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"Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites" (6: 14),
was fulfilled:
"Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their
heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon"
(8: 28).
Gideon was one of the comparatively few called to a ministry which, in terms of the
world's assessment, might be called `successful'.
No.6.
Samson.
pp. 131 - 135
"And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of . . . . . Samson"
(Heb. 11: 32).
It sometimes comes as something of a shock to the thoughtful reader to find Samson
listed among the `heroes of faith' in Heb. 11: Samson whose morals can hardly be said
to be of a very high standard: Samson whose exploits often appear to be little more than
childish tricks. Yet Samson is named as one of those "who through faith subdued
kingdoms . . . . ." (Heb. 11: 33).
Perhaps more than others, of those God called, it is necessary to put Samson in his
historical background. It was a time of which it is recorded:
"And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord
delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years" (Judges 13: 1).
Twice it is recorded in the book of Judges "every man did that which was right in his
own eyes" (17: 6; 21: 25). The lawlessness (or, as we might say, the permissiveness)
of the times may account in part for the failures of this man. For it is only too easy for
the godly person to be influenced by the customs of his day without realizing it.
Like Samuel and John the Baptist, Samson was one of those born of a barren woman:
like Jeremiah and Paul, he was one of those specifically mentioned as marked out by God
before birth. He was marked out for, and placed in the position where he could fulfil
God's will for him; yet his failures are more familiar to us than his successes. May it not
be said that Samson was predestined by God for His purpose, and demonstrates a point
often overlooked in the consideration of predestination, that there is no element of fate
involved. Predestination requires man's co-operation: Samson's co-operation was only
partial.
The angel of the Lord told his mother before his birth: