they had no knowledge about God whatsoever. Now, they had knowledge about
gods, but they had no knowledge about God. All we know about
them is that the Lord appeared unto Samson, Samson's mother,
and Samson's father, and the rest of the record says, and
Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. These three
people were not exempt from that. God saved them out of that. Don't
you know that the Philistines are ruling over us? In the book
of Psalms, would you turn with me to the book of Psalms? In the book of the Psalms, Psalm 78. Psalm 78. This is an interesting
verse of scripture about Ephraim. But it tells us here that they
have done a great deal of preparation. They have been given a great
deal of armament at great expense. They've been trained. Psalm 78,
verse nine. Psalm 78 and verse 9, it says
here, the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows,
being trained. They have the weaponry, but notice
the last phrase of that verse of scripture, turn back in the
day of battle. I'm thankful that the battle
is not ours, but it's the Lord's, and we get to enjoy the Lord's
battle. But it does not give us the right
or the privilege or anything else of just walking away from
our responsibility. Ephraim practiced that, the 3,000
men of Judah practiced that. And we find out that there really
is only one person in all Israel that is against the Philistines
and doing exactly what God instructed him to do. 3,000 come up against
him. They would rather give up Samson. Now, when we read about Samson,
we find we're reading about a very extraordinary person, a man that
is tremendously strong, powerful. He has just wiped out a thousand
with the jawbone of a donkey. Now, I just can't believe they
came one at a time. Well, your turn. Now it's your
turn. I think that there was a lot
of people coming after him at the same time because they wanted
to get rid of him. And God gave him such superior strength and
overcame a thousand Philistines in one day. He is going to put
away. He is beginning the job that
God has given to him. Now we find out the Lord during
his ministry, he shares with us when he says, thy sins be
forgiven thee. And boy, those guys riled up
at that very thing. And he says, what is easier,
say thy sins, be forgiven thee, or rise up and walk? They were
so put out at him bringing up the subject that he could forgive
sin. And yet he did that through his
ministry, and he did it in type, shadow, and picture. But at the
cross, he took care of the problem. and we'll follow that as we follow
out here with Samson. The unregenerate person just
cannot think right. These 3,000 men of Judah just
cannot think right. There's just, the thought process
has been so tainted. And the thought process is coming
from the wrong place. And here we have one man who
can think right, because he's been instructed and led of the
Holy Spirit, but these 3,000 unregenerate people, they can't
think right. The whole person is in a blur.
And turn with me, if you would, to the book of Ephesians, and
let's read about this. In the book of Ephesians, 3,000
come up. They're going to destroy Samson
until he parleys with them. In the book of Ephesians chapter
4. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
18. This is where we are by nature.
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness of their heart. Now, when you take this verse
of scripture and multiply it times 3,000, what do we have? 3,000 that are in blindness of
their heart. So their whole goal is to dispatch
Samson, give him to the Philistines, destroy him, because he's messing
up with them, and they have that to say, don't you know that it's
the Philistines that rule over us? In the book of Romans, turn
there with me if you would, the book of Romans, Romans chapter
one, Romans chapter one. In Romans chapter one, verse
22, we read this. Romans 1, verse 22, professing
themselves to be wise. Can't you just see these 3000
as they march up? This is a really good idea, guys.
This is a good idea to go up there and face this man and bring
him back and turn him over to the Philistines. It's gonna save
us a lot of problems from the Philistines and they won't come
burn our houses and take our families and so forth. This is
a really good idea. Well, professing themselves to
be wise, they become fools. In verse 25 of that same chapter,
it says, who changed the truth of God into a lie. and worship and serve the creature
more than the Creator. who is blessed forever, amen. Who has to serve the creature
more than the creator. Now the number one creature that
is worshiped is not a bird or a fish or a cow, it's us. That's who we're sold out to
in our natural state before God saves us. We're sold out to ourself. We are sold out to our will,
we're sold out to ourself, we're sold out to our religion, and
it takes God Almighty to retrieve us from that terrible condition
and breathe into us His spiritual life, and then we recognize that
everything falls out from the Lord. In the book of 2 Thessalonians,
in 2 Thessalonians, we find that this continues on as Paul continues
to write the truth as it is in Christ. He writes the truth as
we see these things going on. There's not many people in Israel
at this time that are questioning what 3,000 men from Jude are
doing. There's just nobody. Why are
they doing that? Nobody is questioning. Now, we
don't have much report from Manoah and his wife. Samson's mother
from the time that Samson is born and the time he gets engaged
and gets married. Not much said after that. If
there was somebody to question what was going on, it would have
to be them. But so there's not much question
about what's going on. Everything seems to be okay.
