“The ego lusts for satisfaction. It has a prideful ferocious appetite for its version of ‘truth’. It is the most challenging aspect to conquer; the cause for most spiritual turmoil.” This insightful observation about the human ego and appetite was authored by former mobster T.F. Hodge in his book From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with “The Divine Presence.”
It is true—because of the sinful nature that exists within us, we all possess egos that lust for satisfaction. We all have aptitudes for our own versions of the truth. It is, indeed, difficult to conquer and it is the origin of most of our spiritual chaos. And dare I say, “In some ways, we all possess appetites that, if not controlled, lead to destruction.” We see this in the life of Samson as told in Judges 14.
An Appetite for Sensuality (1-4)
Throughout the ages, many parents have disapproved of their child’s choice of a spouse. There are a whole host of reasons for this—parents usually know their own child’s character flaws and they are often able to pick up on weaknesses in the person their child has chosen to marry. Parents, who have gained wisdom and experience with age, are often able to foresee marital challenges that their kids can’t see—like selfish motivations, variances in values, and potential personality conflicts. Yes, many parents have agonized over their child’s selection of a mate. (After all, not everyone can be as lucky as my in-laws!!)
Well, this is exactly what happened to Samson and his parents. After an angelic pre-natal visit and a miraculous birth, Samson eventually grew through adolescence into adulthood. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him and his hair grew long from his Nazarite vow. God blessed him with strength and motivated him toward fulfilling his divine destiny of delivering Israel from the Philistines, who had cruelly oppressed them for forty years. So, from time to time, he would leave his hometown of Zorah and make the six mile journey west to the Philistine town of Timnah to provoke the enemy.
On one of Samson’s trips to Timnah, he happened to notice a breathtakingly beautiful young Philistine woman. Captivated by her good looks and overcome with sensual desire, he wanted to do more than just lay his eyes upon her. In his mind, this was love at first sight.
It is not surprising that when he returned home to tell his parents that he had met the girl of his dreams, they were not impressed. They immediately recognized that this was nothing more than an impulsive infatuation, but Samson refused to listen to their counsel. He completely disrespected them by demanding that they go to Timnah and arrange the marriage with the woman’s family. (The usual custom was for the parents to choose a suitable spouse from their own people and arrange it with the future in-laws.)
No doubt, Samson’s parents remembered the angel’s promise that their son would deliver them from the Philistines. Can you imagine the horror they felt when he told them that he wanted to marry one? They quickly protested his demand on the basis that she was from the uncircumcised Philistines, which meant that she was outside the covenant community and worshipped false idols rather than the one true God. As they pointed out, there were many eligible girls among their own clan who shared their faith, but Samson was blind and stubborn. He was dominated by his own sensual appetites and he refused to listen to advice. Little did he know that his appetites would eventually lead to his own destruction.
Samson’s life represents a microcosm of the whole nation Israel. His blindness, stubbornness, and willingness to settle down with the enemy mirrors what Israel had done as a nation. They sacrificed God’s plan on the altar of temporal pleasure; they exchanged doing what was right in God’s eyes for what was right in their own eyes.
This scene teaches us some important spiritual lessons. It warns us against the folly of allowing our sensual appetites to control our decisions. Like Samson, so many people today are consumed by their illicit lusts. They see something they want and they have to have it. This is why problems like pornography addiction, hook-ups, adultery, and sexual assault are so common in our culture.
Another spiritual lesson we learn from this scene is the importance of listening to godly counsel, especially from our parents. One of God’s great blessings is how he surrounds us with people to show us our blind spots and guide us toward good decisions. But many people become so proud and stubborn that they refuse to listen to anyone around them; instead, they have an appetite for destruction!
This scene also highlights the importance of marrying within the faith. I know many young Christians who have disregarded their parent’s advice and foolishly married someone who did not share their faith in Jesus Christ or their spiritual values, and it almost always drags the Christian away from God. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers…” (2 Cor. 6:14) Young people, one of the most important pieces of advice I can give you is to marry someone who truly loves Jesus!
One of the saddest aspects of this scene is how Samson allowed his personal desires and ambitions to get in the way of God’s divine plan for his life. Likewise, how many of us have allowed our personal desires, ambitions, and agendas to sidetrack us from God’s perfect plan for our lives?
An Appetite for Sweet Things (4-9)
When Samson’s parents realized that they couldn’t change his mind, they relented and made the trip to Timnah to meet the young woman and her family. On their way there, Samson separated from his parents and went near the vineyards of Timnah. This detail shows his lack of judgment in regard to temptation. As a Nazarite, he was forbidden to drink wine or eat the fruit of the vine (grapes), but he put himself in a dangerous situation where he could have easily compromised his vows.
