LIFE LESSONS
SAMSON
DR. JIM DIXON
JUDGES 16: 15-21
JUNE 8, 2003
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of giants. They were a race of gods. One of the greatest of the Titans was the man named Atlas. If you were today to travel to Northwestern Africa, you would see a range of mountains there 1500 miles long named the Atlas Mountains, named after him. Every time you open a book of maps, every time you open at atlas, you should think of him. Of course, Atlas is sometimes portrayed as “holding up the world,” but in Greek mythology it was Atlas who “held up the sky.”
The Greeks were fascinated by physical power and by physical strength. They told their children stories about Atlas. They told their children stories about Hercules, the Roman form of the Greek name Heracles. Of course, it was Hercules who defeated the Hydra, the multi-headed venomous serpent. It was Hercules who conquered the Amazons, the race of warrior women. He defeated Hippolyta, their queen, by his greater strength. It was Hercules who slew the Nemean lion when he thrust his massive arm down the lion’s throat. Then with his bare hands, he tore the skin from the lion and wore that skin as his own coat. Children throughout the Greek and the Roman world loved to hear these stories of superhuman strength.
Our culture today is not much different. The American culture is very similar and our history as a nation demonstrates this. Individuals of strength have been very popular in our culture from Charles Atlas to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of course, children grow up looking at and reading comic books. They read about Superman, Batman, and the Incredible Hulk. Of course, from time-to-time some of these comic books come to life in the Hollywood movies.
This morning we come to the person of Samson. Samson is another person. His story is another story that children love, but we need to be careful because the story of Samson does not come from mythology. The story of Samson is rooted in history, and the story is told in the Bible in the Book of Judges in chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16. Samson was one of the Judges of Israel, one of those men and women raised up by God to deliver the people of God from oppression.
When Samson was born, his birth was announced by the Angel of the Lord. “Upon his birth the Holy Spirit descended in some fashion upon him,” the Bible tells us. It was the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, who was the very source of Samson’s power. Samson was to use that power to deliver God’s people from oppression. We’re told how he slew one thousand Philistines single-handedly and in a single day. By the power of God. he “pounded them to the earth with the jawbone of an ass.” That’s what the Bible tells us. We’re told that when he was in the city of Gaza and the Philistines thought they had him trapped, by God’s power he escaped their snare and he ripped the gates of the city of Gaza from their foundation, lifting them into the air, carrying them to a distant mountain near Hebron and cast them to the ground.
At the consummation of his life, we’re told how Samson pushed down, shattered, the pillars of the Temple of Dagon, taking his own life and the lives of a thousand Philistines and their lords with him. An amazing story and rarely understood. In Sunday school classrooms, the little boys and girls hear the story of Samson. They hear how his hair was cut, how he lost his strength, how it all happened through the treachery of a woman named Delilah. Little boys don’t know what to think. Don’t get a haircut? Stay away from girls? They’re not sure what the message is. We really only understand the message of Samson, the message that God has for us, when we understand that Samson was a Nazarite. He was a Nazarite from his mother’s womb. The word Nazarite comes from the Hebrew word “nazir.” This word has two meanings, and from these two meanings come our two life lessons today.
First of all, the word Nazir means “consecrated, consecrated to God.” A Nazarite had taken a vow of consecration to God. The word Nazir means “set apart for God,” “separated to God,” “set apart for God’s use,” “a divine vessel. That’s what it meant to be Nazir. Consecrated to God, a vessel for God’s use. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek word “hagios” is oftentimes used to render this Hebrew word Nazir. The Greek word hagios is the word for “holy” because holy can mean “set apart for God’s use.” Something is holy if it’s a vessel for the Lord.
Every two months we celebrate communion here at Cherry Hills Community Church. We partake of the bread and we partake of the cup and we remember the cup that Christ held that night in the Upper Room with the disciples when He said, “This is the New Covenant in My blood, shed for the remission of sins.” Have you ever wondered what happened to that cup, that cup that Christ held in His hands? There’s a strong tradition that comes out of the First century that the cup was given to Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Ruling Counsel of the Jews. He was very, very rich and the Bible tells us it was Joseph of Arimathea who provided the grave, the tomb, for the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to early church tradition, Joseph of Arimathea became a devout Christian, a follower of Christ and a missionary.
Shortly before the year 70 A.O. when Titus and his Roman legions swept over the city of Jerusalem, we’re told that Joseph of Arimathea traveled as a missionary to England and he established a church in the region of Glastonbury. You can go to Glastonbury Cathedral today as Barb and I have and you can read the literature there. All the literature claims that the church began in the First century in Glastonbury and that it was founded by Joseph of Arimathea. Most history books record that tradition. It is also tradition that when Joseph of Arimathea went there to England, he took the Cup of Christ with him and this became the source of all of the legends regarding the Holy Grail and King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable. Most historians today believe there really was a King Arthur but they very much doubt the legend of the Holy Grail.
According to that legend, around the year 500, on Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit descended upon King Arthur and his 150 knights and the Holy Spirit called them, charged them with the task of finding the Cup of Christ, the Holy Grail. Only three knights were deemed worthy of the quest, Sir Galahad, Sir Perceval and Sir Boars. Those three began the long quest that ultimately took them to the mysterious castle of the Fisher King, sometimes called Corbenic, and there they found the Cup of Christ. When they found the Cup of Christ, they celebrated Holy Communion with that cup as Jesus had with that cup 500 years earlier in the Upper Room with His disciples.
The experience, according to the legend, was so rapturous for Sir Galahad that he was translated into heaven. Sir Perceval was charged with staying there, guarding the cup all the rest of his life as long as he drew breath. Sir Boars returned to tell the tale. That’s the legend of the Holy Grail. When Sir Perceval died, it was said that the Cup, the Holy Grail, was translated into heaven.
It’s only a legend, but have you ever wondered why that cup, why the Cup of Christ, is called “holy?” Why is it called holy? Why is it the Holy Cup, the Holy Grail? The answer is because it was “set apart,” set apart as a vessel for God’s use, set apart for the use of Christ. The truth is that within the Hebrew faith, all the vessels in the temple and all the vessels in the tabernacle were called holy because they were set apart for God, consecrated for God’s use, vessels to be used by God.
It’s a wonderful thing when any object becomes consecrated to God but when a human being becomes consecrated to God, incredible things happen. If you would be consecrated to God, incredible things will begin to happen. If you would take a vow, Nazir… If in this sense you would be a Nazarite, if you would be consecrated to God as a vessel for His use, there’s no telling what God might choose to do through in the remainder of your days. It is very important that we understand this.
In the year 1847 at a cathedral in Europe, a custodian was making his rounds. He was the head custodian of this great cathedral. He was making his rounds, making sure everything was in order. It was late on a Saturday afternoon, and nobody was in the cathedral until one man came in, a man who was obviously tired, a man who had obviously traveled a long way and his clothes were worn and threadbare. The man, this stranger, said to the custodian, “I’ve traveled a great distance to see the organ for which this cathedral is famous. The custodian considered the cathedral organ his sacred trust. He was hesitant even to let the stranger see it, but he took the stranger to see the organ.
The stranger said, “Would you lift the console so I could see the keyboard? The custodian was hesitant again but he did it. The stranger said, “Could I sit on the organ bench?” The custodian didn’t like that but he said, “Okay.” The stranger sat on the organ bench in this great cathedral and the stranger said, “Would you mind if I played the organ just for a few minutes? The custodian said, “It is forbidden. It is not allowed. Only the cathedral organist can play the cathedral organ, but the stranger begged him. He recited the journey that he had made once again, all the hardships he had passed through in order to arrive here. He said, “Would you just let me play the organ for five minutes?” The custodian said, “Okay. You can play the organ for five minutes and then you have to go.”
This stranger began to play the organ and the beautiful music just filled the cathedral. The music was rapturous. It was like nothing the custodian had ever heard. It was so beautiful. Five minutes went by like five seconds. The custodian said to the stranger, “Who ARE you?” He said, “I’ve never in my life heard music like that.” The stranger said, “My name is Mendelssohn. My name is Felix Mendelssohn.” Of course, Felix Mendelssohn was perhaps the greatest pianist and organist and composer of that era and one of the greatest of all-time. It was Felix Mendelssohn who revived the popularity of Bach and gave us The Wedding March. The custodian in the cathedral that day, the custodian thought to himself, “I can’t believe I almost kept the master from playing his music in my cathedral.”
The Bible tells us that each and every one of us who believe in Jesus Christ has become a cathedral. If you are a Christian, you have become a cathedral. The moment you asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and to be your Savior, the Bible says you were regenerated by the power of God and “you became a temple…” 1 Corinthians, chapter 6… “You became a temple of God and the indwelling presence of God’s Spirit came into you and tabernacled within you.” You became a sanctuary, a temple. God longs to play His music in you. He longs to play his music in me. All we must do is consecrate ourselves to Him, offer ourselves as a vessel and say, “Play your music in me.” I hope you understand, God played His music in Samson. Do you want to know what all those acts of power were about? They were about God delivering His people from oppression. It was God’s music in the sanctuary of Samson’s life as he was set apart for God, consecrated to God, a vessel for God’s use and God’s music flowed. God wants to play His music in your life, and only God knows what that might bring.
I know that most of you have heard of Joni Eareckson Tada. She, almost 36 years ago, on a hot summer day, July 1967, broke her neck when she dove into the shallow waters of the Chesapeake. She became a quadriplegic but Joni Eareckson Tada consecrated her life to Christ. She consecrated her body to Christ such as it was, paralyzed from the neck down. She consecrated her whole body to Christ and said, “Jesus, play your music in me. Here am I, a vessel for you.” The 36 years since the accident have proven to be amazing, the music God has played in and through her. If you’ve heard her sing and the way God has anointed her voice, and if you’ve seen her paintings as she holds the paintbrush in her mouth and, by the power of God, makes beautiful art, it’s all God’s music in her. Through her life, consecrated to God, thousands and thousands of people have given their hearts to Jesus and thousands more have committed themselves to a deeper walk with Christ because the music of God was at work in her sanctuary. That’s what God wants to do in me, and that’s what God wants to do in you. That’s what God did in Samson. If we would be Nazir, a Nazarite, set apart for God’s use, separated to God.
There’s a second meaning to the word Nazir and a second life lesson this morning. The second meaning is this. The word Nazir also means, “separated from the world.” “Separated to God, consecrated, separated from the fallen world, separated from sin, righteous.” This also is the meaning of Nazir. We look at the vow that Samson took. It was the Nazarite vow described in Numbers, chapter 6. You look at Numbers, chapter 6, and you see that the Nazarite vow required three things. One, that you do not eat or drink from the fruit of the vine, whether it be fermented or whether it be unfermented. You can’t even drink grape juice. “Do not partake of the fruit of the vine.” That was the first part of the Nazarite vow.
The second part, “You do not cut your hair, not now, not for the length of your vow, not for the length of your consecration.” If you’re a Nazarite all of your life, you do not cut your hair ever! Then, also, you do not touch a dead body, not as long as you live, because death was associated with the power of sin and you were to be utterly separated from sin.
Nazarites were also required to conform to the Levitical dietary laws and to eat nothing unclean. The weird thing is, the strange thing is, when you come to the Book of Judges and you come to chapter 13, you see that the Nazarite vow was kind of split up between Samson and his mother. His mother took certain aspects of the vow on herself. She did not eat of the fruit of the vine. She did not drink of the fruit of the vine. She conformed to the dietary laws and ate nothing unclean.
It appears that the only form of the Nazarite vow that Samson bound himself to was the promise never to cut his hair. Bible scholars and theologians tell us that this is not unusual. The Nazarite vow took many forms. But, you see, the Nazarite vow—whatever its form—was a reminder. It was simply meant to be a reminder that you were called to be separated from a falling world, not to live like other people. The cutting of the hair was not in and of itself important. It’s what it represented, the reminder of a life consecrated to God and separated from a fallen world. To cut his hair was to renege on the vow.
Now, the truth is, Samson never lived a life that was very righteous, not very separated from the fallen world. He was really holy in the sense of being a vessel for God’s use in the sense of being separated to God, but not holy in the sense of being separated from a fallen world. I hope you understand if you’re a Christian, however, you are called to the full meaning of Nazir. I am called to the full meaning of Nazir. I am to be separated to God and consecrated to Him, a vessel for His use, and I’m also called to be separated from a fallen world and seek separation from sin. It’s a great struggle for us as Christians. It’s always been a great struggle.
In the year 1690, the Amish people, under the leadership of Jacob Aman, separated from the Mennonites in Switzerland. That was in the year 1690. In the year 1727, the Amish people journeyed here to what would become the United States of America. Today, Amish communities are found in 23 states and also in Ontario, Canada. The Amish have taken a vow of separation from the fallen world. They call that vow the “Ordnung.” It is a vow never to use electricity, not even to use a telephone. It is a vow never to use an automobile, to travel and to journey only in horse-drawn carriages and buggies. It is a vow to adopt and to live in an agrarian agricultural life of simplicity, to work the land. It is a vow never to participate in military service or in political service. The vow of the Amish, the Ordnung.
It’s all, in a sense, meant to just be a reminder to the Amish people that they are to separate themselves from this sinful fallen world. They have taken that separation to what most would view as an extreme. Of course, they reflect traditions in Christian history, the traditions of the Monastics who left society and dwelled in monasteries in communities of their own. They took vows. They took their own Ordnung. They took vows of chastity and celibacy and poverty, sometimes vows of silence. They were to be separated from the world.
Today, it seems somewhat strange to most of you, to most of us, and yet we need to take separation seriously. There is a group of Christians in the world today who are called fundamentalists. They seek to separate themselves from this fallen world and certainly take it seriously. My wife Barb was reared in a fundamentalist church, a church called Hope Union. It was in California. They really sought to pretty much consume your entire life with their activities. She was in church all day on Sunday and into the night with youth group and evening services and Christian endeavor. She was even at church in the afternoon on Sunday, singing in the choir. She was expected to come during the week on weeknights that she might build her social life around the church and be physically separated from the fallen world. Of course, she was given a long list of “don’t.” There was not a list of “dos and don’ts.” It was just a list of “don’ts.”
A lot of those don’ts had to do with sexual behavior. Some of the don’ts had to do with other things. Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Don’t dance. Don’t go to movies. Don’t play cards. These were in that fundamentalistic world viewed as proper separation from the world. Of course, there are problems with fundamentalism. There are problems with fundamentalism because it really kind of calls people to a physical separation from the world and that’s not biblical. God calls us incarnationally into the culture and into the world. As Jesus left His heavenly throne of glory, took our flesh upon Himself and entered our world, so we are to enter the world of other people. We are to be IN the world but not OF the world.
Fundamentalism tends to view our separation from the world as a kind of list of taboos and that’s unfortunate. Of course, not all of these taboos are even rooted in the Bible. The reality is that the primary mark of our separation from the world is not to be the negative things we avoid but the positive things we do as Christians. “They will know you are Christians by your love.” Jesus said, “A new commandment that I give unto you, that you love one another.” It’s really love that is to supremely distinguish us from the fallen world. We’re to be more loving. We’re to be more kind. We’re to be more compassionate as Christ works His music through our sanctuary. Certainly, there are things we are to avoid, but rather than a list of taboos, we just need to be biblical and grow in strength.
This has been kind of a neat week for Barb and I because our daughter Heather and her husband Chris have been visiting us this week. Of course, they brought their daughter, our granddaughter Abigail. Chris and Heather have been down in Colorado Springs for three days as Chris has been interviewing at a hospital there. We’ve had the pleasure of having Abigail at our house. We’ve really not had a baby staying at our house and we really haven’t taken care of a baby for many, many years. We had forgotten what it was like to have a baby in your house and how you need to bulletproof the house.
