GROUP GUIDE: Judges 13-16

The entire worldview of the people in the book of Judges is summarized in Judges 17:6: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (ESV). The same verse is repeated as the last verse of the book of Judges (21:25). Unfortunately, Samson lived his life within the same worldview as his contemporaries, which was predominant throughout the book of Judges. The author of Judges demonstrates this in Samson’s words in Chapter 14 “But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes” (v. 3) and “Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes” (v. 7). Unfortunately, Samson’s life throughout Judges 14-16 is largely viewed through a sinful worldview.

Why is the book of Judges important to people today in our culture? The same worldviews that dominated the people in the time of Judges still distort our personal lives and culture today. What is a worldview? According to Jeff Myers and David Noebel in Understanding the Times, a worldview is “a pattern of ideas, beliefs, convictions, and habits that help us make sense of God, the world, and our relationship to God and the world” (p. 6). Every human being has a worldview formed by the personal and cultural influences in their life, which ultimately shape what they believe and how they act.

The life of Samson in Judges 13-16 reveals five major lenses that shaped what was right in his own eyes: strength, wealth, sexuality, isolation, and intellect. These five worldview lenses in Samson’s life are very similar to the worldviews that dominate our lives and culture today. As we study the life of Samson and see the worldviews he looked through, this should raise a question for our own lives. Where are we looking?

The irony of Samson’s life is that he doesn’t actually start looking for God until the Philistines physically blind him. The severe mercy of God in allowing Samson to be blinded finally gives him the clarity to see the real source of his strength, God. Samson’s whole worldview changes only after his sin binds, blinds, and grinds him down to a place of brokenness and weakness. The sufficiency of God’s grace is revealed through his weakness, and God’s power is perfected in his brokenness (2 Cor. 12:9). After Samson is weak and broken, he finally sees his need for God to be a deliverer (Judges 16:28). Samson destroys his enemies with his death and delivers more people through his death than his life.

Samson’s life should help us clearly see that Christ is our one true Judge who can deliver us from sin. Samson ripped the young lion apart with his bare hands just as Christ will rip apart the power of Satan, who is like a roaring lion seeking to devour us (1 Peter 5:8). Samson destroys his enemies with foxes and torches just like Christ will return and destroy all his enemies with fire. Samson was blinded by the Philistines and mocked just like Christ was blindfolded and mocked by Romans. Samson was tied up by his own people and handed over to the Philistines to die just as the Jews handed Christ over to the Romans for crucifixion. Samson was one man sent alone to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines just as Christ is the only one who can deliver us from the power of sin, Satan, and death. Samson stretched out his arms and was crushed to death by the weight of his enemies just as Christ stretched out his arms and was crushed to death by the weight of humanity’s greatest enemy, sin. Jesus is the true and better Samson who judges perfectly and delivers completely. Let us not do what is right in our own eyes like Samson but develop a Biblical worldview that sees and follows Christ.

Prayer: “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:17-18).