RECOVERY AS SUGGESTED IN SAMSON'S HISTORY
RECOVERY AS SUGGESTED IN SAMSON’S HISTORY
Judges 13: 24, 25; Judges 14: 1 - 20; Judges 16: 22 - 31
JT Inquiry was made as to Samson last evening, and it was thought that a consideration of his history would help on the line which has been before us already, especially the feminine side of the truth. There is no section of the book of Judges more interesting or more important than that which treats of Samson, especially from the standpoint of his birth and what led up to it, Manoah’s wife being presented as more spiritual than her husband. The spiritual side was before us last evening as seen in the daughters of Zelophehad who knew how to “speak right” in the presence of God, also in the presence of Moses and the elders of Israel. Manoah’s wife discerned that an angel had visited her, and while her husband said that some mischief would befall them, she asserted that, “If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and an oblation at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would he at this time have told us such things as these”. She is a discerning intelligent woman, which in the main was in mind yesterday, and it is in mind now. The history of Samson proves the feminine side in that sense.
The enquiry last evening was as to whether Samson’s exercises about marriage were of God; that is what should engage us first now. It is said in chapter 14 that “his father and his mother did not know that it was of Jehovah, that he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines”. The inquiry yesterday had in mind the difficulty of connecting Jehovah’s guidance with the matter, because of the [p. 78] person being a Philistine. It is to be noted, among other things, that we have to consider the results, as recorded in the scriptural account, of facts bearing on the testimony. We have to take account of the results, and here they are very remarkable, and, indeed, triumphant, for Samson had a crown of life. His hair began to grow. The suggestion is of a great failure of a great servant, or we may say failure in the history of the assembly, and yet the recovering grace of God leads to the crown of life, because the growth of the hair implies life. Clearly the suggestion of a crown is there in the power that is seen in the servant after his recovery. It marked him at the beginning and it marked him at the end. We have at the end of chapter 13, “And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him. And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him at Mahaneh-Dan, between Zoreah and Eshtaol”. The translator tells us that the Hebrew word for moved is expressive of powerful emotion, and the significance of this word being used in relation to Samson in his early days is very remarkable. What has been said about the crown of life should be before us now. Great failure has taken place in the assembly, but there has been recovery, and this recovery is marked by life, life in a subjective sense in the saints. So that the assembly will go to heaven triumphantly. There will be the overthrow of the world and that is taking place even now in principle.
Ques It says, “the boy shall be a Nazarite of God from the womb”. What bearing would that have on the matter?
JT Well, the truth of nazariteship is wrapped up in it. The book of Numbers teaches us about nazariteship. The Lord Jesus Himself was a Nazarite, and the truth of this is greatly stressed in Scripture.
[p. 79] Samson is clearly an illustration of it, especially in the great evidence of power flowing out.
Ques Are you suggesting that the same spiritual vigour that marked the assembly in the early days is to mark it at the end?
JT That is exactly what I was thinking. The Spirit of God has brought about revival, and indeed that is the suggestion in the book of the Acts, for as early as chapter 9 the assembly had begun to wane and Paul is brought in there. The Lord said of him, that he was to be “an elect vessel to me” which reminds us of revival. The Spirit of God moved in Saul, and immediately there was freshness in the sense of revival, and the great features of the assembly came into evidence, implying power.
Rem I have observed that in Mr. Stoney’s reference to Samson in his book, ‘Discipline in the School of God’ he remarks that it was not the marriage which was of the Lord, but the fact that he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines.
JT Well, that is quite evident. It does not appear that the woman ever became his wife.
Rem Mr. Darby remarks also that the desire to marry the woman was sin, but it would appear that he never married her.
JT Well, God watches over the history of His servants and prevents them from doing what they might proceed in; to that extent anyway, Samson is preserved until he actually discloses his secret of nazariteship. We cannot deny that Samson was a Nazarite until God forsook him. The fact that God remained with him proves he was a Nazarite until he disclosed his secret; indeed he did not know that Jehovah had departed from him. But his hair began to grow, and this would correspond with the history of the assembly at the present time, with the evidence of life, the realisation of life as amongst the brethren.
[p. 80] Ques Do I understand that you regard this history as having a dispensational bearing rather than providing a precedent for individual action?
JT Just so, and it is a very important thing to see that there are such examples of God’s overseeing care so that the truth of the dispensation is maintained. That is really more important than anything else. This dispensation should be understood, it is the longest of all the dispensations, and the most prolific, the most resultful, bringing out what God is in His grace and love and particularly in the preservation of His people.
