The Triumph of a Broken Man Text: Judges 16:23-31
Introduction: The Laughter of Fools
We come now to the end of Samson's story, which is the end of a life that was a spectacular mess. If we are honest, Samson is not the kind of hero we would design. He is carnal, reckless, driven by his appetites, and seems to treat his consecrated status as a kind of cosmic get out of jail free card. He is the class clown of the judges, the frat boy of the deliverers. And yet, the author of Hebrews, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, enrolls him in the great hall of faith. We are told that by faith, Samson, along with Gideon, Barak, and Jephthah, "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions" (Heb. 11:33). This should be profoundly unsettling to our tidy, respectable, middle class notions of what a man of God looks like.
The story of Samson is a story of God's scandalous grace. God delights in using crooked sticks to draw straight lines. He writes the history of redemption using men with terrible handwriting. And in this final scene, we see the culmination of this principle. Samson is at his lowest point. He is blind, enslaved, a grinder of grain for his enemies, a court jester for the Philistine elite. They have gathered to celebrate their victory, not just over a man, but over his God. They are praising their fish god, Dagon, for delivering their enemy into their hands. The temple is full, the lords are drunk, and the mood is merry. This is the laughter of fools, the arrogant celebration of those who believe they have triumphed over the God of Israel.
But God is never mocked. The Philistines think they are watching the final act of a tragedy, where their enemy is brought low for their amusement. They are about to find out they are the punchline of a divine joke. This is not the story of Samson's defeat. This is the story of how God uses the spectacular ruin of one man's life to bring about a greater victory in his death than he ever achieved in his life. It is a story that shows us that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness, and that true faith is not the absence of failure, but a desperate cry to God from the ruins.
This scene is a clash of gods. It is Dagon versus Yahweh. It is the pride of man versus the sovereignty of God. And it is a picture, a raw and bloody foreshadowing, of another man who would be mocked, and who in His death would pull down the pillars of a much greater house of evil.
The Text
Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to be glad; and they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands." Then the people saw him and praised their god, for they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hands, Even the destroyer of our country, Who has slain many of us." So it happened when their hearts were merry, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may amuse us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house is established, that I may lean against them." Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them. Then Samson called to Yahweh and said, "O Lord Yahweh, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes." Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house was established and supported himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bent with his strength so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he put to death by his death were more than those whom he put to death in his life. Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down, carried him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.
(Judges 16:23-31 LSB)
Praising a Powerless God (vv. 23-24)
The scene opens with a great pagan festival.
"Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to be glad; and they said, 'Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.' Then the people saw him and praised their god..." (Judges 16:23-24)
The Philistines are doing what all pagans do. They are attributing their success to their false god. They believe a cosmic battle has taken place and their god, Dagon, has defeated the God of the Hebrews. This is the central issue. This is not just about a military victory; it is a theological claim. They are saying, "Our god is stronger than your God."
We must understand that these pagan gods were not mere fictions; they were demonic principalities. Paul tells us that the things the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God (1 Cor. 10:20). The Philistines were engaged in demonic worship. Dagon was a real spiritual entity, a fallen angel masquerading as a god of grain and fish. And he, like all demons, is a liar and a usurper. Dagon did not deliver Samson to the Philistines. Samson's own sin and foolishness delivered him. And ultimately, Yahweh delivered him to them as a judgment on Samson's rebellion.
The Philistines are making a fatal theological error. They are mistaking God's judgment on His own disobedient servant for a victory for their impotent idol. They see the broken man, but they do not see the sovereign God who broke him and who is about to use him. Their celebration is built on a lie, and their temple of praise will become their tomb.
This is a perpetual temptation. When the church is weak, when Christians fall into public and scandalous sin, the world laughs. They praise their gods of secularism, materialism, and hedonism. They say, "See? Your God is powerless. Your faith is a sham." They mistake the Lord's discipline of His own house for their own intellectual or cultural superiority. They are just as blind as the Philistines, and their house of cards is just as precarious.
The Sport of Fools (vv. 25-27)
The celebration turns to mockery, which is always the next step after pride.
"So it happened when their hearts were merry, that they said, 'Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.' So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars." (Judges 16:25)
Their hearts were merry. This is the mirth of the wicked, which is like the crackling of thorns under a pot, a loud noise that quickly burns out into nothing. In their drunken glee, they decide to humiliate their fallen foe. The man who was once the terror of their nation is now their party entertainment. The word for "amuse" or "entertain" is the same root used for laughter. They wanted to laugh at him. They wanted to mock the mighty Samson, now blind and broken.
They place him between the two central, load bearing pillars of the temple. This was, from a human perspective, a catastrophic architectural blunder. But from a divine perspective, it was providence. God is the one setting the stage. He is positioning Samson right where he needs to be. The Philistines, in their arrogance, are unwittingly cooperating with the very plan of the God they are mocking. God uses the evil intentions of men to accomplish His righteous purposes. Joseph's brothers meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. The Jews and Romans meant the cross for evil, but God meant it for the salvation of the world. And the Philistines meant this for sport, but God meant it for judgment.
