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Home , Manoah, Rock of Etam, Samson, Zorah

’S VIEW FROM THE ROCK (Judges 15:8-13)

Samson was the son and his wife thought they would never have. But in the goodness and in the greater plan of the Lord, He promised her a son who would from birth be brought up in the devout ways of the Nazarite vow. From the outset, 13:24 the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25 And the spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of between and . … Samson ‘had it all going’ for him!

What went wrong though? His Nazarite vow did not allow him to drink wine, and yet he made his way through the vineyards and on to ‘taste’ of the ‘forbidden fruit’ of the young Philistine girl whose people had taken over one of the areas belonging to Samson’s .

Why can’t people see when the road they are taking is in such blatant disobedience to the Lord?! The Lord gave him good parents who made it clear to him he should not have any interests in taking a Philistine for a wife. The Lord also sent the young to stop him in his tracks … but still Samson was intent on following along a road that promised nothing but heartache at the end of it.

What makes people become so consumed with being disobedient to God? I’m not talking about the ‘person outside’ the Church who is not aware of these things … but I’m meaning those who know better, but choose to do the opposite. There are many men in pulpits who know the truth, and yet for the sake of various reasons, - whether it is for popularity or for an easier life, - they set aside the foundations of the faith they were brought up with, and they have accepted doctrines and practices that are not in keeping with the Gospel of . … Samson is a lesson to us all to take great care in our Christian walk.

First of all, the Lord sent the lion to him; secondly, the Lord took away that which the foolish young man thought was going to be in the centre of the rest of his life, - this Philistine wife. As long as the world (the Philistine girl) was on the scene, the Lord would only come, - at best, - second in Samson’s life … and the Lord was not prepared to put up with that! Sadly, when we are disobedient to Him it can often have repercussions, - even serious repercussions, - on others. Basically, you cannot have blessing and peace where the Lord does not lead you.

2 After the whole scene with the Philistine girl and her family in Timnath, - the locals had murdered them, - Samson gets his revenge. Some commentators commend him for the economic disaster he brought upon these , - the fact that their fields burned and brought financial hardship … but personally, I cannot see how I can commend him. Yes, he is the judge of Israel and responsible for looking after his people … but it was not his commitment to the cause of Israel that brought him to Timnath … And it was nothing to do with God that he wanted to ‘get’ these Philistines, - it was because he wanted vengeance … and Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord (Rom. 12:19). But, he was being driven by vengeance and the desire to retaliate. Paul wisely told the Romans, 12:19, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. The desire for vengeance eats away at you, and it can lead you to become ‘dried up’ and friendless! … And that is the direction Samson was heading!

After having smote the Philistines with a great slaughter (Judges 15:8), notice the way the describes Samson’s next path along the way … v.8 he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. We shall give this the heading …

THE IMPREGNABLE ROCK ∗ What a strange way to describe the direction he took … he went down to go up! … he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. ∗ Surely, he went up and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam? But no, it is the verb yarad, and it definitely means to go down, descend, decline, sink down … it most definitely does not mean ‘to go up’! ∗ It is exactly the same Hebrew word used in 14:1,5,7,10,19. … So, how do you go ‘down’ while at the same time go ‘up’? ∗ Where should Samson have gone after he saw his with the Philistine girl was over? … He ought to have returned to the place he never should have left! He ought to have gone up out of Timnath. ∗ He ought to have returned home and taken greater responsibility in the task the Lord had set upon him since birth. He should have recommenced his duties as the judge of Israel, God’s people. ∗ But where do we actually find him? We find him away out on his own ‘dwelling’, - he had no notion of moving from there … maybe he gave thought to becoming some sort of a hermit, he was so fed-up with people … 3 ∗ But the problem stemmed from this, … he was involved with all the wrong type of people, - the type of people the faith of his fathers’ told him not to become involved with … to stay away from! ∗ He was so ‘scundered’ he ‘went down’ (for so he did, spiritually), even though, - as far as the world would count it, - he went up. ∗ Now, I know there is the temptation to look at this , and spiritualise it with reference to the Lord , e.g. Ps. 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock … but I think we would be going off at a tangent if we did that … because don’t forget the direction the Holy Spirit tells us very specifically Samson took to get to the top of the rock was … he went down! ∗ Just because it looks right, it does not mean it is right! There is work for the Lord to be done, Samson, and you’ll never get it done if you hide away in a cave in some remote part of the country! The Lord has never called you and equipped you with the gift of such mighty strength for you to sit and wallow in some cave! (… i.e. The rock of isolation!) ∗ The so-called impregnable rocks have many caves in which the people of God can hide away … and they can hide away from doing what the Lord has set before them to do! ∗ Here is my point … what was happening when Samson was sulking and hiding away on the impregnable rock? … v.9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in . …

