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- Preaching the Living WORD through
the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4;:2 - |
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SAMSON’S UNRAVELING Judges 16:1-21,
1/8/14 Grace Bible Church,
Gillette, Wyoming Pastor Daryl Hilbert I. SAMSON VISITS A HARLOT AT GAZA (1-3) A. [1] Quite likely some time had past since
Samson had killed a thousand Philistines at Ramath-lehi (Jdg 15:15-17). No reason was given as to why Samson went
down to Gaza some 35 miles southwest of his home in Zorah. However, Gaza
being within Philistine territory would be a likely place to continue
badgering the Philistines. Regardless of the reason, Samson’s weakness for
women would be served by a harlot. It would be wrong to make any assumption
that God led Samson to Gaza to visit the harlot. The occasion was Samson’s
delineation and sin. Yet God’s purposes for Israel’s enemies continued in
spite of anyone’s sin (Samson’s or the Philistine’s). But as will be evident,
even Samson’s behavior will be required of him. B. [2] Knowing of Samson’s reputation for
slaying Philistines, the Gazites devised a plan to lay in wait to ambush him
in the morning. They positioned themselves at the “gate of the city” and planned
to kill Samson. C. [3] Perhaps suspicious that a plan had
been devised, Samson awoke at midnight. Having gone directly to the gate of
the city, Samson proceeded to pull the doors, posts, and bars out of the
ground. He then shouldered the tremendous load (combination of timber, metal
bars, and fire resistance metal panels) and began to carry them away. The
Gazites did not attack Samson. They were taken off guard and lost their
advantage. They were no doubt also fear stricken with Samson’s impressive feat
of strength. Samson carried the doors “up to the top of the mountain which is
opposite Hebron.” Supplied with God’s strength, Samson could have carried the
load some 38 miles east to Hebron. However, the traditional view suggests
that he carried it up the nearest mountain “opposite” (ganeh - faces,
before, toward) Hebron, where the new location for the city gates would
have been visible for public ridicule. II. SAMSON FALLS FOR DELILAH (4-5) A. [4] The author reveals this next section is at a later time and
involved another woman. Samson fell in love with a local woman “in the Valley
of Sōrek.” The valley itself is just north of Timnah and west of
Samson’s hometown of Zorah. The woman named Delilah,
was probably a Philistine woman like the other two women recorded. B. [5] The Philistine leaders were desperate
to find out Samson’s secret for his strength. They said to Delilah to
“entice” (pathah - deceive or seduce) Samson in order to find out this
information. The purpose of the leaders was to bind Samson and “afflict” (anah
- humiliate, force into submission against the will) him. Delilah’s
purpose was to receive 1100 pieces of silver (aprox. 140 lbs, today about
$40,000.00). III. SAMSON IS ENTICED BY DELILAH (6-14) A. [6] Delilah asked Samson the question outright but no doubt
with subtlety and seduction. She asked where his great strength came from and
how he could be bound. B. [7-8] Samson would have had to know that
he was being set up by Delilah. But to what degree did he know or suspect? He
obviously played along but did not tell Delilah the true source of his
strength. Instead he said that he could be bound by seven fresh “cords” (yether,
Ps 11:2) which was probably sinew or bowstring. The number seven could be
a hint referring to God’s divine power. So the Philistine leaders brought
seven fresh cords, but Delilah bound him. C. [9] With Philistines in the ready
position, Delilah startled Samson awake by yelling, “The Philistines are upon
you, Samson!” But Samson snapped the cords as if they were mere “tow” (neoreth
- tiny flammable fibers on flax) at the touch (riach-“smell”) of a
fire. So obviously, the secret of his strength was not discovered. D. [10-11] Delilah asked Samson a second
time, accusing him of lying to her. This time he stated that fresh “new
ropes” could bind him and make him weak like any other man. E. [12] Again, Delilah bound him. This time
she used fresh “new ropes,” little knowing that Philistine rope had failed
before (Jdg 15:13-14). Again, with Philistines waiting, she repeated the
Philistine call to arms. Samson snapped the new ropes as if they were thread
(chut - thread, Ge 14:23). F. [13-14] Accusing Samson of being a liar,
Delilah continues to press him. This time Samson suggested that if seven
locks of his hair were woven with a web and pin, he would be weak like any
other man. The exact detail of this third binding is difficult to ascertain
from the original text. But it had something to do with his hair somehow woven
