Special Insights No. 6
“For Better or for Worse: Lessons From Old Testament Couples”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
Samson and his Women: The Folly of Passion
Samson is one of the most tragic
figures in the Bible. Consider his story. He was called of God from
before conception, and raised by dedicated parents who understood the
divine purpose of their son’s life. When he reached maturity and
should have been actively accomplishing his God-given task, he made
a U-turn and spent the rest of his life in self-absorption, wasting
his potential on the sins of the flesh.
Samson was a contemporary of the high priest Eli, and therefore of
Samuel. The narrative of Judges is not a chronological recitation of
history, but a compilation of significant events after the death of
Joshua and before the calling of Saul as king. There is overlap in the
actual lives of the judges whose deeds are related in this book. The
compiler selected from all the events that had taken place during this
period, choosing the ones that suited his narrative purpose. The last
five chapters (two stories) of the Book of Judges are really an appendix
and belong to a time earlier in the narrative. By selecting the stories
and organizing them as he did, the compiler indicates the general downward
trend in the spiritual condition of Israel, and so ends his narrative
with the summary epitaph—“everyone did what was right in
his own eyes.”
All Scripture is given for our education in the things of God. When
we read of the failures of God’s people, He intends for us to
learn from their mistakes and not repeat them. We’re to learn
the corollary lessons that reliance upon self leads to bondage and destruction,
and that our only hope is in total dependence upon Christ for deliverance
from sin.
Reading the entire story of Samson we are struck with the parallels
to God’s remnant church.
- Samson was called by God even before conception.
The Advent movement is the result of the 2300 year prophecy; we
were called by God long before our “conception” in the
minds of men.
- From his birth Samson was separated, set apart for a special work.
On the cusp of eternity the Advent movement was separated from
all the other churches to declare the special message of the third
angel of Revelation: Christ and His righteousness.
- Samson was to follow a Nazarite lifestyle.
Nazarite simplicity can be compared to the day of atonement fasting
and “affliction of soul”; it is a denial of self and
a dedication to an eminently more important event taking place.
- Even with all the evidence that he was called of God to do His
bidding, Samson turned around and focused on self.
Legalism that afflicted the church derailed us from following our
high calling; we became absorbed in debating the finer points of
the law, until we were “as dry as the hills of Gilboa without
dew or rain” (The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 557).
The symbolism of dew and rain must not be lost. When this was written
in 1890 we desperately needed the Latter Rain which the Lord attempted
to send two years earlier at Minneapolis.
- It was a short fall for Samson once he averted his eyes from God
to self; he repeatedly sold himself to foreign women.
The bride of Christ has shirked her Husband’s claim on her
and sought alliances with “foreign” theologies, attempting
to incorporate into the unique message of Adventism evangelical
teachings on the nature of Christ, justification, the sanctuary,
and God’s covenant promise of redemption.
- Lust finally conquered Samson when he fell in love with the temptress,
Delilah.
Samson’s physical strength was not in his uncut hair, but
in his acknowledgment of God’s power working through him.
By attributing his strength to himself, he lost the vital connection
to God’s power. Enslaved by the enemies of God, the Philistines
symbolically put out his eyes.
By drinking from broken cisterns we have lost our spiritual discernment.
The diagnosis from the True Witness is “thou art wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).
An apt description of Samson in the Philistine dungeon.
- God was long-suffering with Samson, never leaving him even when
he was committing adultery (both marital and spiritual). You can be
sure that the Holy Spirit was there with him in that dungeon, wooing
him to return to his first love, to the zealousness which characterized
his original dedication to God.
Neither will the Lord abandon His remnant church; there is no “8th
church” in Revelation 3, and no logic to the idea of returning
to a previous church. The True Witness is patiently pleading: “buy
of Me gold tried in the fire [His faith], that thou mayest be rich;
and white raiment [His robe of righteousness] that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and
anoint thine eyes with eye-salve [spiritual discernment], that thou
mayest see” (Rev. 3:18; see also Isa. 55:1-13; 60:1-3).
- Finally repentant, Samson gave his life (it was not a suicide)
for the task God called him to do. The work Samson accomplished in
the end was greater than all the work he’d done in his whole
life, and it was done rapidly.
Laodicea will yet repent and believe “the most precious message”
of Christ and His righteousness sent to us through A. T. Jones and
E. J. Waggoner in 1888. Then, through renunciation of self, a total
focus on God and the vindication of His character, and through the
Latter Rain power of the Holy Spirit, we will be enabled to complete
our prophetic assignment. The fourth angel in Revelation 18:4 will
sound when we direct the eyes of the world to the charms of Christ’s
matchless love, to His divine merits, to the priceless gift of His
own righteousness, and to justification through faith in His promise
to deliver from sin (see Testimonies to Ministers, pp.
91-92).
As Samson eventually learned, the final work is all about Christ, while
the glory of man is laid in the dust.
—Ann Walper
If you would like a copy, sent via e-mail, of Robert
J. Wieland’s “Seven Memorable Marriages in the Bible,”
please request it from: sabbathschool@1888message.org. Or, download
the PDF document here.
(Note: A series of CDs on these lessons recorded
by this Robert J. Wieland is available from the office of the 1888 Message
Study Committee: 269-473-1888.)
Listen to the audio recording for Lesson 6 now in MP3 format.
Read Special Insights 7 |