Judges 15:4 – And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

Judges 15:5 – And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

Hello readers, thanks for reading today! The story of Samson catching foxes and using them to destroy the Philistines fields is a famous one. What Samson did was quite a destructive feat. Some people criticize Samson for what he did, and his exploits in general… but God’s purpose for his life was to begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. This was Samson delivering Israel from the Philistines. What better way to attack an enemy then to take away all their harvest? It’s a common tactic in warfare, you attack the supply lines to starve and deprive the enemy. You can’t fight if you’ve got nothing to eat and no ammo to shoot with. This wasn’t victory all at once, and perhaps this is why the angel of the Lord said he would BEGIN to deliver. In fact, Samson said after he killed a few… that after that he would cease. He would strike back at the Philistines as much as they struck at him, he could’ve done more damage, but we often only take half measures with our sin too. It seems like God needed to let him get hurt to motivate him to do what he was intended to do. So Samson had some wrong motives in life, and sometimes what kicks us up the backside is getting wronged personally, more than doing things for God’s glory. If we truly look at our motives, we are not better than Samson, even if our motives end up in us doing something that is right. Samson’s story truly shows how great God is, that God is sovereign over our lives, even when we mess them up. Through the catastrophe he works his perfect will… after all he is God.

Was Samson doing something right? Well, the Philistines were dominating Israel. And God didn’t want that. In fact, that’s why God had this child born into the world. Another thing to learn from Samson’s life is that his story shows yet again how wrong abortion is. God had told the woman all about the child she was going to have before he was even in her womb. God has a plan for your life before you are even born. He was born into a terrible situation in Israel, and as we will see, Israel was as bad as the Philistines who were in dominion over them. They didn’t cry out for deliverance, neither did they support Samson. That’s a pretty tough situation to be in, standing for God alone in this world when both unsaved and so called Christians are against you. So while Samson’s life is available for criticism… the whole nation of Israel wasn’t doing anything to counter the Philistines. We generally criticize the person doing something, rather than those who aren’t doing anything. This doesn’t excuse Samson’s sin, or make it ok, but maybe we should cut him some slack and let God judge his life. We don’t always get it right, in fact barely ever. It appears God in fact saw some things that pleased him, the Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God, and Samson is in Hebrews 11… the “by faith”s… and we see the Spirit of the Lord moving in his life. The only time we see Israel really show up is to gather his dead body. Bit late don’t you think? How often people show up to the funeral, but during the life… well during his life, they were the guys who came to get him to give to the Philistines, because he was making trouble. Maybe some did support him, but they didn’t stand up but were part of the apathy and acceptance. There’s a lot more to Samson’s life than meets the eye… we can be quick to cast judgement, and sure he gave his heart to Delilah and that cost him dearly… but nevertheless, he fought God’s battles.

Samson got wronged by the Philistines. One could say it served him right and there is a lot that could be said about making the wrong friends, and marrying a woman whose people are the Philistines. She was loyal to her people, remember that. Nevertheless Samson returned for his wife after he got over his anger at what had happened at the marriage feast… only to find out his father in law had given his wife to his best man at his wedding. That’s pretty low… but that’s this world for you, don’t expect people of this world to live according to God’s word. If you do right, don’t expect others to do right. It’s funny that Samson, just like with the riddle, punished others in the place of those who wronged him. It was men in Ashkelon whom he killed to pay his debt to those who cheated him, and as we come to the fox saga… his Philistine father in law and “friend” wronged him, but he took it out on the Philistines in a broad sense. Maybe he realized there was more a systemic issue… as often our behavior is a function of a deeper issue. We know that as Jesus said, it is out of the heart that all our sins proceed… so the sins are a product of a deeper issue, a sinful, unbelieving heart. The deeper issue was the Philistines on a whole, after all these Philistines he had something to do with were just acting like typical Philistines… and they had dominion over Israel… but the biggest problem is Samson had a weakness for Philistine women. Think about it… you’re in a conundrum if you are meant to get rid of the Philistines when you love a Philistine! As they say… the struggle is real. It takes God’s power for us to lose our love of this world. What about a favorite sins? How hard it is to even want deliverance from them. Samson’s life encapsulates the real struggle of a believer. Fighting something that you love! Your flesh loves sin… yet in the Spirit you know that sin is terrible. Romans 7 describes the battle between the flesh and the Spirit. So that’s why one second you see Samson doing one thing, and doing the opposite the next. It is also a tribute to the fact that a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again… Proverbs. He kept on fighting.

