Transcendence 4

Sixteen: Samson and Delilah

Samson went to Gaza, a place he most definitely was not welcome. He had a weakness for women and went where they were plentiful. While there he saw a prostitute so we went to spend the night with her. The people of Gaza found out Samson was there and while he was spending time with his weakness, the prostitute, they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move deciding they would kill him at dawn. But Samson wasn't dumb and he only stayed until the middle of the night, at which time he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two post and tore them loose, bar and all. With his super strength he lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. He showed off his amazing strength and they were all terrified of him.

Sometime later Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek. Her name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines wanted a chance to kill Samson so they went to Delilah and said, "Try to lure Samson 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 if you do." Delilah was interested in the money and in finding out the power behind Samson's super strength.  She told them she was willing and went directly to Samson and asked him the secret of his strength and how he could ever be tied up and subdued.

Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me up with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried I will become as weak as any man."

With the new information she ran straight to the Philistines who brought her seven fresh thongs and she tied him up with the men hiding in the room. Once he was tied up she called out to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" Samson instantly snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame.

Delilah cried out, "You have made a fool of me! Now tell me how you can be tied up!" 

He of course didn't know she had men hiding, so he played along and claimed that if she tied him up securely with new rope that has never been used he becomes as weak as any man. She of course tried it with men hiding. When she called out he broke the rope as if it had been tiny threads.

Delilah became very frustrated with him and exclaimed that he had made a fool of her twice. The third time she asked again and he told her if she were to weave the seven braids of his head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin he would become weak as any man. Delilah waited until he was sleeping then took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric and tightened it with the pin. Once done she called out to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and easily pulled up the pin and loom with the fabric.

Delilah cried out to him, "How can you claim to love me if you won't confide in me. This it the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength" She continued to nag him, and prod him until he was sick to death of it. Finally he confessed everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head. Because I am a Nazirite, set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would then become as weak as any other man"

Delilah believed he had finally told her the truth! She sent word back to the Philistine men to come back once more. So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands ready to attack if in fact it worked this time. 

Once he fell asleep on her lap she called out to one of the men who was hiding and had him shave off the seven braids of his hair. Then she tied him up.

When she called out to him, "Samson! The Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought he would go out as before and shake himself free. But try as he might he couldn't break free. He had not realized how very weak a regular man's strength was. Not only that but he understood right away that not only his strength was gone , but worse than that the Lord had left him.

The Philistines quickly came out of hiding and gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. They bound him in bronze shackles and set him to grinding in the prison. Samson was then a miserable prisoner, blind, weak and alone.

But, in a short time the hair on his head began to grow again.

Meanwhile, the Philistines gathered around in assembly to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon to celebrate because they believed their god had delivered Samson into their hands.

While they were in high spirits they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they brought him out. Thousands of people gathered to watch him. All of the rulers were there and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson preform. Samson asked the servant to put him where he could feel the pillars that support the temple so that he may lean against them. Then Samson prayed to God, "O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God please strengthen me once more and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might! Down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Including himself. 

 Thus he killed many more when he died that day than when he lived. (Archaeologists have excavated temples from Samson's period. Typically wooden pillars set close together to support a roof which sometimes included a covered area for spectators. Samson managed to push the pillars off their stone bases with the Lord's power, and the roof collapsed. )

Samson's brothers and his father's whole family went down to get his body. They brought him back to the tomb of Manoah his father, which was between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson had led Israel for twenty years.

(Life Question: Samson had a super power, and a weakness.  Do you have a weakness?  Something that is much harder for you to control than all the other commandments? Maybe you are easily tempted? You lie? Steal? Or maybe its something less obvious but still just as important such as not respecting your elders or your parents.  God can help you overcome it with prayer and through studying the Bible. God gives us answers on how to deal with every single thing that life may throw our way. )