Church

Samson and Parents • Samson and Parents • Judges 13-16 • No Date

Main Point
Parents are to teach and demonstrate to their children what it means to follow Christ.

Introduction
As your group time begins, use this section to introduce the topic of discussion.

Who is your favorite TV dad and why? On the other hand, who is one of the worst dads
you’ve seen portrayed on TV or in a movie? What do they teach you about how not to
parent?

A roof is intended to protect us from the elements. What are some of the “elements” the
world throws at our spouses and kids that we as spiritual leaders need to protect them from?

The world’s message or the Bible’s message—which would you rather your family base their lives on?
Parents and those with influence must speak truth when teaching their children about the standards of
holiness. With the bombardment of the world’s message, we need an unchanging objective to focus on. We
see this play out adversely in the story of Samson, one of Israel’s judges. His story shows us the importance
of spiritual leadership in the home and the reality of the struggles we face in our world.

Understanding
Unpack the biblical text to discover what the Scripture says or means about a particular topic.

HAVE VOLUNTEERs READ JUDGES 13:1-23.

In Judges 13:1-23, the prelude to the story of Samson, including the announcement of his upcoming birth, we
discover that Samson was born to pious Israelite parents. The wife of Samson’s father, Manoah, had been
barren. Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to her and announced that she would give birth to a son. The
Lord would give her son a special calling and empowerment.

What opinions do you have about Manoah and his wife from this passage? How would you
assess their spirituality? Who seems more devout? More level-headed? Explain.

Because they were devout, Manoah and his wife believed the promise given to them and sought for further
information on how they should raise the boy (see Judg. 13:8). They made an offering of thanks (see 13:19),

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and they showed reverential fear and then wisdom when they saw that the Messenger who came to them was
in fact the Angel of the Lord (see 13:20-23). But we also learn from Samson’s birth story that his father
lacked struggled to believe God in faith (v. 8,17), and feared what God was doing in his life (v. 22).

From what you know about those who are “set apart” from birth to serve the Lord, what are
its benefits? Its potential drawback? How do you go about “separating yourself” to be with
God but apart from the world (see John 17:13-19)?

Manoah may have struggled with the faith to trust God, but he knew to ask for wisdom in
raising Samson (v. 8). How did your parents show wisdom in raising you to serve God? Is this
something you do often enough in your parenting?

Have a volunteer read Judges 13:24-25.

From birth, Samson was set apart for the Lord’s service. Why is it important to keep that
which is set apart for the Lord holy? What might honor for the sacred look like today?

Samson was bound by the Nazirite vow even before his birth. Furthermore, the Spirit of God gave Samson
extraordinary strength (see 14:6). Although other judges won great victories, none had such physical prowess
as Samson did. On top of everything else, God answered Samson’s prayers (see 15:18-19). Whatever the
eventual failings of the man, Samson was unique among the judges for the great gifts God had given him.
The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. The blessing of God implies that Samson did well in life. He was
healthy, in good circumstances, and under God’s favor. Yet the divine blessing also implies that Samson was
marked for a special purpose. God didn’t bless Samson just because He wanted the boy to be happy and to
live an easy life. God wanted Samson to be ready and able to fulfill a calling.

HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ JUDGES 14:1-10.

Read Deuteronomy 7:1-3. What had God commanded the Israelites about taking a spouse?
Why do you think God commanded this? Why didn’t Samson follow the commands of God?

In Deuteronomy 7, the Lord commanded that the Israelites be careful with how they lived among the peoples
living in the promised land. In verse 3, God tells the Israelites not to marry any of them. God wanted His
people to be set apart and to take the land He had given them. Samson failed to remember and keep God’s
commands because He did not trust God. Instead, he gave in to the passions and lusts of the world.

In verses 3-4 and 8-10, we learn more about the relationship Samson had with his parents, as
well as their take on his pursuit of this wife. What stands out to you in this passage?

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 What do you make of the parents’ immediate response (v. 3) and eventual action (v. 10)
regarding Samson’s marriage declaration? What do you make of his deception toward them?
Manoah’s name means “compromiser.” How does he live up to his name in this passage?

From their interaction in this passage, we get the impression that Manoah struggled to spiritually lead his son.
This marriage arises out of and reflects Israel’s willingness to coexist peacefully with the Philistines. But
Yahweh is determined to shatter the status quo. Samson is his tool chosen to rile up the Philistines, and this
woman offers the opportunity to make it happen. Samson’s sense of calling may have been eclipsed in the
minds of the man and his parents, but with God it had not.

Do you ever wish your parents had told you no more often? How would that have saved you
mistakes and heartaches?

HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ JUDGES 16:1-19.

After Samson’s marriage fell apart, did he change the women he went after? How was
Samson missing what God had for him?

