Samson's 'Riddled' Life

Aim: To stay united to Christ—by grace through faith.

Doctrine: Faithless decisions lead to trouble with God and man. Samson's next set of offenses may seem relatively ''harmless'' (at first sight), but they end up costing him dearly.

Exegesis: Samson's progressive demise (and how we are not to imitate it): he approaches something dead (breaking the Nazirite vow) (vv. 8-9); he (almost certainly) drinks wine (further breaking the Nazirite vow) (vv. 10-11); he ''fellowships'' with the heathen (who were God's enemies) (vv. 12-14).

Further application: Why the faith-filled churchman is to be careful to walk closely with Christ: because otherwise we think ''small'' sins are of no consequence, resulting in major problems down the road.

Key verse: v. ''So [Samson] said to them: 'Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.' Now for three days they could not explain the riddle.''