Juízes 13

Juízes 13

Henry - This was an evidence that the Lord blessed him. Where God gives his blessing he gives his Spirit to qualify for the blessing. Those are blessed indeed in whom the Spirit of grace begins to work betimes, in the days of their childhood. If the Spirit be poured out upon our offspring, they will spring up as willows by the water courses, Isaiah 44:3,4. The Spirit of God moved Samson in the camp of Dan, that is, in the general muster of the trained bands of that tribe, who probably had formed a camp between Zorah and Eshtaol, near the place where he lived, to oppose the incursions of the Philistines; there Samson, when a child, appeared among them, and signalized himself by some very brave actions, excelling them all in manly exercises and trials of strength: and probably he showed himself more than ordinarily zealous against the enemies of his country, and discovered more of a public spirit than could be expected in a child. The Spirit moved him at times, not at all times, but as the wind blows, when he listed, to show that what he did was not from himself, for then he could have done it at any time. Strong men think themselves greatly animated by wine (Psalms 78:65), but Samson drank no wine, and yet excelled in strength and courage, and every thing that was bold and brave, for he had the Spirit of God moving him; therefore be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit, who will come to those that are sober and temperate. What potential Samson had! (1) His birth announced by Christ Himself (the Angel of the Lord), (2) godly parents even in an ungodly time, (Contrasted with Jephthah, the son of a harlot who was driven out of his home, Samson had every advantage as a boy) (3) dedication to God at birth and set apart as a Nazirite for special service (cp our setting aside in Eph 2:10+; see article "Believers are God's Masterpiece, His Poiema"), (4) blessed of the LORD as he grew, and (5) finally stirred by the Holy Spirit of God. Notice that all three members of the Trinity are intimately involved in his development. BUT SPIRITUAL PRIVILEGE IS NO GUARANTEE OF SPIRITUAL SUCCESS. That's what Paul recounts in 1Co 10:1-5+ as he lists the numerous privileges of the Israelites and their repeated failures, closing with the somber warning in (1Co 10:12+). Clearly, Samson was a man who yielded frequently to the lusts of his flesh (Jas 1:14+, Jas 1:15+), but amazingly God's Spirit still classifies this man of frequent failure as a man of faith in Hebrews 11 (Heb 11:32-34+). Keil and Delitzsch When he had grown up, the Spirit of Jehovah began to thrust (pa'am) him in the camp of Dan. פָּעַם, to thrust, denoting the operation of the Spirit of God within him, which took possession of him suddenly, and impelled him to put forth supernatural powers. Mahaneh-Dan, the camp of Dan, was the name given to the district in which the Danites who emigrated, according to Judg. 18:12, from the inheritance of their tribe, had pitched their encampment behind, i.e., to the west of, Kirjath-jearim, or according to this verse, between Zorea and Eshtaol. The situation cannot be determined precisely, as the situation of Eshtaol itself has not been discovered yet (see at Josh. 15:33). It was there that Samson lived with his parents, judging from Judg. 16:31. The meaning of this verse, which forms the introduction to the following account of the acts of Samson, is simply that Samson was there seized by the Spirit of Jehovah, and impelled to commence the conflict with the Philistines.(Judges 13 - Keil & Delitzsch Commentary) A R Fausset - And the Spirit of the Lord [JEHOVAH] began to move [Pahan, ‘thrust’ or impel him, taking sudden possession of. So ἐκβάλλει, “thrust Him forth” (Mark 1:12), is the term used of the Spirit’s impelling the great Antitype to His first conflict with Satan] him at times in the camp of Dan [Mahaneh-dan (ch. 18:11, 12, which refers to times long preceding Samson). The district where the 600 Danite emigrants pitched their camp ‘behind,’ i.e., west of Kirjath-Jearim (now Kuriet-el-Enab in Judah)], between Zorah [Sura, seven miles south-west of Kuriet-el-Enab] and Eshtaol [in the Shephelah, or low hilly country of Judah between mountain and plain (Josh. 15:33, 19:41), now Kusteel, a conical hill, an hour’s journey south of Kuriet-el-Enab towards Jerusalem. Allotted to Dan, on the Philistine border, between Ashdod and Askelon. The standing camp of the little host (Mahaneh-dan), as being exposed to constant warfare with Philistia, was a district well calculated to train Samson for his encounters with that people]. (commentary) To stir (NET - "to control")(06470)(pa'am) means thrust, endow, bestow, grant, push or impel. Impel = impart motion to, urge or drive forward and to give an object or benefit to someone (Jdg 13:25). Pa'am can also mean to be stirred, be troubled, be disturbed, be in mental state of distress and worry relating to a situation (Ge 41:8; Ps 77:4; Da 2:3). The idea is a troubling or agitation bothering persons, making them act (Gen. 41:8). In Jdg 13:25 the idea is that God's Spirit was stirring up Samson, motivating him to act. In Ps 77:4 the person is so stirred up that they actually cannot act! Gilbrant - The verb pāʿam, "to be troubled," "to be agitated," appears five times in the OT. Samson was stirred by the Spirit of the Lord while still in his mother's womb (Judg. 13:25), which endowed him with the power which enabled him to carry out amazing feats throughout his life. The mind of Pharaoh was so greatly disturbed after waking from his dreams that he called for the magicians and wise men to interpret them (Gen. 41:8). In a similar manner, Nebuchadnezzar's spirit was troubled following his dream of the mighty statue, and he called for magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to interpret them (Dan. 2:1, 3). On another occasion, the psalmist was too troubled in his spirit even to speak (Ps. 77:4). (Complete Biblical Library) TECHNICAL NOTE - The rare verb stir (pa'am) is translated with two different Greek verbs as there are two versions of the Septuagint translation of Judges. In the classic work by Alfred Rahlfs he calls the two versions "Text Family A" and "Text Family B." When one compares the two versions in many passages they are virtually identical or differ only in the verb tenses. Other passages have entirely different Greek words and Judges 13:25 is one of those passages. Unfortunately I do not have the expertise to tell you which "Text Family" is the original or best representation. That said in this verse as stated there are two verbs used to translate "stir" (pa'am) so both will be mentioned and both are in the present tense speaking of continual action ("stirring") by the Spirit on Samson. In Text Family A the verb is sumporeuomai with means to go along with, to accompany, to be in