They haven't taken our lives. All right, here in the book of
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 11, for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion. Now, it isn't that they create
the delusion, it is that God sent them strong delusion. He's the one that is in charge
of this. They have identified themselves as without God, without
hope, without Christ in the world. And as a result of that, God's
word is just fulfilled. He sent them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. We have 3,000 men of Judah believing
a lie. This is the best thing we can
do. There's nothing else that we can do for our country, for
our family, for our homes, except turn this man over to the Philistines. What? What a lie that is. And as we mentioned how, what
it would have been like, and it wasn't, it was not in God's
purpose. I understand that, but what it
would have been like if they'd have went out and said, you know,
we've watched you and we want to join you. We're tired of the
Philistines. What they are saying is we're
not tired of the Philistines. And what we say by nature is
I'm not tired of sin. I'm not tired of the way I am.
I am not tired. I am tired of the people talking
to me about being happy about this, but I'm not. I'm tired
of it. So God sends strong delusion
upon them. And as we follow this through,
turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5. In Isaiah chapter 5, the Old
Testament prophet has a great deal to say about the problem
that natural man is in. And these 3,000 men of Judah
exemplify that a great deal. Isaiah chapter 5, verse 20. Let's
look at that passage of scripture. We plan to read down through
verse 25. Woe unto them that call evil
good. And good evil. that put darkness
for light, and light for darkness, and put bitter for sweet, and
sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in
their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them
that are mighty to drink wine, men of strength to mingle strong
drink, which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the
righteousness of the righteous from him. Therefore, as the fire
devours the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff. So
their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up
as dust, because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. What does
Judges chapter 13 verse one tell us? Exactly that. They again
had gone down into the pit. They again had done that to God
and they forgot Him and turned away from Him. Woe unto them!
These 3,000 men, they're going to guide Samson to the Philistines. They're gonna take Samson to
the Philistines. Now, we're gonna find out that is in God's elective
purpose to do that very thing. But let's follow this out. In
the book of Luke chapter 19 is one of those verses that we refer
to so often because it shares with us natural man's heart about
God and about God's rule. Luke chapter 19. And there in verse 14, But his citizens, this is a ruler
over a place that is very benevolent, and yet it says, but his citizens
hated him. and sent a message after him
saying, we will not have this man rule over us. So essentially
they're saying, even though Samson is a judge, we'll not have him
rule over us. He's chosen of God to the position
that he is in. God has given him the grace to
overcome many of the Philistines. He has done supernatural things
as a judge of the Lord. and yet they have no interest
in Him ruling over them. This is how Samson pictures our
Lord. He was chosen of God in the council
halls of eternity. The great three in one covenant
together and chose one out of the three to come and take on
flesh. and lay down his life, a ransom
for many. He was chosen of God to do that.
We find that he was rejected. Samson was rejected of Israel.
My goodness, he came unto his own. The world was his and he
created it, but the world knew him not. He came unto his own
and his own received him not. We will not have this man rule
over us. He was rejected. Samson was rejected
by Israel, by Judah, because of the blindness of their sin. And he was commissioned to put
away a real problem, and he's going to. The Lord Jesus was
commissioned to put away a real problem, and He did. Don't have
to worry about it. He did. He came unto His own,
and His own received Him not. But then we go on, those that
He touches, will come. Samson was called the deliverer
of Israel from the Philistines. And the Lord Jesus is the deliverer
of spiritual Israel from the bondage of sin and death. This
point is so interesting. Samson highlights God's sovereignty. You know, we look at him and
he is, boy, he's a rascal. Some of the things he did. And
yet we find out that God in his sovereignty worked through a
man that is so flawed. And what does he do today? He works through people who are
so flawed. We just notice it. We know that
there's a flaw. He works through individuals
and he accompanies them to do his will. And as we look at the
crucifixion, all of that surrounded the Lord's crucifixion was flawed
individuals, but they worked out the eternal purpose of God
in what he did. In the book of Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. We find the
Lord saying this. Mark 14 verse 21. Mark chapter 14 verse 21. The
Son of Man indeed goeth as it was written of Him. Samson indeed
goeth as it was written of Him. But woe to that man by whom the
Son of Man is betrayed. Good were for that man if he
had never been born. Now I just look at those Philistines.