So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes and used them to destroy the Philistine fields with fire. This story provides very accurate parallels to the state of the church today. The Philistines had established themselves in Israel.It’s the same as us today. The world owns large chunks of our lives. The church and the world are basically the same these days. Sure words like “Jesus”, “love”, “faith”, “God” are thrown around, but really the Philistines of this world have conquered the church… a church which has departed from God’s word, which is why the mess is like it is. They had no business sowing and reaping in Israel’s land… but that’s where sin will get you. The enemy in complete control of your own life… you ain’t even in the drivers seat.

The Book of Judges says that in Israel at this time… that every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Israel was as bad as the Philistines. Its why the Philistines were in control. And furthermore, Israel was happy in the hands of the Philistines. See, in the times before Samson, Israel wanted deliverance, but this time they didn’t. Philistine oppression clearly wasn’t all that bad. Or maybe it was because Israel was just like Philistines… if you’re worshipping their gods, marrying their people, living just like them… Israel just became more and more like Philistines… just like the church and Christianity today has become more and more worldly til they’re indistinguishable. Yet here we see peaceful existence between Israel and the Philistines. The church has given so much ground, it’s given up the harvest fields… and in fact the fields are burning rather than being reaped. God says love not the world, God puts separation between us and the world as he draws us to himself and dwells in us by his Spirit… but the church today is very far from where it’s meant to be. Apostasy is a word commonly used to describe departure from the faith… Israel had departed… even if they had the name that they were Israel, and tacked God’s name to their behavior… they were long departed. Samson was one man who stood apart, and stood out. This saga here shows how lack of godly separation can really cost us badly. God separates light from darkness, we are meant to be salt and light… yet the church today is in the world… and OF the world. Completely conquered by Satan. In the letters to the churches in Revelation there are overcomers in each church age or type… and like Samson in Israel, he was an overcomer, but the rest had gone under… they bore God’s name, but were Philistines at heart.

Samson got wronged and he was going to strike back. Hey, what are these Philistines doing in the land anyway. It’s not a bad thing that he did. It’s a waste because all these harvest fields in their land belonged to the Philistines… when they could’ve been harvesting, instead the enemy was about to. It seems that way today… the enemy is sowing and reaping, and meanwhile the church has gone under. It’s a bad deal. But there was one man… Samson… whom God had raised up to make a difference… for all his flaws, this guy made a difference. Some people say Samson had an anger problem, but even in the previous chapter when he slew thirty Philistines, he didn’t do it in anger, he did it by the Spirit of the Lord. His anger was (rightfully) kindled afterwards, but when he got angry he went to his father’s house. For those with anger issues that’s what we should do… if you get angry, get to your heavenly Father’s place and get things right with him. Surrender your anger at the cross of Jesus Christ, spend time in prayer and in his word… as anger rests in the bosom of fools. Anger will make you do very bad, foolish, regrettable things. Anger shouldn’t rule us, God’s Holy Spirit should. Samson going to his father’s house is actually a wonderful picture at the end of chapter 14, he got wronged badly by the Philistines, and sure he asked for it, but nevertheless it would’ve really hurt what happened to him, but God turned it for good in his life. He won a victory as a result… his mess drove him to a place where God would use him. And he ends the chapter at his father’s house. How often we get into a worldly mess, a catastrophe of our own making, and our life can be flaming wreckage, but in amongst it God can win the greatest  victories and we can go to our heavenly Father’s house and rest in who God is and what he has done for us through his Son Christ Jesus.