THE INVADING ENEMY ∗ You see, he was safe. The Philistines were not bothering him. He was comfortable enough … but his people, - the people for whom God held him responsible, - they had been invaded by the enemy who had moved even further into the land of the Lord’s people, to the ! ∗ All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing! … And Samson was doing nothing! ∗ And not only was Samson doing nothing, but three thousand men of Judah weren’t doing much that was right either … because they were out looking for him. ∗ When you look at these three thousand, there must not have been much that was manly about these men! You would think they could have mustered an army who were familiar with the local countryside and could have kept the enemy out … but they were ‘gutless’ and leaderless. ∗ Instead, they said to Samson, v.11 Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? 4 ∗ It was Samson’s fault, as far as they were concerned. … But it was not all Samson’s fault, because 13:1 the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. ∗ They also had to share the blame … but they did not see it that way, - it was clearly Samson’s fault! He was the reason for their predicament. ∗ Christians often are blamed, and whether or not there might be some warrant, we ought not to allow ourselves to be placed in the situation where the world’s accusations bear even a limited resonance of truth. ∗ Yes, it was all their faults, - both Samson’s and the three thousand men, - but perhaps Samson had even more to answer for because he was the chosen and equipped of the Lord. Lk. 12:48 unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. ∗ We do have a case to answer for, in these days of apostasy and secularism. We have allowed the gospel to be compromised so that it has lost its identity of being the unique and privileged Word of God. ∗ We have replaced its preaching with the shrines of entertainment being brought into the pulpits, along with sinner-friendly gospels … and yes, it is the fault of generations, - but most of all this present generation, - that the Church today has so lost its way. ∗ The Lord Jesus said, Lk. 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, … but no, we want to be friends of the world. ∗ Paul described it as it ought to be, I Tim. 4:10 we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God … and he told Timothy to make sure … These things command and teach (v.11). ∗ How is it looking so far? Samson has ‘gone down’ to ‘go up’ to one of the caves on the impregnable rock called Etam. The invading Philistines have moved further up the country and into the land belonging to the people of Judah. Let’s look further at these three thousand men who came to see him …