movement together (the prefix sun- speaks of intimate association) with someone (Lk 7:11 = "going along with Him", Lk 14:25 = "crowds were going along with Him", Lk 24:15 = "traveling with them"). In "Text Family B", the verb is the closely related word sunekporeuomai which means to go out of a place with someone or to accompany them (Lxx of Jdg 11:3, Acts 3:11). Both verbs give the interesting picture of "began to stir" picturing the Holy Spirit as beginning to go out with or accompany Samson very closely. THOUGHT - Interesting, in light of the fact that in the New Covenant the Spirit intimately "accompanies" us wherever we go! Does that convict you at least a little? Think of some of the places you (I) go (with feet, thoughts or eyes)! Pa'am 5x in the OT - anxious(1), stir(1), troubled(3). Gen. 41:8; Jdg. 13:25; Ps. 77:4; Dan. 2:1; Dan. 2:3 Ray Pritchard's Summary The life of Samson An Old Testament Baby Boomer The Bible offers many examples of men who failed because they lacked this essential element of self-control. But no one sticks in my mind like Samson, the undisputed heavyweight champion of ancient Israel. His story is found in Judges 13-16—that’s in the “White Pages” section of your Bible, the part you don’t read very often. But we ought to read about Samson more often than we do, because his life is filled with lessons, examples and applications. In one sense Samson is one of the best-known heroes in all the Bible. Generations of children have marveled at the story of Samson defeating the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. Many teenagers know about Samson’s long hair and how Delilah tricked the secret out of him. Most of us know that he had his eyes poked out and as he was dying he pushed the pillars apart and killed 3,000 Philistines. If you go to church at all, you know about that. It is a story both heroic and tragic. Sometimes we read the stories of men like David or Moses or Abraham and we think, “I could never be like them.” They seem to be in a different category, as if we should label them “Special Cases” and the rest of us as “Regular People.” After all, Abraham was the friend of God and Moses saw God face to face and David was a man after God’s own heart. Those are great stories and we profit greatly from reading them, but those men don’t seem very much like us. Not so with Samson. He’s a lot like us. Many of us know what it’s like to come from a godly home. And many of us entered life with great expectations laid on us by other people. Most men know what it means to be tempted by women. All of us struggle at times with the desire for revenge. We’ve been there, we understand, and when we see Samson struggling and falling, we know exactly what he is going through. Here is a man who would feel right at home in our generation. He’d have a ball “Looking Out for Number One.” Give him some Dockers, a BMW and a condo, and he would fit right in. Lindsay Lohan would find him fascinating. Donald Trump would party with him. Katie Couric would interview him. Jay Leno would make jokes about him. Kids would hang his posters on their bedroom walls. Eminem would make a rap song about his affair with Delilah. Yes, he’d feel right at home in America in 2006. Perhaps more than any other Bible character, Samson is one of us. Samson’s Two Spiritual Flaws In the end he stands out as a man who wasted his life on things that didn’t matter. Although he started out with every spiritual advantage, he threw it all away. How could a man who started so well end so poorly? There are at least two answers to that question: 1. He never appreciated his spiritual heritage. In the beginning he had godly parents and a godly family and a godly calling. He knew the will of God and he knew the Word of God. He knew exactly what God wanted him to do. An angel personally announced what he was supposed to do. Plus, he had good looks, a winning personality and enormous leadership ability. Samson inspired people. He was born for greatness. Samson had it all!!! But because he never appreciated all that God had given him, he dillied and he dallied; he went this way and that way; he messed around with lesser things and in the process he basically frittered his life away. What happened to him can happen to any of us, especially those of us raised in the Christian faith. In fact, the “better” your background, the more likely you are to do the same thing Samson did. The more you’ve been given, the greater the punishment for neglecting it. In fact, you’re likely to find Samson a weekend Men’s Retreat. He was into that sort of thing. He just never let it change his life. 2. He couldn’t control his emotions. This is a key point. When we read Samson’s story, we tend to think that his problem was all in the sexual area. Actually, his problem is not in the sexual area at all. His most basic problem was that he never learned how to control his emotions. First he is filled with lust and then he is filled with anger. Then he’s full of lust again, then anger again, and then lust and anger again. He’s riding an emotional roller-coaster, from the peak to the valley and around a sharp corner, and then he does it all over again. One moment he’s worshiping God, the next he’s flirting with the Philistine women. On one occasion he leads the army of Israel to a stunning military victory by the power of the Holy Spirit. Later he sleeps with a Philistine prostitute. Not long after that he meets Delilah who tricks him into revealing the secret of his power, which leads to his imprisonment and death. Samson never learned to control his emotions and so they controlled him completely. Proverbs 16:32 could have been written about Samson: “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.” In his day Samson had taken more than one city. But he never learned to control his temper. He never learned how to rule his spirit. He never knew the first thing about self-control. In the end his runaway emotions ran away with him. Three Timely Lessons It has been well said that we learn much more from defeat than we do from victory. Failure is a wonderful teacher if we are willing to learn. As I consider Samson’s story, three timely lessons stand out. These apply to every man who desires to develop the spiritual quality of self-control. 1. Unless we deal with our problems they will come back to haunt us again and again and again. Many men never deal with the real problems they face– anger, bitterness, an unforgiving spirit, an undisciplined life, greed, and uncontrolled lust. You’ve never really dealt with it. You have lifted up the carpet and you have swept it under the rug (cf Pr 28:13a) and you have said, “That hasn’t bothered me for four or five years or six years, so I’m basically okay now.” (cf Heb 3:13b+) I beg you not to say that. Some of us need to take a good look in the mirror and see the way we really are (Jas 1:23-25+). The hardest thing you’ll ever say is, “I need help, I’ve a problem I can’t handle.” But isn’t that the first step in any recovery program? Step Number One: Admit you have a problem. You’ll never get better until you are willing to say, “I really need help in this area of my life.” Unless we learn to deal with our problems now, we are going to deal with them later. Samson is Exhibit A of that principle. 