Our scripture reading this evening is from Judges 15 verses 9 through 20. It asks that you rise as God speaks to us now by his holy word. You remember, of course, that Samson went back to his wife, but she's already given to another, and so he destroyed their crops. And when they killed his wife and her father, he slaughtered them. This is their response. Now the Philistines went up and camped in Judah and deployed themselves against Lehi. And the men of Judah said, why have you come up against us? So they answered, we have come up to arrest Samson to do to him as he has done to us. Then the three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you have done to us? And he said to them, Our Isaiah did to me, so I have done to them. But they said to him, We have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines. Then Samson said to them, Swear to me that you will not kill me yourself. So they spoke to him, saying, no, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand. But we will surely not kill you. And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he had come to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. And the ropes that were on his arms became like flaxes burned with fire. And his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it and killed a thousand men with it. Then Samson said, With a jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with a jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men. And so it was when he had finished speaking that he threw the jawbone from his hand and called that place Ramath-Lehi. Then he became very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name En-Ha-Kori, which is in Lehi to this day. And he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines. When Israel was in bondage to Egypt, they cried out to the Lord in their distress. And the Lord answered them and gave them freedom. He gave them a Sabbath day. He gave them release from bondage that they could go out and worship him freely. It was wonderful. To be freed from such bondage was wonderful for Israel, surely. Who would not want such a thing? And yet Israel soon was lamenting its freedom and longed to return to the bondage of Egypt, because bondage has its benefits and freedom has its difficulties. And so they wanted to return to the bondage of Egypt from which they were delivered. Now, if we think this is absurd, then we really do not understand our own lives, do we? We do not understand that we too have been freed from dominion. We've been freed from the dominion of sin. And yet every time we fall back into sin, we are essentially saying that we prefer the bondage of sin to the freedom we have in Christ. We are essentially saying what Israel said when it wanted to return to Egypt. It is a sad state of affairs, but we understand it. But in our passage, we have something worse. Israel not only does not cry out for deliverance, does not only not cry out to be delivered, but when God sends deliverance, it fights against it. It insists upon being under the dominion of the Philistines and will have it no other way. Yet God will not allow His people to remain in that bondage. Did Jesus shed His blood in vain? Is the grace of God so impotent that His people will submit to sin and remain under its bondage? No, the blood of Jesus Christ is too precious, and God's grace too powerful. for his people to remain under the bondage from which they are broken free." And so God, God comes and causes there to be an upset in the status quo and causes there to be a violent rocking of the boat here by Samson, his instrument. With that in view, then, let us look at our passage into four headings. Very simple headings. Verses 9-13, we have the arrest of Samson. Verses 14-17, the slaughter of Samson. Verses 18-19, the thirst of Samson. And verse 20, very shortly, the judgeship of Samson. These, of course, all focus around Samson, but the reality is it is God who is truly at work here through His servant, His instrument, Samson. In verse 9, we begin with the Philistines on the offensive, coming into the land of the tribe of Judah in force against Lehi. Now this is very significant. The word Lehi, the city here, means jawbone. And it is named for the events in our passage. So here the author of Judges is citing this place by the name it is known. In looking back to this event that he narrates that occurred much earlier than writing this book, of course. But he uses this name anachronistically to describe this location because it is so known by Israel at that time. And Lehi is in the land of Judah, which is interesting because Samson is from Dan. So why is Samson taking refuge in Judah? So that the Philistines will come there and deploy themselves in force against Judah. Of course, it is the providence of God. God would have Judah to be the tribe responding to the Philistines. Because the tribe of Judah should be the leading tribe, leading the offensive, the attack against the Philistines. Remember the blessing on Judah in Genesis 49 verses 9 through 10. Judah was to be the leader, the scepter, and a lion's whelp. Judah then was to be the leading tribe and a ferocious tribe that should arise as a lion does and roar against its enemies. Judah of all tribes should be the one who, when these enemies invade their land, would rise up and roar against them in battle. David certainly will later, and he will defeat the