Introduction. Read Judges 13to16.

One of the things that intrigued the interviewers for my last job was one sentence on my reference written by my previous headmaster: "Mr Reed is unique." In some ways this was a warning. Mr Reed is a one off. He breaks the mould. He is unconventional, a law unto himself, difficult to manage, a character, an eccentric. Such a judge was Sampson.

Sampson is beloved by Sunday school teachers. His life was nothing if not exciting crammed full of bizarre incidents. However, he is not a favourite of preachers. Sampson's life was not only very different from our own but much of his behaviour was of questionable morality. He does not appear at first sight an obvious role model. Indeed, such sermons as I have read on Sampson tend to take his conduct as an example of how not to behave.

Yet, Sampson was one of the very few whose miraculous birth was foretold by an angel. The others being Isaac, John the Baptist and Jesus. Moses and Samuel are two more whose birth was special. So Sampson is in the very best of company.

In view of what transpired the angel of the LORD's promise to Sampson's mother might appear somewhat surprising: "He will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines." Jd13v5.He was a saviour.

Sampson was:

(A) An unlikely deliverer.

He was a most unlikely deliverer for 2 reasons:

(1) Sampson was seriously flawed.

One of the easiest things to do in any study of Sampson is to spot his numerous weaknesses. He was:

(a) Wilful. This is evident from how he addressed his parents regarding his proposed marriage: "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife." Jd14v2. Sampson would have her notwithstanding the protestations of his mother and father who wanted him to marry one of his own people. Their only son behaved like the spoilt brat he undoubtedly was. I expect Manoah and his wife doted on Sampson - the son they never expected to have.

(b) Careless. It seems likely that the only part of his Nazarite vow Sampson kept was the part that referred to his hair. He certainly ate honey from a bees' nest in the carcass of the lion he slew. In so doing he made contact with a dead body. It is probably significant that he didn't tell his parents where the honey came from. They would probably have disapproved. See Jd14v8and9.

(c) Reckless. Sampson recklessly bet the 30 Philistine male guests at his wedding that they would not be able to solve his riddle. He was in a no win situation. He stood to antagonise the men if he won and to incur a heavy cost if he lost. The expense of kitting out 30 men today in a suit, shirt and underwear would be between £4000 and £5000. See Jd14v12.

(d) Vindictive. It was vindictive of Sampson to kill 30 Philistines in Ashkelon in order to strip them of the clothing necessary to honour his bet. It also seems unjust in that they were not the ones guilty of pressurising Sampson's wife to get the answer to his riddle.

(d) Cruel. When Sampson discovered that the woman he thought he had married had been given to his best friend he got into a mega strop. The girl's father had assumed that Sampson was so mad with her that he wouldn't want to consummate the marriage. It was a dangerous assumption. It would have been prudent of the father to inquire of Sampson what his intention was!

Anyway, Sampson acted like a spoilt brat and decided to take it out on the Philistines as a whole. He hit on a novel way to destroy the Philistine's grain harvest; one which required a sustained effort. He trapped 300 jackals, tied their tails together in pairs, attached a lighted torch to the tails and released them from a series of different locations, The result: He burned up the shocks and standing corn, together with vineyards and olive groves. Jd15v5.

The situation went from bad to worse. The Philistines burned Sampson's wife and father-in-law whereupon he entered upon a killing spree.

Sampson was undoubtedly cruel - not least to the jackals. However, before we get too judgmental we need to remember the dirty tricks we got up to in the Second World War.

(e) Lustful. Philistine women exerted a strange fascination over Sampson. He was quite prepared to visit a prostitute in Gaza even though this put his life in danger. See Jd16v1.

(f) Weak. Sampson fell hook, line and sinker for yet another Philistine girl, Delilah. She, just like his first wife, was able to wheedle a secret out of him. Unless Sampson was remarkably thick it must have been obvious after three failed attempts what she was up to. But he couldn't live without her and no sacrifice was too great for her continued company. Like water dripping from the roof of a cave can wear a hole through rock so Delilah's continued nagging finally achieved its aim. With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. So he told her everything. jd15v16and17.

(g) Presumptuous. After Delilah had her lover's hair cut off and she cried for the fourth time: "Sampson the Philistine's are upon you," we read some of the saddest words in the Bible: He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him. Jd16v20. Sampson had presumed too much - that he would retain his God-given strength whatever he did.

Reading this list of failings it seems almost inconceivable that Sampson was God's appointed deliverer and a hero of faith.

I am reminded of the reassuring words Matthew wrote of Jesus: A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. Mt12v20. See exposition on Mt12v20. The fact is that God does use many men mightily in spite of their obvious imperfections. David was deceitful, Peter wanted to be well thought of, Tolstoy's righteousness was legalistic; he showed little love for his wife, Martin Luther was insulting and crude, C.S. Lewis was bombastic and insensitive, Martin Luther King was a philanderer, William Booth was unforgiving of those who failed the Salvation Army and lacked warmth and affection for anyone except his wife. So I could go on! It is a great mistake to think God's heroes of faith are any less flawed than any other Christian.

