A Calling and a Choosing
A Calling and a Choosing
Judges 14:8-9
After some days he returned to take her (his bride). 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. He came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.
Go back with me for a moment to Numbers 6, where Moses outlined in detail God’s instructions for Nazirite vowers. Note verse 6: “All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother … shall he make himself unclean.” That’s the fourth code that Nazirite vowers must adhere to, along with abstinence from wine, grapes, and haircuts. Well, if Samson’s parents have stringently raised him according to Numbers 6, then it’s safe to assume he knows full well to steer clear of this dead lion’s carcass. And if that’s the case, then Samson blatantly and willfully disregards God’s Word here. Which makes me wonder: why doesn’t the LORD just strip him of his power on the spot and choose someone else?
But that isn’t the only peculiarity here, friend. Numbers 6 also makes it clear that a Nazirite vow is a volitional covenant, not a mandated one. That is, Nazirite vowers must desire from their own hearts to go deeper in their walk with the LORD for an allotted period of time, yet God imposed a Nazirite vow on Samson from birth. Which means that Samson has been baptized into this union whether he likes it or not. And that gets me wondering: does Samson have a sense of entitlement regarding holy things? Has the fact that he’s been the poster-boy all his life, and probably called ‘the chosen one’ by elders and leaders, given him a feeling of diplomatic immunity? Is that why he seems to blatantly disregard his calling here, because, in his heart of hearts, he thinks God needs him more than he needs God?
Friend, Samson’s stringent religious upbringing can’t lead him to the fullness of God’s purposes for his life. Although God has chosen him to be a Nazirite, Samson has to embrace that call for himself.