A Betraying Woman
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Classic love stories…?
Romeo & Juliet;
Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Darcy (P&P);
Gatsby & Daisy;
Scarlett O’Hara & Rhett Butler;
Jack & Rose;
Ross & Rachel;
Mickey & Minnie Mouse 1
Mickey & Minnie Mouse 2
Sin wants to bind you.
Sin wants to bind you.
vv. 4-6
Samson “loved...” To breath heavily or to be excited.
Her feelings were a little more negotiable.
Offer from the “lords of the philistines.” Leaders of five main cities.
1,100 = 140 lbs. 700 lbs.
$335/pound = $235,000…or...
550 Xs Annual wage… Oklahoma $40,000 = $22 Million.
Her loyalty were available to the highest bidder.
So she was willing to “subdue” him. Afflict. Make helpless. Humble (v. 5) or torment (v. 19).
And notice how she is not subtle at all!
Judges 16:6
Samson is learning the cost of an enemy.
A greater enemy exists with a greater cost to you.
As Delilah was not subtle...
Sin isn’t subtle.
It’s desire is to humiliate you.
And...
Sin will bind you through destruction.
Destruction of family, career, reputation, witness, confidence.
Temptation works in three main areas:
Power, Pleasure, Possessions.
Sin wants to flatter you.
Sin wants to flatter you.
vv. 7-17
Samson gets closer and closer to telling her the truth.
Seven fresh bowstrings. New ropes. Seven locks of hair in a loom. Finally, cut off hair.
Samson was making himself more and more comfortable with temptation.
Frog in boiling water.
Sin wants you to think you to be acclimated to rebellion.
As Samson thought, “I’ve gotten out before!”
I’ve never been caught! I’ve never had consequences!
And then finally, Samson gives up and gives in.
The hair was the final of the three prohibited actions of a nazirite.
Also, specifically named...
5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Nothing bad happened when I broke the other two parts of the vow!
But, now, it has a disastrous effects.
Hair - not just the final prohibitive action, but it is the sign that identified an nazirite. Often when this vow is mentioned it is in direct correlation with the hair. The hair was cut off as a part of the conclusion of the vow. It was the outward appearance of the vow. It identified the individual under the vow.
Samson, knowing what she will do, is saying that he no longer wants to be identified as someone in a relationship with God.
He’s become more and more comfortable with the idea that he doesn’t really need God anyway.
Perhaps sin has flattered you.
“I’ve done okay so far without God...”
Sun Tzu, “It’s better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war.”
When I became a Christian, it was before I had faced many storms in life. As I have gotten older and had more experiences and weathered some storms, I’m so thankful I haven’t had to do them in my own strength.
Don’t be comfortable in sin.
Facing sin without God will bring about destruction.
Sin wants to drain you.
Sin wants to drain you.
vv. 18-21
This sudden experience, thinking it will be okay like it always is.
She begins to torment / humble him. Big ‘ol Samson is now being subdued by a woman.
And one of the saddest verses in Scripture:
20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
And he was absolutely defeated and they gouged out his eyes to further the humiliation.
The very thing that had ruled his life, his eyes, were now gone.
He ground at the mill. Large stone wheels that run in a circle crushing the wheat.
Grinding mill.
He referred to his wife as a heifer, and now he is reduced to doing the work of an ox.
He referred to the philistines as donkeys, and now he is reduced to doing the work of one.
Sin will empty you of your purpose and joy.
Sin will make you doubt your personal value.
, forgetting that your identity is in God.
Sin can be defeated.
Sin can be defeated.
v. 22
This verse of hope…
If the hair represented his identity in God…it was coming back.
Day after day of grinding at the mill, circles, represented his life.
How defeated Samson must have felt.
And then, maybe this moment of realization while sitting in whatever cell they would keep him bound up in.
He runs his hand across his head and he has this reminder of what his life was supposed to be.
And how he had ran from his purpose.
But, his potential never left.
Regardless of your past, your potential in Christ abides.
Even in the darkest times of sin.
Hope for you!
Hope for others!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Homer’s The Odyssey.
Odysseus after the Trojan War - seeking to return home to his wife and son.
Part of the journey takes them by the island of the Sirens, these beautiful women with voices that would lure men to their deaths on their island.
Scroll 12 - The Sirens.Binding by ropes and beeswax in the other sailors.
Odysseus was warned of the deadly temptation to come and he listened.
Will you hear the warnings of temptation?
The value - fulfilling life of hope!