Samson—Trumped!
“Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knoweth thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.”
Samson, one of the Judges of Israel, was certainly a character of great renown. He was chosen by the Lord before his birth – his mother was childless, and an angel appeared to her and told her she would have a son, and gave her instructions not to drink wine, nor partake of any unclean thing – Manoah, his father (of the tribe of Dan) was likewise instructed the same – and the resulting child was to be a Nazarite from his birth – and no razor should come upon his head. God’s purpose for Samson was to begin to deliver the Children of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.
Samson was endowed with great physical strength but was equally very strong minded. If he was upset by someone or something, he would get his own back – and he did. He didn’t suffer fools gladly!
The Lord God needed such a character at that time. And Samson didn’t care what others thought of his outbursts of retaliation, or what they thought of him. As we read above, the Judahites were aghast at his antics against their enemies, the Philistines. What on earth was he thinking of? Samson, stop rocking the boat – it’ll make things worse for us! You can almost hear Samson’s reply – ‘Too bad!’
However, his antics brought about his downfall. First of all, there was his love for the Philistine woman, Delilah. Why was he so obsessed with her? What was wrong with an Israelite woman?
The Philistines wanted to know the secret of Samson’s great strength, so they urged Delilah to find out. Samson was no fool, and he kept himself amused by giving various reasons, knowing full well he would easily escape from the ensuing efforts of the Philistines to capture him. But Delilah still persisted in wanting to know his secret. She badgered him constantly, and eventually it wore him down (gentlemen, I am sure you know that there are times when it is easier to give in to your wife, or girlfriend, …for a ‘quiet life’…).
This was Samson’s undoing, and shows that he must have loved Delilah, even though he should have known she would betray him!
So Samson’s head was shaved and his strength lost. Thus, he was captured by the Philistines, and not only that, but they took out his eyes too, so he was quite blind. What an end to this great man. But – God had not finished with him yet. No, the Philistines had still to be dealt with!
Imprisoned, and blinded, how long for we do not know, but his hair began to regrow, and then the Philistines made their greatest mistake! They were so delighted to have beaten Samson, that they gave this victory to their false god Dagon! And not content with that, they decided to bring Samson out so they could mock and deride him.
Had Samson being praying to God during his imprisonment? – probably. He certainly did when he was being brought out in front of the Philistines; “O Lord God remember me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”
And we all know what happened. Samson, with his great strength renewed, brought down the pillars of the building where the Philistines had gathered, and in this last act, in which he himself perished, he slew more Philistines than in life amongst them.
Now let us step forward many years to our present time, and consider someone else who I consider is very much a Samson figure, and who is most certainly rocking the boat, and ruffling plenty of feathers! This is President Donald Trump. You either love him or hate him. In fact, some who did think they loved him are now not so sure! But please remember, the Lord wanted him in this Presidential position, for otherwise he would not have escaped that assassination attempt. And also consider that after his first Presidential term of office, he was treated with contempt by the media and leaders of many other countries, not to mention the attempts during and since, to have him accused of working for the Russians, assaulting women, and in fact whatever other crimes they could place upon him – most people would have just given up, and faded into oblivion.
But not Donald Trump! Yes, he is proposing seemingly outlandish things – he wants Greenland – he would like Canada to join up with America – he is to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America – he told Zelensky a few home truths – he even hinted (according to the Saturday Daily Mail), that he would back any invitation for the United States to become an ‘associate’ member of the Commonwealth…….!
This may just all be bluff, or wishful thinking, or he may just wish to upset some of those leaders and the media, who upset him previously. Or he might be deadly serious! Time will tell, and he is serious about Tariffs. He is after all a businessman first and foremost.
We recently watched a programme about his early life, and his determination and strength of belief that quite marked then – still, he refused to accept defeat – we saw that in the 2020 Election, which he lost (whether fairly or unfairly).
In today’s world, we are surrounded with such evil and wickedness, that the Lord needs strong minded people to fight back. Samson’s calling was to begin to subdue the Philistines. Donald Trump’s calling may well be to begin to subdue the strength of the Deep State, the WEF, the Globalists, etc. It may well be to put America and the Christian West back on the right path to God. The Lord Himself knows that we certainly need help in that direction! And it is a very rocky road – and all up hill!
Samson was not perfect. He made mistakes, but the Lord knew about them. He knew his character. Donald Trump is not perfect, and has, and no doubt will, make mistakes, but the Lord knows all about them too. None of us are perfect – there was only one, Jesus Christ our Saviour. The rest of us make mistakes, and the Lord knows about them too.
So let us look upon the Donald, as we look upon Samson. A strong and unpredictable character. Far from perfect – but the Lord God has put him there, and in these interesting and fearful times, at least we know that Someone is in charge – and that someone is The Lord!
