Judges 16:15 – 31“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!” Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death, Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.”
When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands. And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”
When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.” And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead.”
And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”
And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other, Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.”
Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life. Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.”
APPLICATION: This story needs no explanation. Samson, called of God and gifted beyond all other men with supernatural strength, weakens and finally tells Delilah his secret. Captured and blinded, Samson becomes a slave. But while the Philistines are mocking Samson, his hair is growing.
At this point, many of us might question God. “Look, Lord, this guy has really made a royal mess of his life! So what if his hair grows. Big deal.” But God is not through with Samson; even if Samson has failed in much of his calling, God wants to prove to the Philistines that their god Dagon is no god but a useless demon who cannot deliver his worshipers. When Samson is brought into the temple so that the Philistines can mock him, Samson prays what may be one of the few sincere prayers in his entire life. Samson begs the Lord for his strength to return for one last desperate act, and God agrees.
Why does Samson beg God for the privilege of dying with the Philistines? What else is Samson to do? Samson is blind, and he knows that he has shredded his Nazirite vows and has spoiled God’s plan for his life. But finally Samson is facing God and acknowledging God as the Source of his strength, perhaps for the first time in his entire life. God is giving Samson one more chance to do things right, and this time Samson humbly and sincerely asks for God’s help.
Is the story of Samson a total disaster? Much of this account grieves us; many of us have had gifted friends who have wasted their gifts. But the final act in this story is NOT a disaster! Belatedly perhaps, but for once in Samson’s life, he truly turns to God and God acts mightily. Ironically, the temple collapse kills more Philistines than Samson has killed during his lifetime. God has triumphed over the false idol of Dagon. Has Delilah has come to the temple to gloat, only to die in this disaster? We don’t know. But we do know that at this point in time, the name “Sorek” has been fulfilled. Worship of a false god has proven to be a fruitless tree.
PRAYER: Father God, some of us feel that we have messed up our lives beyond all fixing. But YOU are the God of second chances. Your Name is Redeemer and Savior. Please come into our hearts, redeem us and save us from ourselves. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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