to a loom and its fabric (“web” - masseketh - fabric on a loom) and
then secured in some way by a pin (vs. 14 - yathed - peg) so that he would not be able to
escape. Delilah followed these instruction, cried that the Philistines were
upon him. Samson woke up and simply pulled out the pin from the loom. Though
the binding does not appear to have been the most formidable way of binding a
man, Samson was letting Delilah get closer to the secret of his strength
through his hair. IV. SAMSON FINALLY REVEALS THE SECRET OF HIS
STRENGTH (15-18) A. [15-16] Delilah increased her pressure on
Samson by tugging on his heart by questioning Samson’s love for her. In
essence, she was correct in connecting one’s love with the truthfulness of
one’s statements. This was the third time he lied to her, even if at first it
was sport to Samson. In addition, she pressed him
daily with his words until Samson was “annoyed (qatsar - vexed) to
death.” B. [17] As a result, Delilah wore Samson down
and he gave in to her. Samson told her the secret to his strength. The secret
was in Samson’s commitment to the Lord through the Nazirite vow, particularly
in not letting a razor “come on his head” (Num 6:5). This aspect of the
Nazirite vow had obviously been successfully instilled in Samson by his
parents. C. [18] Samson had come completely clean to
Delilah so that she was sure that he told her all that was in his heart. Even
the Philistine leaders seemed to be convinced by her that they had Samson’s
secret because they brought Delilah’s payment with them. V. SAMSON IS SUBDUED BY THE PHILISTINES (19-21) A. [19-20] Delilah craftily made Samson fall
asleep in her lap, perhaps so that she could assist the Philistine barber.
They shaved off seven locks of Samson’s hair, not because Samson portrayed it
that way, but most likely out of superstitious hunch. After Samson was
shaved, Delilah began to afflict him in some manner. This possibly refers to
attempts to awaken Samson because it was not until she cried, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” in vs. 20 that he actually awakened. The phrase “his
strength left him” was the divine enabling that had departed and may have
contributed to his inability to awake. B. [20] When Samson did awake he went out to
shake himself or rather loose himself from any bonds of the Philistines. He
had no Philistine bonds, but neither did he have the Spirit of the Lord.
Samson was in such a spiritually deficient state that he did not even know
that the Lord had departed from him. C. [21] Samson immediately found out that the
Lord had left him because he was for the first time helpless against the
Philistines. They seized him. They gouged out his eyes. They bound him with
bronze chains, and they humiliated him by making him a slave in prison to
grind meal. Some have suggested that this would not have been the heavy
pulling of a large grinding wheel, for he had lost his divine strength.
Rather this may have been the grinding of small millstones associated with
women’s work. VI. OBSERVATIONS AND APPLICATIONS A. Violation of the Nazirite Vow - Did
Samson violate other aspects of the Nazirite vow
(Jdg 14:8-9; 14:5, 10)? He very possibly did. But, the shaving of Samson’s
hair seemed to be the most and last sacred thing to Samson. However, to the
Lord, it was the final culmination of Samson’s continual disobedience. God
used Samson, in spite of his sinfulness, to accomplish His divine purposes.
However, at the same time, God never condoned Samson’s sins or ultimately let
them go unpunished. B. Samson’s Strength - Samson’s
strength was not in his hair length, but from the Spirit of the Lord who
enabled him to be Israel’s deliverer (Jdg 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14). It was
very sad that Samson did not even realize that the Spirit of the Lord had
departed. Though the Spirit will never leave a believer, it is very sad when
a believer becomes accustomed to fleshly thoughts, attitudes, and deeds as
opposed to continually walking in the Spirit (Ga 5:16). C. The Nature of Sin - Delilah can be
compared to the nature of sin: 1) Sin may look attractive, but it becomes
horrid in the end (Pr 5:3-4); 2) No
matter what is said, sin is not looking out for our best interest (Pr
7:21-23); 3) Sin’s ultimate motive is to ensnare and subdue (Ecc 7:26); 4)
The closer one gets to sin, the more difficult it is to break away (Pr
2:18-19); 5) If permitted, sin will
keep taunting till one gives in (Jm 1:13-15) 6) All mankind is weak and
susceptible to sin (Ro 7:14-15); 7)
Sin brings about spiritual blindness (Ro 1:21); 8) Sexually immorality is a
sin committed against the body (1Co 6:18); 9) If permitted, sin will
eventually bring into bondage and ultimately destroy (Ro 6:16). |
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