2. Unless we learn the difference between being empowered by the Spirit and controlled by Spirit we will fall just like Samson did. Does that sound odd? It shouldn’t. It is very possible for a Christian to be empowered by the Spirit of God to do certain things and yet not to have his life yielded to the full control of the Holy Spirit. How else do you explain noted Christian leaders falling into open sin? I do not doubt that they were empowered by the Spirit of God, but at the point of their fall they were not controlled by the Holy Spirit. Samson at certain points was empowered by the Spirit of God. But there was never a point in his whole life when for a long period of time he was under the control of God’s Spirit. This is a vital point because we tend to confuse outward blessing with great inner godliness, but the two don’t always go together. In the words of Romans 8:13, Samson never “put to death” the deeds of the flesh, therefore he continually made bad choices. This also explains why he “did not know the Lord had left him” (Judges 16:20). It’s not enough just to be able to accomplish good things or win stunning battlefield victories. Unless your life is under the control of the Spirit, you’re going to fall just like Samson did. Interestingly, Hebrews 11:32 lists Samson as a man of faith. But we remember his as much for his emotional weakness as for his enormous physical strength. This paradox illustrates what happens when a man never learns the secret of self-control. 3. Unless we yield our sexual desires completely to God, we risk falling prey to the Delilahs of this world. To say it that way makes Delilah look bad, but I don’t mean to smear her name. I suspect that she was just a woman who was hungry for a relationship. She was looking for love. She wanted somebody to spend some time with her. And who better than the handsome, powerful, famous Samson? I don’t really blame Delilah too much. She was ready, but he was willing and they were both able. Samson was the one who went down and found her. Men, unless we take that sexual area of our lives and lay it before God, we risk falling prey to the Delilahs of this world. It can happen to you, it can happen to me. Laugh More and Worry Less Before we wrap up this message, let’s end on a positive note by asking what self-control looks like on a daily basis. Samson shows us what happens when a man lacks this quality. But what will you look like when your life is controlled by the Holy Spirit? You will … Live for God on Monday just as much as you do on Sunday Bend your powers toward righteousness. Take your intellect and put it into the service of the King of Kings. Transform the fire of worldly desire into passion for Jesus Christ. Establish some “hedges” in your relationships Invest your time and talent and energies to win others to Jesus Christ. Make your wife and children your first priority. Say no to temptation and yes to purity. Decide to be as strong morally as you are physically. Choose to be a giver rather than a taker. Do right the first time. Admit mistakes without making excuses. Keep your New Year’s resolutions. Allow others to rebuke you without getting angry. Laugh more and worry less. Someone has said that freedom is not the right to do what you want, but the power to do what you ought. God reserves his choicest blessings for the man who has discovered the power to do what he ought to do. Blessed is that man for he will become all that God wants him to be. Amen. (Read full message - Samson and the Fine Art of Self-Control) F B Meyer JUDGES 13 THE BIRTH OF SAMSON Samson's story is very interesting. It teaches what can be wrought by one man who is right with God, and in whom God's Spirit dwells with mighty power. Probably he was not specially remarkable in his physique; his power was the result of faith. Judges 13:3-7 An angelic annunciation. -- This Angel was the Lord Himself, who is the Word of God, for His name is called Wonderful (Judges 13:18, marg.) and Jehovah (Judges 13:19). How careful should parents be to deny themselves of even lawful indulgences for the sake of their children, for what parents are, children are likely to become. If a mother has no other inducement to live a noble life, let her do so on behalf of her children. It is interesting to compare Judges 13:5 with Matthew 2:23, Luke 1:15, 2:23, as connecting the letter and the spirit of the Nazirite vow. Judges 13:8-23 Manoah's prayer and its answer. -- Well would it be for father and mother often to use the words of Manoah, when he asks for guidance as to teaching the child, "What shall be the ordering of the child, and what shall be his work?" (Judges 13:12). God has a plan for every child, and parents should be fellow-workers with Him. He is not far away from any who seek Him or need His help. He does wondrously, and His nature ascends like the altar-flame (Judges 13:20). The reasoning of Manoah's wife (Judges 13:23) was very wise, and one that would help us in many an hour of alarm. Let us not always fear that God means harm, but look back upon the past, the services which He has permitted us to render, the offerings He has received, and the things He has shown us. Would He have done all this, and then fail us? Would He have begun if he had not counted the cost, and foreseen that He was able to complete? There are no unfinished houses in the Eternal City; no incomplete busts in His workshops; no half-cut jewels in His crown. It is not God's nature to thwart yearnings that He has instilled, or to cancel hopes that He has excited. What He has told us is a guarantee of what He will yet do for us. Judges 13:24-25 Samson's birth. -- Zorah (Samson's birthplace), and Eshtaol, a few miles distant, occupied positions of the Danite border. The plain in which they were situated was noted for its vineyards (Judges 15:5), and Samson's self-denial, as regards the produce of the vine, would early be put to the test. Here, in his own country, and in close proximity to the Philistines, he was trained for his future life-work, and from the first there were evident traces of the Divine blessing, and of the possession of the Divine Spirit (Isa. 44:3, 4). (F. B. Meyer. CHOICE NOTES ON JOSHUA THROUGH 2 KINGS) Her Excellent Argument C H Spurgeon Sermon on Manoah's Wife “And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would He have showed us all these things, nor would us at this time have told us