Samson & Delilah
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Today we are going to dig into the life of Samson. Most accounts we hear tend to tell of Samson as some sort of hero. Whether it was ripping apart the lion, breaking out of the cords that Delilah had him bound with, or finally bringing down the pillars that supported the temple when God returned strength to him. We tend to portray Samson as some sort of He-Man, however, there is much in his life that we need to learn from.
This morning, there are three things I want us to keep in mind as we recount Samson’s story as I think they bring a different perspective that we need to be cognizant of in our lives today:
1) Even when we fully consecrate and set ourselves apart for God, the enemy will continue to tempt us.
2) We must guard ourselves so that we do not fall victim to the enemy and those temptations.
3) No matter what, God loves us enough to redeem us and welcome us back into the Kingdom and His plan for our lives.
There is no promise in Scripture that we will not be tempted. Even Jesus was tempted, so how can we expect that it won’t happen to us?
24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let’s consider these scenarios……Illustrations…..
1) I was at a party over lunch with several colleagues from work. It was a nice day in early September and the windows were open. As we were eating, a bee flew in and was buzzing around the food and table. One of my colleagues had an empty bottle and moved the opening on the bottle near the bee. The bee immediately was drawn into the bottle, where the cap was immediately placed on it. Trapped. How easily the bee was tempted by the sugary remains of the bottle even though it ultimately meant his peril.
2) Toad baked some cookies. "These cookies smell very good," said Toad. He ate one. "And they taste even better," he said. Toad ran to Frog's house. "Frog, Frog," cried Toad, "taste these cookies that I have made."
Frog ate one of the cookies, "These are the best cookies I have ever eaten!" said Frog.
Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another. "You know, Toad," said Frog, with his mouth full, "I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick."
"You are right," said Toad. "Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one last cookie. There were many cookies left in the bowl.
"Frog," said Toad, "let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie.
"We must stop eating!" cried Toad as he ate another.
"Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie, "we need willpower."
"What is willpower?" asked Toad.
"Willpower is trying hard not to do something you really want to do," said Frog.
"You mean like trying hard not to eat all these cookies?" asked Toad.
"Right," said Frog.
Frog put the cookies in a box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."
"But we can open the box," said Toad.
"That is true," said Frog.
Frog tied some string around the box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."
"But we can cut the string and open the box." said Toad.
"That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He put the box up on a high shelf.
"There," said Frog. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."
"But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf and cut the string and open the box," said Toad.
"That is true," said Frog.
Frog climbed the ladder and took the box down from the shelf. He cut the string and opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He shouted in a loud voice. "Hey, birds, here are cookies!" Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away.
"Now we have no more cookies to eat," said Toad sadly.
"Not even one."
"Yes," said Frog, "but we have lots and lots of willpower."
"You may keep it all, Frog," said Toad. "I am going home now to bake a cake."
Ray & Anne Ortlund, Renewal, Navpress, 1989, p. 73-74.
3) In the Australian bush country grows a little plant called the "sundew." It has a slender stem and tiny, round leaves fringed with hairs that glisten with bright drops of liquid as delicate as fine dew. Woe to the insect, however, that dares to dance on it. Although its attractive clusters of red, white, and pink blossoms are harmless, the leaves are deadly. The shiny moisture on each leaf is sticky and will imprison any bug that touches it. As an insect struggles to free itself, the vibration causes the leaves to close tightly around it. This innocent-looking plant then feeds on its victim. Our Daily Bread, December 11, 1992.
See any similarities in these examples?
You see, I could go on and on with stories like this. We all have our weaknesses and the enemy knows them all too well. He will use those things which tempt us most to try to get us to shift our point of view, trying to make us believe that we can no longer be useful by God.
There’s a saying I came across some time ago: Temptation is an irresistible force at work on a movable body.
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
Oswald Chambers writes: "Until we are born again, [this is] the only temptation we understand. But by regeneration we are lifted into another realm where we face the kind of temptations Our Lord faced... Satan does not tempt us to do wrong things, he tempts us in order to make us lose... the possibility of being of value to God... Temptation is a suggested short-cut to the realization of the highest at which I aim--not at what I understand as evil, but towards what I understand as good... [At this point Satan] does not come along the line of tempting us to sin, but on the line of shifting the point of view, and only the Spirit of God can reveal this as a temptation of the devil."
You see, once we are believers, the enemy raises the stakes. He knows that if he can get us to stumble the consequences could be more visible, and more devastating. We’ve probably all heard of situations where a pastor gives in to temptation and how devastating it can be for not only the pastor and their family, but for the entire congregation.
So you may be asking me at this point, what does all this have to do with Samson?
Today we will be focusing in Judges 16, but before we get there we need to understand a little bit of background on Samson first.
We know quite a bit more about Samson than we know about many other characters in the Bible. There are actually 4 chapters that tell us about various parts of Samon’s life.
