SAMSON AND HIS BROKEN NAZARITE VOW

“For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” 

(Judges 13:5, NASB).

Here we read of Samson’s call to be a Nazarite from the womb. To be a Nazirite means to be separated unto the Lord. The Nazirite vow is threefold: 1. No razor shall come upon his head speaks of Strength (13:5; 16:19); 2. No wine or strong drink speaks of Self control (13:7, 14, Gal. 5:23); 3. No eating from that which is unclean speaks of Separation (14:9; 15:15-16; 2 Cor. 6:17). Out of these three restrictions in the Nazirite vow Samson was guilty of breaking two of them. No where do we read of him breaking his vow of abstaining from wine or strong drink. We can at least give credit to Samson for that. Samson was the judge of Israel who failed to judge his own life. So the lesson we as believers can learn from Samson's life is to be sure we are living sanctified, set apart lives for God's glory. We need to guard against the world's razor that wants to cut away the power we have in Christ. We need to have control of ourselves by abstaining from the world's pleasures. Then finally we need to separate from feeding upon the husks of this world so we can feast upon the Bread of life.

DAVID ENCOURAGED HIMSELF IN THE LORD

“And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” 

(1 Samuel 30:6, KJV).

“But David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” These are strange words indeed, uttered by David in response to a harrowing situation he was in with his people wanting to kill him. Though in great distress David’s faith in the Lord did not fail him, for again we read, “but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” Imagine the gravity of David’s situation. The people wanted to murder him… He could have run away. A man of lesser faith would have. He could have also sought help from other people, just as Israel has been known to do in seeking aid from other nations against her enemies. Yet the phrase “but” in today’s text is profound. For despite his situation, that word “but” is followed by these words of faith, “…David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” He did not rely in his own strength, nor in the vain strength of his fellow man, no, he relied upon, or drew his strength from the Lord in prayer. Other Bible translations render the phrase, “encouraged himself” as “strengthened himself.” Same meaning, just different wording for the same truth.