such things as these” (Jdg 13:22, 23). The first remark arising out the story of Manoah and his wife is this—that oftentimes we pray for blessings which will make us tremble when we receive them. Manoah had asked that he might see the angel, and he saw him: in answer to his request the wonderful One condescended to reveal himself a second time, but the consequence was that the good man was filled with astonishment and dismay, and turning to his wife, he exclaimed, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.” Brethren, do we always know what we are asking for when we pray? We are imploring an undoubted blessing, and yet if we knew the way in which such blessing must necessarily come, we should, perhaps, hesitate before we pressed our suit. You have been entreating very much for growth in holiness. Do you know, brother, that in almost every case that means increased affliction? for we do not make much progress in the divine life except when the Lord is pleased to try us in the furnace and purge us with many fires. Do you desire the mercy on that condition? Are you willing to take it as God pleases to send it, and to say, “Lord, if spiritual growth implies trial, if it signifies a long sickness of body, if it means deep depression of soul, if it entails the loss of property, if it involves the taking away of my dearest friends, yet I make no reserve, but include in the prayer all that is needful to the good end. When I say, sanctify me wholly, spirit, soul, and body, I leave the process to thy discretion. Suppose you really knew all that it would bring upon you, would you not pray, at any rate, with more solemn tones? I hope you would not hesitate, but, counting all the cost, would still desire to be delivered from sin; but, at any rate, you would put up your petition with deliberation, weighing every syllable, and then when the answer came you would not be so astonished at its peculiar form. Often and often the blessing which we used so eagerly to implore is the occasion of the suffering which we deplore. We do not know God’s methods. This is the Lord’s way of answering prayer for faith and grace. He comes with rods of chastisement, and makes us smart for our follies, for thus alone can he deliver our childish spirits from them. He comes with sharp plowshares and tears up the soil, for thus only can we be made to yield him a harvest. He comes with hot irons and burns us to the heart; and when we inquire, “Why all this?” the answer comes to us, “This is what you asked for, this is the way in which the Lord answers your requests.” Perhaps, at this moment, the fainting feeling that some you are now experiencing, which makes you fear that you will surely die, may be accounted for by your own prayers. I should like you to look at your present sorrows in that light, and say, “After all, I can see that now My God has given to me exactly what I sought at his hands. I asked to see the angel, and I have seen him, and now it is that my spirit is cast down within me.” A second remark is this—Very frequently deep prostration of spirit is the forerunner of some remarkable blessing. It was to Manoah and to his wife the highest conceivable joy of life, the climax of their ambition, that they should be the parents of a son by whom the Lord should begin to deliver Israel. Joy filled them—inexpressible joy—at the thought of it; but, at the time when the good news was first communicated, Manoah, at least, was made so heavy in spirit that he said, “We shall surely die, for we have seen an angel of the Lord.” Take it as a general rule that dull skies foretell a shower of mercy. Expect sweet favor when you experience sharp affliction. Do you not remember, concerning the apostles, that they feared as they entered into the cloud on Mount Tabor? And yet it was in that cloud that they saw their Master transfigured; and you and I have had many a fear about the cloud we were entering, although we were therein to see more of Christ and his glory than we had ever beheld before. The cloud which you fear makes the external wall of that secret chamber wherein the Lord reveals himself. Before thou canst carry Samson in thy arms, Manoah, thou must be made to say, “We shall surely die.” Before the minister shall preach the word to thousands, he must be emptied and made to tremble under a sense of inability. Before the Sunday-school teacher shall bring her girls to Christ, she shall be led to see how weak and insufficient she is. I do believe that whenever the Lord is about to use us in his household, he takes us like a dish and wipes us right out and sets us on the shelf, and then afterwards he takes us down and puts thereon his own heavenly meat, with which to fill the souls of others. There must as a rule be an emptying, a turning upside down, and a putting on one side, before the very greatest blessing comes. Manoah felt that he must die, and yet die he could not, for he was to be the father of Samson, the deliverer of Israel and the terror of Philistia. Let me offer a third remark, which is this—great faith is in many instances subject to fits. What great faith Manoah had! His wife was barren, yet when she was told by the angel that she should bear a child, he believed it, although no heavenly messenger had come to himself personally—so believed it that he did not want to see the man of God a second time to be told that it would be so, but only to be informed how to bring up the child: that was all. “Well,” says old Bishop Hall, “might he be the father of strong Samson, that had such a strong faith.” He had a strong faith indeed, and yet here he is saying in alarm, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.” Do not judge a man by any solitary word or act, for if you do you will surely mistake him. Cowards are occasionally brave, and the bravest men are sometimes cowards; and there are men who would be worse cowards practically if they were a little less cowardly than they are. A man may be too much a coward to confess that he is timid. Trembling Manoah was so outspoken, honest, and sincere that he expressed his feelings, which a more politic person might have concealed. Though fully believing what had been spoken from God, yet at the same time this doubt was on him, as the result of his belief in tradition: “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.” Once again, another remark is that it is a great mercy to have a Christian companion to go to for counsel and comfort whenever your soul is depressed. Manoah had married a capital wife. She was the better one of the two in sound judgment. She was the weaker vessel by nature, but she was the stronger believer, and probably that was why the angel was sent to her, for the angels are best pleased to speak with those who have faith, and if they have the pick of their company, and the wife has more faith than the