How do you subdue somebody who is extremely strong? That's a question that cuts in two directions. So, on the one hand, we have arrayed against us some really mighty forces — things like suffering and death, sickness, the atrocities of war, and our own sin and selfishness that is the cause of all those things. How would we subdue those mighty things that would harm and hurt us?
Also, the Lord God is mighty. We are the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ is mighty. God is doing amazing things amongst us, so what is there that might weaken and subdue the mighty Church of the mighty Jesus?
One key principle, I'm told, of warfare planning is to learn to think like your enemy. So, if you were the devil and you wanted to weaken and subdue what God is doing in this church, what might you do?
In Judges chapter 16, we have two stories that are happening — one inside the other. So, the big-picture story is that we are in the sixth big cycle of the book of Judges. If you've been with us, you will know it. But for those of you who are joining us perhaps for the first time this morning, let me just fill you in.
The people of Israel have occupied their land, but they've turned away from worshipping the one true God. And so, to discipline them, God has handed them over to various foreign occupying forces, who have oppressed them and made their lives miserable, until they cry out to God for deliverance. And God raises up a character — called here a judge — who goes into battle, defeats the enemy, and brings them peace. And then the cycle repeats again.
We're in the sixth and final cycle. The enemy this time is the Philistines. The Philistines — we meet them first actually in the book of Judges — they're a major enemy throughout Israel's history. They were a maritime people. People think that they had first originated on the island of Crete, from which they sailed across the Aegean Sea, across the Mediterranean, and would land wherever they found land where they would pillage, raid, and steal.
It means if you know English history, you can place these people because they were the ancient equivalent of the Vikings. They were terrified, the people who heard of them. And people on whose lands they landed lived in instant fear of them. And a bit like the Vikings, occasionally they would choose to settle. If they found a portion of land that was particularly good, they'd create a settlement and choose to stay. And the Philistines had done that in what was the southwest corner of Israel's territory.
The book of Judges happens geographically in all kinds of different parts of Israel, and the characters are from all over. This is all happening — this story — in the southwest. So, if you like to read your book of Judges with regional accents to help you get a flavour of it, Samson was from the West Country. OK? So you have to read the whole of Judges chapter 16 a bit like that. OK, that's where we are.
And these Philistines — these kind of Viking raiders — are the enemy and were so for 40 years. And then God raises up the hero of the hour — a man called Samson. And Samson is God's agent to subdue the Philistines.
So that's one story going on — how will Samson subdue the Philistines?
How will the Philistines subdue Samson?
But there's another story happening inside — that's really just within this one chapter. And that's that Samson is the scourge of the Philistines. He's just a menace. He's causing havoc for them. So, the protagonist of Judges 16 really is the Philistines. It's asking the question: how can they deal with this menace that is Samson?
Conventional methods don't work against Samson's supernatural strength. So, take those first three verses: they deploy the very simple strategy — contain, capture, and kill. They learn that Samson has come to Gaza, so they seal off the gates at night. “When he gets up in the morning and wants to leave the city, we will capture him and we'll kill him.” What could possibly go wrong?
Well, what possibly goes wrong is: at midnight, he gets up, walks up to the gates, simply lifts the gates, the bars and the gateposts, puts them on his shoulders and carries them halfway across Israel to just outside Hebron, and goes, “I brought the gates of Gaza for you.” They hadn't seen that one coming.
And they're getting increasingly desperate. How can they deal with this strong tyrant, this nuisance that is Samson?
You can see how desperate they are with the amount of money they were willing to give Delilah. We will come back to that amount of money when we get to that bit of the story.
But there's the second story going on within the first one — how will the Philistines subdue Samson? And both those stories reach a resolution in chapter 16. So we will be learning from God here both how God can subdue and defeat and weaken the mighty enemies that would come against us, but also how the devil might weaken us — his Church — in the process.
So, how then do the Philistines subdue Samson? What they do is they exploit three classic human impulses that have been the downfall of many — but in very specific ways. And those three are: money, sex, and power.
