Joey Everington
September 04, 2024
In Judges 15, Samson takes matters into his own hands, seeking revenge after being wronged, which leads to a cycle of violence and destruction. This passage challenges us to trust in God’s plans, knowing that His way is always better than our own, by surrendering to His holy plan to bring about true justice and peace.
Play Audio
Song of Solomon 2:15 Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil
the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.
Judges 15:1-3 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went
to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would
not let him go in. 2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your
companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.” 3
Samson said to them,
“This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm
them.”
Proverbs 31:30 (AMP) Charm and grace are deceptive, and [superficial]
beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD [reverently worshiping, obeying,
serving, and trusting Him with awe-filled respect], she shall be praised.
·
Fight compromise: Make sure the people
you have let in your life have Christ in theirs.
Judges 15:4-6 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail
in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let
the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the
shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
6 When the
Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s
son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines
went up and burned her and her father to death.
Judges 14:15 On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into
explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household
to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”
·
Today, we must decide which cost of living we
are willing to pay.
·
Choose to follow Jesus or choose not to.
Proverbs 2:7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who
walk in integrity.
Judges 15:7-11 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t
stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of
them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam. 9 The Philistines went up
and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come
to fight us?” “We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to
him as he did to us.” 11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of
Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers
over us? What have you done to us?” He answered, “I merely did to them what
they did to me.”
·
Stand down: We should not take revenge
because we should expect God to.
Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for
it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
Judges 1:1-2 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who of us is
to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?” 2 The Lord answered, “Judah
shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.”
Judges 15:12-14 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the
Philistines.” Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
13 “Agreed,” they
answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill
you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
14 As he approached
Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came
powerfully upon him.
·
BREAK THE CYCLE: Protect your faith by
eliminating comfortability with compromise.
Judges 15:14-20 … The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings
dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a
thousand men. 16 Then Samson said, “With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With
a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.” 17 When he finished speaking,
he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi. 18 Because he was very
thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great
victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the
uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it.
When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was
called En Hakkore, (fount of the crier) and it is still there in Lehi. 20
Samson led Israel
for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
·
BREAK THE CYCLE
·
Protect your walk by using your gifts for God.
·
Protect your relationship with God by bringing
your weakness to Him.
·
Call 321.574.6970 if you have chosen to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.