Starting in chapter 13 we find out that Samson was born to a woman who was childless and unable to give birth. We see the angel of the Lord appear to her and tell her that she will give birth to a son and also gave her some her some specific instructions to follow, as the child would be dedicated to God from the womb. She was not to ever touch a razor to his head for he was to be a Nazarite.
In Number 6, we learn about what it means to be a Nazarite, set apart for God.
1 The Lord said to Moses,
2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the Lord as a Nazirite,
3 they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.
4 As long as they remain under their Nazirite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.
5 “ ‘During the entire period of their Nazirite vow, no razor may be used on their head. They must be holy until the period of their dedication to the Lord is over; they must let their hair grow long.
6 “ ‘Throughout the period of their dedication to the Lord, the Nazirite must not go near a dead body.
7 Even if their own father or mother or brother or sister dies, they must not make themselves ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head.
Chapter 14 then skips all the way to Samson’s marriage. All we know about his childhood is that he grew and the Lord blessed him. Samson sees a Philistine woman and decided he wanted her for his wife. His parents pushed back that he should marry someone from among their people. In this time, it would have completely dishonored his father and mother by doing this. When Samson said, she is the right one for me, what he really meant was she was “right in my eyes.”
What they didn’t know at the time, is that this was from God, as part of the plan for confronting the Philistines. While God does not cause us to sin, this story is a great example of how God can use us even though we sin to accomplish His glory.
We then read of a feat of great strength, where Samson tore a lion that attacked on the road apart with his bare hands. We tend to think of this as a feat of strength, but again, we see Samson disregarding the law that being in the presence of a dead body would have meant he would have been required to do an 8-day cleansing ritual that he did not want to do.
Next we see the Philistines try to use Samson’s wife to get her to get the answer to the riddle Samson told at the wedding feast because no one could solve it. The men of Timnah threatened Samson’s wife that they would burn her and her family to death if she could not coax the answer out of Samson. She cried and kept at him for seven days until he finally told her as we see in
16 Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.” “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?”
17 She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.
Even through all of the disobedience, God continued to use Samson…..to lead the Israelites for 20 years……this should give us hope this morning!
So we get to chapter 16, which is where I want to focus today. Let’s stand as we read the Word of God this morning. Starting in verse 1.
1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.
2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”
3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.
5 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.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them.
9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
10 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.”
11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
12 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.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time 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
14 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.
15 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.”
16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite 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.”
18 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.
19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
20 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.
21 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 grain in the prison.
22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
SLIDE Right away, in verse 1, we should start to see a pattern from the previous accounts of Samson’s life. His passionate attraction to a woman, a prostitute. This was his weakness. The Philistines were looking for a way to kill Samson, as he had caused much devastation to the Philistines, and unlike the other accounts we have, this one is set inside the largest Philistine city. They plan to use his sexual attractions against him, trying to overpower him after his deep sleep that follows that activity, hoping he will be more vulnerable. However, their plan fails as he only stays there a while and then rips the doors, posts, and bar to the city gate loose and goes out of the city.
Then enters Delilah. We do not know for sure what the relationship between Samson and Delilah is other than the Scripture says that Samson “loved” her. We do not know if they were married or if she was a prostitute. However, the way the writer says it, we are lead to believe that the term “loved” meant there was more of an emotional attachment of this relationship over the previous two accounts. The Hebrew verb “love” in this passage is often associated with opposite-sex relationships to describe love between spouses, the unmarried, those in extramarital relationships, or those with carnal lust. Many believe it is likely that they were not married.
We also know that Delilah somehow has close connections to the Philistine rulers, thus their ability to use her to try to get to Samson, which is interesting given that they did not live in one of the fortified Philistine cities.
There is an eerie similarity between this story and the one of the wedding riddle in chapter 14. We see this in the usage of identical vocabulary, such as entice/lure, or press/nag. There was a difference in the fact that the men of Timnah used negative coercion in chapter 14, and in chapter 16, the rulers use positive coercion, promising 1100 silver pieces from each of them, or 5500 total, to Delilah to get the information from Samson. In both cases, however, we see Samson eventually give in.
The next part of the story brings us back to the first point that we need to learn from Samson.
1) Even when we fully consecrate and set ourselves apart for God, the enemy will continue to tempt us.
Samson had fallen for this type of trap before. The enemy knew that Samson’s weakness was attractive women. And he used that very thing to bring down Samson again. You would have thought that Samson would learn his lesson, however, that was apparently not the case.
Delilah shows no hesitance that we see in Scripture related to the Philistine leaders offer.
Sound familiar? If we jump back to chapter 14, we see a similar scenario where Samson’s wife continued to try to get him to give up the information. However, this time, it doesn’t work out so well for Samson. We ultimately (after seven attempts) see Samson give in and his strength leaves him when his hair is removed. We see him suffer some dire consequences including his eyesight when his eyes were gouged out.
