SAMSON: the son of man - Chapter 21

02-05-06

(Judg 16:21,22)  But the [uncircumcised unsaved] Philistines [walking in darkness] took him [Samson: sunlight], and put out his eyes [i.e. forcibly conformed Him to their world], and brought him down to Gaza [a type of Hell], and bound him with fetters of brass [chains of his sins]; and he did grind [to grind meal] in the prison house. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again [a type of resurrection] after he was shaven [to shave; fig. to lay waste].

1.     (Psa 18:28)  For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

2.     (Isa 9:2)  The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

3.     darkness = Heb: the dark; hence (lit.) darkness; fig. misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness:--dark (-ness), night, obscurity /// to be dark (as withholding light); to darken: be black, be (make) dark, darken, cause darkness, be dim, hide.

4.     (Rom 12:2)  And be not conformed [fashioned alike; conformed to the same pattern] to this world: but be ye transformed [changed] by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

5.     Gaza = Heb: strong /// strong, vehement, harsh:--fierce, + greedy, mighty, power, roughly, strong /// to be stout (lit. or fig.):--harden, impudent, prevail, strengthen (self), be strong. [stronghold; fortress]

6.     Gaza, not coincidentally, is where the harlot lived (Judg 16:1). Gaza is the lowest place that Samson traveled in both direction and morality as he continued to choose to go “down” lower and lower through Judges chapters 14, 15, and 16. At the end of his life, Gaza was the the only place that Samson the son of man was ever unwillingly “brought him down to.” Nobody wants to go to Hell. 

7.     fetters of brass = Heb: copper; fig. base (as compared with gold or silver):--brasen, chains, filthiness.

8.     (Exo 27:1,2)  And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; sthe altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay [cover] it with brass.     

Commentary: Our sins are like thick heavy chains of brass (God’s judgment upon our transgressions) that bind us to this world – by affinity (like-mindedness, commonality, similarity, conformity). This is a world of sin and darkness, and if we remain unforgiven sinners we remain men and women in darkness, who have not been loosed from this world. The horrible consequences are that this world shall ultimately be wholly destroyed by fire, and with this world, those who remain unforgiven, dead or alive, and are therefore eternally bound to this world by the chains of their sins.

1.     (Isa 65:17) For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

2.     (Isa 66:22)  For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

3.     (2 Pet 3:13)  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

4.     (Rev 21:1-4) And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle [a vessel (spec. a wife as contributing to the usefulness of the husband)] of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Commentary: Jesus Christ willingly took upon Himself the enormous weight of the chains of our sins in our stead, (like chains bound around someone cast into the sea of humanity) and that weight brought Him down to the prison house of Hell for three days and three nights, paralleling Jonah (Jonah 1:14-17; 2:1-10), where He paid the penalty for all those sins by grinding (hard labor) in the prison house.

1.     (Mat 12:40)  For as Jonah [Heb: dove] was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth [where is the heart of the earth?].

2.     (Mat 13:19)  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom [i.e. Jesus Christ: John 1:14], and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one [Satan], and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. [Where is Heaven? Heaven is where the word of God dwells]

3.     (John 1:14)  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

4.     (Luke 8:12)  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. [Where is Hell? Hell is where the word of God does not dwell. Who is the Word of God? Where is Hell?]

Commentary: Samson the Son of God paid the penalty for all those sins by grinding meal (hard labor) in the prison house of Hell.

1.     meal = Dict: the edible part of any grain ground to a powder.

2.     grind = He did grind seeds into meal or flour, thereby making the seeds more palatable, more edible by crushing them open and breaking them down into much smaller components. “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11)

3.     (Mat 11:28-30)  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke [coupling; the beam of the balance] upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

4.     labour = Gk: to feel fatigue; by impl. to work hard:--toil, be wearied /// a cut, i.e. toil (as reducing the strength); by impl. pains.

5.     heavy laden = Gk: (heavily) loaded up: overburdened /// something carried, i.e. the cargo of a ship.

Commentary: Upon salvation, we are loosed from this world and bound eternally to Jesus Christ; like a tree in the woods, chosen by the Carpenter, laid to the axe and separated from this world. Your body is a vessel, like a ship at sea. What are you carrying in your vessel? What is weighing (dragging) you down? Are your sins dragging you down? Then receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and become loosed, separated from the ever mounting unbearable weight of your sins (your sins will kill you) through acceptance of His atoning blood and receive forgiveness.

Commentary: Samson, who is now a type of Jesus Christ the Son of God, “did grind in the prison house” of Hell for three days and three nights, in type, before His resurrection. This was heavy agonizing labor and a type of paying the penalty or suffering for our sins which he alone bore. However, did God have a dual purpose in this, unknown to Satan? Out of darkness comes light (Gen 1:1-3), i.e. resurrection. While he was suffering the penalty of sin by grinding in darkness, was he not at the same time breaking down the hard inedible seeds of the unabridged Word of God, the “rhema” (revelation) into much much smaller more palatable seeds of “logos”? Satan was focusing on the action of grinding whereas Jesus Christ was focusing on the result of grinding.

1.     (Isa 55:8,9)  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts [higher] than your thoughts.

Amen