“Samson and His Mid-Life Crisis”
The story of Samson and Delilah, found in Judges 16, is the story of a man who having reached the pinnacle of his career and having accomplished everything a man would want to accomplish, in one sudden, violent turn went from the top right down to the bottom.
It’s the story of a man whose name was a household word, whose picture was on every wall, whose deeds were celebrated by poets and priests. It’s the story of a man who had it all and who in a moment lost it all.
The amazing thing about the story of Samson and Delilah is that it comes at the height of his career. That really is the most shocking fact. In the end, Samson was tricked by the same thing that tricked him in the beginning.
The key to the story is found in the last verse of Judges 15. “Now Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.” (15:20) That’s exactly the kind of verse which we would tend to pass right over, but it’s very crucial to properly understand the story of Samson and Delilah.
Samson was about 20 years old when he burst on the scene. This verse is telling us that he led Israel for 20 years. From the time he was 20 until the time he was about 40: twenty years of peace, twenty years of prosperity, and twenty years of relative freedom from the Philistines. So it was that Samson, as he approached the mid-life years, began to feel restless. He began to feel ill at ease. He began to wonder if there wasn’t more to life. And Samson at the age of 40 begins to take a turn for the worse.
The truth of the matter is, Samson hasn’t put all his problems behind him. He’s covered them up. He’s ignored them. He’s played them down. He’s pushed them away. He’s managed to live a pretty straight life. Samson, you see, never really dealt with the problems that plagued him way back there at the beginning. And now at the end of twenty years, those same problems are about to come out and trip him again. Only this time they’re not just going to trip him. The same problems he refused to deal with are the same problems that are going to bring him down now.
That’s the way it always is, isn’t it? The hardest thing that you will ever say in your life is, “I have a problem.” Nobody likes to say that. Samson is just like you or me. He wanted to forget what had happened. He wanted to just kind of rock along peacefully. He wanted to pretend the things of the past were in the past. And as long as they were twenty years away he didn’t want to have to worry about them anymore. But the jig is up. It’s time to pay the piper. Because he hasn’t dealt with his problems, they’re going to come up again, and this time they are going to destroy him.
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings attract people from all walks of life. There are meetings here at Redeemer most every evening. Those who attend will also have different motivations for doing so. The majority are there because they want to escape their addiction, but there will also be people who have been attending these meetings for many years but still engage in behavior that leads to “drinking and then …as they say, “fall off the wagon.”
Their behavior will cost the loss of a marriage, alienation from their children, loss of their job, personal integrity an can danger others in society when driving drunk.
When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God was committed enough to saving His disobedient children that He, all on His own, with a love that passes human understanding, promised to send them a Savior. It was a promise that God remained omni-committed to keeping - no matter what. When God gave the Children of Israel freedom from Egypt's slavery, they quickly forgot His care. God's commitment to save them did not waver. When God gave His people the land He had promised, they repeatedly turned away in idolatry and thanklessness. God's commitment continued. When His people called for a king to rule over them, God did not walk away. When His children adulterously followed every other god other than the true God, He remained faithful. God was omni-committed to preserving His promise of saving sinful souls.
Read through Scripture. You will see God's commitment. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all have their shortcomings, but God's commitment remains secureBlind Samson regretted having a mouth which couldn't keep a secret.. The prophet Moses sins, strong man Samson slips, but God's commitment stands firm. When Samson, blind, shorn Samson, was grinding grain in an enemy's prison house, he must have reflected on the numerous times temptation had him playing fast and loose with the gifts God had given him.
Looking at his handiwork over the centuries Satan must feel pretty satisfied with his many successful temptations. No doubt he smiles and snickers at all the souls he has won because he successfully waved some bright bauble or trivial trinket in front of the nose of some unsuspecting soul. I make it sound easy, but it most certainly is not. The devil knows you have to have the proper attitude, aptitude, and ability if you are going to get anywhere in the seduction of souls. You have to be discriminating and discerning; you need to be shrewd and selective, even sensitive as you nudge a soul toward those sins which offer a certain, very personal appeal.
The temptation which proves irresistible to those whose hearts are inclined towards greed, the glutton will find unappetizing and the gossip will totally ignore. Those who long for power and wealth will not be fascinated by the most beautiful face nor will they be captivated by the most perfect physique. The devil knows these things and he never forgets there is a balance which must be struck between the speed and the slowness, the power and the gentleness of any sin's presentation. Indeed, only the devil can truly appreciate the malevolent skill, the malicious techniques which must be employed if a human soul is to feel comfortable and content with the embracing of an evil which will slowly envelop and strangle his soul.
