Bible Memory Verse:
“…a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.” Proverbs 10:13
“A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.” Proverbs 14:13
“The prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” Proverbs 22:3
God loves us. He made rules for us to obey for our own protection. When we don’t obey God we take ourselves out from under His protection and the devil is free to harm us. God wants us to obey Him so the devil can’t harm us. This week we are going to learn about one of God’s people who didn’t always obey. Listen closely to hear what happened to him when he didn’t obey God.
This story takes place in the time when there was no special ruler in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Since people aren’t wise when they don’t follow God’s rules, there was much distress or turmoil in the land.
At this time the Philistines, a people that did not know God, were harming, God’s people, the Israelites, so God raised up someone to help them. His name was Samson.
There was a woman who could not have children. It was a very sad thing to not be able to have any children. But one day the Lord appeared to her AND later her husband and told them they would have a special child. He was never to cut his hair as a sign that he belonged to the Lord. He would begin to rescue God’s people from the Philistines.
When their child was born they named him, Samson. God was with Samson and gave him great strength.
Samson didn’t always obey God. He liked Philistine women even though God wanted the Israelites to only marry Israelites. Samson saw a Philistine woman that he wanted to marry so he told his parents to arrange a marriage for him. At that time it was the custom for parents to arrange marriages for their children.
His parents said, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among our relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the…Philistines to get a wife?" (instead of marrying someone that doesn’t believe in our God) But Samson said, ‘Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.’” So Samson and his father and mother went to visit the woman and her family.
On the way there, a young lion came roaring toward Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands. He didn’t tell us parents what he had done. Then he went and talked with the woman and he liked her.
Later, he was going to marry the woman and he saw the bones of the lion, with a swarm of bees inside it. He scooped up some of the honey and ate it. He gave his parents some of the honey, but he did not tell them where he got it.
At Samson’s marriage feast, he was given thirty Philistine men to be with him at his wedding. He said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. If you can’t give me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they said, “Let’s hear it.”
Samson replied,
“OUT OF THE EATER, SOMETHING TO EAT;
OUT OF THE STRONG, SOMETHING SWEET.”
DO YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE? Listen closely to find out:
For three days they couldn’t answer the riddle. On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife,
Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”
“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” She cried the whole seven days of the feast. Finally he told her and she explained it to her people.
Before sunset on the last day of the feast, the men of the town said,
“WHAT IS SWEETER THAN HONEY? WHAT IS STRONGER THAN A LION?” They knew the answer–honey inside a lion.
He knew that they had gotten his wife to tell them, so burning with anger he went into a Philistine city and killed thirty Philistine men and gave their clothes to the thirty men at his wedding. He went back to his father’s house, but his wife was given to someone else as his wife and Samson didn’t know it.
Later on he took a present to give his wife and he went to see her, but her father said, “I was so sure that you thoroughly hated her, that I gave her to your friend. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”
Samson said, “This time I really have a right to get even with the Philistines.” So he caught 300 foxes and tied them together in pairs and tied a torch to their tails. Then he turned the foxes loose in their fields of grain so their field of grain burned down. When the Philistines found out Samson had done this because his wife had been given to another, they burned his wife and her father to death. Samson said to them, “Since you acted like this, I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” So he killed many of them.
Later on the Philistines came into the land of the Israelites. The Philistines told the Israelites, “We have come to take Samson prisoner, to do to him as he did to us.”
Then 3,000 men from Samson’s own people came to Samson and said, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us… We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” This shows how strong he was–3,000 men were afraid to tie Samson up without his permission.
Samson said, “Promise me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
“Agreed,” they answered, “we will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines. We will not kill you.” So they tied him with two new ropes and led him to the Philistines. As they were nearing the Philistines, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms dropped from his hands. He picked up the jawbone of a donkey and killed a thousand men. He said,
“WITH A DONKEY’S JAWBONE I HAVE MADE DONKEY’S OF THEM.
