HEB 11:32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets

Dr Tong was in good spirit today, and told me that he would be preaching on
Samson (making me scramble for the text because I thought he would talk
about Barak... I will ask him later why Barak was listed by the author
instead of Deborah). But he was not too happy that a person like Samson
could be listed with the men of faith... so I knew that he would use him as
a negative example. A couple came by to see him at the side room, both are
Chinese physicians, bringing for him medicine for his various ailment. It is
always interesting to see how people volunteer to care for Dr Tong.
Sometimes he gets carrot juice, watermelon juice, home-brewed remedies from
anonymous people. I remember one old lady bringing him some horrifying
looking pills in KL, insisting that he take those for his liver problem.
What people do not realise however is that he does not take anything that
came by anonymously (or even from some one he does not know well), because
he once had food poisoning over some tonic someone left for him. The best
thing really to do is to continue to uphold him in prayers.

Tong started by calling a contrast between Gideon and Samson. He said that
Gideon was called progressively, in a step by step manner. His faith was
built up through trials, through his own questioning and doubt, and God led
him step by step all through his life. Samson in contrast, was a person who
was set aside even before his birth (Judges 13). His father Manoah was
visited by the messenger of God, again the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ in
human form. This became clear because the messenger received the offering by
disappearing in the midst of the flame of the offering, causing Manoah to
realise that he has seen God. Tong explained that this is not God the
Father, for no one can see God and live; but God the Son in a pre-incarnate
human manifestation, which was why Manoah was not struck dead. This in
theological term, is Theophany.

Therefore, Samson was a person who was naturally imbued with the talents and
qualities needed, and set aside to serve God before his birth. Tong said
that we all know that Samson was a mighty and strong man. But we may not
know that he was probably the strongest ever lived, more so that mystical
hero like the Greek Hercules or the Chinese Wu Song. The Bible says that he
could tear apart a lion with his bear hands, killed 1000 men with the
jawbone of a donkey, took 3,000 lives at his death. But with all his great
talent, one thing stood out about Samson the judge. While the Bible recorded
that the reign of each judge brought peace to Israel for a number of years,
Samson's reign did not contain such a description. This is of significance,
meaning that Samson was deficient as a judge of Israel.

He was listed as a man of faith because he still had faith in several areas.
He was firstly obedient to the covenant that his parents made with God, in
that he did not shave his head for his entire life, nor did he take any
fermented drink (and right before he died, he exercised his faith in God
again). In these two areas, he was absolutely obedient. Yet in other areas
of his life, he lived like the pagans. Tong said that many Christians and
churches today are the same. They are absolutely obedient to several verses
in the Bible, holding on to them and promoting those concepts with zeal. Yet
in other areas, they completely ignore the general principles of the Bible,
and follow the desires and methods of the flesh. Like Samson, they are
obedient in some areas, but generally followed their own desires in other
areas. They had faith in some ways, but ignored other important biblical
teachings in others. Tong said that there are really only two ways in life,
the way of the flesh, or the way of the Holy Spirit.

In the way of the flesh, Samson wanted to take a Philistine woman for his
wife. In contrast, Abraham was obedient in everyway, and made his servant
promise that he will not get a Canaanite woman for Isaac's wife. Samson
however, would not bother about this portion of faith, and went against his
father's admonishment, primarily because he could get his way because of his
strength and might.

Tong said that there are two types of Christians. The first know that their
talents and gifts are inadequate, and so attempt to pursue spirituality with
fear and trembling in their heart, seeking after the guidance of the Holy
Spirit carefully. They follow the general principle of the entire Word of
God, and are carefully in every step. The second type are given talents and
gifts naturally, and so used them to their own advantage to fulfill their
own desires. They flaunt their talent in the ministry without thinking
through their entire approach to spirituality in life. In the end, they are
like Samson, who followed the desires of his heart over the desires of God
because he had great talent.

But the curious thing was that the Bible says in Judges 14:4 that the
marriage incident was from the LORD. So how could God allow such an evil act
to occur?

