Judges 16:5-21 – The Fall of Samson

⁵ And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

⁶ And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

⁷ And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

⁸ Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

⁹ Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

¹⁰ And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.

¹¹ And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

¹² Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

¹³ And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

¹⁴ And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

¹⁵ And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

¹⁶ And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

¹⁷ That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

¹⁸ And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.

¹⁹ And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

²⁰ 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.

²¹ But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

Samson’s sin has finally caught up with him! Four times Delilah, his lover, asks him where his strength comes from so that the Philistines can capture him (Samson didn’t know that part at first). The truth of the matter, is that Samson’s strength came from the Lord, but he kept telling her different things like what kind of ropes needed to be used or that his strength came from his hair. Samson kept this going even after three failed attempts by the Philistines to take him prisoner.

On a side note, guys, be careful with girls! There are plenty of good ones out there, bu there are also plenty who couldn’t care less about you as a person (same thing goes for you, girls! Watch out for the guys!) Be careful who you date!

Back to the passage, finally the Spirit of God left Samson (although Samson didn’t even notice that the Lord was not with him anymore). Samson tried to fight his way out, but his strength was gone.

For us Christians, the principle is that our sins will find us out. Galatians 6:7 says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” If you continue in sin (like Samson did) and continue ignore all the warning flags (she sold Samson out to people who wanted him dead!) your sin will catch up to you. There are always consequences for our actions which we can’t control, but we CAN control our actions.

Life Step: Think about it…

Have you ever known someone whose sin and consequences that caught up to them? (No Names)

What are some unexpected consequences of sin?

Samson had several red flags about his actions (from his parents disapproval to Delilah trying to have him taken prisoner). What kind of red flags to we see for our sins?

Judges 16:1-4 – Moral Weakness

¹ Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.

² And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.

³ And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.

⁴ And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

Samson’s glaring moral weakness comes into light now. After the whole ordeal with his wife, he finds himself a harlot. The enemy, however, learned about his location and decided to kill him then and there. Samson, not having any part of getting killed, got up and grabbed the gate of the city and took off running!! What’s impressive about this is that he ran with the door, posts, and locking bar for 38 miles (more than a marathon!) mostly up hill!

Samson was a man with impressive physical strength given to him by God. What is interesting, though, is that just because Samson was physically strong does not make him morally strong (as we see by him finding a harlot). We need to be careful in our lives that we do not equate moral strength with anything else. It is when we become complacent that we need to be careful with our morals. Samson had that problem, and in verse 4 we meet the woman who would be his downfall, Delilah.

Life Step: Think about it…

In what ways can we become content and allow moral weakness to creep into our lives?

What can we do to stay focused on keeping our morals pure?

Judges 15:16-19 – Where God Guides, He Provides

¹⁶ And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.

¹⁸ And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

¹⁹ But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

Samson now shows off his impressive strength. After the Philistines has his wife marry another man (to the person who would have been like his ‘best man’), and then murdered her and her family because of Samson’s retaliation, Samson starts getting back at them. He grabs the jaw bone of a donkey (as a side note, there he goes touching a part of a dead animal body) and kills 1,000 men with it! However, Samson was pretty tired after his fight and he needed water. He acknowledged that God had lead him to that point and did not understand why he would die of thirst now. God, however miraculously made water come out of the donkey’s jaw bone and he drank all that he needed.

For us, this narrative has an important principle. Although Samson was not actively following God, God had lead him to that point and to that battle to kill those Philistines. Afterwards, Samson had a need that he needed fulfilled, and God took care of it! Wherever God leads us, or whatever he leads us to do, He will provide. As the old saying goes “Where God guides, He provides.” What is it that God wants you to do? It does not matter how big or how small it is, God will provide. Do not worry about whether you can or cannot do something. If God leads you there, take the opportunity!

Life Step: Think about it…

What kind of things has God lead you to do?

What kind of things has God equipped you to do?

Judges 14:8-9 – Samson’s Willful Disobedience

⁸ And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.

⁹ And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.

Samson was careless! He had already walked through a vineyard yesterday and killed a lion, and now he is on his way back, and he sees the same lion again (apparently, he was back in the vineyard). Some bees had made a home in the carcass, and Samson used this as a chance to take a bite of the honey in there! Now he is intentionally touching a dead body and intentionally and willfully disobeying his Nazarite vow. His disobedience that seemed innocent enough (killing the lion to protect himself) later lead to his willful disobedience (reaching inside a dead lion for honey).

The application for Christians today is clear from the passage. Sometimes our disobedience to God is something that we look at and think, “Oh, it’s not that bad” or “It’s just a little sin”; we think of them as “little things”. James 2:10 tells us that “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” It is important that we are obedient to God in the little things as well as the big things. There isn’t a sin small enough to make it “okay”, and we need to be careful that we are not disobedient towards God’s Word. Maybe it’s a bad habit we have, an anger problem, or how we treat other people. Whatever it is, it has no place in the life of a Christian.

The nice thing is, the Bible also tells us that “ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If there’s something little in your life, do not let it grow!! Get it right with God ASAP!

Life Step: Think about it…

What kind of “little things” do we let creep into our lives and cause us to disobey God?

What should we do about the “little things” in our lives?