The weak strong man 3.
Sampson’s romance.
Judges 14:1 -- 5. 05/04/05
The entire biblical record of Sampson’s activities, except the two introductory verses chapter 13:24, 25, revolves around and is a result of his infatuation with unholy women. There are three women involved in Sampson story. First, there was a woman in Timnath, then the harlot in Gaza, and finally Delilah of the valley of Sorek. If you would take out of Scripture his involvements with these women and the incidents that resulted from these involvements, you would virtually take out of the Bible the story of Sampson. You would eliminate all of chapter 14, 15, and 16 of the book of judges.
These women were the ruin of Sampson. Sampson story is a record of a man ruining himself and his ministry for God by romancing with unholy women. Sampson had so much potential, but his involvement with these unholy women greatly limited his potential and caused the premature death of his work and life. Romance was his ruin because he romanced with the wrong people. But that is the case for multitudes in every age.
So tonight we want to begin our study and look first of all at THE PURSUIT OF THE ROMANCE. "And Sampson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines and told his parents to get her for me to wife for she pleaseth me well."
Nothing good can be said about this romantic pursuit. The whole pursuit spoke of evil. Sampson’s actions were bad from start to finish. Sampson’s choice for a wife was determined primarily on what he saw. The Philistine woman in Timnath was attractive to the eye, and that was all that mattered to Sampson.
The Devil will see to it that there are generally plenty of pretty faces around the ungodly crowd to tempt the godly. Outward beauty is a very strong attraction as Sampson’s failures and the failures of many others affirm. If the outward beauty encouraged good marriage then all the Hollywood and TV stars would have the best marriages in the world. But it so happens that these folks have one of the worst marriage records around.
In pursuing romance with the philistine girl of Timnath, Sampson demonstrated disobedience on two fronts. His romantic pursuit was disobedience to God’s law for Israelites and it was also disobedience to God’s law for a Nazarite. Sampson, of course, was both an Israelite and a Nazarite. God made it very plain to his people Israel that they were not to obtain wives from the idolatrous people of the land. For Sampson to seek a wife from the Philistines was obvious a violation of the law of God for the Israelites.
The prohibiting of marriage between God’s people in the world has ever been God’s will, not just for the Israelites but also for all his people in every age. All through the Bible, either by command or by principal or by example, we are warned again and again of the unequal yoke in marriage. Therefore, for a saved person to pursue romance with the unsaved is disobedience to God’s word.
In pursuing this romance, Sampson also disobeyed the laws of a Nazarite. A Nazarite was to separate themselves unto the Lord. Sampson was not separating from but mixing with the unclean and unholy. Sampson showed much disrespect for his parents wise counsel regarding his proposed marriage. When Sampson told his father and his mother about his romantic interest and said get her for me to wife, they protested but he paid no attention whatsoever to their wise protest.
We see not only the pursuit of the romance but also THE PROTEST ABOUT THE ROMANCE. "Then his father and his mother said unto him, is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all the people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? Then went Sampson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath."
Though the Bible’s position on marriages is the wisest position of all regarding marriage, it, however, is certainly not popular with the world as Sampson’s reaction indicates. The world tries hard to convince folk that the position of the Scripture on marriages is foolish, ridiculous, and practical and even unlovable. And the world has been quite successful in their effort to turn people against the biblical position on marriage. One on the quickest ways to lose popularity and respect is to take a biblical stand on marriage.
Evil always tries to deceive people by using nice names for sin. As an example, abortion is now championed under the name of pro-choice. That is such a nice sounding name that one almost begins to think of abortion as proper and right. But pro-choice is a no choice for the unborn child.
We see finally in our study tonight THE PLAN FOR THE ROMANCE. "But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel." The divine plan for this ill-advised marriage was to use it to begin delivering Israel from the Philistines.
This verse has been misunderstood by a number of people to mean that Sampson’s main reason for wanting to marry the philistine girl in Timnath was to create an opportunity for him to do damage to the Philistines.
I believe the "he" in verse 4 is talking about the Lord and not Sampson. Some believe the "he" in verse 4 is speaking of Sampson and this was a plan that Sampson cooked up that he could do damage to the Philistines. I do not think that was the case because it contradicted what God told Sampson’s mother before he was born. The Lord said he, Sampson, would be a Nazarite. Remember, one of the restrictions for a Nazarite was separation from the world.
Another thing, and that is that a Jew was to never marry outside their race. This was a violation to that command. Now God did use the situation in a way that Sampson did do some damage to the Philistines. But to say all of this was of God, would be getting the grace of God and the will of God mixed up. It would be like saying, it was God’s will that I divorced my wife, for since I have remarried, I have been saved. God had the power to save him in his first marriage. God in his grace used the disobedience of Sampson to bring about good. Same as he did on the cross of Calvary. It was evil but God used it for our salvation.
