I marvel at how the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to a universe of Christ’s glory in an otherwise overfamiliar Sunday school Samson story! Father, enlarge our capacity to drink in Your living waters to quench our thirst in Christ.
Then [Samson] came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
Judges 14:2 ESV
Samson is a fitting moral representative of the nation Israel. Like Israel, Samson had been given divine privileges from birth but squandered them on his own lusts. He rationalizes an unlawful Philistine bride, saying, “…for she is right in my eyes” (Jdg 14:3). His words mirror the backslidden state of Israel: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah.
Judges 14:5 CSB
As a Nazirite, Samson was to keep as far away from grapes as possible. Yet here he is all alone in a vineyard. The Septuagint has “came” to the vineyards as imperfect, so this wasn’t a onetime event. He’d been coming there again and again!
And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat.
Judges 14:5-6 ESV
Some commentators see Samson typifying Christ as slaying Satan, the roaring lion (1Pe 5:8). Certainly this and Samson’s heroic acts—slaying a thousand Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone and uprooting city gates—suggest Christ as the ultimate Judge. But I propose this link between the tearing of the lion to a young goat foreshadows Jesus in a unique way.
And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went.
Judges 14:8-9
Now Samson has disobeyed all three stipulations of the Nazirite vow. Long hair is a picture of submission to authority. A woman’s long hair is her glory (1Co 11:15), a symbol of authority on her head (11:10). Though Samson didn’t cut his hair physically here, his insubordination to God by seeking a pagan wife breeched the spirit behind a Nazirite’s uncut locks. Besides flirting with vineyards (violation number two), Samson defiled himself by scooping honey out of lion’s carcass (violation number three). Leviticus 11 prohibited all Israelites from touching the carcass of an unclean animal like a lion.
God delivered from the lion in spite of Samson, not because of him. God acted in pure grace. God’s blessings to Samson (and Israel) were never due to their stellar track record of obedience.
Fast forward a millennium, zipping by the cross to the aged apostle John exiled on Patmos, enraptured with the heavenly throne room scene. This epic scene was prefaced with a universal acknowledgement that no one was worthy to open the scroll in God’s hand.
And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain…
Revelation 5:5-6
Whereas John expected to see the Lion, he saw a Lamb. It’s because the Lion of Judah and the Lamb are one. The Lion could open the scroll because He conquered, the Lamb because He was slain (Rev 5:9). The Lion’s method of victory was through death.
Tearing the lion reminded Samson of tearing a young goat. Samson’s father, Manoah, had sacrificed a young goat to the Angel of the Lord. This subtle association of a lion torn and a sacrificial goat then is now shouted from heaven’s rooftop to men and angels everywhere! Christ the Lion gave Himself up for us, the sacrifice to God that fulfilled every sacrifice ever offered. Jesus, the true Nazirite, submitted even unto death at His Father’s hand, and so arose victorious over sin and Satan.
Samson slew the lion in Timnah, which Judah had inherited (Jos 15:10). So this lion was from the tribe of Judah! “Timnah” means “portion” or “allotment” (i.e., inheritance). Out of the strong came something sweet—honey. “The land flowing with milk and honey” was Israel’s catchphrase for their inheritance. Honey stood for the riches of the land, the crowning mark of their portion, their “Timnah.” The Old Testament is packed with shadows “of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col 2:17). The land of Canaan was a shadow that pointed to Christ as the true land flowing with true honey. As Samson enjoyed physical honey from the dead lion, we enjoy God’s spiritual blessings resulting from Jesus’ death for our sins. All the honey—the Spirit descending on us through the torn heavens, our access to the Father’s presence through the torn veil, etc.—is due to the torn Lion of Judah.
Samson’s final prayer was fueled by revenge against the Philistines for gouging out his eyes. I’d wondered why God answered that self-centered plea. Now I know. It’s because of the torn Lion. So too with us. It’s not because we’re more special or more zealous or more holy than anyone else. Every blessing He’s poured out is only because of the torn Lion, Jesus Christ crucified for us.
This point was driven home to me during bedtime reading with my sons. This true story recounted the Samson-like miraculous exploits of Vanya, a young Christian soldier persecuted in the former Soviet Union. I’d often thought of Vanya and other “supersaints” as being more special to receive more from God than others. Not so. Every blessing anyone ever gets is honey from the slain Lion. Hallelujah!
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 