(2) Sampson was unorthodox.

Sampson was not a bit like the other judges. For instance:

(a) There is no evidence he settled disputes like Deborah.

(b) He never spoke on the LORD's behalf like Jephthah or Samuel. We cannot imagine him composing a hymn of praise like Deborah and Barak.

(c) He was a loner. Sampson never raised an army or engaged in battle with the enemy. He won no decisive engagement with Israel's enemies like Gideon or Jephthah. Sampson never enlisted anyone else's help for any reason whatsoever - except right at the end when he asked the slave boy who led him about to place him against the pillars in the temple of Dagon.

(d) To use modern parlance, Sampson was the darling of the tabloids. He performed one daring, outrageous stunt after another. He was the headline writer's pride and joy. We can imagine Israelites saying to one another, "Have you heard the latest about Sampson."

(e) He was local. Sampson's exploits were limited to the five towns of the Philistines, the small tribal area of Dan and parts of western Judah. He did not stray far out of his local area.

God has always been prepared to use the unorthodox. I am afraid many Christians are more suspicious of mavericks and oddballs than God is. I have been of limited use because I have a reputation in my own denomination for being unorthodox!

Obadiah, wicked king Ahab's right hand man, was held in very low esteem by Elijah - but God used him to hide and feed a 100 prophets in a cave. Esther was an unorthodox deliverer of the Jewish people. What was a pretty Jewish girl doing in the harem of the Persian king, Xerxes? Esther, a disgrace to her people, turned out to be their saviour. Paul's methods would not suit a lot of strict, legalistic Christian's today. He was all things to all men in order to save some. David Livingstone's missionary endeavours in Africa were to all intents and purposes remarkably ineffectual. He seemed more interested in exploration than evangelism. However, the efforts of his servants to return his preserved body from the African interior to the coast caught the imagination of believers in Britain and resulted in a huge influx of new missionaries to the continent. William Booth's hallelujah lasses and his uneducated evangelists were ridiculed and disparaged by many in the main stream denominations but they brought innumerable working class people to Christ. God has time for flamboyant and colourful characters - unorthodox preachers like De Witt Talmage and Billy Bray in the 19th century.

When Talmage was the minister of the Reformed Dutch Church in Philadelphia he was criticised for being a "pulpit clown" and "mountebank" because of his sensational sermons. But the church grew. When he moved to the Central Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Talmage continued his dramatic services with even greater success than before. An example of his colourful style was reported by a newspaper of the era:

One Sunday morning when the time came for him to deliver his sermon, he walked to the extreme edge on one side of his fifty-foot wide platform, faced about, then suddenly started to jump as fast as he could for the opposite side. Just as everybody in the congregation, breathless, expected to see him pitch headlong from the further side of the platform he leaped suddenly in the air and came down with a crash, shouting, "Young man, you are rushing towards a precipice". And then he delivered a moving sermon upon the temptations and sins of youth in a big city.

Billy Bray was a Cornish miner who after his conversion became a flamboyant and controversial evangelist. The following anecdotes give some idea of his unusual approach:

One day Billy heard of the death of a preacher who had opposed any emotion in the church. Billy commenting on his ministry declared, "So John have done with the doubters and he is got up to heaven with the shouters. They that love the dear Lord will praise him, because they feel his love in their hearts. Turning to some others standing by, "Some can only eat out of the silent dish, but I can not only eat out of that one, but out of the shouting dish, and jumping dish, and every other dish. My comrades used to tell me that was no religion, dancing, shouting and making so much to-do, but I was born in the fire and could not live in the smoke."

At the end of Billy's life the doctor was present at his bedside. With little tact he told Billy that he was going to die. Billy responded, "Glory! Glory be to God! I shall soon be in heaven." Then he asked the doctor, "When I get up there, shall I give them your compliments, doctor, and tell them you will be coming too?" This really touched the hard hearted doctor's heart. Even at death Billy's joy was a powerful witness to the love of Christ.

(B) An appropriate deliverer.

If we are to understand how Sampson began to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines we need to understand the dreadful state they were in.

They were:

(1) Dominated.

The Philistines had superior technology than the Israelites. To put it in modern parlance: they had greater fire power. In Sam13v19 we read: Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, "Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!"

The Israelites had to go to the Philistine smiths to get their mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened. How humiliating!

To put it bluntly the Philistines were in the Iron Age and the Israelites still in the Bronze Age.

(2) Compliant.

Philistine dominance was accepted by the Israelites. They did not cry out to the LORD for deliverance during the time of Sampson.