husband, they will visit the wife sooner than her spouse, for they love to take God’s messages to those who will receive them with confidence. She was full of faith, evidently, and so when her husband tremblingly said, “We shall surely die,” she did not believe in such a mistrustful inference. Moreover, though they say that women cannot reason, yet here was a woman whose arguments were logical and overwhelming. Certain it is that women’s perceptions are generally far clearer than men’s reasonings; they look at once into a truth, while we are hunting for our spectacles. Their instincts are generally as safe as our reasonings, and therefore when they have in addition a clear logical mind they make the wisest of counselors. Well, Manoah’s wife not only had clear perceptions, but she had capital reasoning faculties. She argued, according to the language of the text, that it was not possible that God should kill them after what they had seen and heard. Oh that every man had such a prudent, gracious wife as Manoah had! Oh that whenever a man is cast down a Christian brother or sister stands ready to cheer him with some reminder of the Lord’s past goodness, or with some gracious promise from the divine word! It may happen to be the husband who cheers the wife, and in such a case it is equally beautiful. We have known a Christian sister to be very nervous and very often depressed and troubled: what a mercy to her to have a Christian husband whose strength of faith can encourage her to smile away her griefs, by resting in the everlasting faithfulness and goodness of the Lord. God the Holy Spirit shall help us, we will take up the argument of Manoah’s wife, and see whether it will not also comfort our hearts. She had three strings to her bow, good woman. One was—The Lord does not mean to kill us, because he has accepted our sacrifices. The second was—he does not mean to kill us, or else he would not, as at this time, have told us such things as these. So the three strings to her bow were accepted sacrifices, gracious revelations, and precious promises. Let us dwell upon each of them. And, first, accepted sacrifices. I will suppose that I am addressing a brother who is sadly tried, and terribly cast down, and who therefore has begun to lament— The Lord has forsaken me quite; My God will be gracious no more. Brother, is that possible? Has not God of old accepted on you behalf the offering of his Son Jesus Christ? You have believed in Jesus, dear friend. You do not believe in him now. Lay your hand on your heart, and put the question solemnly to yourself, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” You are able to say, “Yes, Lord, notwithstanding all my unhappiness, I do believe in thee, and rest the stress and weight of my soul’s interests on thy power to save.” Well, then, you have God’s own word, recorded in his own infallible Book, assuring you that Jesus Christ was accepted of God on your behalf, for He laid down his life for as many as believe in him, that they might never perish. He stood as their surety, and suffered as their substitute, is it possible that this should be unavailing, and that after all they may be cast away? The argument of Manoah’s wife was just this—“Did we not put the kid on the rock, and as we put it there was it not consumed? It was consumed instead of us; we shall not die, for the victim has been consumed. The fire will not burn us: it has spent itself upon the sacrifice. Did you not see it go up in smoke, and see the angel ascend with it? The fire is gone; it cannot fall on us to destroy us.” This being interpreted into the Gospel is just this—Have we not seen the Lord Jesus Christ fastened to the cross? Have we not beheld him in agonies extreme? Has not the fire of God consumed him? Have we not seen him rising, as it were, from that sacred fire in the resurrection and the ascension, to go into the glory? Because the fire of Jehovah’s wrath had spent itself on him we shall not die. He has died instead of us. It cannot be that the Lord has made him suffer, the Just for the unjust, and now will make the believer suffer too. It cannot be that Christ loved His Church, and gave himself for it, and that now the Church must perish also. It cannot be that the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, and now will lay our iniquity on us too. It were not consistent with justice. It would make the vicarious sacrifice of Christ to be a nullity, a superfluity of cruelty which achieved nothing. The atonement cannot be made of none effect, the very supposition would be blasphemy. O, look, my soul, look to the redeemer’s cross, and as thou seest how God accepts Christ, be thou filled with content. Hear how the “It is finished” of Jesus on earth is echoed from the throne of God himself, as he raises up His Son from the dead, and bestows glory upon him: hear this, I say, and as thou hearest, attend to the power of this argument—If the Lord had been pleased to kill us, he would not have accepted his Son for us. If he meant us to die, would he have put him to death too? How can it be? The sacrifice of Jesus must effectually prevent the destruction of those for whom he offered up himself as a sacrifice. Jesus dying for sinners, and yet the sinners denied mercy! Inconceivable and impossible! My soul, whatever thy inward feelings and the tumult of thy thoughts, the accepted sacrifice shows that God is not pleased to kill thee. But, if you notice, in the case of Manoah, they had offered a burnt sacrifice and a meat offering too. Well, now, in addition to the great, grand sacrifice of Christ, which is our trust, we, dear brothers and sisters, have offered other sacrifices to God, and in consequence of his acceptance of such sacrifice we cannot imagine that he intends to destroy us. First, let me conduct your thoughts back to the offering of prayer which you have presented. I will speak for myself. I recall now, running over my diary mentally, full many an instance in which I have sought the Lord in prayer and he has most graciously heard me. I am as sure that my requests have been heard as ever Manoah could have been sure that his sacrifice was consumed upon the rock. May I not infer from this that the Lord does not mean to destroy you? You know that it had been so with you, dear brother. You are down in the dumps today, you are beginning to raise many questions about divine love; but there have been times—you know there have—when you have sought the Lord and he has heard you. You can say, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and delivered him from all his fears.” Perhaps you have not jotted down the fact in a book, but your memory holds the indelible record. Your soul has made her personal boast in the Lord concerning his fidelity to his promise in helping his people in the hour of need, for you have happily proved it in