We began to just change everything as little Abigail, 10-1/2 months old, just crawled all around the house. Pretty soon we thought, “Oh, we better close the door to the basement.” Then we thought, “Oh, we need to block the stairs off because she can climb the stairs but then she might fall back down, so we’ve got to block that off.” Boy, anything that’s sharp that she might reach and pull down, we need to get that out of the way. Even furniture with sharp edges. We need to remove the furniture. We just began to change everything. We tried to create an environment that would be safe for little Abigail.
It occurred to me that that’s kind of what fundamentalism seeks to do. It seeks to create a safe environment for Christians, so we close doors and we take things away, but we don’t realize that we’re just treating people like babies. You can’t make this world safe. It’s a dangerous place and it is fallen. Into it, Christ has called us. So, what we must do is grow in our strength and in our commitment to the Lord. What we must do is learn maturity. What we must do is root ourselves in the scriptures that we might have strength that we might be strong. We can’t always remove every temptation, but we can be strong. This is the call of Christ if we are to live in this fallen world.
I would like to kind of rap it up with a story, a true story. There have been many great chaplains of the United States Senate. The latest chaplain was Lloyd Ogilvie who had pastored the Hollywood Presbyterian Church. He’s just recently resigned and stepped down. Certainly, he served as chaplain well. Prior to Lloyd Ogilvie was Dick Halverson who was chaplain of the United States Senate and also a Presbyterian pastor and also from Hollywood Presbyterian Church and one of my favorite people. Dick Halverson was a great man.
Another Senate chaplain who I think is renowned was Peter Marshall. Peter Marshall was born in Scotland. He was 25 years old when he came here to the United States. He went to Columbia Theological Seminary. He became a pastor, and he pastured, had the privilege of pasturing, The New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. In 1947, Peter Marshall became the chaplain of the United States Senate. Tragically, just two years later in 1949 while he was still very young, he died of a sudden heart. His widow told his story in a book she wrote called, “A Man Called Peter.” That book was made into a movie seen by many. There’s a story that Peter Marshall often told, and it was about a woman who was in his church at The New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. This woman and her husband had a little boy and the little boy was dying of a very serious form of cancer. The time was drawing near when her little boy would die. She knew it and the little boy sensed it. There came a day when the little boy came up to his mother and he asked the question that she knew he would eventually ask. He said, “Mom, what happens when I die?”
She said, “Well, son, you believe in Jesus and when you die, Jesus is going to take you to heaven.” He said, “Mom, what will that be like? It kind of scares me.” She thought to herself and she prayed inwardly, “Lord, help me explain this to my little boy.” It’s like the Lord gave her this analogy. She said, “Son, you know how over the last few years in the evening after dinner, you would go out and you would play with your friends in the front yard, particularly when you were stronger and you had more strength. You would go out there and you would play with your friends in the front yard and you would have so much fun, and then you would come into the house and you would be so tired. You would just fall asleep in my lap.” “Do you remember that?” “You know how every morning you would wake up and you’d find yourself in your own bed because someone who loved you very much had taken you there to your own bed in your own room.” She said, “That’s what it’s going to be like for you. You’re just going to fall asleep and then you’re going to wake up in your own bed because someone who loves you very much will have taken you there.”
I love the story because it’s a reminder. It’s a reminder that we’re not home, not in this world. This is not our room. This is not our house. The Bible says, “We are aliens and exiles on the earth, and our home is in heaven. Christ want to remind us of that today so that we’ll live in the right way on this earth and in this world, understanding that we are to be separated to God, consecrated to Him, vessels for His use, that he might play His music in our sanctuary. Understanding that we are called to be separated from the fallen world, not removed from it, but separated from the fallen world and seeking lives of righteousness pleasing to God.
The Bible says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance but as He who has called you is Holy, be Holy yourselves in all your conduct for it is written, ‘You shall be Holy for I am Holy.’” Let’s close with a word of prayer.