Judges 16

Scripture

Judges 16:24-24
When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.” While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

Observation

Samson decides to spend the night with a prostitute in Gaza. When the people of Gaza hear of his presence in their city, the people of Gaza lay in wait at the city gate with plans to kill Samson in the morning. In the middle of the night, Samson awakes and defeats the plan by tearing loose and removing the city gate.

Sometime later, Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman by the name of Delilah. The rulers of the city bribe Delilah into seducing Samson so that he will reveal the secret of his strength. After three failed attempts to subdue Samson (because he gave Delilah false information) and unable to bear Delilah’s constant nagging and manipulating, he finally tells Delilah the truth that his strength comes from the fact that no razor has ever touched his head; and that if his hair were to be cut, he would be as weak as any other man. After receiving payment for her betrayal, Delilah lets men into her home to shave Samson’s hair. Without his strength, Samson is easily taken captive, has his eyes gouged out and is sent to forced labor in prison.

Later, during a pagan feast in honor of the Philistine god, Dagon, the rulers bring out Samson to perform for and entertain them. Aware that his hair had grown back while in prison, Samson asks to be tied between the supporting pillars of the temple and then asks God to strengthen him one more time to get revenge on the Philistines for his eyes. Asking to die with his enemies, Samson pushes on the pillars causing the roof to cave in and in doing so killed more Philistines when he died then when he lived. Samson’s family then claims his body and buries him in the tomb of his father. Samson judged Israel for twenty years.

Understanding

Song of Solomon 2:15
[It is the] little foxes that spoil the vine

 The man of God who began his life heralded by the angels; who was said to be dedicated to God from the womb; a man who did great deeds in the power of the Spirit of God ends his life as a buffoon; a prisoner performing like a clown before for the enemies of God. As he sat in prison, blind, broken and powerless I wonder if Samson asked the same question that any child of God asks who find themselves so very far from the time and place when they walked in God’s power, will and Spirit –“How did I get here?” If Samson looked honestly at his life, he would see that it wasn’t any one great mistake or sin that brought him to such uselessness and humiliation, but a lifetime of small compromises that, one after another, led him away from God’s will and into the hands of the enemy. It is the same today and for all time. No man wakes up one morning and decides, “Today, I think I’ll have an affair!” No one out of the blue decides, “I think I’ll become a heroin addict this week.” No, it is many small choices of compromise, rationalization, rebellion and rejection of the voice of God’s word and His Spirit that eventually bring us to a place where we never thought we would end up – and in doing so allow the enemy to mock our faith and our God.

Life Application
Proverbs 6:27
Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

2 Corinthians 6:17
Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

Any compromise in my life, and certainly a pattern of it, will sear my heart and deafen my ear to the prompting and warning of the Holy Spirit. The only way to not get tainted by sin is to not handle it and to understand that there is no such thing as safe sin. In order to safeguard my heart against compromise that leads to disaster I must study and memorize God’s word; pursue intimacy with the Holy Spirit in prayer; commit to a life of obedience (and when I fail, confess and seek repentance); walk in my identity of holiness in Christ; and welcome accountability and correction from trusted members of my church family.

 

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 - Gary Parker