Tong said that he personally classifies the will of God into 4 broad
areas/layers:
1. The eternal and perfect plan of God
2. The guidance of the Holy Spirit within the history of man
3. The special allowance of God within special circumstances
4. The abandonment of God for man to do as he pleases

In order of priority, the first is the best, the last the worst. When one
gets the order and priority wrong in life, everything gets messed up. In the
case of Martha and Mary, Martha was working really hard, but for the wrong
thing. When she complained that Mary was doing nothing, our LORD said to
Martha that she was worried about too many things, while Mary had taken the
best blessing that will not be removed from her. In a real sense then,
Martha chose the wrong order. Even Confucius knew that if one could get the
right order of priorities in life, one would be near to the truth. This is
why the Bible says we are to seek first the kingdom of God, and all the rest
will be added to us (Tong made a point to emphasize that it is 'added' upon
the already-existing grace of God).

If one were to be obedient to the eternal plan of God as revealed in His
Word, the pathway ahead would be more straight forward. If one refuses to be
obedient and chooses to find His own way, the guidance of the Holy Spirit
will be necessary to correct and rebuke, and to guide one back to God's
plan. This means that the person would have to travel many erroneous roads,
and make lots of mistakes and pay the price for them before finding the plan
of God again. By the third stage, God may allow certain things to occur in
one's life that may be detrimental, but still within His control. This was
the case for Samson's marriage. By the last stage, God had 'abandoned' man
to his own devices, and he would have the illusion that he had achieved
complete freedom apart from God. But Tong affirmed that there is not a
single moment, not a single event, not a single thing in the entire universe
that is outside the control of God. Even in the last stage, when God
abandoned man to his own devices, God is still fully in control, because
even that so-called freedom came from God. The sense of freedom at this
stage is illusionary, for God is still fully in control.

Tong gave an illustration of a sick person being told by the nurse that he
cannot eat this or that. The patient was angry with the nurse, and kept
bugging her about wanting to eat all sorts of forbidden food. The nurse
patiently explained why he could not partake of certain food, but the man
was still unhappy. One day, the doctor called the nurse aside, and told her
that from now onwards, the patient is to be allowed to eat whatever he
wanted, in whatever quantity, to his heart's content. 'Is this good news?'
Tong asked the congregation. The answer was 'no'. The 'freedom' this man had
was obviously bad news, for he has but 2 more days to live. When the doctor
chose not to intervene anymore in that person's life, it spelled the end.
Tong encouraged all to ask that the LORD intervenes in our lives, so that we
can continue to stay close to Him rather than have Him abandon us altogether
to our own destruction.

In the case of Samson, he was by definition of the Greeks, the lowest type
of a human being. The Greeks believed that nature designed man to have the
brain (reason) above the heart (emotion), and the heart above the groin
(desires). So the perfect man guides his emotion with his reason, and his
emotion with love guides his sexuality. Samson had it upside down, and his
life was guided by his sexual desires. Not only did he desired for a
Philistine woman, he visited prostitutes and finally fell for Delilah.
Samson was a lone-ranger; he had no organisation like Moses did and went
about settling scores by his own methods. But he was nonetheless very
creative and intelligent, judging from the methods he used, which Tong said
demonstrated his originality in problem solving. Nonetheless, like many
heroes before him, he could not resist a beautiful woman. The irony of it
all was that Delilah had his eyes gouged out, the very eyes that captured
the beauty of Delilah. Handel wrote an oratorio on Samson, and described the
agony of the blind Samson very well, because when Handel wrote it, he
himself was blind.

Samson had forgotten his parents' covenant with God, and this was why the
power of God left him. Tong said that the Rev Andrew Gih (early pioneer
Chinese evangelist) often admonished the young people who responded to his
altar call to remember that they are making a covenant with God that cannot
be regretted. The other call Rev Gih often made was that young people should
think very carefully before courting any girl, because he knew of many
preachers whose ministries were bogged down by wives who did not support
their husband's ministry. The power of the LORD can only be with us when we
are fully committed to Him.

The Philistines began to mock God and wanted to use Samson as a tool for
humiliating God in order to glory their idol Dargon. Tong said that this
reminded him of what his seminary professor told him on the day of his
graduation; that he is not to allow God to be disgraced through a disgraced
personal life. This said Tong, was why he made a covenant with God ever
since he made the decision to serve God full-time at age 17, that for the
rest of his life, he would lead a holy and godly life, so that when people
would honour him for his upright life, they would honour God as well.

In the end, Samson's faith returned, and he recommitted his life to God,
asking for strength to destroy his enemies. He took together with him 3000
lives in what must remain as a world record for a single suicide act. The
segment of Judges ended with a bland description that he led Israel for 20
years; no mention of peace for Israel was found for this judge, whose life
became a negative example for us.

===

END

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.