Indeed, so successful has been the devil's presentation over the years, he didn't feel any hesitation in trying the same approach on Jesus. Yes, Jesus was the omnipotent sinless Son of God ... but Jesus was also the human Child of Mary. It was Jesus' humanity that became the devil's target. If you look at Matthew 4, it offers the first recorded interaction between tempter and Tempted. In each of the three enticements, Satan suggests that good will result if Jesus does something bad. I encourage you to read the story for yourself. Until then, may I summarize? In Temptation #1, Satan says, "Jesus, after fasting 40 days, You simply have to be hungry. You'll feel good if you follow my suggestion, eat some bread. Just break this ridiculous, self-imposed fast and listen to me." You see, Satan promised something good if Jesus did something bad. In Temptation #2, the devil said, "Jesus, if you want people to know You're the saving Son of God, which is, after all, the reason You were born, let's take the easy way. Throw yourself off the top of the temple. Angels will bring you safely to earth, the people will be impressed, and You won't have to die on the cross." Something good if Jesus would do something bad. Then there was Temptation #3. In this enticement Satan suggested, "Jesus, if You really want to make an impact on all the kingdoms of the world, then bow down and follow me. I'll make you my right hand man." Satan promised to do something good, if Jesus did something bad.
So you see how it works? It's so simple. Now that you understand Satan's style, now that you see how he gift wraps sin and makes temptation look both delicious and desirable, do you think you'll be able to resist? Well, maybe, perhaps, sometimes. I will pray that happens. But, I think the bad news is this: before the end of the day, even though you understand how the devil works ... even though you realize Satan's trick, you will fall into temptation again. I don't know what your temptation will be .... but I know it will come. The devil will show up and whisper in your ear a promise that he will give you something good if you will only do some Itty-bitty, teeny tiny bit of badness
Arrogance is a common character trait among addicts. It is one of the problems Samson had. As the story with Delilah unfolds you’ll see his arrogance on display.
The story begins in Judges 16:1 where Samson does a very unusual thing. One day Samson went down to Gaza where he saw a prostitute. Gaza was a Philistine city. It was about 25 miles away from Zorah, where he grew up. Gaza was not only a Philistine city, it was also the headquarters for the Philistines. It was the place where they had the temple of Dagon.
It was a crazy thing for Samson to do. It would be like Mikhail Gorbachev coming to Washington, D.C. one Friday night, and hoping he wouldn’t be recognized. The odds weren’t in his favor. Everybody in Gaza knew Samson; he was Public Enemy Number One. Maybe he thought he was far enough away that either they wouldn’t recognize him or maybe word wouldn’t get back to Israel. Who knows? It was a crazy, insane chance to take. In one sense it wasn’t a “chance” at all, because there was absolutely no chance the mighty Samson could slip in and out of the capital city of the Philistines unobserved. No chance. None whatsoever. It’s like the stories we sometimes hear about certain preachers and politicians who take such reckless chances with their private lives that it almost seems as if they have a professional death wish.
Former President Bill Clinton has been identified as a potential source of information in a lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein, a former friend and fundraiser who was jailed in 2008 for having sex with an underage prostitute. Other prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, other foreign leaders, a Prime Minister, and Britain’s Prince Andrew. On the island of St. James.
The word got out. No surprise. When the people of Gaza found out that Samson was in their city, they surrounded the place where he was and they lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. It’s not hard to read their thinking. They think Samson’s going to go in, do his thing, and when it’s all over he’s going to sleep all night, so they’re going to get him at dawn. Verse 2 says, “They made no move all night saying, ‘At dawn we’ll kill him.’”
There are two things you need to know about this. First, when it says he ripped up doors of the city gate, it doesn’t mean a hollow core door. It means it was a thick wooden door anchored by iron posts on either side and held in place with iron hinges. To rip out a door like that would take enormous strength. To pick it up and carry it even one foot would be a tremendous feat. The door would have weighed almost 700 pounds. Second, by carrying off the doors of the city gate, Samson was humiliating the Philistines once again. Nearly all the ancient cities were surrounded by a thick wall, which meant the gate was the main entrance. The gate symbolized the safety and security of the city. And for Samson to take the city gate and to put it on his shoulders and to carry it away like that—not only was it a feat of incredible strength—it was also his way of humiliating the Philistines and saying, “See, not only can you not catch me, I’m going to destroy the symbol of your security.”
He hated them all his life. But he could never stay away from the Philistine women. He hated the Philistines, but he could never stay away from their women. What Samson wanted, by going down to the prostitute in Gaza, was sex without commitment. He wanted love without any strings attached. But there’s no such thing as sex without commitment or love with no strings attached.
Now we come to the story of Samson and Delilah. I’m going to give you the four principles that open this story up and tell you how one thing led to another.
1. Samson got involved again in another wrong relationship.
2. As the relationship develops, Samson begins to toy with temptation.
He begins to toy with temptation when he should have run from it. Judges 16:5 tells us what happens next:
The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into telling you the secret of his great strength, and how we can overpower him so that we might tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
There were five Philistine rulers, so they were offering her 5,500 shekels of silver to betray Samson. That would be an amount equal to perhaps $50,000 today. It was an enormous sum of money they were offering to Delilah. It shows how desperate the Philistine leaders were.