Silver
So first, money. Samson himself isn't swayed by money, but Delilah is. So, let's look at that amount of money. Each of the Philistine rulers offers to give her 1,100 shekels of silver. Just for contrast, when Abimelek hired a band of ruffians to do his dirty work, he needed just 70 for that. So, this is a much bigger amount of money — about 60–65 kilos of silver — which, in today's value, is about £50,000.
But I think that even that underplays it, really. This was enough money to give Delilah a pension for life. She would never have to work, she would never have to marry, she wouldn't have to worry about her security — she could just live off the interest forever. That's what she is being offered. That shows how desperate they were.
But it's more than that. Because why would they pay that amount of money to Delilah? Only because that was the amount of money they needed to pay.
Imagine your phone breaks. You go on eBay to find yourself a second-hand phone, and you end up paying £200 for a phone. Why would you pay £200 for a phone? Well, only obviously if you think the phone you're buying is worth £200 and is within your budget — but also only because that's the amount of money you need to pay to win the auction. If you could get that same phone for 99p, you wouldn't be paying £200.
So, the fact that Delilah needs to basically be given a rich man's life savings in order to betray Samson shows, I think, what's going on. The classic portrait of Delilah is that she was utterly fickle and heartless, never cared for Samson, she was just in it for the money from day one. She'd have been bought off for a lot less if that was the case.
I think what this really shows with Delilah is that every person has their price. No matter how loyal and true to their principles, everyone reaches a level at which they will be bought. And that includes Delilah. The chance to be set up for life was just too good for her to pass.
Judas Iscariot had his price too. Now here's the thing that will really shock you when you think about it: for what amount of money was Samson betrayed? Five and a half thousand silver. For what price was the Lord Jesus betrayed? Thirty will do. Isn't that awful?
Now, I doubt any of us would outright betray Jesus for money — although I have seen it done. Where, in some closed persecuted countries, people have betrayed fellow Christians simply for a sum of money.
But we're thinking about what might weaken the Church. A long time ago, I worked for a company that kept giving me pay rises — like 20 or 30% at a time, several times a year. Why? Not because they wanted to reward me for the work I'd done, but because they thought that if they kept doing that, they would reach an amount of remuneration that transferred my total loyalty to them. And they were just trying to find what that amount was. Eventually I left.
But we need to tread carefully as we push the applications here. I know that you need a mortgage to fill your car up with petrol. I know that the cost of living is going up and up and up. I know that some of you need to take every shift you're offered. I know that some of you, if you're offered a higher-paid job, have to take it. Take it as read that I get that. And the decisions are complex, and that if you want to pray and talk with people, Lee and I and others in this church will be sympathetic and understanding to work through the complexities with you.
But could the Church be weakened? Could our own service of Christ be weakened if we take extra shifts on Sunday because they're paid time and a half? Or if you take a promotion that means it's harder to get to church events? Or if you move to a higher-paid job that requires you to relocate — but you don't first find out if there is a healthy church you would be able to join in the new place to which you would move?
Money
Sex
The second thing that weakened Samson is his desire for Delilah. They say that love is blind, and Samson is blinded by Delilah before his eyes are literally removed from him. He is still, at this point, being driven by his eyes and by his appetites.
Remember, if you were here last time we looked at chapter 14. Chapter 14, verse 1 — we learned that Samson saw a young Philistine woman. And then verse 2 of chapter 14: “I've seen her, now get her.” He saw, he wanted — and he hasn't moved on. In chapter 16, we get the same thing. Chapter 16, verse 1: “He went, he saw, he went in to spend the night with her.”
Now, Delilah's loyalty had been bought, it's true, but she was being driven here by an agenda other than love. It makes verse 15 deeply ironic. So here she is in verse 15: “Samson, how can you say, ‘I love you’, when you won't confide in me?” Well, that's a bit rich from the woman who's playing the love card as a way to try and get herself five and a half thousand pieces of silver.
But Samson can't see it.
He should at the very least have seen the déjà vu here. So, back in chapter 14, on his wedding feast—do you remember? There was his brother. A Philistine woman was pressing him to tell her a secret, and she persisted and persisted until eventually he does, and she reports it to the Philistines, who betray him with it.