After all this, in the the next chapter, Samson returned to get his wife and found out these Philistines… well they get worse. His wife had lied to him and revealed his riddle because she was fearful of getting burnt by fire, but she ended up being burnt by fire by the Philistines. If you are of this world… take note… you’re on a team that shoots it’s own. She would’ve been safe with Samson, but she chose HER people, but her people didn’t have her back. It’s funny how people of the world stick up for each other, yet they hate each other, yet they all backstab each other. They criticize Christians, but they do the same. They hate hypocrisy in Christians, yet they’re hypocrites, they blast people as being judgemental while they lay on their judgements. Why play for the wrong team? It’s a bit like Uriah, he got sent to the thickest battle, where the valiant men were, and Israel retreated away from him. Christians shouldn’t be like that, we shouldn’t shoot our own. But we see in Judges 15, Samson’s people betraying him. Sure they said they wouldn’t kill him themselves… but they’d hand him over to the Philistines who would. Wow that makes them so much better? It’s a tribute to the false pretentiousness of fake Christianity today. You may be part of the great big Christian malaise which is in apostasy, and you think you’re pretty good… but all you are is conquered by the Philistines, and your best righteousness is hypocrisy at best. You don’t have the fields, the Philistines own them, there’s no good harvest in your life. You think you’re pretty good… but you’re not.

Samson caught some foxes.. seems pretty apt in the context of Judges and Samson’s story. Foxes. Foxes are always pretty bad in the Bible, in fact they get a bad rap full stop. They are renowned for being elusive, cunning, wily, subtle, crafty animals which live in dens. Sounds like us a bit really. However we can actually think they’re pretty cute… Delilah was a cute little fox… that cost Samson badly. Jesus called Herod a fox. The Bible said Israel’s prophets were like foxes. The Song of Solomon 2:15 tell us to… Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. So that’s some real warning for us from God’s word. There are foxes that need catching in our lives. Foxes spoil fruit, they spoil the harvest… in this story we see a big old harvest being massacred by foxes. See, although the Philistines had the harvests and so on, the world may seem like it’s prospering, and so does the false church… but the harvest has got fire coming to it real soon… people can think they’re going ok, but the judgement of God is coming to your harvest field. Samson caught some foxes, foxes that can really make a mess of our lives.As stated, Delilah was a foxy woman, she had the looks, but she was out to destroy Samson. How often our sins look very attractive, and we are intoxicated and sick on them… we go back and back to them even though they’re betraying our lives, even though they’re conspiring against our spiritual and physical health… and even further than that, our relationship and fellowship with God. That’s what Satan is really after, to rob you of your power. To make you weak and powerless… to make you like any other man. How many Christians have been made “just like any other man”.

But in this story we are going to consider those foxes which were paired up as representative of Israel and the Philistines. Samson had come from Israeli culture, and he had experienced Philistine culture. Both were as bad as each other. Maybe that’s why he left the camp of Dan to begin with, maybe that’s why he didn’t take an Israeli wife, maybe that’s why you never see Israel involved in any aspect of his life in a positive sense, maybe that’s why you don’t see Israel wanting deliverance. This is not guesswork when understanding what the foxes represent. Clearly this story has value in the sense of catching foxes, and understanding that we can strike back at our enemy by depriving it’s resources, by depriving our enemy from prospering in our life at our expense. In other words, dealing with sin in our life, we can change where we go, who we hang out with, things like this which lead us to sin… it’s good to burn up things in our life that don’t belong there. But today, there is another truth I want to look at in this story, the foxes are a picture of Israel and the Philistines, and consequentially a picture of the church and this world. Samson caught three hundred foxes and paired them up tail to tail with a firebrand in the middle before he released them into the corn of the enemy. Two foxes, they were both the same animal, and the Israelites and the Philistines were as bad as each other… they were just as untrustworthy, devious, cunning, sly… if you doubt this, read around and read on in Judges and you see the tribe of Benjamin full of sodomites, who the Bible calls sons of Belial (the devil) who wanted to rape a Levite, but reluctantly settled for gang raping his concubine while the Levite slept. Furthermore the tribe of Benjamin defended these guys and fought for them! Christians today fight for the wrong causes, they haven’t even read their Bible, they support and fight for anti God causes. How conquered can you be when you are fighting your own? Jesus said a time is coming when he that killeth you will think that he doeth God service. That’s pretty messed up. The Bible says we are in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation… Samson was brought up in those kind of conditions.