JnoG Does the little power of Philadelphia correspond with Samson’s hair growing?
JT I would think that. “A little power”; and “that no one take thy crown”; that is another thing to be on our guard against.
Ques Earlier it was said to Smyrna, “Fear nothing of what thou art about to suffer”. Might that be a word for us at the present time?
JT Well, I am sure that is a word. One has felt it lately in certain events that one has had to do with, that God says to us, “Fear not”. It is a word that runs through Scripture, addressed to those who are on God’s side. It is said to Joshua, and it is a necessary word in our disciplinary meetings, so that we are not afraid of consequences. We are apt to be too much afraid of how things will affect certain ones and to be influenced by personal feelings and the like; hence the importance of being courageous in carrying out the behest of God in His judgment in the assembly, whatever consequences may arise.
Ques Would you say a word about Samson revealing the secret of his strength?
JT Well, it is the most sorrowful part of the history I would say, and shows that he was a man of like passions with ourselves. He is therefore an [p. 81] example to warn us, that even although God may continue with us, there may be faults that ought to be judged. The presence of God is in evidence, for He is merciful and watches over us in all that happens. Yet He would insist on individual self-judgment, and collective self-judgment, because if individual self-judgment is maintained, God would say, ‘I will be with you’. What He says in such circumstances is, ‘I will be with you if you are with Me’. But He bears with us. Some day we may find that He departs, that while we may carry on the outward form of the service of God, He has departed from us.
MB Do we see a similar thing in Hezekiah’s day when he disclosed what was in the house, (2 Kings 20)?
JT God was very merciful to Hezekiah, yet He did not fail to judge the evil. So it is now, though He bears long with us. Indeed the history of the assembly at Corinth is the best example we can get of how God can bear with His people; and yet in time the judgment falls, so that Paul has to say, “Having in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience shall have been fulfilled”, 2 Corinthians 10: 6. There were many individuals who were disobedient at Corinth. When the saints generally get right, then God will exercise judgment against the offenders.
As to the action of Samson and the part his father and mother had in the thing, we see that God prevented him taking the wife that was allotted to him first, before she is given to another. God intervened in all that, and Samson retained his power and is able to encase it in a secretive way so that it should be there and yet not understood. It has the character of the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens. Parabolic ministry hides the truth, but the truth is there, and those who have a conscience, and who [p. 82] have discernment, can see it, whereas the delinquents cannot, and do not, see it. That, I believe, is the principle of parabolic ministry, especially in Matthew’s gospel.
JM Would you say something about the riddle in chapter 14 in that connection?
JT Well, it is clearly an allusion to the death of Christ and the sweetness of the ministry; and then following upon that the Spirit of God implies in chapter 16 the resurrection of Christ in what Samson did when he “seized the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and tore them up with the bar, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron”. Added to chapter 15 this is a remarkable testimony to the power of God operative in His servant. In chapter 15 we have the great exploit of Samson. It says, “the Philistines shouted against him. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and the cords that were on his arms became as threads of flax that are burned with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and slew with it a thousand men. And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps, with the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men. And it came to pass when he had ended speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-Lehi. And he was very thirsty, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given by the hand of thy servant this great deliverance, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? And God clave the hollow rock which was in Lehi, and water came out of it. And he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day”.
[p. 83] It seems to me that chapter 15 suggests the thought of power, especially the Spirit’s power, in the water by which he was refreshed. And then in chapter 16 the exploit at Gazah would point to the resurrection of Christ, and not only that, but to the purposes of God reached through it. It says at the end of the third verse alluding to the gates, that he “tore them up with the bar, and put them upon his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron”. The shoulders suggest strength, and Hebron alludes to what antedates the world and to the greatest thoughts we can have. All this lies in the Spirit, but then it is real power too, the masculine thought of power — the two shoulders. Then we have the failure, which is of course distressing, but at the same time the chapters provide a great delineation of the truth, it may be in relation to the individual, but particularly dispensational truth. So it says the hair began to grow.
HB The principle of betrayal comes out twice in connection with Samson and the Philistines. Is that a feature of the world that we should be on our guard against? In the first instance he says, “If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle”; then too in the case of Delilah they got at him in a cunning kind of way.
