February 3, 2024

Oh Samson, you had the nature of every creature on earth. Even though Samson was a man of God, a Nazarite, he had an unholy attraction to women and gullibly allowed them to toy with him. In Judges 16, we find him in Gaza, where he first meets a harlot, sleeps with her, and gives away his presence in Philistine territory. He escaped the city before they could try and kill him. After leaving there, he met another woman, the infamous Delilah, who got paid to use her wiles to find out where his strength came from. He lied to her several times, but her cunning style, constant badgering, and saying that he didn’t love her because he would tell her caused him to reveal the truth. Samson had great bodily strength, but women weakened him to the point of death. After falling asleep in her lap, she called in the Philistines, who shaved his head. She probably gave him some sleeping potion so he wouldn’t wake up. As a Nazarite, he wasn’t allowed to drink alcohol. She awakened him, and he thought he would shake it off as before, but he didn’t notice that the Holy Spirit had left him and that he had no strength. They gouged out his eyes! 

They kept him in prison until they had a festival where they all came together to worship Dagon, the fish man idol. After eating and drinking, they brought Samson out to make fun of him, not realizing that his hair had grown out. They placed him between the central pillars, and he prayed that God would give him strength one more time. Samson pushed them, and the whole place came crashing down, killing more than he had ever killed in his entire life. 

We are all susceptible to different kinds of lust, so we must strengthen our trust in God so we can overcome such enticements. Allow God to become the ruler of your heart. The most heartbreaking part of this story is where God left him, and he didn’t even know it. How sad?

And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. Judges 16:20