So there was no difference between the foxes, and so there is no difference between the church and the world today. You see, when you depart from God’s word, you have left the faith. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. God’s word builds our faith. When you depart and rebel against Jesus Christ, you are rejecting truth, life, his ways, his commands, his judgements… his Spirit. You become no different to the world, the world has that in common. There are only two sides, Satan’s side… and God’s side. You reject God you are on team Satan, and this world is his kingdom… it’s spiritual state resembles it’s prince. Full of lust, evil, pride, hurt, pain, murder. In case you doubt the parallel, consider that in the Old Testament there is a story of when the king of Israel and the king of Syria joined forces against Judah… and God said don’t be afraid of the two tails of these smoking firebrands. Tails and firebrands, we are in very similar territory here. Ultimately the king of Israel and Syria were just smoking firebrands, because they had no fire, God had put it out, they weren’t going to prosper… and they were tails, because they weren’t the head… God is control. We should fear people less, because God is in control. These two kings had joined together in immense strength but ultimately they had no power and weren’t going to win. The king of Judah, who was a bad egg anyway… the Bible says his heart was moved as trees of the wood are moved with the wind when he heard that his enemies had teamed up… it’s a sad state of affairs when Israel joined Syria to destroy Judah. It’s the same today, a lot of opposition to the gospel comes from alleged “Christians”. It’s true. Imagine if God’s people stuck to God’s word and obeyed it, imagine if we all were salt and light in this dark world.

To be called a fox is not an endearing term or description of a person. We see of Israel at this time that they had done evil in the sight of God, so were they any better than the Philistines? No. They didn’t support Samson, in fact Samson was separated unto God from birth because noone else in Israel was. He was set apart by birth, and so we are today if we are born again. The rest of Israel had the name, but not the birth… they betrayed Samson, they didn’t help him. Watch religion, because circumcision and uncircumcision doesn’t avail anything, but a new creature in Christ Jesus. And it was only his brethren that came to get his dead body. There’s a lot of churches and a lot of so called Christians out there, but they are foxes more than they are Samsons. They are not who they claim to be, they are not who they say they are, they say this but they do that, they are deceptive, sly, cunning, crafty. They live in dens… what den have you emerged from? Is God’s word your strong tower to which you flee… or do you live in a dark dingy den of the earth?

