Outline:

I. Member of God’s Hall of Fame II. Samson’s Birth III. The Philistine’s IV. Samson marries a Philistine V. Samson kills a lion! VI. Samson riddle! VII. Samson kills 30 Philistines VIII. Samson kills more Philistines! IX. Samson kills a thousand Philistines! X. Water from a Rock XI. Samson and XII. Samson’s Death

I. Member of God’s Hall of Fame

A. Samson is a member of God’s Hall of Fame (Heb. 11:32). B. He was a visible hero in Israel. C. The Lord used Samson to deliver Israel from her enemy, the Philistines. D. He lived during the time of the Judges. E. God used these Judges to deliver Israel from her enemies during the times when Israel was unfaithful to God! F. Samson was the last of the Judges! G. His name means “the strong one.” H. Samson’s father’s name was who was from the tribe of Dan (Judg. 13:2). I. Samson was a Nazirite which means he was set apart for service to God. J. He was one of the few people in the Old Testament that were empowered by God the Holy Spirit in order to perform a specific job! K. Samson’s job was to kill the Philistines!

II. Samson’s Birth

A. Manoah and his wife had no children (Judg 13:2). B. But one day the Lord Jesus Christ told Manoah’s wife that she was going to have a baby (Judg. 13:3). C. This was before the Lord became a Man and He was called in the Old Testament, “the Angel of the Lord!” D. The Lord told her not to drink wine or strong drink or any animal that the Lord called unclean (Judg. 13:3). E. The Lord told her that she would have a son and that he was never to get a hair cut (Judg. 13:5). F. The Lord told her that Samson was to be special and that he was going to do some work for the Him! G. Manoah and his wife saw the Lord and He was awesome looking (Judg. 13:6). H. They spoke with Him face to face! I. They saw the Lord go up to heaven in the flame of the fire in the altar (Judg. 13:20).

1 III. The Philistines

A. The Philistines were the enemies of Israel. B. God gave Israel into the hands of their enemy the Philistines because Israel had done evil in the sight of the Lord (Judg. 13:1). C. For 40 years the Philistines beat up on the Israelites. D. God gave the nation of Israel Samson in order to defeat the Philistines. E. Samson was sent for the specific job of delivering Israel from her enemy the Philistines. F. The Philistines were unbelievers and were not Jewish. G. Israel hated the Philistines and the Philistines hated Israel! H. The Philistines were always at war with Israel!

IV. Samson marries a Philistine

A. One day Samson saw a Philistine woman (Jud. 14:1). B. He thought she was good looking and he wanted to marry her (Judg. 14:7). C. His parents didn’t want him to marry an unbeliever (Judg. 14:3). D. But, God had a plan! E. God wanted to kill the Philistines and He was going to use Samson’s marriage to a Philistine woman to do this.

V. Samson kills a lion

A. One day a young lion attacked Samson and his parents as they were going to see the Philistine woman (Judg. 14:5). B. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he killed the lion with his bare hands (Judg. 14:6). C. He tore it apart like a piece of paper! D. When he returned later he saw a swarm of bees and honey inside of the body of the lion (Judg. 14:8). E. He scraped the honey into his hands and ate it on the way home. F. He also gave some to his parents (Judg. 14:9). G. But he did not tell his parents where he got the honey (Judg. 14:9).

VI. Samson’ riddle

A. One day Samson had a party with 30 Philistines (Judg. 14:11). B. Samson told them a riddle! C. If these men guessed the riddle Samson would have to give them 30 linen wraps and 30 changes of clothing (Judg. 14:12). D. But if they couldn’t guess the riddle, they would have to give Samson the clothing (Judg. 14:13). E. So Samson said to them, “Out of the eater (the young lion that Samson killed) came something to eat (honey), and out of the strong (the young lion) came something sweet (honey)” (Judges 14:14). F. For 3 days they couldn’t figure out the riddle (Judg. 14:14). G. Therefore, they tried to get Samson’s Philistine wife to trick him into telling the riddle to her! H. They didn’t want to pay up on the bet that they made with Samson! I. Now, these so called friends were going to get his wife to deceive him. J. His unbelieving wife was going to betray Samson!