Samson failed to change his ways even after receiving the wages of his lust and sin. Samson was self-focused
and it cost him dearly. He did not see the blessing that God had for him. Instead of trusting God, he followed
his sinful passions. Samson, whose name comes from the Hebrew word of light, gave up his secret because a
beautiful woman Delilah, whose name means “darkness” manipulated him. God gave him great power and he
wasted it on lust. The lesson of Samson’s life is not that Samson is a model for Christians to follow. It is
rather that God is always faithful to the calling and gifts He gives us to serve Him. He responds faithfully to
our faith, however weak and confused we may be (2 Tim. 2:13).

Application
Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives.

Read Hebrews 3:12-13. Without the positive influence of others, what do we miss out on?

How can spiritual leadership and influence protect our hearts and point us toward God’s
best? How might spiritual leadership have shaped Samson’s life?

Read 1 Peter 1:13-16. How do we act as a roof for homes, protecting our families from the
world’s elements? What role does God’s Word have in helping us instruct, model, protect,
and equip them?

Pray

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Consider dividing up into small groups of men and women for this closing prayer time. Encourage group
members to share some of the hurdles they are facing in living holy lives and being spiritual leaders in their
households. Have them pray for these specific concerns in their small groups. Pray for the wisdom and
strength to do whatever it takes to instill the ruth of God’s Word in our homes.

Commentary
Judges 13-14

Judges 13. The opening of Samson’s story, “There was a certain man,” exactly matches that of Samuel,
inviting comparison of these two sons born to formerly barren women. The description of Manoah’s wife as
unable to conceive and having no children echoes the description of Sarah in Gen. 11:30, raising expectations
of a child who would be of great significance for God’s plans. Their personal tragedy mirrored the pitiable
state of the nation as a whole.

As in many other accounts in the book, this story is dominated by dialogue. The series of speeches is initiated
by the messenger of the Lord who addresses Manoah’s wife with a long speech announcing her imminent
conception and the special role her son will play. While the contacts between the messenger and the woman
are crucial to the story, significantly she never addresses the messenger. Instead she rushes home and reports
to her husband what she has heard. Verses 8-18 are dominated by an almost comical series of interchanges
between Manoah and the phantom (in his mind), as the former seeks to learn and thereby gain mastery over
the situation and the latter displays reluctance to share any new information with Manoah. Although Manoah
tries to control the dialogue, between him and his wife the latter has both the first and last word.

Indeed, as several have observed, while the namelessness of Manoah’s wife might suggest a marginalized
character, Manoah is the one the narrator deliberately minimizes by (1) introducing him with the seemingly
superfluous expression, “a certain man” (13:2); (2) referring to his tribe, Dan, as a “clan” rather than a
“tribe”; (3) leaving his identification by name to the end of the note in 13:2; (4) noting that the divine
messenger appears not once but twice to his wife, even after Manoah had summoned him; (5) characterizing
Manoah as a skeptical person throughout, unlike his wife, who takes matters at face value; (6) keeping the
focus on Manoah’s wife and emphasizing particularly how she, the woman, is to act, even though Manoah
seeks to control the actions and the conversations; (7) describing how, in the end, Manoah’s reaction to the
visitation is fear of death, while his wife reassures him with a reasoned explanation of what has transpired (v.
22); (8) noting that Manoah’s wife, not Manoah, names Samson (v. 24). Meanwhile, as Manoah is being
marginalized, the narrator skillfully enhances the image and importance of his wife.

The first phase of the Samson cycle is brought to a fitting conclusion with a birth announcement. Verse 24
consists of four simple statements: (1) The woman gave birth to a son. (2) The woman named her son

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Samson. (3) The boy grew. (4) Yahweh blessed him. The Lord’s design for Samson paralleled His design for
Israel. Israel was intended to be a holy people, because their Lord was holy (Lv 11:45). Their subsequent
history and lack of faithfulness to their calling was matched by Samson’s career as he disobeyed every single
one of the vows made on his behalf. From the womb on, Samson is a picture of Israel—chosen for holiness,
but defiled by sinful actions.

Judges 14:1-10. After Samson’s empowering by the Spirit in 13:25, his next action should have been calling
out the Lord’s people to battle the Philistines. Instead, he wanted to marry a Philistine woman whom he saw
in Timnah. This city was only six miles west of Zorah, Samson’s hometown (13:2), but it was in the hands of
the Philistines. To get there involved going down, both physically and spiritually.

Samson’s parents asked him in vain if there were no women among his relatives whom he could marry.
Intermarriage with the Philistines was a denial of Samson’s calling as a Nazirite, and his choice of a bride
contrasts strongly with the “ideal” wife of Othniel, the first judge, who married Caleb’s daughter. Samson
said of the woman he “saw” (v. 1), “I want her,” which is literally, “she is right in my eyes.” In this he
represented Israel, where each citizen “did whatever he wanted” (17:6; 21:25), literally, “what was right in
his eyes.” Yet the Lord would use even Samson’s sinful desires to accomplish His purposes. The text literally
says his father and his mother did not know that she was from the Lord. This Philistine woman would be the
means God would use to stir up Samson to begin a conflict with the Philistines, who were ruling Israel at this
time. Again, the absence of any mention of Israel crying out to the Lord is striking.

