Dore Samson
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Would You Vote for Samson?

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how a body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things” (Ecclesiastes 11:5).

We are a week out from what is certainly a consequential election. We are living in crazy and scary times. Thankfully, up to this point in our history, we have had the opportunity to vote for a new president every four years. Imagine living in times or places where people did not get that opportunity, when a king or dictator ruled for life. Our ability to vote is something for which we should thank God.

But it is decision time. For Christians, I believe the decision is obvious. Yes, some disagree with me. I have even read some of their arguments and I simply do not think they hold water. I do not even think that “sitting this one out” or “writing in a third candidate” passes the smell test this time around. I have heard Christians say they cannot in good conscience vote for someone who would not be a good example for their children.

So how can the Bible help us?

The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are our only rule for faith and practice. It is our guide. As R.C. Sproul said, “I cannot read God’s mind; however, I can read God’s Word.”

This includes the histories and the stories of the Old Testament.

Consider Samson:

Does anyone remember the highlights of Samson’s life? He was set aside by God as a Nazarite before he was even conceived: “The boy is to be… set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5). There were strict rules or commands for the Nazarite (Numbers 6). His life was to be set apart and dedicated to the LORD. He was never to ingest products of the vine. He must not go near a dead body to become ceremonially unclean. No razor is to be used on his head.

Do any of you remember the events of his life?

  • Samson desires to marry a Philistine woman. (This in-spite of God’s command to Israel NOT to marry foreign women—Deuteronomy 7:3-4.) He ignores the pleas of his parents that it is not a wise decision.  
  • He kills a lion and later finds that bees had made honey inside the dead lion’s carcass. He took some and ate it. (This in-spite of God’s command that touching an animal carcass makes one unclean—Leviticus 11:27, etc.)
  • He spends the night with a prostitute. (Certainly, not lawful.)
  • Seeing the pattern, are we to think he kept away from the fruits of the vine when he had a week-long wedding feast in Judges 14:10? I also doubt it when I read how deeply he falls into sleep when with Delilah. “Having put him to sleep on her lap” (16:19), they are able to bind him, weave his hair in a loom, etc.

Was he a man of godly character?

  • He killed thirty Philistines, after losing a bet (Judges 14).
  • He burned all the Philistine crops after finding out his wife had been given to another man by her father (Judges 15:3-5). 
  • When the Philistines burned his wife and her father, “He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them” (Judges 15:8). Okay, understandable.
  • He took the jawbone of a donkey and killed a thousand of them when they tried to capture him (15:15-17).
  • He falls in love with Delilah, either another Philistine woman or a collaborator with the Philistines, and allows her to manipulate him until he gives up the last vestige of his separation to the LORD: She calls the Philistines, they cut off his hair, gouge out his eyes, and enslave him.
  • In the end, Samson asks God to remember him and restore his strength, one last time that he might “get revenge on the Philistines for [his] two eyes” (16:28). The pillars and temple he tore down had “about three thousand men and women” and “all the rulers of the Philistines were there” (16:27). “Thus, he killed many more when he died than when he lived” (16:30).

What are we to make of Samson? Would you have chosen him to represent your nation and your cause? Would you have voted for him? Would you have elected him as leader? God did.

Samson certainly did not set himself aside or sanctify himself for God; but God set him aside to do what God wanted done (Judges 13:5). Even when he wanted the Philistine woman for his wife, which was forbidden; even though his parents tried to dissuade him we read, “His parents did not know that this was from the LORD” (Judges 14:4). God was about to start the fire which would burn up the Philistines, who had oppressed Israel for forty years (Judges 13:1). When Samson fought his battles, it was God who gave him the strength and victory, as we read, “Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power” (Judges 14:19, also 15:14).

The New Bible Dictionary discusses the problem with Samson, pointing out that each judge in the Book of Judges had sin problems and issues, “the narratives themselves testifying openly to the prevailing low standards,”[1] but none seem to be as bad as Samson “whose sensuality, irresponsibility and lack of true religious concern are apparent.”[2] But, we are reminded, God can use sinners and even the ungodly of people, to promote His agenda. (Don’t forget Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and even Xerxes in Esther.)

David committed adultery and had a man killed to cover up his sin.

Would you have elected David had you known this?

Sometimes God chose a leader we would never choose in order to accomplish His will.

What is his will?

His own glory and the good of His people…

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).

Of course, we have a lot of examples of wicked leaders in Israel and Judah. It is said of these leaders that they INTRODUCED sin into the nation (1 Kings 12:26-33; 16:31-32). It is said they PROMOTED wickedness (2 Chronicles 28:19); they CAUSED their people to commit sin (1 Kings 14:16, etc.); they LED people into sin (2 Chronicles 21:12-13). They also tried to shut down or destroy true religion (2 Chronicles 28:24; 1 Kings 18:4).

Samson may not have been a good example for anyone’s children, but he never did any of these things!

I can think of one party that promotes wickedness, whether it be proud proabortion stances, lighting up the White House in “pride colors,” or celebrating with a White House lawn filled with transsexuals.

I think I would rather vote for Samson.

Meanwhile…

Pray. May God’s kingdom come and may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).

Fast (if you can).

Align ourselves with that which most closely aligns with the biblical worldview.

Oppose what is evil and sinful, in our nation, in politics, and in our hearts.

Remember that there are many who Satan has taken captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26), that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens”(Ephesians 6:12).

In the end, we can rely on God’s goodness for His people, no matter what happens:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

The LORD works out everything for his own ends, even the wicked for the day of disaster” (Proverbs 16:4).

Do we know the direction the world is heading? Yes.

What kind of people should you be?” Peter asks, in 2 Peter 3:11. (Read all 2 Peter 3:14-15 as long as you are there.)

Who will win? Who knows?

God does!

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33).


[1] Page 1054 of New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, edited by J.D. Douglas, copyright The Inter-Varsity Fellowship 1962, etc.

[2] Page 1054.

"Rescued, ransomed, and saved because of the love of God the Father, through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, thanks to faithful preachers and teachers of the Word, attained by the perfect life and merit of Jesus the Messiah, His substitutionary death and physical resurrection from the dead. Completely undeserved and gifted to me." The author would label himself a Christ follower, an Evangelical Christian with strong Reformed beliefs. He loves discussing and debating the two "taboo" subjects: Politics and Religion. He tries to read and listen to a minimum of fifty books a year and realizes that no matter what topic or genre, whether Bible, theology, Christianity, history, biography, philosophy, political, social commentary, pop-culture, or even fiction, they all tie together in the spider's web of worldview. His favorite authors are C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, James R. White, Gregory Koukl, R.C. Sproul, J. Gresham Machen, G.K. Chesterton, J. Budziszewski, and Peter Kreeft. He loves Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Voddie Baucham, Paul Washer, and Dwight L. Moody. He enjoys watching the YouTube channels of John Cooper at Cooper Stuff, Doug Wilson at Blog and Mablog, Alisa Childers, Allen Parr at The Beat, and Melissa Dougherty. His hobbies are generally reading and writing, music, hiking, and laughing. He has been writing songs/lyrics since the age of eight and has played in a few Christian Rock bands. He has written poetry, several biblical studies over the past decades, and has one finished book manuscript entitled, “Shaken Faith: When God Has Let You Down”. He has also written for the now defunct Examiner website as the Philadelphia Christian Perspectives Examiner. He wishes he could write some fiction.

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