Philistines in a decisive manner. And here the Lord has then the Philistines come into the land of this leading tribe so that we can see how this lion of Judah responds to this threat. And it is a threat. They come in mass and deploy themselves throughout the land like an invading army. And when the men of Judah come, they ask, why are you here against us? The men of Judah recognize that this is not a friendly gathering or some sort of summit or meeting, but rather they have come against Judah. And this is a great threat to the nation. The conflict that was between the Philistines and Samson has now broken out to the national scale and involves now the tribes themselves. The tribe of Judah in particular. And so here we have this leading tribe with great danger and conflict provoked because of this one man, Samson. Why then have these Philistines come? That is a question Judah asked in verse 10 and is answered by the Philistines also in verse 10. We have come up to wrath Samson to do to him as he has done to us. It is a mission of retaliation, of vengeance. Samson has done them much harm, great harm. He killed 30 of their men first, he destroyed their crops second, and then he slaughtered them with a great slaughter. But not one Israelite has died. And Samson himself has not been bodily harmed at all. And so the Philistines say it is time now for Samson to pay for what he has done to them. It is a simple logic of vengeance, of retaliation, due unto others as they have done unto you. It is, of course, the opposite of the golden rule that we have as our Christian ethic. Do unto others as you want them to do unto you, Matthew 7, 12. Do not avenge yourself because vengeance is the Lord's, Romans 12, 19. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the cheek, Matthew 5, 39. Vengeance is the Lord's, it's not theirs. nonetheless vengeance is their goal. They do not come saying to end the threat to our nation, to stop our people being slaughtered by Samson. They come rather out of the carnal and pure motive of vengeance, to do to him as he has done to us, to exact their revenge. Notice then how the men of Judah respond in verse 11. Three thousand of the men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam to Samson. Now, why have they come down to Samson? Have they come down to ask him to lead them into battle? Are they recognizing he is their judge? And do they want finally to be freed from the dominion of these oppressors? No. Rather, they come down to arrest him, their fellow Israelite, and hand him over to be killed. And they gather 3,000 men to do so, in case there is resistance. They will arrest Samson, they will seize him, even if it is necessary by force. And so they come in overwhelming force against him to seize him and hand him over to be killed by the Philistines. Why? Because they say, do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you have done to us? They take the role of the Philistines for granted. They are their masters and there's nothing to be done about it. They submit to these masters and they would not have this balance upset in any way. Dale Ralph Davis puts it this way, sad, sad words. Here's a people who have acquiesced to bondage who can no longer imagine anything beyond the status quo. who see deliverance as a threat to peace, who look upon Yahweh's enemies as their rightful lords. Israel is a people who can forsake Yahweh instantly, but who would not think of being faithless to the Philistines. Matthew Henry adds, if their spirits had not been perfectly cowed and broken by their sins and troubles, and they had not been given up to a spirit of slumber, they would have taken this fair opportunity to shake off the Philistines' yoke. If they had had the least spark of ingeniousness and courage remaining in them, they would have made one bold struggle for the recovery of their liberty. but no marvel of those who debase themselves to hell in the worship of their dunghill gods, thus debase themselves to the dust in submission to their insulting oppressors. Sin dispirits men, nay, it infatuates them and hides from their eyes the things that belong to their peace, cowardly, unthankful wretches, fond of their fetters and in love with servitude. Such is the leading tribe of Israel, and such many are today as well. How many unbelievers, for example, who hear that there's freedom from their sins in Christ, refuse because it would upset their lives. It would radically change everything. They'd have to change their goals in life, their hopes, their dreams, their desires. It would ruin everything. It would lead to great upheaval. And so they reject that troublesome offer of freedom from sin and Satan, even fight it to remain in their bondage in which they are accustomed. They have grown used to it, and they would not upset this balance they've achieved in their life, even for freedom from misery and from great evil. But as believers, can we not do the same thing? We hear passages such as, pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin, cut off your hand if it causes you to sin. We see the absolute ferocity of the battle we are to fight. We see the radical nature of this war we are to wage and we say, yes, but if I did that, it really upset the balance I've achieved in my life with sin. I've compromised perhaps in a little, yes, but I've achieved this delicate balance with sin that if I really fought it