At what point with Delilah should he have thought, this just feels familiar—I’ve been here before? The word for "nag", literally, in chapter 16—nagged to death—is the same word in chapter 14. So the writer’s even drawing those links for us, but Samson can’t see it. He’s blinded by love. His appetites are his weakness, and the Philistine rulers know it.
And the same thing could weaken us as Christians and weaken us as a church.
If you weren’t here last week, listen to this portion of last week’s sermon from Lee—it unpacked some of the applications very helpfully. I won’t repeat them all. And again, as we go there, let me just say: again, I know that life is complicated, okay? People are in all kinds of relationships when they become Christians. Most of us have made decisions in our past that were not the best decisions—but they’re in the past, and they’ve been made.
And this passage is not about—and God is not in the business of making us feel guilty and crushed—either because of our circumstances or because of our past choices. No.
I also get that Jesus calls us to love and care for our husbands, our wives, our families, our parents, our brothers and our sisters—and that fulfilling all the duties that the Lord Jesus calls us to—family, work, church—it’s hard to do them all, okay? I understand that. Again, take that as read. Life is complicated. Decisions are difficult.
But is there not a warning here, that if you are choosing a marriage partner, choose someone who worships the same God that you do? Is there not a warning here, that if you become so besotted with the love of your life, if you become so committed to pleasing your family, that your love for Jesus might just slowly be worn away until you’re loving your family not as the outflow of your love for the Lord Jesus, but as the highest goal that you have overall?
Money. Sex.
Strength
The third thing to weaken Samson, ironically, is his strength—because he trusts it, not God.
Samson just does not understand the source of his own strength. He doesn’t understand why he’s strong. His hair was a symbol of the fact that he was a Nazirite. Read Numbers chapter 6 later. The hair was a symbol. But Samson—it’s a symbol of being wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord God. And Samson had the hair cut—or perhaps we should say the hairstyle, because the one thing that hadn’t been done was a haircut. He had the hairstyle of the Nazirite, but not the heart of a Nazarite.
Otherwise, what was Delilah even doing there?
So he doesn’t understand why he’s strong. He also thought that he couldn’t lose it. See—what’s his strategy after his haircut? Verse 20: “He awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.’” Nothing’s changed.
And do you see the problem when you compare the end of verse 19 with the end of verse 20?
Verse 19: And his strength left him.
Verse 20: He did not know that the Lord had left him.
Because God had left him, his strength had left him, and Samson had not realised that without God, Samson is nothing.
When we had the recent storms a month or so ago, some areas of the country lost power for—in parts of the Northeast, actually—a couple of weeks. It’s pretty awful. A friend of mine in Sussex posting photos on Facebook of his ceiling light glowing yellow: “This is news—you know, got a light on,” because it had been three days. In Sussex, we were fortunate. Here in Scarborough, you said you could have the fanciest washing machine on the planet. You can connect to it from the internet. You could be on holiday in Thailand and set a spin cycle to go if you wanted to. But if there’s no electricity flowing through the washing machine, it is just an expensively useless lump of metal.
When there is no power of God in Samson, he may have muscles, he may have all kinds of other things—but he is useless. There is nothing to Samson without his God.
As our rescuer, the Lord Jesus knew this. Remember Jesus in the desert after his baptism? The devil comes and says, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Well, he could have done it, couldn’t he? But he didn’t do it, because he knew that as God’s—being our rescuer—the most important thing was that he followed his Father’s purposes.
How easily we start to think that God will use us because we are strong—not because God is with us.
Let me say that, as a Christian, when God starts to work through you and to use you, this is a point of immense danger for you—because there is the danger that you start to think it’s you.
And God is wonderfully at work in this church—praise God for it! Isn’t it wonderful? Growing, new people coming, people becoming Christians, people putting down roots in the Creek. It’s wonderful.
It’s very dangerous.
How easily we could start to think: we know how to put on services that work. Music that people enjoy. Talks that engage. We know how to run the kinds of events that people enjoy coming to, and all we have to do is keep doing that, and things will just keep growing.
