God’s purpose for Samson was “to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” It sounds as if God’s plan was for Samson to engage the Philistines in battle in order to break the yoke of bondage they had on Israel. But, when Samson grows up we see he is not interested in battling the Philistines, but instead is pursuing their beautiful woman. Yet, God’s purpose will be accomplished with whatever effort is given or whatever direction Samson, and Manoah, the father who raised him, take. Samson is never seen with an actual weapon and his life is filled with compromise, deceit and immorality. All of this leads to Samson’s pathetic life and untimely death, yet the Lord uses Samson for his purpose. But, we should realize, Samson did not have to live such a selfish, empty, disappointing life!
After the birth of Samson the story resumes, but not with a young warrior ready to fight the Philistines, but with a young man obsessed with Philistine women. It is explicitly forbidden in Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:1-3 to marry the foreign woman. But, Samson, like the men of his generation, was compromising, sensual and selfish. If this is the best Samson can give the Lord, then the Lord will use it to accomplish his purpose for the text says, “…this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines…they were ruling over Israel.”
Samson has no idea of the potential available to him if he would walk with God, be obedient to God’s Laws, and allow the Spirit of God to move through him. Before Samson’s life is completely off track, the Lord gives him a demonstration of his potential physical strength intended to be used to drive the Philistines out of Israel. So, Samson is attacked by a lion on his way to meet the Philistine girl . Since the Philistines have disarmed the nation of Israel, Samson is himself unarmed. Standing alone, Samson faces sure death by mauling. Then the Lord demonstrates his intentions and his power through Samson’s bare hands. The lion roars and leaps, but Samson catches the lion and shreds it like paper. Samson’s potential is so much greater than the path he is heading down. But, once again, this generation lacks knowledge of the Lord and has no understanding of his revealed word, so they are left to perish at the whims of their emotions, the misdirection of false theology and their pursuit of sensual fulfillment. |
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While debating against the Greek philosophy's influence in Christian thinking, Tertullian reasoned with the Gnostics who rejected the incarnation of the eternal Son of God in flesh because the physical world was evil and God was too holy to partake of the physical world and evil flesh. (The Gnostics thought the physical world was evil simply because it was the physical world):
"You Gnostics should not worry that, if He had been born and truly clothed Himself with man’s nature, He would have ceased to be God. You should not worry that He would lose what He was – while becoming what He was not. For God is in no danger of losing His own state and conditions.”
– Tertullian, 210 AD
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