the way the scriptures say, would have set the balance I've grown accustomed to, delving my foot into sin and dabbling in it at times. And so we say no. Our conscience calls us to fight, but we say no. That would be too much trouble. Better to silence our conscience than to upset our lives in that manner. Well, that is Judah. They would not fight against the invaders. Rather, they would silence the problem, Samson, and go and arrest him and hand him over to their enemies. But notice how Samson responds to them. In verse 11, does he not respond as the Philistines responded? As they did to me, so I have done to them. Is this not the same carnal vengeance in view? Is this not the same retaliation? It is an interesting response. If this were simple personal vengeance and retaliation, then Samson is way off base, for he has done far more to them than they have ever done to him. They have offended him, they have insulted him, but they have not once bodily harmed him or any Israelite in these narratives for that matter. If this is personal vengeance, if this is merely him lashing out because of personal offense, then he has gone way too far. If this is not God's vengeance against the Philistines on behalf of the nation and all the harm the Philistines have done to the nation of Israel, then this is far too much retaliation. But notice, Samson has proved time and again to be motivated by carnal and selfish reasons, acting upon unrighteous motives. He is shown to be a man who acts upon his lusts and his petty emotions and his petty offenses. so that we need not doubt that he means what he says in verse 11, that he is acting out of that same carnal, personal, petty vengeance. And yet at the same time, while we acknowledge his motives are not good, we acknowledge that he is the instrument of God. He is authorized and enabled by God to be the agent to execute God's revenge against Israel's oppressors. What he does is right in God's eyes. The reason why he does it is not always so. God is acting justly in vengeance against the nation of the Philistines for what they have done to his people. But Samson is acting in petty vengeance and personal concerns that are displeasing to God. We should not be surprised that it is so. Often the instrument God ordains and uses for the blessing of His people and uses to do His will is not rightly motivated in acting. One of the great examples of this is that God ordained and enabled Babylon to execute God's judgments against Israel. But then he condemned Babylon because of its motive and action in Jeremiah 50 verse 11. Because Babylon delighted in destroying God's people, the Lord was angry at them for it. They did exactly what God ordained, as the instrument of God raised up and enabled to do so. But because they did so out of a glee and carnal joy, he condemned them for it. Likewise, here it is clear that Samson is executing God's will and enabled by God to execute judgment against the Philistines on behalf of God and behalf of Israel. This is God's vengeance against the Philistines. This is God executing the vengeance he has the right to execute through his instrument, Samson. But Samson is thinking in simple, personal, carnal, and petty terms of vengeance, which is no doubt not pleasing to the Lord. Nonetheless, he uses them for his purposes. Even though Samson is petty and thinking of selfish things, when they come to arrest him, he doesn't resist that arrest. But he's willing to be arrested as long as they will swear not to kill him themselves. Samson is not interested in fighting his own people, even though they come out against him in force to fight him if necessary. Still, he will not raise his hand against them, if they will but deliver him to the Philistines who will go with them without resistance. And so they promise, and they do. They bind him with two new ropes, presumably not worn out then, but good and strong and sturdy ropes. to make sure that he is secure when they deliver him to the Philistines. That brings us to our second point, the slaughter by Samson. There in verse 14, when the men of Judah bring him to the Philistines at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. They unleashed their rage and their anger against him. They are full of spite, and the things they might do to him are horrible to think. Later we see certainly that they put out his eyes and make fun of him and put him into slavery. When they killed Saul, they cut off his head and nailed his body to the wall. These are brutal men. These are pagans who will do great evil against those in their power with whom they are angry, and so is Samson. And they shout with great eagerness to do these things against him. which Samson instead finds that the Spirit of God comes upon him, and the ropes on his arms become like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose. Actually, the literal word is a melted from his hands. Flax is a type of fiber used to make garments, and so here it is as if a string, imagine a string that you would use to sew a garment is pulled out and fire is lit and it just breaks and snaps and melts away. Such were the bonds of Samson. In other words, he did not break them. The Spirit of God melted them from his hands. This is significant because it demonstrates that the Spirit of God is at work to free him to fight these Philistines. If the Spirit of God would have us free to fight, then we will be