Some people just never seem to learn their lesson! They get caught in the same old traps and repeat the same mistakes over and over again! They refuse to reckon with the dangers in their decisions and their desires dominate their discretion. Even though they know that they are heading down the wrong road, they will not turn around and go in the opposite direction. Once they hop on the merry-go-round of misery they don’t know how to get off. Even though they have seen the light, they choose to live in darkness. Does this sound familiar? Do you know anyone like that?
This description fits Samson like a glove. Instead of pursuing his divine destiny of delivering his people from 40 years of Philistine oppression, he was blinded by his lust for Philistine women. In blatant disregard for God’s law and his parent’s advice, he allowed his sensual passions to drive his decision to pursue the girl from Timnah, which put him on a downward descent to depravity. He compromised his Nazarite vows on a number of occasions and spiraled through vicious cycles of sin and vengeance. Even though God had shown him remarkable grace and miraculous provision, he showed no heart for the Holy. Tragically, his arrogance and selfishness caused him to sacrifice his divine potential for momentary pleasures.
As Judges 16 dawns, we see that Samson has not learned anything from his earlier errors. He still exhibits a weakness for women and an obsession with personal glory, which blinds him to truth and will lead his ultimate downfall. This chapter recounts Samson’s one night stand with a prostitute and his epic romance with Delilah. So, let’s see how Samson is blinded by seduction!
A One Night Stand and a Gate of Glory (1-3)
God had just spared Samson’s life by miraculously providing him water at En-hakkore, in the Israelite town of Lehi, and now we see him immediately going to Gaza, the southernmost city in the Philistine region and forty-five miles from his hometown of Zorah. Why did Samson go to Gaza? The author of Judges doesn’t tell us explicitly but it isn’t too hard to figure out. Remember, Samson was a man driven by his sensual appetites, which still hadn’t been fully satisfied. He never got to act out his fantasies with his almost-bride from Timnah. So, where does a man go when he want to pursue his illicit passions? He goes somewhere he thinks he won’t get caught! So, deliberately and foolishly, he went fraternizing in enemy territory again.
It didn’t take Samson long to find what he was looking for. The narrator describes the scene with incredible brevity: “and there he saw a prostitute, and went into her.” His heart had been scorned by past nuptials, so this time around, he decides to by-pass the morality of marriage altogether and conveniently pays for his pleasure.
Even though Samson went to a remote location, he underestimated his seclusion. The news of Samson’s escapades at Jawbone Hill had obviously circulated through the Philistine camps. As Public Enemy #1, he had a bounty on his head and a bulls-eye on his back! While he was in the prostitute’s chamber, the people of Gaza discovered his presence and plotted an ambush, but for some reason, they decided to wait until morning to capture and kill him.
Before the Philistines could execute their punitive plan, Samson somehow caught wind of their scheme and decided to beat them to the punch. While the whole city lay sleeping, he left his mistress at midnight and escaped. But before he slipped away, he saw an opportunity to do something to help the people of Gaza to always remember him. He went to the entrance of the city, shook the large doors off their posts, hoisted them on his shoulders, and carried them all the way up the hill of Hebron some forty miles away.
From the hill of Hebron, the city gate could be seen by the Philistines and also the men of Judah (the same group of Israelites who turned their backs on him in chapter 15). The gate would stand as a testament to Samson’s strength. This self-serving display certainly accomplished its goal; no one would ever forget this feat. He achieved his desired glory!
These three little verses give us a lot to think about. First, they remind us of the dangers of fraternizing with the enemy. When we put ourselves in tempting situations, we set ourselves up for a fall. What are we willing to sacrifice for momentary pleasures? Second, they showcase God’s providential grace. Even when Samson put himself in a dangerous situation, God intervened for him by somehow alerting him to Philistines plan to capture him. Likewise, God often delivers us from dangers that we did not know existed. He often spares us from the consequences of our foolish decisions. As he did for Samson, he intervenes on our behalf, even though we don’t deserve it!
Delilah’s Deception (4-17)
Well, the Philistines were totally humiliated by Samson’s display of strength. Every time they gazed upon Gaza’s gate and thought about how Samson slipped through their fingers, their eyes were filled with fury and they were willing to do anything to destroy him. The lords of the Philistines finally figured that the only way they could defeat Samson was to discover the source of his strength and neutralize it. The best way subdue a man’s strength is to exploit his weakness, and the encounter with the prostitute exposed Samson’s Achilles Heel. He may be able to carry a city gate 40 miles uphill, but he could not withstand the wiles of a Philistine woman. And he just happened to be in love with another one.
Samson barely escaped disaster in his affair with the prostitute, and now we find him descending upon the Valley of Sorek where he was shacking up with a Philistine woman named Delilah, the most famous femme fatale in history. Today, the name “Delilah” is synonymous with deception and seduction, but the two ancient Semitic possibilities are “to flirt” or “of the night.” Either way, her name casts an ominous shadow from the outset of the story.