As the foxes were joined tail to tail, so it is a bad marriage between Christians and the world… a marriage that is ultimately set on fire, set on the fires of hell. You see, all the foxes died… they couldn’t escape the fire, even doing their mad dash trying to escape the fire. You can try and escape God’s judgement, but you won’t. It seem stupid to board a sinking ship. Sure that ship has many pleasures on board, but it’s about to hit an iceberg. The ship will never come in to dock… it’s a one way ticket. In Egypt some of the first plagues affected both Egypt and Israel, but there was a point at which the plagues only affected the Egyptians and not Israel. Nobody has to die and go to hell, you don’t need to join Satan in the lake of fire… which was designed not to hold you, but to hold the devil and his angels. Why follow him, why side with him? Is sin worth your soul? Is it worth all the corn, vineyards and olives that God has for you? We shouldn’t join up with the world and partake in it’s judgement and it’s doom. This story of Samson is a picture of the judgement of God… you surely don’t want the harvest of your life burnt up. The Philistines controlled and benefited from what should’ve been Israeli fields. And as a result all the good fruit of the land was lost… wasted. Is that your life? Waste and burning up? You surely don’t want to surrender the grace, mercy, love and righteousness that is freely extended to you by God. The Philistines won’t get it to you, and they’ll take it for themselves. The world doesn’t love you, Satan uses… he doesn’t love. Yet so many people choose the devil… it’s a broad road… the path of compromise is well trod. If you want to hear… the Bible says come out from among her (Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth) that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. The foxes tail to tail is a very apt picture of Christians and the world today, just like Israel and the Philistines back then. It’s a bad “joining”… God doesn’t want us joined to sin, joined to the world, joined to it’s ways and means and thoughts and deeds. It was Samson who had power, power whenever he wanted it… Israel didn’t want it, or even know that power. They were the tail and not the head… you see so many people lack the power and authority and certainty of God, because they’ve surrendered their power in compromise, in league with the world. Sure, they benefited from Samson’s actions… and so many people today benefit off the people doing the actual fighting.

It was not God’s plan for Israel to be so willingly under Philistine dominion. Know ye not that the Philistines are rulers over us? … they said that to Samson. God was trying to break the Philistines vicelike grip on Israel. He had to get Samson to marry a Philistine woman for him to get wronged because he sought occasion against the Philistines. So while it was against God’s command to marry them… we must remember those commands are for our good (that’s why God gave them!)… Samson’s life would’ve been better off not marrying her. Despite that God allowed Samson to marry her because otherwise there’d be no reason to fight the Philistines. God sought occasion against the Philistines. People didn’t even realize they needed deliverance, they didn’t want it, they liked it the way it was. God wanted someone to see the need to get the Philistines OUT. I mean, it’s the same today, we are so wicked and fallen, so far gone, that we can not want deliverance, we love our sin, we don’t esteem the cross of Jesus Christ at all, he is far from our minds… he can be utterly worthless to us… because we are having quite a good run at life. People are happy with their lives, they are happy with their Christianity, they don’t need a deliverer or deliverance, they are content with and under the Philistines. They are too blind to recognize their true plight. You can go to hell a Christian… you must be born again, your sins must be atoned for by the blood of Jesus. You need the Holy Spirit to move in your life to even recognize the need to be saved… unless the Father draws you, you cannot come. It’s funny how whenever we see the Spirit of the Lord coming on Samson, it’s to get rid of the Philistines, God wants them out our lives. God is holy, and his children bear his likeness… if you get saved, he will drive things out your life, things you used to love which you finally saw them for what they were. We love our sin, we love our flesh, we love the world… but God wants us separated unto himself. If we don’t get them, they will get us… as Samson found out, the battle won’t stop til our dying day.

Back to the story… it’s significant that the tails of the foes were what Samson tied the firebrands to, because God had said if Israel obeyed him they’d be the head, and if they disobeyed they’d be the tail. You disobey God and you will be the tail of everything, you will have no power or authority in your life… no lasting impression for God. You want to join to the world… it’s just two fox tails joining together… it’s a bad deal. A Christian compromising with the world is just like the world. Christians often think they can be “all things to all people”, which is really just a justification for their sin, but we end up going down, rather than lifting the standard higher… isn’t that true? Israel copied the other nations instead of giving them their God… they went to Philistine ways rather than the Philistines adapting to Israeli ways… you never see the other nations being changed by Israel, just Israel being changed by their occupiers. Who is doing the occupying? It is no wonder that God wanted those wicked nations driven utterly out the promised land, because they brought Israel no end of trouble as Israel kept following their gods and ways.