JT Quite so. That all links on with what we are saying, and the heifer is a very suggestive thought; “my heifer” he calls her, although he never really secured her. The heifer is typical of great affection. It is a female thought suggesting great affection. In Genesis 15, Abram was to secure a heifer amongst other creatures there, and I believe that whatever Samson may have understood, the Spirit of God means that the feminine thought was there, and in due course Christ would secure it; Christ would have the assembly. But God uses the Philistines to deny Samson what he sought. It must [p. 84] be the assembly that is in the divine thought. And then Delilah is the wicked person. She is found in Revelation, in Thyatira. We have there an allusion to the wickedness of the apostate assembly. The Lord says, “Her children will I kill with death”. Moreover she says, “I sit a queen, and I am not a widow; and I shall in no wise see grief”, but the Spirit of God asserts that her sorrow will be terrible.
HB So these two women would represent a feminine element that is in direct contrast to what we were looking at last evening in the book of Numbers in connection with the daughters of Zelophehad.
JT I think so; the link would be strong. It occurred to me this was an extensive subject which ought to be looked into.
Rem It will be noted that with both these women there is a downward movement. In chapter 14: 5 it says, “And Samson went down” Then in verse 7, “And he went down”; verse 10, “And his father went down”. In chapter 16: 4 there is reference to the valley of Sorek in contrast to the mountain in the previous verse. Is there a significance in all that?
JT Valleys are dangerous in that sense. All this downward movement is very suggestive, and probably refers to the history of Christendom, because it is all downward from the early chapters of the Acts. Paul began a revival and the Lord took him up in view of it, and then the long period of deflection, until the assembly got on to the level of the world; then the revival we have already spoken of. The Reformation was, of course, a little movement, something of God, but at the same time it did not go all the way. Protestantism does not go all the way. But it is a feature of the actings of the Spirit of God as here, that He will go all the way.
“[p. 85] He shall guide you into all the truth”; not simply what it is partially, but what it is as a whole.
Ques In connection with Samson it refers at least twice to his avenging himself, whereas with Gideon he spoke of delivering Israel. Is that not a better thought?
JT It is indeed. Gideon is certainly set over against Samson in that sense, setting out the service of God before the Angel. Manoah’s wife was more in it than he was and it is well that we should not forget that. It comes into Samson’s history as well, as we see in chapter 14, and his father being mentioned by himself at times, would, I think, point to defectiveness in the position. It is necessary that the sisters should apprehend all this, so that they may not be onlookers, and simply followers of the brothers. They are to be fully in the truth, and there is no reason why they should not be. The Spirit of God makes much of women who have been leaders in the truth. Manoah’s wife’s name is never mentioned, but I think she represents the sisters as it says, “Let the women learn in silence”. But she does not fail to meet a situation when it arises and to correct her husband.
WHT Certain instructions are given to the women in Scripture.
JT I suppose that would be the subjective side. What we have in these Bible readings seems peculiar to the dispensation in our own times. Not that there is any difference in what we have from what they had in the early days, but I think the conversational idea would be more stressed now, and it has given great opportunity for instruction. Whilst it says that the women are to learn in silence, yet they are to learn. They are not to be ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth. I believe in this passage in Judges 13: 23, Manoah’s wife alludes to the sisters because she asserted what [p. 86] is right and it was in reference to a remarkable movement which is said to be wonderful, really foreshadowing the service of God.
Rem One of the instructions given by the angel to the woman is, “and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines”. That evidently was what God had in mind.
JT That was what was intended and it is said twice over of Samson that he judged Israel twenty years. Firstly in Judges 15: 20, meaning that he was doing it then, and secondly in Judges 16: 31. “He had judged Israel twenty years”. So that he was not always slaying Philistines, for he was judging; it is a very great matter to have judgment executed and made clear amongst the brethren; things are to be made right and regulated by the truth.
Ques You were speaking of exploits; would that be seen in some of the exploits of the men of God, in the history of the church, who yet had not the full light of the assembly?
JT There were exploits before the Reformation by many dear men of God whose hymns we have, showing what they were. Then in the Reformation itself, how much there was! But not until the Spirit of God asserted Himself amongst the saints do we get the truth of the assembly.
AB Do we see Samson’s history closed to some extent in verse 20 of chapter 15? It says, “He judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years”, and then in chapter 16 we see he immediately turned from a straight path.
JT I think God is showing how thoughtful He is of His servants, and that although they may fail grievously, yet He is pleased to say of Samson before his failure and imprisonment that he judged Israel. It says, “He judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years”.
AB Does the Spirit of God in that way give him credit for what he did?
JT And then in the end of chapter 16, “He had judged Israel twenty years”. The exercise of judgment is stressed in this servant, and the mention of it reminds us how considerate God is of us, and how ready He is to give us credit. Even if there be failure, the things we are credited with are present and asserted and indeed emphasised.