your own case. Now, brother, if the Lord had been pleased to kill you, would he have heard your prayers? If he had meant to cast you out after all, would he have heard you so many times? If he had sought a quarrel against you he might have had cause for that quarrel many years ago, and have said to you, “When you make many prayers I will not hear.” But since he has listened to your cries and tears, and many a time answered your petitions, he cannot intend to kill you. Again, you brought to him, years ago, not only your prayers but yourself. You gave yourself over to Christ, body, soul, spirit, all your goods, all your hours, all your talents, every faculty, and every possible acquirement, and you said, “Lord, I am not my own, but I am bought with a price.” Now, at that time did not the Lord accept you? You have at this very moment a lively recollection of the sweet sense of acceptance you had at that time. Though you are at this time sorely troubled, yet you would not wish to withdraw from the consecration which you then made, but on the contrary you declare, High heaven, that heard the solemn vow, That vow renewed shall daily hear, Till, in life’s latest hour, I bow, And bless in death a bond so dear. Now, would the Lord have accepted the offering of yourself to him if he meant to destroy you? Would he have let you say, “I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid: thou hast loosed my bond?” Would he have permitted you to declare as you can boldly assert tonight, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,” delighting to remember the time of your baptism into him, whereby your body washed with his pure body, was declared to be the Lord’s forever? Would he enable you to feel a joy in the very mark of your consecration, as well as in the consecration itself, if he meant to slay you? Oh, surely not! He does not let a man give himself up to him and then cast him away. That cannot be. Some of us, dear friends, can recollect how, growing out of this last sacrifice, there have been others. The Lord has accepted our offerings at other times too, for our works, faith, and labors of love have been owned of his Spirit. There are some of you, I am leased to remember, whom God has blest to the conversion of little children whom you brought to the Savior, and there are others on earth whom you can look upon with great joy because God was pleased to make you the instrument of their conviction and their after conversion. Some of you, I perceive, are ministers of the Gospel, others of you preach at the corners of the streets, and there have been times in your lives—I am sure that you wish they were ten times as many—in which God has been pleased to succeed your efforts, so that hearts have yielded to the sway of Jesus. Now, you do not put any trust in those things, nor do you claim any merit for having served your Master, but still I think they may be thrown in as a matter of consolation, and you may say, If the Lord had meant to destroy me, would he have enabled me to preach his Gospel? Would he have helped me to weep over men’s souls? Would he have enabled me to gather those dear children like lambs to his bosom? Would he have granted me my longing desire to bear fruit in his vineyard, if he did not mean to bless me.? Now, the second argument was that they had received gracious revelations. “If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have showed us all these things.” Now, what has the Lord shown you, my dear brother? I will mention one or two things. First, the Lord has shown you, perhaps years ago, or possibly at this moment he is showing you for the first time—your sin. What a sight that was when we first had it. Some of you never saw your sins, but yours sins are there all the same. In an old house, perhaps, there is a cellar into which nobody goes, and no light ever comes in. You live in the house comfortably enough, not knowing what is there; but one day you take a candle, and go down the steps, and open that moldy door, and when it is opened, dear me! What a damp, pestilential smell! How foul the floor is! All sorts of living creatures hop away from under your feet. There are growths on the very walls—a heap of roots in the corner, sending out those long yellow growths which look like the fingers of death. And there is a spider, and there are a hundred like him, of such a size as cannot be grown, except in such horrible places. You get out as quickly as ever you can. You do not like the look of it. Now, the candle did not make that cellar bad; the candle did not make it filthy. No, the candle only showed what there was. And when you get in the carpenter to take down that shutter which you could not open anyhow, for it had not been opened for years, and when the daylight comes in, it seems more horrible than it did by candlelight, and you wonder, indeed, however you did go across it with all those dreadful things all around you and you cannot be satisfied to live upstairs now till that cellar downstairs has been perfectly cleansed. That is just like our heart; it is full of sin, but we do not know it. It is a den of unclean birds, a menagerie of everything that is fearful, and fierce, and furious—a little hell stocked with devils. Such is our nature; such is our heart. Now, the Lord showed me mine years ago, as he did some of you and the result of sight of one’s heart is horrible. Well does Dr. Young say, “God spares all eyes but his own that fearful sight, a naked human heart.” Nobody ever did see all his heart as it really is. You have only seen a part, but when seen, it is so horrible that it is enough to drive a man out of his senses to see the evil of his nature. Now, let us gather some honey out of this dead lion. Brother, if the Lord had meant to destroy us, he would not have shown us our sin, because we were happy enough previously, were we not? In our own poor way we were content enough, and if he did not mean to pardon us, it was not like the Lord to show us our sin, and so to torment us before our time, unless he meant to take it away. We were swine, but we were satisfied enough with the husks we ate; and why not let us remain swine? What was the good of letting us see our filthiness if he did not purpose to take it away? It never can be possible that God sets himself studiously to torture the human mind by making it conscious of its evil, if he never intends to supply a remedy. Oh no! A deep sense of sin will not save you, but it is a pledge that there is something begun in your soul which may lead to salvation; for that deep sense of sin does as good as say, “The Lord is laying bare the disease that he may cure it. He is letting you see the foulness of that underground cellar of your corruption, because he means to cleanse it for you.” But He has shown us more than this, for he has made us see the hollowness and