freed to fight. And the Spirit of God is with him against these Philistines. But how will he fight them? And he picks up what is to us quite an odd weapon, a fresh donkey's jawbone. Why does he grab this? What does this mean? What is the significance of this? In some ways, it is certainly an odd weapon. But in other ways, it is actually a fitting weapon. A donkey's jawbone, especially a fresh one with the teeth still attached to it, has between the front teeth and the back teeth a natural handhold for a man to grab onto. So he grabs onto this space where there are no teeth. Below and above there are teeth and there are big bones that attach to the shoulder of the donkey. And so you have this significant weapon, this heavy bone and these sharp teeth that you can use against your attackers. It is not such an unusual weapon after all when we look at it in this way. In fact, we have found some people such as in Africa making weapons out of these jawbones because they're fitting for such weapons. That is on the one hand, but on the other hand, it is certainly the case that this is not a conventional weapon. And as useful as it might be, it is nowhere close to a sword or spear or any such weapon. And this is a theme throughout the book of Judges. When God raises up men to lead his people in battle or to fight against their enemies, throughout the book of Judges they use unconventional weapons. Shamgar, remember, used an ox goad. Barak and Deborah's army did not have shield or spear in it. Gideon and his 300 men had only trumpets and jars of clay in their hands. Now you have a donkey's jawbone used by God to slaughter 1,000 Philistines. Think of that. 1,000 Philistines. It is an astonishing number. There is no possibility that a mere man could stand and with such an unconventional weapon slaughter so many men. This is most clearly and obviously the work of God, the power of God, which cannot be denied here. This is something that the Lord has done in and through his servant, Samson. And he does so in and through a sinful servant. We've seen that not only in his motivation, but for him to grab a fresh jawbone and surrender himself unclean. Remember, he is a Nazirite, and the donkey is an unclean animal. meaning it would not be ritualistically slaughtered for food or for sacrifice, so that when he picks up a fresh jawbone, he is picking up something dead, and it defiles him and renders him unclean. Nonetheless, the Lord uses him greatly, though he is sinful and unclean, and yet we should not be surprised by that. Does He not use us too, and are we not the same? Are we not sinners and unclean in and of ourselves? If the Lord only used those instruments that were pure, we would be lost without hope and useless to God, never being able as an instrument to be used for His glory. But here is Samson, and he is used of God, even though he is a sinner and unclean in the sight of God, mindfully killing a thousand of these Philistines and putting them to shame. But even so, we find that the Philistines, though they're slaughtered by Samson, do not have the men of Judah joining in that slaughter. Even as they watch Samson kill a thousand Philistines, they hang back as cowards, unwilling to become involved in this battle. And when it is over, Samson does not find he is met with the women and their tambourines and their songs of rejoicing. Rather, he must make up his own song. He must make up his own poetry to celebrate this victory. And so he does there in verse 16. With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey, I've slain a thousand men. Poetry, as it always is, sounds better in the original language than the translation. Here, the word for donkey is basically the same word as heap. And so one commentator, as he tried to render it more poetically, put it this way. With the jawbone of an ass, I pile them in a mass. And that is more like the poetic form of Samson here. But notice what the focus is in this poem, in this poetry of Samson. I have slain 1,000 men. He does not glorify God. He does not say that the Spirit of God loosed him from his bonds, that the power of God enabled him to accomplish this. He does not give glory to God in the least, but rather to himself. I have done this, he says. I have accomplished this. And he names the place essentially Jawbone Hill or Hite, perhaps a reference to the piles of corpses he left there. And so he names this place for the slaughter and not for the God who accomplished it. We see then here very clearly a man who is continuing to be self-consumed, who's continuing to be selfish and petty, and look to himself and his honor in the midst of God working in him. And that must change. That cannot stand. The Lord will not allow his people to glorify themselves and not him, to think that they are sufficient in and of themselves, and not look to him. And therefore we find in verses 18 through 19 that the Lord compels Samson to turn to the Lord and seek help from him. For Samson was very thirsty. That is natural after this great slaughter that he would be in desperate thirst. in that if he does not get something to drink, he will faint and he will die. It is natural after such exertion, but the Lord uses it providentially to drive Samson to cry out to him. Is this not what the Lord does at all times? Is it not the theme of the book of Judges even, that the Lord compels his people through suffering to cry out to