Samson put a firebrand between the tails. A firebrand is a stick that is on fire. What a picture of judgement that is. Jesus Christ died on a tree, and salvation is available to all of us today, we live in a wonderful time of grace where God is longsuffering with us, he has given us his word, he has poured out his Holy Spirit… but there comes a time when it is too late. When the stick is set on fire, and it is what destroys you. Jesus Christ is not only the Saviour… he is the King, he is Lord, he is the Judge. Unbelief will cost you dearly, refusing what Jesus did on the tree. The cross will save you or sentence you. Those firebrands represent God’s judgement, and look at the devastation. No cross of Jesus Christ, all that fruit will go to waste in your life. What could’ve been… what you could’ve had… but what the Philistines had, and what got destroyed. All the good God has for you… you never took it. You see, God is the judge, and as the righteous, good, Holy judge… he will and does judge sin. You want to stay in disobedience and rebellion to God, you want to join yourself to the world and immerse yourself in it’s ways and means… well what you’ll get is fire. And look at the effect it had on the harvest fields. Things like corn, vines, olives.. all burnt up. Those are all good things. In the Bible these three plants/trees and their fruit are likened to God’s word, they’re likened to joy, peace, righteousness, the Holy Spirit… they’re of God. Joseph dished out corn in Egypt. Jesus turned the water into wine. Jesus said he IS the true vine. And the dove that returned to the ark carried an olive leaf in his beak. But in this story they’re all getting burnt up. It seems such a waste, because it is… but that’s what a life of unbelief and disobedience is… waste. Investing in Philistine is a waste. Ask Lot… who invested in Sodom. Fire represents God’s judgement… it’s interesting seeing the fire burning up the corn, the vineyards, the olives… because that’s the grace of God disappearing. Satan is a thief, and you play for his team… and he’ll rob all the goodness that God had for you, and you’ll never taste it, you’ll never experience a true lasting harvest in your life. Harvests were usually great times, but this was anything but. God’s word, salvation, grace, mercy, blessing… forgiveness, eternal life… tt’s available to us all, but if you want to go your own way and reject Jesus Christ… all that corn and wine and olives you could’ve had from God… will be gone. All that grace gone, wasted on you. The harvest you thought your life would have, nothing will last, nothing will abide his day of wrath.

The judgement of God. Surely this will wake Israel up? It’s fire that separated Elijah from the false prophets at Mount Carmel… as God alone has the power to execute his word. It is Jesus alone who rose from the dead. But has the cross been set on fire in your life? You don’t rate the cross of Jesus Christ? You don’t esteem his blood? You despise his grace and goodness and mercy? Jesus hung on a tree… but that tree will be turned to fire if you reject Jesus Christ. Jesus took the fire of God for us, but if you don’t believe on him, you instead will taste God’s judgement, with noone to stand between you and the consuming fire. That fiery tree will be what starts the fire that takes out all the corn, all the vineyards, all the olives of your life. You see all the blessings, all the promises, all the forgiveness, all the life is wrapped up in the person and work of Jesus Christ. You will lose everything if you don’t have him. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to lose everything. Wouldn’t you want some parts of your life to remain when all is said and done? Wouldn’t you like to not miss your day of grace? In Zechariah, God likened Jerusalem unto a brand plucked out the fire. Have you been plucked out the fire by believing on Jesus Christ, saved from the burning? Jesus tasted that burning for you, so you don’t have to… I thirst he said. Wasn’t the rich man thirsty in hell? These firebrands started a fire that ignited the Philistine fields. The corn was still standing when it got burnt up. No harvest… just standing there. I’m sure when the Philistines went to bed that night they thought they’d be reaping all that corn soon enough… but the next day all it was ash. Don’t take your breath of life for granted, you don’t know how long you’ve got… maybe your successful, full, rich life actually consists of nothing at the end of the day. God has a lot of good corn and wine and olives for you, you can live a life of meaning and a life that lasts, and a life that grasps who Jesus is and what he has done for you.

