Judges 16
Oh! My Delilah... if only you had truly loved me.
One time, Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there. He spent the night with her. When the people of Gaza heard that Samson was in town, they surrounded the place and waited to ambush him at the city gate. They stayed quiet all night, saying to themselves, “At dawn, we’ll kill him.”
But Samson lay there only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate—along with the two side posts—and tore them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill facing Hebron.
Afterward, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines came to her and said, “Trick him. Find out what gives him his great strength and how we can overpower and tie him up to subdue him. If you do, each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength comes from and what could be used to tie you up and subdue you.”
Samson replied, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that haven’t been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So the Philistine rulers brought her seven fresh bowstrings, and she tied him up with them. While men were hiding in the inner room, she shouted, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of flax snaps when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength remained unknown.
Then Delilah said, “You’ve made a fool of me! You lied to me. Now tell me, please—how can you be tied?”
He said, “If they tie me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up, and again called out, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But again, he snapped the ropes from his arms like threads.
Delilah said to him, “You’ve made a fool of me again and told me lies. Now tell me—how can you be tied?”
He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and fasten it with a pin, I’ll become weak like any other man.” So she did exactly that while he slept, and shouted, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke, pulled out the pin and the loom, and freed himself.
Then she said, “How can you say ‘I love you’ when your heart is not with me? You’ve mocked me three times and still haven’t told me what gives you your great strength.” Day after day, she nagged and pressured him until he was sick to death of it.
Finally, Samson told her everything. “A razor has never touched my head,” he said, “because I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If I’m shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will be as weak as any other man.”
When Delilah saw that he had opened his heart to her, she sent word to the Philistine rulers: “Come back one more time—he has told me everything.” So they returned, bringing the silver with them.
She lulled Samson to sleep with his head on her lap. Then she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair. As his hair fell away, so did his strength. She began to subdue him, and he was helpless.
She shouted, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He woke up and said, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize that the Jehovah had left him.
The Philistines seized him. They gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze shackles, and he became a grinder in the prison. But in time, the hair on his head began to grow back.
Meanwhile, the Philistine rulers assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands!” When the people saw him, they praised their god and said, “Our god has given into our hands the one who laid waste to our land and killed so many of us.”
In their merrymaking, they called for Samson to be brought out to entertain them. They brought him from the prison, and he was made to perform before them. They placed him between the pillars.
Samson said to the young boy who was guiding him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars that support the temple, so I can lean against them.” The building was packed with men and women. All the Philistine rulers were there, and about three thousand people were on the roof watching as Samson entertained them.
Samson now called out to Jehovah: “Sovereign Lord Jehovah, remember me. Please strengthen me just once more. Let me, with one final act, take vengeance on the Philistines for one of my two eyes.”
He braced himself between the two central pillars, one with his right hand and one with his left. He said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people inside. In his death, Samson killed more than he had during his life.
Later, his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to retrieve his body. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. Samson had judged Israel for twenty years.
#biblereading #judges #samson #osxs #thefall #confession
A couple of points of note:
Samson was fine until she began to nag him to the point of wishing for death; a little pressure over a long time can create tremendous damage
Until he opened his heart to her, he was fine, that was his end
He had seven braids. Had she cut only three or even six, he likely would have endured
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