On another occasion, Samson was going down to Timnah with his parents when a young lion rushed at him.
This attack happened as he came to the vineyards of Timnah, an odd place for a Nazirite to be, since he was
required to avoid all contact with grape products. The ease with which Samson disposed of the lion raises
questions about why he had not yet begun to dispense with the enemies of the Lord—the Philistines.

In v. 7 the primary plot leading to Samson’s marriage resumes. The narrator notes for the first time that he
has talked to the woman he is about to marry. As important as the primary plot is the subplot, which is picked
up in v. 8. Some time later, presumably when his parents had completed the negotiations with the bride’s
parents, Samson returned to Timnah to get his wife. Apparently out of curiosity, just before he reached town
he turned aside to see what had become of the carcass of the lion he had killed on his earlier trip. What he
found caught him by surprise—a carcass hosting a community of bees producing honey. Empowered by the
Spirit of Yahweh, Samson had passed the physical test posed by the lion. For a person who operates by his
senses, these bees and their honey will test his spiritual mettle. Will he be true to his Nazirite calling and
leave the honey alone?

The answer is not long in coming—Samson scrapes some of the honey out of the cavity in the corpse with his
hands and nonchalantly eats it as he resumes his walk to Timnah. Like the Timnite woman in v. 1, the test
has become a trap. In fact, Samson’s response to this test is triply sinful. First, since contact with a corpse
renders any object unclean, as an ordinary Israelite Samson should have left the honey alone (cf. Lev

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11:24-25,39). Second, contact with a cadaver is particularly defiling for a Nazirite (Num 6:6). Third, Samson
callously implicates his parents in the defilement, offering them some of the honey without telling them that
he had scraped it out of the corpse of a lion. Samson’s perversity knows no bounds. His parents had
sanctified him, but now he desecrates them. Unaware of his defilement, Samson’s father continues the
journey down to Timnah, presumably to finalize the wedding arrangements and to settle the business side of
this “arranged” marriage.

Judges 16

The opening verse parallels 14:1. Samson went to a Philistine town and saw a woman. Like the history of
Israel, Samson’s life spirals downward. This time he didn’t want to marry her, he just wanted to sleep with
her. Gaza was the most distant city of the Philistines from Samson’s home, which symbolizes how far from
God Samson had gone. When the Philistines heard that he was there, they surrounded the city and waited for
him at the only exit, the city gate. Yet such was Samson’s enormous strength that the Philistines were unable
to trap him. His vast show of strength in uprooting the city gate and carrying it roughly 40 miles uphill to the
mountain overlooking Hebron heightens the irony of his subsequent weakness in the hands of a woman.

Women were Samson’s problem all along, yet his encounter with Delilah is the only case where love is
mentioned. Once again, his heart was set on a Philistine woman. Delilah’s name sounds like the Hebrew
word for “night,” in keeping with the darkness that was about to descend on Samson. The Philistine leaders,
the rulers of the five city-states that made up that region (1 Sam 6:17-18), sought to persuade Delilah to
determine the secret of Samson’s strength by promising her an enormous sum of money—1,100 pieces of
silver from each leader. In comparison, the price of an ordinary slave was 30 pieces of silver (Ex 21:32).

Bowstrings were made from the sinews of animals, so fresh bowstrings would come directly from an
animal’s corpse. As with the earlier incidents with honey from a lion and the jawbone of the donkey, Samson
displayed a disdain for his Nazirite vow of separation from corpses. Since seven was seen as the number of
completeness in the ancient Near East, the idea of being weakened by seven bowstrings wrongly suggested
that the source of Samson’s strength lay in magic rather than in the Lord.

This time Samson told Delilah to use new ropes to bind him. This was the same technique that the Israelites
used to bind Samson in 15:13, so it is no surprise that the attempt was unsuccessful. The third time Delilah
sought the secret of his strength, he told her to weave seven braids of his hair into a fabric. This attempt,
while also unsuccessful, was more ominous than the previous ones. Not only did Samson point to the
connection between his hair and his strength, but the image of a woman standing over a sleeping man with a
pin in her hands is reminiscent of Jael approaching the sleeping form of Sisera.

Finally Samson told Delilah the whole truth (lit “everything of his heart”), that his strength came from his
Nazirite vow, symbolized by his uncut hair. In fact, this was the only part of his Nazirite vow that he had not

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yet broken, and this revelation shows how lightly he took it. Delilah realized that this time she had the secret,
so rather than just saying, “The Philistines are here!” (vv. 9,12,14), she actually summoned the Philistine
leaders, and they shaved Samson’s head. With the final element of his Nazirite vow gone, his power was lost.

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