July 26, 2021
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Reading along with us in Judges? Here’s today’s reading:
Judges 16 (NIV)
Samson and Delilah
1One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”.......Continue Reading
Judges 16
Samson reminds me a great deal of Gideon here. While his triumphs over the Philistines are great with the power that God gives him, his personal life seems quite a mess! Clearly Delilah does not feel the same about Samson as he does for her! Despite several OBVIOUS attempts to deliver him to the Philistines, he stays with her and I am not sure if this was out of misguided love or just old fashioned lust but either way Samson was way off God’s path for him and yet God in the end still was able to use him for His glory and purpose.
How evil was Delilah. No wonder no one names their daughter this name. And how could Samson not retaliate against her? She must have been quite the woman. Samson’s life was full of disobedience but in the end “He prays”. And God answers him. Great picture of it’s never too late for anyone. If He does this for Samson, God can save anybody!
Judges 16
Goes to show you, got to go where you don’t belong
We are strong as people in many ways. But I hope we don’t think our strength is because of our hair or anything else other than God himself.
What a sad tale of one with such potential ruined by lust and pride….common enemies amongst men. We must be careful not to think our strength comes from anyone but God, as Steve says above, because then we become flippant with the secret to our power and then pride leads to a fall. So in a case of fool me once shame on you, fool me three times, shame on me, Samson shares the secret of his strength with Delilah. And no more chilling words could be spoken than, “but he did not know that the Lord had left him….” And in this Samson learns that his strength was not about him, but about God’s presence with him, and once he valued the relationship of a woman more than his vow to God, God left him. This makes the promise that He will not leave us or forsake because of Jesus even more special.
And yet Samson’s brief moment of repentance is touching. “O Sovereign Lord, remember me”. It’s funny when I read it, I read it as a question…”Hey God, remember me?” It’s kind of fitting. Remember all you provided and promised…remember all the purposes you had for me that I now see that I have squandered????…fitting thoughts for a repentant heart. So now as his life is wasted, he does the best he can to fulfill God’s purpose for him and he brings great destruction on the Philistines. May we not meet a similar end, wasting ourselves on flesh, desire and pride and miss out on all God has for us……
28Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
I don’t think Samson was a smart man.
That was going to be one of my comments, “Samson is not the sharpest knife in the drawer!”
Of course, saying that, he was given God’s spirit of strength to fulfill His purpose for Israel, and He did call upon the Lord, in his last moments. Consider that if we were struck blind and enslaved….we may be misdirecting the blame, rather than calling on Him for justice.
Judges 10