emptiness of the world. There are some here present, who at one time, were very gratified with the pleasures and amusements of the world. The theater was a great delight to them. The ballroom afforded them supreme satisfaction. To be able to dress just after their own fancy, and to spend money on their own whims, were the very acme of delight; but there came a time when across all these the soul perceived a mysterious handwriting, which being interpreted ran thus: “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” These very people went to the same amusements, but they seemed so dull and stupid that they came away saying, “We do not care a bit for them. The joys are all gone. What seemed gold turns out to be gilt; and what we thought marble was only white paint. The varnish is cracked, the tinsel is faded, the coloring has vanished. Mirth laughs like an idiot, and pleasure grins like madness.” We have heard the words, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity,” sounding in our hearts; and now do you think that, if the Lord had meant to kill us, he would have taught us this? Why, no; he would have said, “Let them alone, they are given unto idols. They are only going to have one world in which they can rejoice; let them enjoy it.” He would have let the swine go on with their husks if he had not meant to turn them into his children, and bring them to his own bosom. But he has taught us something better than this—namely, the preciousness of Christ. Unless we are awfully deceived—self-deceived, I mean—we have known what it is to lose the burden of our sin at the foot of the cross. We have known what it is to see the suitability and all-sufficiency of the merit of our dear Redeemer, and we have rejoiced in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. If he had meant to destroy us he would not have shown us Christ. Sometimes also we have strong desires after God! What pinings after communion with him have we felt! What longings to be delivered from sin! What yearnings to be perfect! What aspirations to be with him in heaven, and what desires to be like him while we are here! Now these longings, cravings, desirings, yearnings, do you think the Lord would have put them into our hearts if he had meant to destroy us? What would be the good of it? Would it not be tormenting us as Tantalus was tormented? Would it not, indeed, be a superfluity of cruelty thus to make us wish for what we could never have, and pine after what we should never gain? O beloved, let us be comforted about these things. If he had meant to kill us, he would not have shown us such things as these. I shall have no time to dwell upon the last source of comfort, which is what the Lord has spoken to us—many precious promises. “Nor would he have told us such things as these.” At almost any time when a child of God is depressed, if he goes to the Word of God and to prayer, and looks up, he will generally get a hold of some promise or other. I know I generally do. I could not tell you, dear brother, tonight, what promise would suit your case, but the Lord always knows how to apply the right word at the right time; and when a promise is applied with great power to the soul, and you are enabled to plead it at the mercy-seat, you may say, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have made us such a promise as this.” I have a promise that hangs up before my eyes whenever I wake every morning, and it has continued in its place for years. It is a stay to my soul. It is this: “I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.” Difficulties arise, funds run short, sickness comes; but somehow or other my text always seems to flow like a fountain—“I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.” If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have said that to us. What is your promise, brother? What have you got a hold of? If you have not laid hold of any, and feel as if none belonged to you, yet there are such words as these, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came not the world to save sinners,” and you are one. Ah, if he had meant to destroy you, he would not have spoken a text of such a wide character on purpose to include your case. A thousand promises go down to the lowest deep into which a heart can ever descend, and if the Lord had meant to destroy a soul in the deeps, he would not have sent a gospel promise down even to that extreme. I should like to say these two or three words to you who are unconverted, but who are troubled in your souls. You think that God means to destroy you. Now, dear friend, I take it that if the Lord had meant to kill you, He would not have sent the Gospel to you. If there had been a purpose and a decree to destroy you, He would not have brought you here. Now you are sitting to hear that Jesus has died to save such as you are. You are sitting where you are bidden to trust Him and be saved. If the Lord had meant to slay you I do not think He would haven sent me on such a fruitless errand as to tell you of a Christ who could not save you. Some of you have had your lives spared very remarkably. You have been in accidents on land or on sea—perhaps in battle and shipwreck. You have been raised from a sickbed. If the Lord had meant to destroy you, surely He would have let you die then; but He has spared you, and you are getting on in years; surely it is time that you yielded to His mercy and gave yourself up into the hands of grace. If the Lord had meant to destroy you, surely, He would not have brought you here, for, possibly, I am addressing one who has come here, wondering why. All the time that he has been sitting here he has been saying to himself, “I do not know how I got into this place, but here I am.” God means to bless you tonight, I trust, and He will, if you breathe this prayer to heaven, “Father, forgive me! I have sinned against heaven and before thee, but for Christ’s sake forgive me! I put my trust in thy Son.” You shall find eternal life, rejoicing in the sacrifice which God has accepted. You shall one of these days rejoice in the revelations of His love, and in the promises which He gives you, and say as we say tonight, “If the Lord were pleased to kill us He would not have showed us all these things.” Charles Simeon… MANOAH’S VISION Jdg 13:22, 23 AFTER a brief mention of several judges who successively bore sway in Israel, we are led to the contemplation of one, whose birth, as well as life, deserves particular consideration. To his parents a revelation was made respecting him; which revelation, together with the effects of it on their minds, will form the subject of our present discourse. Let us notice, I. The revelation made to them— [The Israelites for their iniquities were brought under the power of the Philistines, who oppressed them sorely and for a long period. But God of his own