The house is packed. All the lords of the Philistines are there, along with about 3,000 other men and women on the roof. This is the entire Philistine leadership, military and civil, gathered in one place. They are all there to witness the humiliation of God's servant. And God has gathered them all as witnesses for what is to come.
A Final, Desperate Prayer (v. 28)
At his lowest point, Samson finally does what he should have been doing all along. He prays.
"Then Samson called to Yahweh and said, 'O Lord Yahweh, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.'" (Judges 16:28)
This is one of the most raw and honest prayers in all of Scripture. It is not a polished, theologically precise prayer. It is a desperate cry from a broken man in the dark. Notice what he does. He calls on "Yahweh." He appeals to God by His covenant name. After all his wandering, after all his compromise, he comes back to the covenant God of Israel.
"Please remember me." This is not a request to jog God's memory. It is a plea for God to act on his behalf according to His covenant promises. It is what the thief on the cross said: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." It is the cry of faith, believing that God is a God who remembers His people.
"Please strengthen me just this time." Samson knows the source of his strength. He lost it when he broke his covenant vows, and he knows that only God can restore it. He is not relying on his own power. He has no power left. He is utterly dependent on a gift of grace. This is the essence of faith.
Now, what about his motive? "That I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes." This sounds like personal vengeance, and it is. But we must be careful here. In the theocratic economy of Israel, Samson was the appointed judge, the instrument of God's vengeance against the enemies of His people. The Philistines had not just blinded Samson; they had defied the God of Israel. The loss of his eyes was the symbol of his humiliation and, in their minds, the humiliation of his God. So while his motive is intensely personal, it is also wrapped up in his role as God's deliverer. He is asking God to vindicate His own name and His own honor through this act of vengeance. This is not a prayer for us to emulate in our personal relationships, but it was a legitimate prayer for the magistrate of Israel in that context.
Death and Victory (vv. 29-31)
God answers the prayer of this broken man.
"And Samson said, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' And he bent with his strength so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he put to death by his death were more than those whom he put to death in his life." (Judges 16:30)
His final prayer is answered. The strength returns, not in his hair, but in his renewed dependence on God. He pushes, and the temple of Dagon collapses, killing the entire Philistine leadership and thousands of others. In his death, Samson accomplishes his greatest victory. He began the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines, as the angel had prophesied, and this final act was the capstone of that work.
This is not a suicide in the modern sense of a despairing escape. This is a warrior's death in the heat of battle. He is a soldier on a mission, and he gives his life to destroy the enemies of his people and his God. He did not die in despair; he died in faith, calling on the name of the Lord. He died as a judge of Israel, executing God's judgment.
The conclusion is stunning: "So the dead whom he put to death by his death were more than those whom he put to death in his life." His whole raucous, messy, powerful life was outdone by his final, broken, faithful act. This tells us that God measures success differently than we do. God was not finished with Samson, even after Samson had made a total wreck of his life. God's grace is greater than our sin, and He can bring the greatest victory out of our most profound failures, if we will only turn to Him in the end.
Finally, he is honored in his death. His family comes and retrieves his body and buries him in the tomb of his father. The disgrace is over. He is buried as a hero, a judge in Israel who served for twenty years.
"Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down, carried him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years." (Judges 16:31)
The final verdict of the text is that despite everything, he was a judge of Israel. God's call on his life was not nullified by his sin. God's purpose was accomplished, not because of Samson's consistent faithfulness, but in spite of his consistent unfaithfulness. This is the gospel.
The Shadow of the Substance
We cannot leave this story without seeing the one to whom Samson points. Samson is one of the most striking types of Christ in the Old Testament. The parallels are impossible to miss.
Like Samson, Jesus was betrayed by His own people and handed over to the Gentiles. Like Samson, He was mocked and made a spectacle for the amusement of His enemies. They put a crown of thorns on His head and a robe on His back and jeered, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Like Samson, He was executed with His arms stretched out wide.
And like Samson, in the moment of His apparent greatest weakness and defeat, He won His greatest victory. When Jesus cried out, "It is finished," it looked like the end. The rulers of that age thought they had won. But in His death, Jesus Christ grasped the pillars of the house of Satan, the twin pillars of sin and death, and He pulled them down. He crushed the head of the serpent. Through death, He destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).
Samson killed more in his death than in his life. But Jesus, in His death, brought more to life than have ever lived. Samson's death brought down a temple of stone and killed three thousand Philistines. Christ's death brought down the kingdom of darkness and offers life to billions. Samson died to be avenged on his enemies. Christ died to save His enemies.
Samson's story is our story. We are all born with great promise and a high calling, and we all squander it through our foolishness and sin. We find ourselves blinded and grinding away in the prison house of the enemy. But the good news is that it is not too late. The hair can grow back. Not because of time, but because of repentance. If you are in that place of ruin, if you have made a shipwreck of your life, the call is to do what Samson did at the end. Call upon the name of the Lord. Cry out to Him for mercy. He is a God who remembers His people. And His strength is made perfect in your weakness. He can take the rubble of your life and build a monument to His grace.