THE INTIMIDATED MEN OF JUDAH ∗ Had they no mind of their own? When they asked the Philistines what they were doing in their land, the Philistines replied, v.10 To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. ∗ Immediately, the three thousand men scurried away off to find Samson! 5 ∗ What would it have looked like … three thousand fully grown men making their way up, - like wee boys walking head down out of a headmaster’s office, - to the top of a rock to say to a man, “It’s all your fault!” … What a tremendous shame falls upon us when we forget to Whom we belong! ∗ Away back in Egypt, the dying called his sons to his deathbed, and he gave to each one of them blessings. To Judah, in particular, he spoke so favourably, Gen. 49:8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. 9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. ∗ … You would not have thought it, if you had looked at those three thousand men standing before Samson that day! ∗ I do not believe the Lord has finished with the Church either in Scotland or in the UK … and He has moved on to other parts of the world. We are surely going through a dry patch, but the Lord has not finished with us yet! ∗ And God’s Word is showing us here something we must steer clear of doing … and that is, the enemy’s work. ∗ These three thousand men had forgotten the future of their people did not lie in the hands of Samson, but their future lay in the hands of the God Who was the Lord of their nation. ∗ But look what they did … they did the enemy’s work. It was not the enemy who tied him up with two new cords, and brought him down from the rock, - it was Samson’s own people who were handing him over. ∗ These two cords with which they tied him … why were they new? ∗ They were new because they did not want to run the risk Samson would snap old ones. They were desperately serious about handing Samson over to the Philistines so ‘peace’ would come again. ∗ But they were fooling themselves, because there was no peace. The Philistines had already been ruling their land … and these three thousand were nothing more than puppets in the hands of ungodly men. ∗ Don’t you see how these things are happening even today? History teaches us so much about the present and the future! 6 ∗ Many in the church are fettered. They don’t want to speak up and speak out in case they say the wrong things and cause offence to our society. ∗ The Philistines were telling the people of God what to do, and the people of God had so lost their focus they felt incapable of standing firmly … so they did what they were told … even when it was wrong! ∗ It was a pathetic scene, v.12 We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines, his own people told their leader. ∗ The frightened Samson, - looking at all those men, - pleaded with them, v.12 Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. ∗ They reassured him, v.13 No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. Big whoopee! … as we would say nowadays. ∗ They weren’t going to kill him … but guess what the Philistines were going to do when they would get him!!

CONCLUSION ∗ Once again, we have not got as far as I had intended … but, what are the lessons for us here? ∗ The impregnable rock was not as impregnable for Samson as it ought to have been … and it was not the Philistines that took Samson away from it … it was his own people. ∗ How we need to take such tremendous care in the work of the Lord! ∗ There are most definitely aspects of so-called modern that we steer well-clear off, - we would not touch them or ever think of becoming involved in their activities … ∗ But it is not only the ‘clear-cut’ enemy we need to be wary off for Jesus warned us, Jn. 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. … 12 he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. … And the same warning is repeated throughout the New Testament epistles to the churches! ∗ The rock of our own abilities is not always as impregnable as we would lead ourselves to believe … so we must watch therefore (Mt. 24:42; 25:13). ∗ The invading enemy is subtle … and it is ‘moving in’ on God’s people at such a tremendous pace. 7 ∗ When I was growing up, it was the World Council of Churches we were warned to look out for. Today, it is not the enemy out there … but it is the fraternisers of the enemy among God’s people that is the danger. ∗ The enemy is using them to get into places he never would have gained entrance before. Look at some places that bear the name of ‘Evangelical’ in their title … and examine how they have gone up to the rock of Etam and bound their pastors and their leaders in these new cords. ∗ The intimidated men of Judah are weakening many houses of God … not necessarily meaning to … but such is their neglect of standing up for the old faith that we are commanded to stand and earnestly contend for … the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3). ∗ What must we do? … Must we stand and point the finger at others who we consider to be ‘less right’ than us? No, because that is wrong! ∗ What is to be done then? From the Old Testament picture of seeing Samson coming down from that impregnable rock, to him being bound and taken away prisoner … we turn and hold on to the word of a great man who did stand faithful, regardless of all the enemies he had to face … Paul wrote, I Cor. 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong … Gal. 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage … Phil. 4:4 my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord … II Thess. 2:15 brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. ∗ Paul wrote to the Corinthians, I Cor. 2:1 I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. ∗ Samson’s great problem as he sat on that rock, - even before he made a single move, - was that he looked down and saw those three thousand men. … What he should have done instead was he should have looked up! ∗ Once again, - as in the case of the time he saw the Philistine girl in Timnath, - Samson’s eyes directed his heart and set his feet in the wrong path. … He looked down, when he should have looked up … ∗ May the Lord keep us looking up! Amen.