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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."
So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."
Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."
Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."
He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man."
So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied."
He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric and tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." With such nagging, she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.
So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."
When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"
He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands."
When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying:
"Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain."
While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, "O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."
Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years.
Judges 16:4-31
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
His name was Samson.
He was the God-chosen judge of Israel who was purposed from birth having been raised by two faithful, God-loving parents.
And although he was supremely strong and shrewdly intelligent, he lived part of his life immersed in self centeredness, vengeance, disobedience, and sexual immorality.
As we finish up our study of Judges, chapter 16, we find Samson’s story come to a close. When considered with the other heroes of the Old Testament, he wouldn’t be considered at the top of the list. Rather, believers should carefully study his life so to avoid falling into the same transgressions.
In regard to his relationships, we saw at the beginning of this chapter how Samson chose to sleep with a Philistine prostitute before escaping the clutches of a band of Philistines who wanted to take his life. As we turn to today’s passage, we find him entering into one final tryst, one that will lead to his doom.
For we see in these verses, Samson falls in “love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah”, a union that the Philistines saw they could capitalize on to get rid of him for good. And so we find the “rulers of the Philistines” going to Delilah and saying:
“See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."
The money enticed Delilah to sell Samson out and so she attempted to coax the needed information from Him, saying:
“Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."
Well, you may remember that Samson had already been deceived by another Philistine woman and so it appeared that he was wise to the possibility that Delilah might be trying to do likewise. And so he gives her an answer but it wasn’t the truth, saying:
“If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."
Armed with what she believed was the secret to removing Samson’s power, we find Delilah going to the “rulers of the Philistines” who give her “seven fresh thongs that had not been dried”. We read where she then used the thongs to tie up Samson and, “with (Philistine) men hidden in the room” and ready to take Samson captive, she called out:
“Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"
No sooner did she utter these words that Samson broke free from his bonds, snapping the “thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame”. After seeing this, Delilah realized that she had been lied to and told Samson this:
“You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."
Well, as we see Samson lies to Delilah twice more as she persisted in trying to find out how to take away Samson’s strength so to betray him and gain the promised silver shekels. And yet, even after the third time, we see where she was undaunted in her quest to find out the answer she sought as she said this to Samson:
"How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength."
And with that, the scriptures tell us that she nagged and “prodded (Samson) day after day until he was tired to death”, reaching a place where he decided to tell “her everything”.
So what would it really take to remove Samson’s immense power?
We find him telling her, saying:
"No razor has ever been used on my head because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."
And with that Delilah, confident that she finally had the right solution, “sent word to the rulers of the Philistines” saying:
"Come back once more; he has told me everything."
And so the rulers “returned with the silver in their hands”, the stage now set for Samson to finally fall. We see where Delilah, not far from gaining the reward being offered, skillfully puts Samson to sleep on her lap before having one of the Philistine men to “shave off the seven braids of his hair”. We read where this “began to subdue” Samson, causing his strength to leave, providing the moment the Philistines to finally have their way with him. The scriptures tell us that they “seized him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza” where they bound him “with bronze shackles” and “set him to grinding in the prison”. While incarcerated, Samson’s “hair on his head began to grow again”, which we will see allows his strength to return for one last defining moment.
You know, perhaps the saddest part of this betrayal story is that Samson didn’t even realize he was in trouble. He had always been able to overpower his adversaries in the past and was confident it would happen again. But the Lord had left him and sadly, he wasn’t aware of it.
So why didn’t Samson have the awareness he truly needed for proper discernment?
My guess is that he didn’t have a consistent relationship with his God and there’s evidence of this throughout his life story. And while it’s true that there was at least one juncture when he did turn to the Lord for help (a request to quench his thirst in Judges 15:18), he spent much more of his time living in selfish, self-centeredness, always wanting to have his own way on things.
Through his behavior, we should hopefully learn that our Lord isn’t some fast-food kind of God, someone we only express faith in when it’s convenient or when we fall into a time of sudden distress. Rather, we’re expected to turn to Him always…24/7…365 days a year. For if we do this, then we will always be connected to the Lord and He to us. If only Samson had done this, his story might have read much differently.
So how did his story end?
Well, we see where Samson does go out on a good note, used by God as an instrument of judgment on the Philistine people and their rulers. For as they gathered to “offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god”, they celebrated, proclaiming:
"Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands…Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain”.
And with that, they summoned the eye-less Samson to provide entertainment. They brought him “out of the prison, and he performed” but as he finished we find him asking one of his servants to do the following:
“Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them".
We read where the servant does as he’s asked and then Samson “prayed to the Lord” saying:
"O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."
We should notice here that Samson once again turned back toward God as the true source of his power and God delivered on his request for we read where “Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood”, braced himself against them, and shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!", before he “pushed with all his might” and brought the temple down “on the rulers and all the people in it” as well as himself. He died a martyr for the one true God, having taken out the adversary of his fellow Israelites, His body was “buried…between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father” after leading Israel for twenty years.
So the life of Samson finished up here but perhaps in the end, he learned his greatest lesson…and, by doing so, taught us an important eternal truth. For Samson came to discover that his true strength wasn’t in his hair or his mind or in his muscles but rather in his God and in Him alone. He has been so since the dawn of mankind, the only true source of power for any man, woman, or child. The good news in this is that no believer today will ever be void of the strength they need as long as they remain plugged into THE power Source…that being the Lord. In Him, we can ensure we are powered up so to carry out the purposes He has for us day after day.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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