Judges 16:1-31
Part 3:
Samson And Delilah
Samson had been judging Israel for twenty years.
God had made Samson the strongest man to ever live. But Samson had one
weakness, Philistine women.
One day Samson went to Gaza where he saw a
harlot. He went in to spend the night with her. The people of Gaza were told,
“Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him saying,
“At dawn we’ll kill him.”
But Samson rose up at midnight to leave and
when he reached the city gates, he took hold of the doors together with the
posts, and tore them loose. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to
the top of the hill that faces Hebron. The Philistines were frustrated beyond
measure.
And it came to pass soon after that Samson fell
in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. When the
lords of the Philistines heard he had been visiting Delilah they came to her
and said, “Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver if you
can lure Samson into showing you the secret of his great strength. If he tells
you then we can tie him up and subdue him.”
Special
note: The greatness of the bribe offered to Delilah, 5,500 shekels of silver,
nearly 2 talents, shows the importance attached to Samson’s capture. This was an
enormous bribe for that age, and especially to such a young woman.
So Delilah began to lure him with sweet words,
“Samson you are so strong and handsome. Tell me where you get your great
strength. Is any man able to tie you up and subdue you?”
And Samson wanting her to think he could trust
her answered, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been
dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
Then the lords of the Philistines brought her
seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and hid themselves in her room.
Delilah bound Samson tight with the fresh bowstrings and called out, “Samson,
the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as if
they had been burned with a flame. So the secret of his strength was not
discovered.
Then Delilah said to him, “You have made a fool
of me Samson, 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 the new ropes and tied him up
with them. Then with the 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 said to him, “Samson are you still
playing with me and trying to make a fool of me? You have lied to me yet again.
Tell the truth how can you 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 slept, 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, pulled up the pin and the
loom with the fabric, and went away with them.
Delilah became frustrated and said to him, “How
can you say that you love me with all of your heart! You won’t confide in me.
This is the third time you have made a fool of me. You refuse to trust me and
tell me the secret of your strength. How can we build a relationship on such
distrust?”
Samson became sick to death of her nagging him
day after day, so trusting her with his whole heart, he told her everything,
“No razor has ever been used on my head. I’ve been a Nazarite dedicated to God
from my mother’s womb. 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 indeed told her
everything, she sent word to the lords of the Philistines, “Come back once
more, I know now that he has told me everything.”
So the lords of the Philistines returned with
the silver and once again hid in her room. Delilah lured Samson to sleep in her
lap, and once he was asleep she called for someone to shave off the braids of
his hair. So Delilah began to subdue him and his strength left him.
When they were done shaving his head, she
called out, “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.
The Philistines were able to subdue Samson,
they lay hold upon him, gouged out his eyes, and took him to Gaza. Binding him
with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. However,
the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
Some time later, the lords of the Philistines
threw a big party to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god to celebrate.
They praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into
our hands!”
While they were in high spirits and their
hearts were merry, 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 young boy who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars
that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.”
The temple was crowed with many men and women,
and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And upon the roof, about three
thousand had gathered to watch Samson perform.
Samson began to pray to the Lord, “O Lord God,
remember me, I pray, please strengthen me just once more, so that I may avenge
the Philistines for gouging out my two eyes.”
Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars
on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on one,
and his left 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 lords of the
Philistines, and all the people.
It is said that Samson killed more Philistines
in that one day than all the days he lived.
Samson's hair was not the source of his power; it was simply an
outward sign that his life was set apart for God's service. By the time Delilah
had Samson’s head shaved, he had already betrayed his relationship with the
LORD. Disobedience, defeat, disgrace, and destruction was his fatal companions.
Like so many other men in the Bible, Samson allowed his sexual
desires to control his life. He was courageous before men but weak when it came
to women. I find it quite amazing that both the strongest man who ever lived,
Samson, and the wisest man to ever live, Solomon, were both conquered by women.
Let that be a lesson to all men of all time.
With the Spirit of God upon him, Samson was a very powerful man
with supernatural strength. He had almost unlimited potential to deliver his
people from the Philistines, but his story ends in needless tragedy. He not
only failed to deliver his people, but killed himself.
This extraordinary story tells us that Samson was spiritually blind
long before his eyes were gouged out. We must accept the reality that sin can
seep deep into our lives. If we willingly and repeatedly walk into temptations
which lead to sin, we sill suffer the consequences of our disobedience even
though God still uses us to accomplish His will. We must know that sin has a
blinding, numbing impact upon us. Otherwise, we find ourselves ensnared by it,
just as Samson did.
The greatest lesson we learn is that God would rather forgive than
judge. In the final analysis, God saw Samson as a man of faith. This is
evidenced by the fact that he’s listed among those in the Hebrews “hall of
faith” (Hebrews chapter 11). When we read through the list of names recorded
there, we find that no one in the “hall of faith” was perfect.
Samson was the strongest man
to ever live, but it was God who gave him the strength.
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