If we take a step back, consider that God wanted to use Samson to get the Philistines out of Israel. The fire in the corn shows that God is bigger than Dagon, God is stronger than the Philistines. This world we live in is under judgement, why would you stay on a ship that is sinking? Futhermore, it shows that the Philistines have a harvest that doesn’t survive the fire of God’s judgement. So why sit under their dominion. If you are a Christian why do you settle for Philistine domination of your life? Look at the world. It’s corn, its vineyards, its olives are burnt up. They don’t have salvation, they don’t know God, why follow the world. It’s a bit like the plagues of Egypt… God sent them to get his people out… and then in Judges they’re out of Egypt sure, and in their own land sure, but the Philistines are occupying them now! Set free, yet somehow under bondage. Stop joining yourself to sin, to error, to lies, to deceit, to departure from God. Your victory will come from faith in God, as Samson had. But we see Israel never really benefited from Samson’s work as the people stayed in apostasy and rebellion. Like Samson, Jesus has won the victory, and Jesus has won a victory greater than Samson ever did, as Samson’s life was but a shadow of what Jesus would do. If you doubt it, look at Samson, he loved Delilah so much he suffered the departure of God for loving someone that betrayed him. He surrendered his strength and power. Sounds like Jesus Christ. He so loved us, a wicked world, he gave himself for us, he took our sin upon himself. God departed from Samson… a shadow of Jesus on the cross… my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!? We know Samson wasn’t perfect like Jesus, nor his motives pure like Jesus’… but it’s a pity Samson’s life didn’t inspire Israel to take up arms against the Philistines. The world’s corn is burnt up… will the corn you could’ve had go with it? The standing corn was burnt up… it’s right there, salvation is available to you today, yet the fire will get it before you do. Unreaped salvation will be a horrible thing to lament in hell.

At the end of the story we see the Philistines find out who did this and why, and then they killed Samson’s wife and father. The Philistines perhaps wanted to satisfy Samson so that he’d stop attacking them. He’d been wronged, so they took care of that problem to make him stop. Maybe that’d change his mind about them. Satan will come to you and offer a compromise… hey you’re not that bad, hey all that Jesus stuff is a bit over the top. Satan will come with… hey, I’m not so bad… in fact I’m kind of good… and you’ll forget and the seed of the word of God will be taken from you. After the gospel, Satan will come for that seed in your heart. But the Philistines actions did not satisfy Samson. It in fact ended with a great slaughter of the Philistines. They’d then redouble their efforts even greater, don’t expect Satan to give up easily on getting you. It may be a good thing to finally wake up to the fact that your fields are under Philistine control in your life, it may be a good thing to realize that corn that you could have… well the enemy’s got it. And it’s burnin’ up. Maybe it’s time to get things right in your life, and shove the Philistines out your land. Clear your life, get right with God… you don’t have to lose everything. It’s bad to compromise with the world, to adopt it’s ways, it’s beliefs as your own, to go DOWN to it’s level… to take it’s bait. It’s not about self righteousness, it’s about doing right before God, doing right because God’s ways are good for us, ultimately because he is God and is worthy of our love and obedience. Surely you’d rather have him Lord of your life than Philistine oppression? All the corn, the vineyards, the olives were burnt up. So the fields of harvest that were in their land which they didn’t even own … gone. This world’s got nothing to offer you, nothing that will last, nothing eternal. Yes you’re wasting your life in rebellion to God… it’s not worth it. Of course then it was Samson’s fault right, because they laid the blame with Samson… and that’s how messed up our thinking gets… we blame God, we find fault in his faultless word, like Ahab blaming Elijah for troubling Israel. Well wait a minute, who’s really in the wrong here… how about Israel repent and take up arms instead of handing Samson to the Philistines. Samson was the only one actually making a stand for something. Is everything burnt up? Your life won’t burn up if you get saved. God’s forgiveness doesn’t burn up, his word doesn’t burn up, his eternal life doesn’t burn up, his promises don’t burn up.Maybe it’s time to get on the Lord’s side.

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