Judges

Judges 16: The LORD alone gives strength

Begin in prayer

Before we consider how the LORD alone gives saving strength, let us come to Him together. Ask Him to keep us from presuming on His help and to help us see Christ, who laid down His life for His people.

You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your help.

Hosea 13:9

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Please show us our need for Your help and the mercy found in Jesus. Keep us from presuming on Your gifts. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Samson visits a prostitute in Gaza, escapes an ambush by carrying away the city gates, and later loves Delilah. The Philistine rulers offer her silver to discover his strength, and after three failed attempts he tells her about his Nazirite calling. His hair is shaved, the LORD departs, and the Philistines capture him, put out his eyes and imprison him. As his hair grows again, they celebrate before Dagon and bring him out to entertain them. Samson asks the LORD for strength and vengeance for his eyes, then brings down the house on himself and those inside. He kills more at his death than during his life, and his family buries him after twenty years as judge.

As you read Judges 16, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD alone gives saving strength, and His servant cannot presume on His help.

Gaza was one of the great Philistine cities, and Samson goes there to a prostitute, though he was set apart to God. When the men of Gaza wait to kill him, he carries off the city gate, posts and bar, to the mountain facing Hebron. Then he loves Delilah, and each Philistine ruler offers her eleven hundred pieces of silver to learn the secret of his strength. Three times she calls the Philistines on him, yet he stays, and at last he tells her that he is a Nazirite. His strength was never in his hair, for when his head is shaved, “Yahweh had departed from him” (verse 20). The Philistines put out his eyes and make him grind at the mill in prison, the work of slaves. Then they offer a great sacrifice to Dagon and say, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.” So the contest is between the LORD and Dagon, and the LORD answers when the blind captive asks Him to remember him. Samson asks for vengeance for his eyes, and God gives the strength that brings down the house on Samson and the Philistines.

How does Judges 16 show us that the LORD alone gives saving strength, and His servant cannot presume on His help?

Samson's strength cannot keep him safe when he chooses sin.

Samson leaves a prostitute's house and carries away Gaza's gates when men plan to kill him. He later stays with Delilah while she repeatedly tries the bindings he describes (verses 1 to 14). Each escape makes him bolder, and he keeps returning to the woman who is selling him.

The LORD departs and Samson loses his strength.

Samson tells Delilah that he has been a Nazirite to God from the womb. She has his hair shaved, and he awakens expecting to free himself again (verses 17 to 20). He does not know the LORD has departed, and the Philistines capture and blind him.

The LORD hears Samson's final plea for strength.

The Philistines praise Dagon and bring Samson out to entertain them. He asks the LORD to remember him and strengthen him for vengeance for his eyes (verse 28). He pulls down the pillars, dying with the rulers and people gathered in the house.

Memorise

He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed from him.

Judges 16:20

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what sin do I keep going back to, and will I bring it to Jesus?

Samson expects another escape, “But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed from him.” The captive who once carried city gates must finally ask God for strength. His earlier victories give him no right to treat God's help as something he controls.

Jesus Christ obeyed His Father throughout His life. He willingly laid down His life for His people and had authority to take it again (John 10 verses 17 and 18). On the cross He carried their sins and endured the punishment due to them. His completed sacrifice is enough to save them, and He rose from death in victory.

Turn from your sin and trust the risen Jesus. Samson had wasted his gifts, yet he could still call on the LORD, and you may still call on Jesus today. Christ gives forgiveness to all who come to Him in faith. Ask Him for mercy and learn to depend on the living Savior.

Parent's note

Tell your children that a Christian home cannot save them. Explain Samson's sexual sin, the loss of his eyes and his death in your own words. His prayer names vengeance for his eyes, and the account credits the LORD with his strength. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for the mercy found in Christ and our daily need for His help, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

This saying is trustworthy: “For if we died with him, we will also live with him.

2 Timothy 2:11

Lord, please forgive our sin and our pride in Your gifts. Bring us to trust Jesus and seek our strength from You. Teach us to turn from sin and remember that every good thing comes from Your hand. Amen.