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The Curious Case of the Renegade Rambo


Based on the David Morrell 1972 novel First Blood, about John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran and former U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier who is skilled in many aspects of survival, weaponry, hand-to-hand combat and guerrilla warfare. Rambo became a cultural icon synonymous with bravery, courage, and machismo. With revenge as a backdrop on most of Rambo's escapades, he bears an all too clear resemblance to another renegade in the Bible, one whose foolish choices led to a tragic end. Here's what I learned from Judges 16 & 17.

Highlight:

'The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison. But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved. ' Judges 16:21-22

Explain:

Samson is such an odd case to me. On the one hand he started out gloriously. It was quite supernatural from the beginning. God had His hands on the young man from the start. But every turn in Samson’s life seemed to be more and more incongruent with the ways and purposes of God. Here’s a man whose list of bad decisions are piling up rather rapidly.

  • He decides that He wants to marry a girl who isn’t an Israelite. This is a problem because they weren’t supposed to intermarry with the people of the land both Joshua and Moses warned them not to do so, still Samson will not listen to His parents at all. The whole purpose of the Nazirite vow was to be set apart as holy and set apart for God and yet here Samson is intent on marrying a woman who was anything but. I mean the woman’s dad is content to give her to someone else and tries to pawn his other daughter off on Samson!

  • He’s in the vineyards of Timnath. This is a violation of his Nazirite vow. Part of the vow from Numbers 6 forbids him from being anywhere near vinegar made from wine, from wine, from beer, from grape juice, from grapes, or raisins. Nothing about a vineyard was Samson allowed to be apart of, and yet here he is looking for the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  • Its the wrong time because just at that moment, he is attacked by a lion. When he miraculously defeats the lion with his barehands, he goes and boasts about it to the woman he isn’t supposed to be with in the first place.

  • When he returns there are bees in the carcass and he scoops up the honey and eats it and gives some to his parents. Now he not only is violating the Nazirite vow, he is causing them to as well! Misery loves company.

  • In the midst of a party, he tells the men a riddle about the lion and the honey. When they go after Samson’s new bride, she caves and tells him the answer. When they find the answer, Samson’s anger gets the best of him and he kills thirty men.

  • When he returns home his father in law has given his wife to another man. IN his anger he ties 300 foxes tail to tail and burns down their crops

  • So in their anger they kill Samson’s wife and Father-in-law.

  • Now the Jews are upset at Samson because he’s singlehandedly waged war on the Philistines. 3000 of them show up to capture him and turn him over to the Philistines.

  • In his anger, Samson breaks the bands and breaks himself free and then kills 1000 Philistines

  • Then in his frustration with God he demands that God gives him water to be revived.

  • Twenty years later and Samson is now in bed with a prostitute in Gaza and they show up to kill him but instead he gets up in the middle of the night and carries off the gates of the city.

  • Then the story of Delilah and he finally caves and gives up the last part of his Nazirite vow and with it his last vestige of strength. In the end he is captured, his eyes are gouged out, his is made a slave and eventually commits suicide killing more Philistines in his death than in his life.

What a bizarre and difficult story. His life is not a model to be emulated, but a mess to avoid. Even though He had tremendous incredible potential, He wasted all of it selfishly. Samson’s anger, his sexual desires, his refusal to listen all cost him dearly. But where is God in the midst of all of this? What can we learn from this renegade Rambo?

Apply:

  • Samson’s life is a picture of Israel. Think of about it. Here is a man who was given supernatural ability to accomplish a God given task rooted in a God sized promise. Samson’s life was a microcosm of their history. Blessed with so much potential, given the providence of God and absolutely will not listen to anyone. Over and over Moses and Joshua warned them about chasing after other gods, following after the people who would draw their hearts away from God. They never achieve what they could because they never listen. Too often in our lives we are the same way. Given incredible favor and grace, endowed with God’s power to achieve God’s purposes in the world and yet we are too busy being enthralled with what would defile us from the holy purposes God has given us to listen to the God who longs to use us!

  • God’s going to accomplish HIs purposes even over our dead body. What is so incredible about the story of Samson, is that in the midst of all this foolishness, in the midst of every stupid decision Samson makes, God is working His incredible purposes in spite of Samson’s mistakes. I fear sometimes we put God into a box and say He works in this person or way but not in that person or that way. But God isn’t confined to our boxes, He can use donkeys (both kinds if you know what I mean). God isn’t confined to our rules. He can take impossible men and do impossible things with them. Even though the Jews couldn’t see it, God was working through this train wreck of a judge. He accomplishes His purposes in His time and in His means. We can’t put up rails on God’s working in this world and we need to train ourselves to see God where He is actually working not be frustrated when He doesn’t do it in the ways we think He should. The work God would do through Samson was a work of God, a supernatural work that was beyond understanding. This is precisely what the angel told Samson’s parents. This is why He won’t tell them his name, they wouldn’t understand anyway. This was a term used of a supernatural work of God. The miracle wasn’t just that God was going to deliver, but He was going to use this hopeless tornado to do it.

  • Without godly accountability, you will make some small compromises that will lead to some big consequences. Samson’s biggest problem is that He won’t listen. It doesn’t matter how much potential you have if you don’t submit it to the Father's authority. Samson’s problems began when he refused the counsel of his parents and systematically rebelled against the oath the angel had determined for him. We will always make dumb decisions in the vacuum of independence. ‘In a multitude of counsel there is safety.’ Samson’s life might have ended up differently had he chosen to listen to counsel that might have helped him avoid the foolish decisions that led to his captivity and downfall.

Respond:

What a peculiar story. I’m so torn on Samson’s life. His is a tragic story a cautionary tale that accomplishes the purposes of God despite HIs own terrible decisions. God help me to listen, help me to see Your plans even when they don’t look like what I thought, and help me make wise decisions.


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Drew Tankersley -
Husband, Father, Pastor 

 Committed to faithfulness personally, in the family, and in ministry with a desire to

“feed the flock of God as a good shepherd” and “equip the saints for ministry.”

I'm blessed to be married to my incredible wife, Georgia, and honored to be dad to Colby and Carly.  I serve as Lead Pastor at South Seminole Baptist Church in East Ridge, TN.

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