When we fully surrender ourselves to God, the enemy works even harder to defeat us. He knows that it has to be something big, something that will cause us to take that step away from God.
2) We must guard ourselves so that we do not fall victim to the enemy and those temptations.
We saw Samson fall to similar temptations more than once. We saw him with a bent toward his way no matter what. However, folks we have good news.
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
I recently read a story about a little boy named Bobby who desperately wanted a new bicycle. His plan was to save his nickels, dimes and quarters until he finally had enough to buy a new 10-speed. Each night he asked God to help him save his money. Kneeling beside his bed, he prayed, “Dear Lord, please help me save my money for a new bike, and please, Lord, don’t let the ice cream man come down the street again tomorrow.”
Jim Grant in Reader’s Digest told about someone else who faced temptation. An overweight businessman decided it was time to shed some excess pounds. He took his new diet seriously, even changing his driving route to avoid his favorite bakery. One morning, however, he showed up at work with a gigantic coffee cake. Everyone in the office scolded him, but his smile remained nonetheless. “This is a special coffee cake,” he explained. “I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window was a host of goodies. I felt it was no accident, so I prayed, ‘Lord, if you want me to have one of those delicious coffee cakes, let there be a parking spot open right in front.’ And sure enough, the eighth time around the block, there it was!”
These two stories hold an important lesson for us. We need to not put ourselves in situations where our temptations can overtake us. In the case of the little boy, it was the ice cream truck. For the other man, it was the bakery. Notice that he circled that block 8 times……talk about putting yourself in the path of temptation!
So how do we do this? How do we keep ourselves out of the path of temptation? Well first, there is no sure fire way. But we must know what those things are for us. Maybe it is food. Maybe it is sexual temptations. Maybe it is gossip. The list could go on and on. We need to understand and know ourselves well enough and be honest enough with ourselves to identify them.
Second, we need to be walking with the Spirit. We need to be in daily communication with our Savior. We need to be in the Word and in prayer daily. Worship needs to be the posture of our daily lives.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
And if we are still tempted? And by the way we will be,
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
We can tell the devil to flee in the name of Jesus Christ! We have that power as followers of Jesus Christ, whether for ourselves or on behalf of others! We need to proclaim the power that we have in the name of Jesus Christ!
Ephesians 6:10-18 talks about the various armor of God that we should put on. This passage reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and bone, but that it is a spiritual one. The pieces of armor are the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, our feet should be fitted with the readiness that come from the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. We need to put these pieces of protection on in order to stand FIRM and be able to fight when the evil one comes. Notice that these start with the foundation of the gospel itself, the word of God. We cannot have much else if we do not have a firm foundation on which to stand.
We need to be doing our part to guard ourselves from the temptations that we know could easily ensnare us. Here are a couple of practical examples that you might use in addition to being in the Word and in prayer. First, an accountability partner. Maybe you need to share this with someone so that they will ask you on a routine basis, or that you can call if you need someone to help keep you strong. That takes a very humble spirit to be able to ask for. I can tell you that Pastor Doug, Pastor Cindy, or myself would be glad to help you in that way, as would many others. Second, put something in place to keep you from the temptation. Internet filters are on example of this. Give the password to your spouse so that you don’t know what it is.
Coming back to Samson, at the end of chapter 16, we see him in prison. The great, strong, champion of Israel is weak and subdued. However, while the Philistines are celebrating, they forget something important.
3) No matter what, God loves us enough to redeem us and welcome us back into the Kingdom and His plan for our lives.
Samson’s hair begins to grow back. He asks God to come to his aid. He ends up gaining his strength back and pushes the pillars of the temple over, thus toppling it on top of the Philistine’s. God continued to use Samson, despite himself, to bring deliverance to his people, the Israelites.
28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
29 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,
30 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.
Even though Samson had failed the Lord many times over, and continually did not do what he should have, God returned to him when Samson asked. He used Samson even to the very end.
Here’s the point we need to remember this morning: We are never to far gone to accept God’s grace. God is continually seeking us to return to him. He loves you and me so much that he can forgive us no matter what we may have done to hurt him. What an amazing love that must be!
4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
God is continually pursuing us. We can turn back to him at any time, he will accept us and redeem us by his pressure blood.
This does not mean that we will not have to deal with the consequences of our actions. It does mean that God can use us and our failures for His greater glory.
Do you need to come and pray before accepting the Lord’s body and blood this morning? What a great time to answer God’s call to return to him. Maybe you’ve wandered back and need to ask for His forgiveness and come back to right relationship with him. Maybe you’ve never made that step to ask for forgiveness. Maybe you realize that you need to fully surrender to God and answer something that he is calling you to. No matter what it is, we would love to pray with you this morning. We don’t want anyone to miss out on the blessings that come with God’s never ending, unfailing grace. There may be some painful things that may result from consequences, but folks I can assure you that there is nothing better than to be in relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
PRAY
Benediction:
Romans 8:38-39 - For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.