Now, you can see whether you’re falling into this trap—individually, as a church—by looking at the way you pray. Or don’t.
Do you actually believe that unless God blesses what we do—what you do—it’s nothing?
And you can see it in the way you treat people. See what happens if things aren’t going so well?
If you think your success is down to your own strength, then when things aren’t going well, what do you do? Push harder. Manipulate. Twist. Try to use all your ingenuity and skill to make things work the way you think they should work.
If you think it’s all down to God, and things aren’t going so well, what do you do? Seek him. Love him. Seek his face. Seek to be faithful. And pray, and say, “Your will be done.”
A few of us, a couple of weeks ago, were at the annual conference of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), of which our church is a part. The main speaker at that conference did four or five talks for us, and the lesson he wanted to leave us with is that, as churches, we need to be doing Jesus’s work in Jesus’s ways.
And that’s what Samson had missed. And it subdued and weakened him.
So that’s how the Philistines subdue Samson.
How will Samson subdue the Philistines?
Secondly, how does Samson subdue the Philistines?
And the answer is a huge surprise, because God’s raised up this massively strong man—and that is not what God uses to subdue the Philistines. God uses his weakness.
In Samson’s own words, God waits until he’s become as weak as any other man—until he’s grinding corn in the prison like a donkey. In fact, more precisely—because we learned that with Gideon, didn’t we, when God reduced the army of 32,000 to 300—it’s more precise than God using his weakness.
God uses his death.
There he is in the temple of their god, Dagon. 3,000 Philistines on the roof, watching Samson make a fool of himself. All the Philistine rulers are there—so the whole of the House of Commons, all the House of Lords, all the dignitaries, everybody’s in the building—when Samson pushes those pillars and the whole thing comes down.
Now, the writer could easily have focused on the details: who was killed, how many, what happened. Not interested. Interested instead in the lesson: verse 30, “Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.”
Samson’s great victory came as he was being jeered at, laughed at, mocked—and died.
Does that remind you of anybody?
I shared with our Impact people the story—they hadn’t heard it. It’s quite a surprise, really. I thought everyone knew this story, so maybe you haven’t heard it either:
The Treehouse leader who asks the children, “What is grey, has a bushy tail, climbs trees, and eats nuts?” And there’s stunned silence. “Come on, kids, this is an easy one to get you started. What is grey, has a bushy tail, climbs trees, and eats nuts?” Little girl, frightened, hand up: “What do you think it is?” “I know the answer is supposed to be Jesus, but it sounds awfully like a squirrel to me.”
Okay—does this remind you of anybody? Yes, okay. This is how God rescues his people. This is how he defeats sin and death and sickness and war. This is how God subdues the mighty enemies that are against us—through the death of the rescuer and through the weakness of his church.
We’ve come to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 several times in our book walk through Judges—we just seem to keep going there.
1 Corinthians 1:27: “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
Or 2 Corinthians 12:10—that is why Paul says: “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
God delivered through the weakness of his church—even through the death of his church.
Tertullian, the second-century Christian writer, famously wrote that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You plant seeds in the ground—plants come up. Kill Christians, spill their blood—the church grows up.
In China, when they expelled all Protestant missionaries in the early 1950s and oppressed the indigenous church that remained—that was what brought about the fastest growth of any church anywhere in the world.
And in countries today where they seek to close the church down by beheading Christians, we are seeing some of the fastest growth anywhere on the planet.
Conclusion
Let me end by just taking you to Luke chapter 1. Two pregnant women, six months apart in their pregnancy: Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth to give birth to John the Baptist, Mary to give birth to the Lord Jesus. And as Mary goes to see her cousin, Elizabeth bursts into song and praises God: “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.”
Or I quite like the old language version that some of us were brought up on, saying every week in church: “He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek.”
If you think of yourself as mighty, if you live for your own appetites and for the security you create for yourself, then God will bring you down. But if you are humble and meek, if you peg your confidence on the Lord Jesus—who was and is meek and lowly, who saved through his own death—then God will lift you up.