WITH A DONKEY’S JAWBONE I HAVE KILLED A THOUSAND MEN.”
So Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Some time later Samson fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah. The Philistine rulers said to her, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him…Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.” This was a great deal of money.
So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up…”
He said to her, “If anyone ties me up with seven fresh throngs (bowstrings) that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
Then the Philistine rulers brought her seven bowstrings that had not been dried and she tied him up with them. With men hidden in the room she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
He said to her, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He said, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the cloth on your loom (a loom was how they made cloth) and tighten it with a pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove it into the cloth on her loom and tied it with a pin.
Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He awoke and pulled out the pin and the loom with the cloth.
She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” She nagged him so much every day that he was tired to death.
So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been…set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me and I would become as weak as any other man.”
When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more. He has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep in her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair.
Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
Then he awoke from sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
The Philistine rulers seized him and gouged out his eyes. They made him grind in the prison. In those day they had to grind wheat to make it into flour that was used for making bread. Samson had been the ruler of Israel–now he was blind and in prison grinding flour.
But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. His hair was a symbol that God was with him. Because he had lived in so much disobedience he had lost God’s Holy Spirit. Now he had time to restore his relationship with God when all he could do was grind at the prison.
The rulers of the Philistines had a great celebration in their temple to sacrifice for their god, Dagon. They said, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
While they were in high spirit, they shouted, “Bring us Samson to entertain us.” When Samson was brought from prison to the temple, he said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may learn against them.” The temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about 3,000 men and woman watching Samson. Samson prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, remember me, O God, please strengthen me just once more and with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Samson killed many more of the enemy when he died that when he had lived. God had even used that bad happening to destroy more of the enemy.
The Philistines had captured Samson because he had not obeyed God. When we obey God we are under His protection. When we disobey Him and take ourselves out from under his protection, the devil can harm us. How much better to obey God and not have to suffer for doing wrong.
SCRIPTURES ON SAMSON:
Judges 13-16
“…I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.” Hebrews 11:32
* TEST ON SAMSON: NAME_________________________
1. Who told Samson’s parents that a child was going to be born to them?
2. Who gave Samson his great strength?
3. What did Samson have to do in order to keep his great strength?
4. What is the answer to Samson’s riddle?
“OUT OF THE EATER, SOMETHING TO EAT;
OUT OF THE STRONG, SOMETHING SWEET.”
________________was in a ____________.
5. What had God forbidden the Israelites to do that Samson did?
a. He lied to Delilah.
b. He liked Philistine woman.
c. He killed the Philistines.
6. Why did Delilah betray Samson?
7. What happened because Samson disobeyed God?
8. Why did the Philistines say their god was more powerful than God?
a. Because he took care of them.
b. Because they had such a big building to worship him in.
c. Because they captured Samson
9. How did Samson die?
SAMSON
Bible Memory Verse:
“…a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.” Proverbs 10:13
Words to choose from: HAIR, GOD, CAPTURED, HONEY, MORE, LORD, MONEY, EYES, WOMEN, LION
1. An angel of the __ __ __ __ told Samson’s parents that a child was going to be born to them.
2. __ __ __ gave Samson his great strength.
3. Samson could never cut his __ __ __ __in order to keep his great strength.
4. In Samson’s riddle a __ __ __ __ was the strong eater.
5. In Samson’s riddle something sweet to eat was __ __ __ __ __.
6. Samson liked __ __ __ __ __ that did not know God.
7. Delilah betrayed Samson for __ __ __ __ __.
8. Samson lost his __ __ __ __ because he disobeyed God.
9. Because they had __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ Samson, the Philistines thought their god was more powerful than God.
10. Samson killed __ __ __ __ Philistines when he died than when he was alive.
Bible Memory Verse:
“…a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.” Proverbs 10:13
“A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.” Proverbs 14:13
“The prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” Proverbs 22:3