Samson was madly in love with Delilah, but she was not in love with him; she was just playing around. When the five lords of the Philistines found this out, they employed her to seduce him and discover the source of his strength so that they could capture and torture him. They each promised to give her 1,100 shekels of silver if she succeeded. 5,500 shekels at that time was the equivalent to more than 20 million dollars today. (Now I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger, it was silver she was after. It wasn’t Samson’s cash she considered, she just sold to the highest bidder.) Delilah was delighted by their offer, and she immediately went to work.
On three separate occasions, Delilah turned on her sensual charms and tenderly asked Samson to reveal to her the secret of his great strength, and three times, Samson deceived her. First, he told her that seven fresh bowstrings would bind his strength. Obviously, this was not true, but contacting bowstrings, which were made out of animal tendons, compromised his Nazarite vow again. Second, he told her that new ropes would incapacitate him. Apparently, she did not know that this tactic had already failed back at Lehi. Third, he teases her with instructions to weave his hair together and tie it with a pin, and then he would become as weak as any other man. Though not true, we see Samson’s will weakening as he comes perilously close to revealing his hair as the real source of his strength.
In each attempt, Delilah tied Samson while he slept and had Philistine soldiers stationed close by to subdue him when he awoke. But in the morning, he easily broke the ties that bound him, preventing any opportunity for the Philistines to pounce on him.
Most women would have given up, but the devious Delilah was undaunted. She reached deep down into her pocket of tricks and pulled out the atomic bomb of emotional weapons—the old line “If you really loved me, you would…tell me the secret of your strength.” This was coupled with an onslaught of sad puppy dog eyes, deceptive tears, and manipulative persistence. She nagged him to the point of death and he eventually laid his heart out on a silver platter, spilling everything about his Nazarite vow from birth and confessed that if his long hair was cut that he would lose his strength. He bore his soul on this most important of matters to a pagan woman who wasn’t even his wife. (She tied him to her kitchen chair; she broke his throne, and she cut his hair; and from his lips she drew the Hallelujah.)
When we encounter this part of the story, it is hard for us to understand how Samson didn’t see what Delilah was doing to him. You just want to shake him and ask, “Are you blind man?” But yes, he was blinded by seduction! He was so “in love” with her that he didn’t realize that she was just playing him. He only heard what he wanted to hear. He lowered his defenses and was willing to compromise anything to keep her—even his most precious secret! He certainly had a lot of brawn, but he didn’t have any brains!
Do you know anyone who has fallen in this trap? Over the ages, many people have been blinded by seduction and have been willing to compromise their morals, standards, and beliefs in the name of love. So many people have sacrificed their own relationship with God for a relationship with someone who doesn’t even care about God. I hope that Samson’s blindness will help us to see a little more clearly!
No Eyes to See (19-22)
As soon as Delilah learned Samson’s secret, she called the Philistine lords to cash in on their deal. With the money now in her hands, she decided to help them get Samson in their hands. So, one night, after what I assume was one last round of carnal romance, she lays his head down on her lap and begins stroking his long locks with her crafty fingers. This would soothe any suspicion of betrayal and hasten his slumber. As she lulled him into a deep sleep, a seductive smile crossed her face and she whispered to the Philistine barber that was waiting outside her tent. He quietly entered and snipped off Samson’s seven braided locks.
Once his hair was gone, Delilah began to torment him until he awoke, and when he did, she yelled that the Philistines were upon him. Being through this routine previously, he did not panic; he assumed that he would shake himself out of this situation like he had always done before. But he was in for a great shock. The end of verse 20 is one of the saddest statements in the Old Testament—“But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” His Nazarite vow was completely compromised and he lost his strength. The Philistines took their revenge by binding him with shackles and blinding him by gouging out his eyes. Then they took him to Gaza and forced him to grind grain, which was considered woman’s work in that culture.
Do you see the ironic consequences of Samson’s sins? It was his eyes that got him into trouble in the first place, and he loses his eyes in the end. He had lived in spiritual darkness for most of his life, and now he would live in physical darkness for the rest of his life. He had always relied on his own might, but now he would have to depend on the mercy of others. He once burned the Philistine’s grain and now he had to grind the Philistines grain. The one seduced by the hands of a woman was now reduced to doing the work of a woman with his hands—the great womanizer got womanized.
This section shows us that our sinful habits and patterns eventually catch up with us. To quote a popular maxim: If you constantly play with fire, it is only a matter of time until you get burned. Whether it is sexual indulgence, foolish pride, lying, greed, or some other type of sinful attitude or action, it always costs more than it is worth. Like Samson, God gives us so many chances, but if we don’t repent and change our ways, we will face the consequences of our sins.
The life of Samson is indeed a tragic tale—a miraculous birth, a divine destiny, a wonderful family, supernatural strength, clever wit, and all the potential in the world, and he through it all away. By all accounts, Samson was a total screw-up; his life was a complete failure. How could God ever use someone like that?
But notice the glimmer of hope in verse 22, “But the hair on his head began to grow again…” Maybe God wasn’t done with him yet! I hope you’ll come back next week to hear how the story ends.