“Samson and Delilah” Judges chapter 16 -Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
This past week I read a story about a man who had reached his “golden years” but with some major regrets. He had wanted God to use him, but his lifestyle got in the way. He looked back at his life and all he could say was “So what?” There was very little he’d accomplished of eternal value. The reason he gave was simple: “When I first trusted Christ I allowed the enemy to remain.” Christians aren’t sinless, but they genuinely try to sin less and resist evil. This man found himself in bondage to the enemy. Sounds a lot like Samson.
Samson became enslaved by his cravings. He strangled a lion but couldn’t strangle his lust. He burst ropes but was bound by his appetite. He burned the enemy’s crops yet was enflamed with desire for their women. He was strong, but not really in control. The champion was captivated by the enemy and conquered by himself!
As chapter 16 opens the author doesn’t try to cover up Samson’s scandalous behavior. Didn’t Samson feel any sense of shame in seeing a prostitute and fraternizing with the enemy? Mark Twain observed, “man is the only animal who blushes…and who needs to.” Samson is an embarrassment to Israel. When high profile religious leaders fall to temptation, it makes all believers look bad. We have to remind ourselves that when such prominent individuals sin, we blame them, not their religion. All believers are not alike. We see Samson sowing seeds in Gaza which germinate with his destruction with Delilah. Sin has consequences.
The town knows Samson is there; he wasn’t trying to keep a low profile. The Philistines try to trap Samson by securing the city gates; he is locked in, so they think. But Samson lifts the gates with his enormous might and carries them to Hebron, 40 miles away! It’s estimated that these gates may have weighed over a thousand pounds. In Bible times the gates of cities were considered the symbol of their strength. By removing the city gate Samson caused Gaza great humiliation. Let’s remember that Samson’s story is no fable, no “tall tale”. We may wonder how Samson performed his amazing feats; he was in a class by himself. There are no limits with God’s power.
After the Gaza debacle, Samson was on the Philistine’s “Most Wanted” list! Something had to be done about him, but the Philistines were too afraid to take action. They had to learn the source of Samson’s strength. This further proves that Samson did not look like a remarkably strong person. By his openly dallying with Philistine women, it’s clear the enemy already knew his weakness. Delilah becomes their “secret agent”. Her name has become synonymous with seduction, and she’s often blamed for Samson’s fall, yet she was merely doing her job as a loyal Philistine informant. She turned on the charm, and Samson was very vulnerable.
Delilah pleads with Samson to reveal the secret of his strength. What’s wrong here? It should’ve been obvious that God was the Source of Samson’s strength! The Philistines figured Samson was using some kind of magic, some conjuring. His lifestyle did not lead them to consider that he was a religious man. We may think of religion as private and personal, but nowhere in Scripture does it say that. There should be some evidence, some observable indication that we’re following God. When we choose to serve God, we’re not enrolled in the “Secret Service”! The Philistines understandably figured that God wasn’t part of Samson’s life. They ponder: How did he get so strong?
Samson thinks Delilah is toying with him, and he playfully goes along, misleading her as though this was a big joke of some sort. One writer says, “Samson was playing a game with Delilah which turned out to be Russian Roulette, and he bought the bullet” (Gary Inrig). Just as his promised bride persuaded him to reveal his riddle in ch 14, Delilah entices Samson to disclose the sacred mystery of his strength.
It’s interesting that he suggests being tied with new ropes would weaken him; that had already been tried (ch 15), and apparently the Philistines had forgotten.
Samson was infatuated with Delilah and wasn’t thinking straight. A Bible teacher notes: “Rather than break his relationship with Delilah, he allowed it to break him” (Herbert Wolf). Frustrated Delilah sobs and questions his love, and so he tells her of his vow. I don’t think he knew what love was. Samson can’t resist Delilah’s allure and persuasion so he gives that which was sacred to a pagan enemy. Samson loses more than his hair; he loses the presence of the Holy Spirit. Verse 20 is regarded as among the saddest verses of Scripture: “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” If that were to happen to us, would we sense any change? Samson had broken other aspects of his Nazarite vow, yet hadn’t been penalized. It’s possible he didn’t think anything would happen; after all, he hadn’t all along been much of a “practicing” Nazarite. Samson’s hair by itself didn’t make him strong, but it was the most observable sign of his vow, which set him apart as a Nazarite. By cutting his hair he severs his tie to God. Samson had grown insensitive, bound by his appetite, blinded by his desires…and then literally blinded and bound.
The Philistines gloatingly capture Samson, cruelly gouge out his eyes, and throw him into a dark cell. They put him to work grinding corn, menial and degrading labor, work only slaves would perform. Samson burned their grain, and here we find him grinding the enemy’s grain. It sometimes takes a great fall to get our attention. When Charles Colson went to prison over Watergate, he found faith in Christ and has become a great leader in the church. It’s been suggested that Samson’s prison became a place of repentance. Verse 26 hints that this is not the “end of the story” in a verse charged with anticipation: “But the hair on his head began to grow again.” Perhaps his faith grew as well. We find Samson listed in Hebrews 11 among those who demonstrated faith. At best, Samson’s faith was meager. The power of faith isn’t in the amount of faith we may have, but the Object of our faith.
The Philistines hold a huge celebration at the Temple of Dagon, their god of grain, and decide to use the occasion to revel over captured Samson, who has become a symbol of Israel’s shameful defeat, a trophy of their conquest. The five lords of the Philistines, along with over 3,000 men and women are present. It wouldn’t have been surprising for Delilah to be seated at a place of honor. The one person the Philistines feared the most, the man that well-armed soldiers dared not confront, is now led into the pagan temple by a servant. He is brought to the temple to “amuse” his captors.
Samson prays to God, and is granted one final burst of strength. He asks for vindication and death. He would rather sacrifice his life and die with the Philistines than be bound by them. Samson’s final prayer has been called self-serving, preoccupied with self…maybe because he is the only one fighting for Israel. His was a one-man war. As to the place, Archeologists have uncovered Philistine temples around the period of the Judges. Their construction design shows them having two large wooden columns on stone bases in the center of the building, supporting the roof. The drunken laughter turns to screams as Samson brings the house down! Many are killed instantly; others are trampled to death by the panicked mob. Among the dead is the powerless idol Dagon. The occasion was to mock Israel’s God along with His champion, but God is vindicated. When things couldn’t have seemed bleaker, God turned the tables. The Philistines are so fearful of Samson that they quietly turn his corpse over to his family for burial, rather than defile it. They’ve had enough.
It seems like Samson could resist anything but temptation. We’re warned in Scripture to flee temptation. We all have our own weaknesses. One of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous observed, “Everyone either has a problem, is a problem, or lives with a problem.” We may be susceptible to a certain activity or substance. Or maybe our compulsion is more subtle; we may be drawn to ambition, vanity, revenge, comfort, or greed. Whatever it may be, these substitutes for God can take over and ruin our lives if we let them. We need to recognize that when we choose sin, we are choosing to rebel, to live contrary to the will of God. Either sin controls us, or God controls us.
We’re told that Samson did not finish the job of delivering Israel from Philistine oppression; that was accomplished under the prophet Samuel and King David. We can only speculate on what Samson might have done had he more carefully followed his calling.
Will our lives amount to anything? Will we make a difference in the lives of others? Is there hope for us when we go astray? God can bring us back and use us, in spite of our weakness. This is the heart of the Gospel message, a promise of grace, reconciliation and restoration. When we fully surrender to the Lord we can look back on our days with fond memories and few regrets.