Good if they had never been born, but they were born and they will
suffer the consequences for their denial of God and God's Word. in Daniel chapter 4. What a statement here Nebuchadnezzar
makes as we think about what Samson is doing there. He is
going to be arrested. He is going to have his hands
tied, bound up and turned over to the Philistines. Here in the
book of Daniel chapter four, we read these words at the mouth
of the great King Nebuchadnezzar, verse 34 and 35. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes into heaven, and my understanding
returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised
and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
Now notice this phrase, and He doeth according to His will,
in the army of heaven among all the heavenly hosts, among all
of the demons, among everything, the inhabitants of the earth.
He doeth his will, and none can stay his hand or say unto him,
what are you doing? Nebuchadnezzar brings us out,
and you know what? The church says hallelujah for
having Nebuchadnezzar say these words because he articulated
what we would like to be able to say. He articulated, and we
have that verse of scripture to say it for us. In the book
of Psalm 33, Psalm 33, turn there with me if you would. Psalm 33, verse 9. This is about God. For He spake,
and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. Not one thing that has taken
place in Israel under Samson and his being judge or in his
family's life or in the lives of those 3,000 men of Judah or
among all the Philistines or among all the inhabitants of
Israel at this time has been outside of the command of the
Lord. He spake, and it shall be done.
He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to naught. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. So
whatever is going to take place here, we're going to see that
the hand of the Lord was bringing it out and producing it. Going
back to the book of Judges now for just a short period, the
book of Judges there in chapter 15 again, and we're going to
look here in verse 12. Verse 12. And they said unto him, these
are the 3,000 men of Judah, we are come down to bind thee, not to help you, that we may
deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. Almost no sadder word could be
found. We're gonna turn you over to
the enemies of God. And Samson said unto them, Swear
unto me that ye will not fall upon me yourselves, that you
will not kill me. And they spake unto him and said,
No, but we will bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hand,
but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new
cords, and brought him up from the rock. And when they came
unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him, and I'll notice
this, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. One more testimony of who really
is in charge of the scene, God is. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of the Lord came mightily upon him and the cords that were upon
his arm became as flax that was burnt with fire and his bands
loose from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of
an ass and put forth his hand and took it and slew a thousand
men therewith." One more time, he's effectively coming up against
the Philistines a thousand at a time. Here he has been Captured. He freely gave himself. He has
been bound. He freely was bound. He has been
brought to the Philistines. He came freely to the Philistines. The Holy Spirit came upon him.
He broke those bindings and grabbed a new jawbone of an ass and killed
a thousand of them that came after him. Now, it doesn't tell
us what the 3,000 men of Judah did at this time. But we know
what happened to 1,000 of the Philistines. The Lord called
them home and he sorted them out. So we're going to continue
on with our study of Samson from this point, how he is God's person
for the hour. He is a judge for the hour. God
has raised him up. Even though he has lots of flaws,
he is in God's perfect will in working this out. Even though
he does some foolish things, God is the only one that can
take bad things and turn them into good. He can take our sin
and sinners and turn them into his purpose. That's what he did
with Pharaoh. That's what he did with Judas.
That's what he did with the council that came up against Stephen.
That's what he did with all of those who come up against God.
He will work them out. that it will be to his purpose. So Samson destroyed a thousand
men with his jawbone and then flung it away. And at this point,
we'll pick it up next time and see what else happened. Read
the rest of the chapter. We have the rest of this chapter
and then the next chapter.