But as it turned out, Samson found a different danger in the vineyards—a roaring lion poised to pounce on him. In that moment, the Spirit of the Lord endowed him with supernatural strength which enabled him to rip the lion apart with his bare hands. This event foreshadows the future where Samson will use his bare hands to destroy the Philistines. It also highlights God’s grace in Samson’s life, that even though his conduct was compromising his faith, the Spirit of the Lord was still upon him. This was true for the nation of Israel too.
It is peculiar that Samson never told his parents about the encounter with the lion. He did not want them to know that he touched a dead animal because that was a breach of one of his Nazarite vows. In God’s sight, both literally and spiritually, he had blood on his hands.
After all of the arrangements were made for his wedding, Samson shows a further disregard for the dangers of temptation by returning to the lion’s remains. Perhaps he was just curious about the carcass or maybe he wanted to relive his incredible triumph, but he was undoubtedly surprised to discover a hive of honey bees inhabiting the lion’s body. And once again, his appetite for sweet things overtakes him and he violates his vow to God by touching the carcass and gorging himself on honey. Then, he adds insult to injury by giving some honey to his parents. Had they known where his sticky fingers had been, they never would have taken it.
Once again, we see Samson putting himself in compromising positions and then succumbing to his sensual urges. Just like the sweet-looking Philistine woman, he refuses to turn away from the honey. In both cases, he shows a blatant disregard to the commitments he made to God. And yet, God is still gracious toward Samson!
Do you see what God is teaching us in this scene? Don’t put yourself in compromising positions, especially in areas where you know that your appetites are strong! Do whatever you need to do to protect the vows and commitments you have made to God! If you are vulnerable to sexual temptation, remove yourself from situations where you will be enticed! If you have a gambling problem, don’t rationalize a trip to the casino. If you have an alcohol problem, don’t meet your friends at the bar. If you are prone to overeat, by all means, don’t go to a buffet!
An Appetite for Glory (10-20)
When the wedding had finally been arranged and it was time for the festivities to begin, Samson prepared a feast at the bride’s parent’s house. This was one of those old-fashioned seven day feasts that served as both a rehearsal dinner and stag party. Samson did not have any groomsmen of his own, so thirty Philistine men were given to him as attendants. As Samson and his groomsmen engaged in gluttonous and drunken revelry (which was another breach of his Nazarite vow), he reveals a new disastrous appetite: an appetite for glory. He tries to prove his superior intellect over the Philistines by proposes a wager and a riddle. He bet them thirty sets of clothing (one for each of them) that they could not solve his riddle. They agreed to the bet before they realized that Samson would pose the impossible puzzle: “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.”
Well, the riddle made a clever rhyme, but it was completely unfair because no one else know about the honey from the lion’s carcass. After three days of failing to figure it out, the groomsmen resorted to a sly trick of their own. They blackmailed Samson’s fiancé into finding out the answer; they threatened to burn her and her family to death if she didn’t get the answer. Left with no choice, she conjures up a manipulative and passionately plea for him to share the answer with her. On the last day of the feast, her tears of trickery finally wore Samson down until he revealed the answer to the riddle. She told the groomsmen and they answered the riddle and demanded their reward. Samson, the sweet-tooth, got sweet-talked by his Philistine bride!
Samson was so enraged by this that he went down to the Philistine town of Ashkelon, struck down thirty men, and stole their clothes. When he returned to the wedding feast, he threw the clothes at the feet of his groomsmen, sulked liked a spoiled schoolboy, and stomped all the way back to his father’s house. And since he did not consummate his marriage, the bride’s father gave her away to one of the groomsmen at the feast. Samson’s appetite for glory backfired on him and led to further destruction.
Once again, this story shows us that if we don’t keep our appetites in check, they will lead to destruction. When we allow our personal pursuits to take priority over our commitments to God, we experience divine adversity. When we compromise our relationship with God to feed our momentary urges, our lives become riddled with complications.
Do you see the chain reaction in Samson’s life? If had not ventured alone into Philistine territory, he never would have lusted after the Philistine woman. If he had listened to his parent’s advice not to marry her, he never would have been tempted to touch the honey and taste the wine and break his commitments to God. Had he never gone through with the wedding feast, he wouldn’t have been in the position to boast a riddle or be humiliated by the Philistines.
Have you ever traced a string of ungodly decisions back through your own life? Like Samson, I bet that you will be able to see how they are linked together? Do you have an appetite for destruction?
But do you know what the most amazing part of this story is? That even in the midst of Samson’s moral mistakes, willful sins, and utter spiritual failures, God shed his grace on him. Even though Samson made foolish decisions and broke his vows to God, God never gave up on him. God could have removed his Spirit from him, but he didn’t. God still had a divine destiny for him.
Like Samson and the nation of Israel, none of us deserves God’s grace either, but he gives it to us anyway. God gave us his son Jesus Christ—and through his death and resurrection, he gives us forgiveness for all of our mistakes, sins, and failures. Amid all of our appetites for destruction, I am so glad the God has a hunger for redemption!