JM What does Samson’s remarkable death mean for us?
JT I think it is the humiliation that belongs to the position, but we should carefully notice what is said. “But the hair of his head began to grow after he was shaved. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered together to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands. And when the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, Our god has given into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, even him who multiplied our slain. And it came to pass when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he played before them; and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Let loose of me, and suffer me to feel the pillars upon which the house stands, that I may lean upon them”.
I think we have to learn a little here as to the man himself, in view of his death, the humiliation attached to it, dying with the Philistines, although there is victory in that. He died a prisoner, a blind prisoner, but as to himself he was personally free, and I believe that is what he means when he says to the lad that held him, “Let loose of me”. He was free of the world’s limitations. The presence of [p. 88] this lad, of course, was a suggestion that he was a prisoner, a blind prisoner, needing to be guided, but he says, “Let loose of me”. He shook off whatever elements of the world remained with him, so as to be free in the exercise of the power of God. I think we will do well to think of that, and to consider whether we are free in our souls and able to shake off whatever elements of the world remain with us, so as to use the power of God as granted to us.
FB It was nazariteship that did that.
JT Quite so. Samson did it himself. His word, “Let loose of me”; would be as much as to say, I do not need you any more. He knew he was going to die, undoubtedly.
FB In connection with the present phase of this dispensation does nazariteship not free us from anything binding?
JT By our failure we may lose the characteristics of nazariteship, but as returning to them, as I believe Samson returned in his soul, we free ourselves from what hinders God’s power working in us. He knew what was going to happen and said, “Let me die with the Philistines!”.
Ques Would his return to nazariteship be indicated in the hair beginning to grow again?
JT That was the beginning of the thing. The revival we have part in now involves that features that are distinctively of the world are to be shaken off; for instance, clericalism, which is a sorrowful feature of the declension, had to be repudiated. This little lad is, so to say, a suggestion of that. Samson was to be free of all that now. We ought to be entirely free of that element.
WA-s There is a resumption of liberty with God indicated in Samson’s prayer.
JT Yes, it is very beautiful. He says, “Suffer me to feel the pillars upon which the house stands, that I may lean upon them”. He had in mind to [p. 89] exercise his power in leaning on them. “Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and upon the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson made sport”. It is a most distressing thought! Samson making sport for them! “And Samson called to Jehovah”; he is now free; “and said, Lord Jehovah, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may take one vengeance upon the Philistines for my two eyes”. He is rather small, but still he is speaking to God; he is asking for vengeance for his eyes. He is going to die, of course, but he is praying to God and seeks to exercise the power he had been accustomed to. “And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood (and he supported himself upon them), the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines! And he bowed himself with might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people that were therein. So the dead that he slew at his death were more than those whom he had slain in his life”. It seems to me, that there is great victory in this, whilst fully recognising the humbling circumstances; and we must discern that we are in very humbling circumstances since the revival.
JOS Does the fact that the Spirit is not said to have come upon him imply that now there is inward power in Samson?
JT I think Judges 16:3, presents a Colossian thought. Hebron is in view; that which is before the world. In Colossians the Spirit is not mentioned in a personal way, the power of the Spirit is more in view.
JW Why does the loss of his eyesight weigh so heavily upon him at [p. 90] the last?
JT Well, I suppose he felt that was the great shame of his position; “my two eyes”. He spoke of them both. He evidently had a judgment in that sense, which we all should have if we are awake. “Wake up, thou that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee”, Ephesians 5: 14. It is a question of the light that belongs to the position which we are in.
JC Samson’s name is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as one who was an overcomer.
JT He is amongst those who come in toward the end, where the writer says, “the time would fail me ...”; there is so much to say. Another beautiful thing is, that there is so much to say, we have hardly time to say it; so much to be done too. The servants of the Lord have not the same latitude or opportunity that they used to have. Time is one of the scarcest things.
JnoG Is the hair growing again, and the power which is subsequently seen, an answer to the feminine side that you have been stressing? They refer to the subjective inward side.
JT I think it would; a suggestion that the assembly is coming to light; and there is power. Philadelphia, I suppose, would be that phase of the thing, as the Lord said, “Thou hast a little power”; and then what goes with that, “and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”. Further He says, “Hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”; He has the assembly itself in mind, and says, “Behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet”, (thy feet, not my feet), “and shall know that I have loved thee”. That is a beautiful touch in Philadelphia.