grace and mercy raised up unto them a deliverer. Other deliverers had been raised up at once, and at the precise time that the deliverance was to be effected: but, in the present instance, the person who was to be God’s instrument of good to the nation, was not even conceived in the womb. He was to be born, as Isaac and Jacob had been, of a mother who was barren; in order that he might more eminently appear to be a special gift of God. “There was a man of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah: and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and told her, that she should conceive and bear a son,” who should be devoted as a Nazarite to the Lord, and should in due time become, in part at least, a saviour to his country (Jdg 13:2, 3, 4, 5). The law relating to Nazarites required a total abstinence from wine, or strong drink, or from any thing unclean (Nu 6:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8.) — — — And as his consecration to this state was to commence from his first formation in the womb, his mother was immediately to observe all that kind of abstinence which was required of the Nazarite himself, and to continue it till the child should be both born and weaned. This occurrence she mentioned to her husband, together with the charge given to herself respecting the abstinence that was required. (Jdg 13:6,7) Manoah, being strong in faith, entertained no doubt respecting the accomplishment of the Angel’s words: but being desirous that the mercy intended to the nation should not be obstructed by any error or neglect on his part, he besought the Lord, that the same person should be sent to them again, to teach them more fully whatever was necessary for them to know, or do, respecting the child. The visit was repeated, according to his desire; and the testimony was confirmed by a visible display of the divine power. Manoah, not knowing who this angel was, whether he was only a man, or an angel in human shape, or whether he was not the Angel of the Covenant, even the Son of God himself in human shape, requested permission to set before him a banquet, or an offering, as might be most suited to his character: but when he had presented an offering, fire, probably from the rock or from heaven, consumed the sacrifice; and the Angel ascended in the flame to heaven; and thereby testified the acceptance both of their persons and their sacrifice.] Let us now notice, II. The effect produced upon them— Great was the faith both of Manoah and his wife: but she, being the more eminent of the two, experienced a very different effect. The revelation produced, 1. In Manoah, fear— [He now perceived and knew, that the person who had announced these tidings to him was God, in human shape: and Therefore he conceived that both he and his wife must die. This idea was not without some foundation; for, when Moses had entreated the Lord to shew him his glory, the Lord said to him, “Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live:” and for this very reason God put him into a clift of a rock, and permitted him to see, as it were, only “his back parts.” (Ex 33:20, 21, 22, 23) And, when Jacob had been favoured with a visit from the same divine person in the shape of an angel, he expressed his astonishment that “his life was preserved.” (Ge 32:29, 30) Indeed, when only an angel has appeared to some of the most distinguished servants of the Almighty, they have been so agitated, as scarcely to retain possession of their minds. (Jdg. 6:22-note; Rev. 19:10-note) We wonder not therefore at his apprehensions; but we the more admire the composure of his wife.] 2. In his wife, confidence— [She argued in a very different way. She considered the mercies already vouchsafed to them as tokens for good: for why should God confer such singular honour upon them, if he intended to kill them? Why did he accept at their hands the burnt-offering? Why did he stoop to give them such information? Why give them such gracious promises? Was all this done to mock them? Indeed, if he should kill them, how could the promises be fulfilled? or for what purpose were they given? This was a just mode of arguing; for such mercies were both evidences, and pledges, of his love: and therefore were rather to be considered as earnests of future blessings, than as harbingers of ill. This was precisely the view which Paul entertained of the mercies conferred on him by God, “who,” says he, “delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us:” (2Co 1:10) and it is the true light in which every instance of his goodness should be considered.] Let us learn then from hence, 1. To guard against low and unworthy thoughts of God— [It is realty no uncommon thought, even among good people, that their blessings are too great to be of any long duration. This sentiment does not arise from a view of the instability of human affairs, but from an apprehension that a continuance of their blessings is too great a thing to expect even from God himself, and that his grace, though rich, is not sufficiently extensive for such a gift. But how dishonourable is this to God! and what an unworthy return for all his goodness to us! Why should we entertain such a suspicion? why should we harbour such ungenerous thoughts? why should we so limit his glorious perfections? Let such apprehensions be checked in their very first rise; and let us remember that his disposition to give exceeds our utmost capacity to receive. (Ep 3:20-note)] 2. To make a just improvement of the mercies he bestows upon us— [We shall do well to magnify the grace of God in our thoughts, and to inculcate upon others the same heavenly disposition. See how David argued, on a review of his past mercies; “Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” (Ps 56:13-note) And, when under peculiar temptation he was led to doubt the continuance of God’s goodness to him, he checked himself, by calling to mind the marvellous mercies that had already been vouchsafed unto him. (Ps. 77:7, 8, 9, 10, 11-note) Nor is it for the comfort only of the person himself that God imparts these glorious hopes, but for the encouragement of others also: and this was the improvement which St. Paul made of his own happy experience. (2Co 1:3,4) Only let it be recollected what God has done for us, in giving up his Son to the accursed death of the cross; and can we then limit his tender mercies? can we doubt his willingness to give us any thing else? (Ro 8:32-note) Whether therefore it be for the comfort of our own minds, or for the encouragement of others, this is the thought which we should ever bear in remembrance, and enlarge our own expectations from God in proportion as he multiplies his benefits to us: we should look on all present blessings as the first-fruits that precede the harvest, or as the drop before the shower.] (Simeon, C. 1832-63. Horae Homileticae)