Sampson sought refuge in a cave in the rock of Elam in Judah after killing numerous Philistines in retaliation for burning his wife and father-in-law. The Philistines sent an armed detachment of soldiers into Judah to capture Sampson. This alarmed the leaders of Judah. They agreed to hand Sampson over to the Philistines and sent a force of 3000 to the rock of Elam. Sampson was soon told how unwelcome his presence in Judah was: "Don't you realise that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us? Jd15v11.

Sampson agreed to be bound in new ropes and handed over to the Philistines. He showed more spirit than the entire 3000 who had come to apprehend him. He used the fresh jawbone of an ass to smight the Philistines hip and thigh.

(3) Overwhelmed.

The Israelites suffered from an inferiority complex as far as the Philistines were concerned. The Philistines were more advanced than them and seemed superior in every way. Even their women were more sophisticated and alluring! Many Israelites no doubt thought that their enemies were invincible.

(4) In danger of assimilation.

Sampson himself illustrates the danger the Israelites were in. He made frequent visits to the Philistine cities. He was attracted to Philistine girls and wanted to marry one.

Innumerable Israelites visited Philistine territory to get their farm tools serviced.

The Philistines were pushing east - inland into Gad - living alongside Israelites and inter-marrying with them. There was a very real danger that the Philistines would eventually assimilate the Israelites who would lose their distinctiveness as God's chosen people.

The Hebrews needed a leader who could clearly demonstrate that the Philistines were not invincible but vulnerable to someone prepared to stand up to them and take them on in the strength that God supplies.

In our day and age the forces arraigned against Christianity appear very great. Christians feel beleaguered. The government is not sympathetic toward them, the media biased against them, secularist pressure groups try to remove all reference to the Faith from public life and the great mass of people are indifferent to the truth.

There is a very real danger of the church being taken over by the world. Instead of Christianities' values influencing the world the opposite is the case. The world's values are infecting the church which is losing its distinctiveness.

We need Christians who are prepared to take on the world and to expose its tawdry values for what they are.

(C) An effective deliverer.

Sampson for all his flaws and notwithstanding his unorthodox approach fulfilled God's purpose in the following ways:

(1) He knew who the enemy was.

Sampson may have fraternised with the Philistines and fancied their women but he never mistook his own people for the enemy. This is evident by his reaction to the 3000 men of Judah who came to arrest him. He didn't want to fight them. But when they handed him over, bound, to the Philistines Sampson snapped the new ropes, picked up the fresh jawbone of an ass and set about them. See Jd15v9to17.

Through the centuries Christians have spent too much time squabbling among themselves. We shouldn't be fighting one another. We should be facing our foes: the world, the flesh and the devil. The world is a particularly dangerous foe in the days in which live. Christians should oppose its values otherwise they will infiltrate the church and sap its strength.

Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high his royal banner,
It must not suffer loss;
From victory unto victory
His army will he lead,
Till every foe is vanquished,
And Christ is Lord indeed.

(2) He never backed away from a fight.

Dale Ralph Davis in his commentary on Judges recounts a story about General Grant. During the Civil War a story circulated that Grant had been drunk at the Battle of Shiloh. About 11pm one night President Lincoln had a visit from his friend A.K. McClure. He was on a mission. He had come to argue on behalf of a number of Republicans that public opinion had turned against Grant and he should be dismissed so that Lincoln, himself, retained the confindence of the Union. After listening to McClure for nearly two hours, with few interuptions and after a long silence Lincoln said in tones of great earnestness, "I cannot spare this man; he fights." Grant may have looked seedy, he might have drunk too much and been unpopular with the public but he fought!

Sampson was like that. He was always willing to take on the enemies of God's people. He was never intimidated. No one could accuse Sampson of having an inferiority complex. He was strong in the strength that God supplied.

All over the world Christians are standing firm in the face of bitter oppression. Churches are founded in the teeth of vicious opposition. Evangelism continues in Moslem countries even though it is against the law and in some instances punishable by death.

In the 19th century many great Christian warriors took on the authorities and vested interests to achieve social reforms. Solicitor, Yvonne Hossack, stands in that proud tradition. She took on a series of local councils to prevent them closing care homes for the elderly. Yvonne saved 80 from closure. The local authorities didn't like it and reported her to the Law Society for misconduct. She was found not guilty.

(3) Sampson's victories were highly memorable.

Sampson made fools of the Philistines. His escapades made his people laugh. They loved his trick with the jackals and thought his removal of the Gaza city gate to the top of a local hill a real hoot. See Jd16v1to3.

Sampson's antics showed that the Philistines could be beaten. They were not invincible. Sampson by his feats of strength and valour and pithy utterances raised Israelite moral.

