Read Judges 16: 1-20
Samson and Delilah; who has not heard of the lovers? "Delilah" means the vine of grapes. (Aren't grapes one of the things Samson was not suppose to eat?) She was bribed by the Philistine lords with 1100 pieces of silver to find out the secret of his strength.
First he told her that if she bound him with 7 new cords that hadn't been dried. (A Nazarite can't eat new grapes or dried.) But that didn't work. Next he told her to bind him with new ropes that have never been occupied. (A Nazarite can't eat anything made of the vine tree, from the inside of the unripe or new grape to the outside peel.) He broke these off like threads. She's still whinning... so he tells her to weave the 7 locks of his head with the web. (If a Nazarite accidentally come into contact with a dead person he has to shave his head on the 7th day.) Is Samson trying to give her subtle hints? When this didn't work she resorted to pure female manipulation: "How can you say you love me...when you haven't told me where your great strength lies?" She nagged him and nagged him till she finally wore him down and he told her. He could have told her about breaking any law of the Nazarite, but he chose the one about the hair. In the Nazarite laws (Numbers 6:7) it says, "that the consecration of his God is upon his head." Christ is our head and we are the body.
When Delilah saw that Samson had told her all his heart, she sent for the Philistine lords. She made him sleep in her lap and had his hair cut. They tormented him and watched as his strength left him. I wonder what that looked like? "Tormented" in the Hebrew means "to brow-beat". So they spoke curses over him. Words are powerful. Then she woke him up telling him that the Philistines were upon him. He got up like always and didn't even realize his strength had left him. He had gotten so caloused to the presence of God that he didn't recognize he had lost it.
Samson flirted with sin till he finally got swept away by it. How many times do we stay in situations where we are being whittled down by the world or Satan and just continue to stay there thinking we can be strong. Samson's pride blinded him to Delilah's deception. They say, "Sin will take you further than you meant to go, keep you longer than you meant to stay, and cost you more than you meant to pay." How true. In the end his discernment was so weak, he didn't even know God had left him.
Lord, show us where we are tempting evil. Give us a glimpse of your holiness to bring us back to the light. Let us be quick to turn and repent. We love you.
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