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Judges 14: 5-20 and Mark 7: 1-23
Samson was an Israelite. God had a plan for Samson before he was born. His story starts in Judges Chapter 13. The Israelites, God’s chosen people, once again did things the Lord saw as evil and had lived under the hand of the Philistines, for forty years. The Philistines did not believe in the one true living God. Samson’s work began. At the end of chapter 13 it tells us that the Lord’s spirit began to work in Samson. This time in our history the list of do’s and don’ts were long and taken very seriously by Jewish priests and authority. Leviticus 11 tells us about the short list of clean and unclean animals with split or separated hooves. Samson was to be of a clean spirit and refuse to partake in the unclean food or drink and not let a razor to shave his head. God had said Samson would be a Nazirite from birth as shared in Judges 13:5.
This sounds comforting. The do’s and don’ts, not such a big deal ... .well ... .Samson’s personality appears to be one of forward thinking and definite in what makes him comfortable and content. Samson had traveled to another city, met a Philistine woman that caught his eye. On his return home, Samson told his parents to get her for him because that’s the woman he wants. Samson and his parents return to the neighboring city and Samson, while alone, was attacked by a young lion. He killed the lion, and told no one. The next day Samson saw the lion’s carcass and it was filled with honey. Samson ate some of the honey knowing it was unclean to touch the carcass of a dead animal and took some to his parents. So he defiled himself and his parents. He also defied Jewish law by marrying a Philistine woman who worshiped other gods.
At the wedding feast Samson entertained the local young men with a riddle about sweetness. Unable to solve the riddle, the men threatened Samson’s wife. Fearing for her life, she begged and harassed Samson till he told her—and then she told them.
Samson was furious, but the mess was his own doing. He’d created the riddle from the carcass, something no faithful Israelite, not to mention a Nazirite, would touch. But it had seemed right in Samson’s eyes.
Many years later in the New Testament Jesus, the true Savior, explained that what really defiles people is what’s in their heart, not what they eat in Mark 7:1-23. Samson defiled himself by turning away from God to pursue his own desires, doing what was right in his own eyes. Does God use people who are acting in selfish ways to accomplish God’s own purposes? Have there been times when you were in conflict and had a hard time discerning God’s will in the middle of your own desires?
Jesus, however, took our defilement on himself, washing us clean and giving us new life. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
May the PEACE that passes all understanding be yours through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Pastor Dorothy Hotchkiss of Webster’s Crossing UMC and Groveland Federated Parish.
dhotch2@frontiernet.net 585/406-7030 cell/text
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