seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Judges 16:1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The 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.”
3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
Here's the link to the commentary.Please tell me where your great strength lies: The source of Samson’s strength was not obvious. This means that he probably was not a large, heavily muscled man like a modern-day bodybuilder. He may have looked small and skinny, and unlikely to have such strength.
And his strength left him: There was nothing magical in Samson’s hair. We might also say that Samson began breaking his Nazirite vow before this. Yet there came a time when Samson finally had to reckon with his rejection of God’s mercy.
OK... let me clear up something. In the first verse of this chapter, Samson laid with a prostitute. That prostitute was not Delilah. She was just the beginning of the doom that was to fall on Samson. I don't know how many Westerns have this theme... a beautiful barfly coaxing the location of the rich gold mine or the source of a cool stream that feeds his land. If the man wasn't in a bar in the first place... none of that would have happened.
Samson was a Nazarite. His mom was very careful while she was carrying him and raising him. His mom kept the diet straight and the grooming perfected. She taught him how to follow the rules....
And then he started to lust after women. He tried to get married. But that didn't work... the woman he was lusting after wound up with the best man... and instead of starting out a new marriage... he had to kill a thousand men.
Now he's soothing the "need" in whorehouses. So... they sent him a good-looking whore to get his secrets.
He held out for a while. He toyed with her... telling her lies about the source of his strength. I bet he would have eaten a big pork sandwich [pork was forbidden for him] if she would have shown her boob. Know what I mean?
The commentary says he was a little guy... not the Incredible Hulk. That makes this even more interesting.
But when she got his secret... and shaved his head.... he couldn't defend himself.... and the traveling sideshow known as "Samson" had his eyes gouged out and he was put to work like a mule... tugging the grinding stone at the mill.
Oh Samson... if only you had stuck to the rules and talked to God about finding a wife instead of whoring around.
I've known a couple whoremongers. I've become aware of a few whoremongers lately on the news. Remember Marion Barry? There is another one that has filled the news with whoremongering... but he will go unnamed. God was on Samson's side until he became a whoremonger.
Is that what they mean when they warn boys "it'll make you go blind"?
Samson was a whoremonger.