Jesus did the same. He won victory after victory against the religious leaders and university men. In the end we read in Luke20v40: And no one dared to ask him any more questions. See for example exposition on Luke20v21to26.

C.S. Lewis undoubtedly raised the morale of Christians all over the world by his robust defence of Christianity in his books and broadcasts. I can remember Billy Graham being interviewed on TV during one of his British campaigns. He wasn't intimidated. He wasn't on the defensive. Billy spoke with such confidence and charm he quite won the interviewer over. This is something that happened a long time ago but I still remember it. As a very young Christian it really raised my spirits.

On the Today Program recently Richard Dawkins talked about his discovery that many people who claimed to be Christians couldn't put the gospels in order.

The other guest on the program, the Rev Dr Giles Fraser, asked him: "Richard, if I said to you what is the full title of The Origin Of Species, I’m sure you could tell me that."

Dawkins replied: "Yes, I could."

Fraser responded: "Go on then."

Dawkins spluttered: "On the Origin of Species... uh... with... Oh God. Er... On the Origin of Species. Um. There’s ... there’s a sub-title...er, um... with respect to the preser... preservation of favoured races in the fight, in the struggle for life."

Richard Dawkins was wrong! The full title is: 'On The Origin Of Species By Means Of Natural Selection, or the Preservation Of Favoured Races In The Struggle For Life.'

This interchange caused a lot of merriment among Christians because the supremely confident and slightly arrogant Richard Dawkins was for once bested and lost face.

When the church is weak and dispirited, when it is struggling to make its voice heard, morale can be raised by bold, colourful, larger than life, swashbuckling characters. Two Anglicans who fall into this category are the present Archbishop of York and the South African Archbishop Tutu.

(4) Sampson's greatest victory was achieved in death.

The account of Sampson's one last feat of strength makes wonderful reading. He seemed such an abject figure in the Temple of Dagon, a blind object of derision. However the hair stands up on the back of our necks as we read: But the hair on his head began to grow again. Jd16v22.

I can only think that Sampson was entertaining the Philistines by performing feats of strength. I expect he had a strong man routine: bending iron bars, lifting weights, snapping ropes. Oh beware, beware foolishly complacent onlookers.

So the unwary slave boy is persuaded to lead Sampson to the pillars that supported the balcony of the temple. He needs to rest after his exertions! But he doesn't rest! After a brief and vengeful prayer to the LORD he pushed, and pushed and brought down the temple balcony and 3000 Philistines with it. Thus he killed many more when he died than when he lived. Jd16v30.

With God's help Sampson turned defeat into victory. This is true of other heroes of the Old Testament: Joseph, Moses, Mordecai and Esther, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Nothing illustrates the possibility of God turning defeat into victory better than the death of Jesus. Sin appeared to triumph at Calvary but instead we see there the triumph of grace.

It has happened over and over again since. Stephen's death was a terrible blow to the early church. Stephen was very much a leading light. However, I am sure that his martyrdom prepared the way for the conversion of one of the eye witnesses - Saul of Tarsus.

When the little apostle was himself in chains he was able to witness to the soldiers who guarded him, so much so that the whole of the palace guard learned about Jesus Christ.

When the Chinese Communists expelled all the Western missionaries and tried to eradicate the church from China defeat seemed imminent. Instead, the church went underground and began to grow at a faster rate than ever before.

As has been so often the case, to repeat the words of the Lord to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2Cor12v9.

In 1956 five missionaries were killed by Auca Indians in the rainforest of Ecuador. The men were: Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, Roger Youderin and Peter Fleming. Their bodies were recovered and their equipment and personal property was brought back.

To many people it would seem that Jim Elliot's dream and the aspirations of the other men had ended in failure. But they had done what was expected of them and it was now time for God to continue with His plan. Amongst the personal possessions was a camera and amongst the pictures taken were some of the Auca Indians who had initially made contact with the missionaries. The people in the photographs were recognized by an exiled Auca woman who had helped the missionaries learn the language. They were relatives that she thought were dead!

She made contact with them and before long Elisabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint (Nate's sister) were living amongst the tribe. They established a church and many of the Aucas became Christians. Elisabeth returned home to America after several years but Rachel stayed with the Aucas for many years.

The story of Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, Roger Youderin and Peter Fleming has become one of the great missionary tales throughout the world. Many, many people have been inspired by these men. They have also been inspired by the wives, and sister, of these men. Marilou McCully set up a school for missionary children in Quito. Barbara Youderin went to work with another tribe. Elisabeth Elliot has produced many books, including an excellent one on Christian principles for raising children.

The deaths of these men, a personal tragedy for their families, has become a world-wide testimony of faith in Christ and dedication to the work of God, which is much, much bigger than the conversion of a jungle tribe to Christianity.

As God proved in the death of Sampson and in his assurance to Paul: "For my power is made perfect in weakness."