Samson: The Weakest Strongman (Part 2) Series

Judges 16

You know that when you buy a new car it is not going to cost the advertised price. You know there are hidden costs, right? The advertised price is not going to mention the sales tax, title registration fee, license tag, documentation fees, undercoating, warranty package, destination and delivery costs and service fees.

What the price the new car was advertised at may be very different than what you spend to get that car. Your actual mileage may very. Your actual price will definitely vary. If someone bought a car only on the advertised price without considering the hidden costs it could ruin them financially.

If buying a car has hidden costs, then you can be sure there are hidden costs to sin. These are never advertised in the temptation. Samson found that out. He was never told his sin of lust would lead him to blindness, shackles, and total ruin of his life.

Samson was the strongest man in the world. He was not strong enough to stop the disastrous consequences of his sinful passions. The tempter might say, Samson you are the strongest man in the world. You are destined to do great things for God. The Lord already told your parents this. Go ahead Samson, fulfill your sinful desires.

Go ahead and marry a Philistine woman who worships the god Dagon. Samson just disregard your Nazarite vow. Never mind you are set apart for a special purpose of God. Mary a Philistine and then go spend the night with a prostitute. These momentary pleasures might cost you a little, but it will be worth it (the tempter would say).

Samson is not told his sin will cause him to lose his strength, get his eyes gouged out and lose his freedom, his dignity his reputation. The price tag of his sin was very high. How did Samson get himself into such a position.

His destruction began with wrong priorities. He was attracted to the Philistine woman focused on the outward beauty of her. Samson had passions that could have been fulfilled in the will of the Lord. He ignored the Lord’s commands for the Israelite people to be separate from the idol worshipping Philistines.

Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” 3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) (Judges 14:1-4)

Samson ignored his Nazirite vow also. He even more should have kept from an idol worshipping wife because of his special Nazirite vow. He touched the dead lion carcass in violation of the set apart standard the Nazarite is held too. He slept with a prostitute and opened himself up to the Philistine enemy to know where his weakness lay.

They were never going to match Samsons strength. Because his weaknesses were so open and obvious, they did not have to match his strength. They only needed to exploit his weakness, his lustful passions to destroy him.

All of this happened to Samson before Delilah comes into the picture. There are four chapters about Samson (Judges 13-16) and the first three tell of Samsons slide in sin and destruction all before he meets Delilah, we read that in Chapter 16.

Chapter 16 begins with Samson in Gaza spending the night with a prostitute. They waited all night to defeat Samson, but no. They tried to match Samsons strength. He tore the city gate off the hinges and carried it up the hill. Samson’s strength was supernatural. It was because the Holy Spirit came on him and gave him supernatural strength.

Then Samson was in the Valley of Sorek and saw a beautiful Philistine woman there, Delilah. The Velley of Sorek means the valley of grapes. He is forbidden to have grapes because of his Nazirite vow. This is no place for a weak-willed Nazirite. Samson is playing with the fire of temptation on many levels.

Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. (Judges 16:4)

So far Samson has broken about every aspect of the Nazirite vow except no razor on his head. There he lay reckless with his head on the lap of Delilah.

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.” (Judges 16:5)