VII. Samson kills 30 Philistines

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A. So these Philistine men told Samson’s wife to try to find out what the answer to Samson’s riddle was so that they wouldn’t have to pay up on the bet. B. She got Samson to tell her the answer to the riddle by nagging him for 7 days (Judg. 14:16- 17)! C. She went and told these 30 Philistine men the answer (Judg. 14:17). D. Seven days after Samson had told the riddle, the 30 men came to Samson and gave him the answer by asking him a question, “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” 5. They were being wise guys! E. But Samson said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer (his wife), you would not have found out my riddle” (Judg. 14:18)! F. Samson knew that they asked his wife! G. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Samson and he killed these 30 men and collected on his bet (Judg. 14:19)!

VIII. Samson kills more Philistines

A. After Samson killed the 30 Philistines, his wife’s father gave her to one of the Philistines (Judg. 15:1-2)! B. He wouldn’t let Samson see his wife! C. Samson was mad! D. Now, he was going to kill even more Philistines (Judg. 15:3)! E. So Samson went out and caught 300 foxes and tied torches between their tails (Judg. 15:4)! F. After he set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the grain fields of the Philistines (Judg. 15:5)! G. The grain fields from which the Philistines got their food were all burned up! H. The Philistines found out it was Samson and killed his wife and her father (Judg. 15:6)! I. Now, Samson was even more mad and took out his revenge by slaughtering the Philistines (Judg. 15:8)!

IX. Samson kills 1000 Philistines

A. Then, the Philistine army found out about the slaughter and went after Samson! B. They camped in Judah and the men of Judah were afraid and handed Samson over to the Philistines (Judg. 15:9-10)! C. 3000 men of Judah went down to see Samson who was living in the cleft of a rock. D. They bound him in ropes and brought him out to the Philistines (Judg. 15:11-13)! E. His own people were giving him to the enemy! F. Even after Samson had killed so many of the Philistines! G. When the Philistines saw Samson bound with ropes they shouted and came after him! H. “And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire and his bonds dropped from his hands. And Samson found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a 1000 Philistines with it. Then Samson said, ‘With a jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a 1000 men” (Judg. 15:15-16)!

X. Water from a rock

A. After he killed 1000 of the enemy, he got thirsty! B. He wanted a big tall class of water! C. So God split a rock so that water came out of it (Judg. 15:19)!

3 D. Samson drank it and was happy! E. The rock that was split represented the Lord Jesus Christ! F. He delivered Israel from her enemy the Philistines for 20 years (Judg. 15:20)!

XI. Samson and Delilah

A. Samson had sex with a prostitute named Delilah! B. This got him into trouble! C. She betrayed him and handed him over to the Philistines! D. Delilah deceived the ! E. She wanted to know what the secret to Samson’s great strength (Judg. 16:5)! F. Samson got his great strength from the Spirit of the Lord! G. But Samson thought he received his strength from his long hair! H. The Lord told Samson’s mother not to cut his hair, remember! I. So Samson had long hair like a girl! J. Delilah nagged Samson! K. Finally, he told her that it was his long hair that gave him strength (Judg. 16:4-18)! L. But, it was the Spirit of the Lord that gave him strength and not his long hair! M. Delilah shaved the hair off of Samson’s head while he was asleep (Judg. 16:19)! N. She sent for the Philistines and he was captured! O. Samson lost his strength because the Lord departed from him and not because his hair was cut off (Judg. 16:20)!

XII. Samson’s Death

A. Samson was now in chains! B. The Philistines gouged his eyes out so that he was now blind (Judg. 16:21)! C. The Philistine kings were very happy that they had captured Samson (Judg. 16:23)! D. So the Philistines threw a big party (Judg. 16:24)! E. They called for Samson and he entertained them by telling them a few jokes and singing a few songs (Judg. 16:25)! F. The Philistines made him stand between the 2 pillars which held up the house that the party was in (Judg. 16:26)! G. The house was full of Philistine men and women as well as their kings (Judg. 16:27)! H. There was even 3000 men and women on the roof as well (Judg. 16:27)! I. Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them” (Judg. 16:26)! J. “Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my 2 eyes!” K. Samson now knew that the Lord was the One Who all along gave him his great strength and not his hair! L. The Lord answered Samson’s prayer! M. Judges 16:29-30, “And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom Samson killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life!” N. Samson lost his strength because the Holy Spirit was taken away from him! O. The Holy Spirit gave him his strength and power!

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