him? And so we have here an instance of that in the life of Samson himself. He is compelled by his need to cry out to God. And here we have a glimpse of Samson's own faith. For though in the poem he gave himself credit, here in verse 18 he gives the Lord credit for this deliverance and calls himself the servant of the Lord. Here we have a glimpse of the true faith of Samson as he looks to God, though God compels him to do it, though God forces him to it. When he is compelled, he does cry out rightly and appeal to the Lord and honor the Lord and not himself and beg of the Lord his mercy to give him water that he would not die. And if he should die, fall into the hands of those cruel, and spiteful Philistines. And so he cries out to the Lord, and the Lord answers him in a most astonishing way. It is clearly reminiscent of what happened in the wilderness wanderings in Exodus 17, 6. When the Lord provided water out of the rock, it was astonishing grace then, and it is astonishing grace now as well. Remember how Israel in the wilderness was complaining against God because God had not given them enough and God was not blessing them in ways they wanted. And so they were complaining and demanding water from God and he gives it to them out of the rock. He sends Moses to go out and to strike the rock and water gushes forth from it. In a similar manner, here is Samson taking the credit for himself. Here is Samson composing a poem for his own honor, and it is only when he is forced to cry out to the Lord that he does, and yet the Lord provides water for him to drink to refresh him, to reinvigorate him, that he can continue on in the service of the Lord. Why is the Lord so gracious to his people? Remember what that rock represented, as Paul made clear in 1 Corinthians 10.4. The rock that was struck from which living waters came is Christ, said Paul. In other words, when Christ was struck by God, struck on the cross, Because he was struck by God, those living waters rushed out for the salvation of his people. Because he was struck, he produced those living waters for his own to drink and have life. And so it is Christ and him crucified that is always presented here, and it is Christ in which God shows us mercy and grace. Why does God answer? Why does God bless his people who are so undeserving? It is in and through Christ always that he does so. It is for the sake of Christ that he does so. And here is yet one more instance of this selfish Samson seeking his own revenge, compelled to cry out to God. And Christ, struck by the justice of God, produces water for Samson to drink and be revived and strengthened. This is only and always through Christ and him crucified. That brings us to our final point and very brief point, verse 20. For we are told then of God's grace in this, that he gave Samson 20 years as a judge in Israel. He raises up Samson and gives him 20 years to rule over Israel. Yet throughout this 20-year reign, we find no battles. We find Israel not rallying to Samson at all. Only Samson acting as a thorn in the side of the Philistines time and again causing enmity between them. And we find no mention of rest for the land of Israel rather in fact is characterized as the days of the Philistines. Still the Philistines are oppressing the Israelites. Yet Samson begins that deliverance which King David will finish later. Samson begins what David will finish by the grace of God. And so we see here in our passage, clearly, by the negative example of Israel, the exhortation that we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies as those who have been set free from its dominion. Rather, we are called to fight radically with all of our gusto, this continual and irreconcilable war, being willing to upset any sort of balance or peace or status quo we have achieved in our lives, being willing to cause trouble and upset and unrest and upheaval in our lives if it is but for the fighting of that sin which so easily entangles us. And even as we fight, we should know that our corrupt motives and desires are mixed in with that battle. And yet when we recognize our need and cry out to the Lord, acknowledging that we need Him desperately and seeking His refreshing and strengthening grace, we know He will give it in and for the sake of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the lesson before us here this evening, the need to fight unlike Judah. the need to do battle and upset the status quo. And even as we do so, recognizing we are in pure instruments in the hand of God in deep need of his grace and crying out to him and he blessing us with refreshing grace in time of need for the sake of and in the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. Let us pray. Our fathers, we come to you now this night, we acknowledge that you are God and not we ourselves. We acknowledge that you are the author of all grace and all goodness. And we are undeserving of the least ounce of your grace. But you in Christ have opened up a flood of refreshment and strengthening grace for us. And so, Lord, as we fight this battle of sin by your grace, unable to do so, how feebly and how pathetically we do, yet continue to strengthen us in this battle. Continue, Lord, to be merciful to us. Continue to let those rivers of refreshing streams to flow and enable us to continue fighting for your glory and for our good. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.