WHAT MOTIVATES LEADERS?
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Opening Prayer
Show me, Lord, what I need from you today. Help me to depend on you as I seek to do your will.
Read JUDGES 15
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines
15 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.
2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”
3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
6 When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.”
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”
“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”
11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?”
He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”
12 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”
Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
13 “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
16 Then Samson said,
“With a donkey’s jawbone
I have made donkeys of them.[a]
With a donkey’s jawbone
I have killed a thousand men.”
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.[b]
18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore,[c] and it is still there in Lehi.
20 Samson led[d] Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Footnotes
- Judges 15:16 Or made a heap or two; the Hebrew for donkey sounds like the Hebrew for heap.
- Judges 15:17 Ramath Lehi means jawbone hill.
- Judges 15:19 En Hakkore means caller’s spring.
- Judges 15:20 Traditionally judged
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How can you celebrate those leaders in your own life who have influenced you for the glory of God?History is scattered with national leaders whose personal ambitions far outweigh any desire to rule their people wisely. Our present age is no exception. An angel told Samson’s mother that her son would deliver Israel from the Philistines (13:5). He successfully fulfilled that prophecy. Motivated by a desire for personal vengeance, in a fit of burning anger (v 3; 14:19), he killed a thousand Philistines and destroyed their livelihood (vv. 4, 5,15). But there’s little evidence he cared for his own people—a poor role model for future generations. He was unlike other judges who not only defeated Israel’s enemies but also ruled Israel in a period of peace.
Nonetheless, the Spirit of the Lord comes powerfully upon him to satisfy his desire for vengeance (v. 14). He does cry out to God (v. 18), albeit to meet his personal needs. The writer does not commend Samson as an example to follow but does acknowledge that God uses even the worst of leaders.
Jesus came to serve, ultimately giving his life as a ransom for many. His actions and words demonstrated that ‘whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant’ (Mark 10:43, 45). This is true leadership, a model he passed on to others at great personal cost.
Apply
In what ways can you pray for those in authority over you—in the church, in your nation?
Closing prayer
Lord, I pray for those nations currently ruled by tyrants, knowing that your Spirit remains ever-active. Break in with your power to pour out grace and mercy, to change hearts and minds, doing what only you can do.
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