Judges 16 – 18

Posted on Apr 5, 2016 in Reading the Bible in 2016 |

(Tuesday)

This whole story of Samson and Delilah has always baffled me. How could Samson be so ignorant? I mean really? She wants to know the secret of his strength because she has been bribed by the rulers of her country. Why, Samson, would you ever tell Delilah the secret to your strength?
What hold does she have over you? I can’t believe that after three times you wouldn’t have suspected her of trying to do you in. Couldn’t you just tell her – no? But if you look at Samson’s relationship with Delilah in a larger picture, it is like Israel who has so often prostituted themselves with foreign gods and gave into their demands which result in their losing favor in the eyes of God. How many times do we read in scripture, “They did evil in the eyes of God”? Why do we do it? Because we fail to put God first. It’s simple, but it’s also so very hard for us. In our carnal nature, we like to do what is contrary, I think we like to be bad. It’s self-satisfying…. mmmm, notice that word “self”? There lies the problem. We focus on our selves.

So poor Samson, gives in and of course it spells disaster for him. He loses his strength, he loses his sight, he is forced to do slave labor. The once great Samson, is now doing the work of a slave. How humbling can you get. Again, we see in the larger picture a snapshot of Israel in later years during the exile. They have been humiliated just as Samson has been. Having your head shaved was the mark of a person taken into exile. Lamentations 5:13 cries that in exile “young men are compelled to grind.” Things that have happened to Samson. And now in his blindness, Samson can avoid distractions around him, so that the focus can be put back on God.

I wonder how Samson must have cried out to God during that time of forced labor, walking around a grinding mill hour after hour.

But like the Israelites who were not abandoned by God, Samson has his prayers answered and God returns his strength to him, one last time. In a story where there is so many secrets and riddles, Samson in his last effort, fools the Philistines by pretending to be so weak that he needs to lean on the pillars and instead, brings down the house (so to speak) and defeats the Philistines, even at the cost of his own life.

The story of Samson shows Israel and us what it means to be so prideful and so full of yourself that you think you can do things in your own strength. As Proverb 16:18 says, “pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall.” We must learn that our strength comes not from our selves – no matter how great or wonderful or powerful or mighty we might be, no our strength come from the Lord. The sooner we learn that, the better it will be.

Amen.

PK

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