That made Delilah mad, so she said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me. You lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.” (16:10) She just asked him again. No problem. Let’s play the game again. So he says, “Use new ropes.” New ropes this time, not fresh thongs. You can see Samson grinning as he makes up these ridiculous answers.
Same song, second verse. She ties up Samson, the soldiers get ready to pounce, and she calls out, “Here come the Philistines.” No problem. He snaps those new ropes just like they were threads. He’s grinning and loving this. This is wonderful. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have been making a fool of me and lying to me
Samson is feeling so self-confident and so cocky. He thinks he’s invincible. Now he’s letting her touch his hair. She doesn’t know the secret yet, but he is letting her get closer and closer and closer.
So it happens the third time. She cries out, “Here come the Philistines,” and he wakes up and pulls his hair free of the loom. And he’s laughing his head off. He thought this was the funniest thing he’d ever done. He’s got this girl wrapped around his finger. Or maybe she’s got him wrapped around hers.
Now Delilah plays her trump card: “Then she said to Him: ‘How can you say, “I love you,” when you won’t confide in me.’” (16:15) Bingo. She’s got him now. That’s exactly what the woman of Timnah said 20 years earlier. Her words stuck right in his ego.
3. Samson reveals his secret in order to save face.
Underline the first five words of verse 17: “So he told her everything.” The rest, as they say, is history. He told her about the Nazirite vow. He explained why no razor had ever touched his hair. And he told her point blank, . “If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.” (16:17)
When I studied that, I learned something I didn’t know. I thought Samson had been tricked. He hasn’t been tricked. Samson knew exactly what he was doing. Do you see that? He knew exactly what he was doing. He said, “My hair’s never been cut. I’ve been a Nazirite to God. I’ve always been dedicated to God.” He didn’t just tell her about the hair. He told her what the hair represented. He revealed his dedication to God.
Samson, you fool. You weren’t tricked. You weren’t deceived. Like Adam, you knew exactly what you were doing.
As soon as he’s sound asleep, she calls a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him, Verse 19 says it plainly: “His strength left him.” Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “No problem. I’ll shake myself free again.” But his strength was already gone. The last phrase of verse 20 is one of the saddest statements in the whole Old Testament: “But he did not know that the Lord had left him.”
4. He didn’t realize what had happened until it was too late.
He didn’t realize what had happened. I wish I had power to speak what this really means to me. Too many Christians drift away from God through stupidity and folly, and they don’t realize what they have lost until they’ve lost it.
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. (16:21)
Notice the four things that happened to Samson. First there is mutilation. They gouged out his eyes. Then there is deportation. They took him down to Gaza. Oh, Samson, when was the last time you were in Gaza? That’s right. When you came to visit that harlot. Now you’re going to go back down there. In chains this time. Then there is incarceration. Binding him with bronze shackles. Finally, there is humiliation. They set him to grinding in the prison. Grinding in the prison was the work of slaves. It was the work of animals.
So they bound him. His head has been shorn. His eyes gouged out. On his hands and his knees the mighty Samson pushes the pole that powers the press that grinds the grain. O, how the mighty are fallen. The empty sockets in his eyes bear mute testimony of his unfaithfulness to God.
Samson, Samson, Samson. How could you end like this?
I want you to write two verses of Scripture over this tragic story of Samson and Delilah. The first is Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” The second is I Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore if any man thinks that he is standing firm, let him take care lest he fall.” Why did Samson give in to Delilah? Because he was self-confident. Because he had lived for twenty years without ever dealing with his basic problem. And since he’d lived problem-free for twenty years he felt like he didn’t have a problem anymore. Oh, Samson, what a fool you were.
Let me give you three applications from this story. Two for the entire congregation. One just for the men.
1. Unless we deal with our problems they will come back to haunt us again and again and again.
2. Unless we learn the difference between being empowered by the spirit and controlled by spirit we will fall just like Samson did.
Does that sound odd? It shouldn’t. It is very possible for a Christian to be empowered by the Spirit of God to do certain things and yet not to have his life yielded to the full control of the Holy Spirit. How else do you explain Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker? I do not doubt that they were empowered by the Spirit of God, but at the point of their fall they were not controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Rise up, O men of God. Have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of Kings. Rise up, O men of God. The church for you doth wait. Her strength unequal to her task. Rise up and make her great.
As the morning light broke across the horizon, men began to stir all over the prison compound. In a corner cell, heavily guarded and barricaded behind an enormous iron door, another man heard the noises and woke with a start.
He had been dreaming of other, better days. Dreams of sunshine and blue sky, of bright flowers and green trees, dreams of a life long gone. He had dreamt of childhood days, of strong young men and beautiful young women. Dreaming of what had been and of what might have been.
He awoke to the sound of harsh reality. From somewhere across the compound came a muffled curse and another one. He heard the sound of tired feet shuffling, rusty iron gates opening and closing, the guards’ slow, methodical walk toward the central guard tower. He groped in the darkness, reaching for his sandals. Finding them, he put them on, wrapping the thongs around his ankles. Feeling carefully for the wall, he stood up.
Judges 16:23 ff
