When the family decided to go down that logging road, they had no idea that the road was impassable. Had they known about it, I doubt they would have taken that path. It was supposed be a short cut, but only led them to the heartbreaking tragic outcome.
Samson’s life was like that. He kept on taking the paths that led him astray from God and ultimately destroyed his promising life.
This morning we will consider Samson’s life from Judges 16. As we go through this chapter I would like you to make a mental note on what happened when Samson went down the wrong paths.
1. What happened when Samson took the wrong path?
We read in 16:1, “One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute.” Just like we saw Samson going from his hometown Zorah to Timnah about five miles away in chapter 14, this time we see him going from Zorah to Gaza. Timnah was located on the outskirt of Philistia, but Gaza was in the heart of Philistia. We are talking about over 30 some miles of traveling through the heart of Philistia to get to Gaza. What was Samson doing in Gaza? Verse 1-2 says that he saw a prostitute and he went into spend the night with her.
As we saw in chapter 14, this was Samson’s fundamental flaw; taking the wrong path! Instead of taking the paths that would lead him to worship God, he kept on walking down the paths where he would be tempted to abandon his faith in God, where he would ultimately be destroyed.
Somehow the people of Gaza knew that Samson was in their town. So, they waited till the dawn to kill him thinking that he would be sound asleep then. But, Samson got up in the middle of the night and ripped the doors of the whole city gate along its two posts out of the ground and the wall. The doors were made of iron or bronze. It must weigh tons. He carried the whole thing for about 38 some miles in elevation of some 2000 feet towards Hebron, a city in Judah.
What Samson did was a national humiliation for the Philistines. They were outrage; all they wanted to do with Samson was to tie him up, to subdue him and to humiliate him.
Some time had passed since this last feat of taking the city gate from Gaza. Verse 4 states that Samson fell in love with woman in the Valley of Sorek; her name was Delilah. Most likely she was not an Israelite, but a Philistine, just like all the women he had fall for.
Last time the Philistines threatened Samson’s wife from Timnah to act on behalf of them. But, this time around instead of using threats, they bribed Delilah to work for them.
They asked her 16:5, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overcome him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.” Later in chapter 17:10, we find that 10 shekels of silver was offered as a year’s wage. Let say someone earns 30,000 dollars a year; 30,000 dollars time 110 is 3.3 million dollars. Wow, for 3.3 million dollars, do you think Delilah would betray her lover?
Timnah was motivated to betray Samson because she feared for her life and her family; Delilah too was highly motivated to betray Samson; she aggressively pressured Samson to spill the beans. For Delilah, it was all for money.
Talking about dysfunctional relationship! Why would he get into relationship with a woman who would betray him for money? Why did he get into relationship with her when he didn’t even trust her?
Can Delilah be any more obvious with her intention when she demanded Samson in verse 6? “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” At this point, Samson must have remembered how his Philistine wife from Timnah deceived and betrayed him when she prodded him for the answer to the riddle.
Well, this time around Samson was determined and confident that he wasn’t going to tell her the secret of his strength; instead of telling her straight up that he wasn’t going to tell her, he played a game with her.
He told a made up story about how being tied up by seven fresh and moist thongs used for bowstring or tent cord would make him powerless. Delilah herself bound him with the seven fresh and moist thongs given by the Philistine rulers. Then, she put on her act, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He snapped them like strings near flame.
In verse 10, Delilah accused him of making a fool of her and lying to her. And, she pressured him again, “Come now, tell me how you can be tied.” Samson made up a story about using new robes to bind him. She tied him with the new robes that had never been used, but this didn’t make him weak.
For the third time, she repeated her complain and demanded an answer from him in verse 13, “Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.” Samson again resisted Delilah’s prodding, but came very close to disclosing the secret of his strength. He made up a story that if his seven braids of his head were to be woven into the fabric and pin down, he would lose his strength. Again, this didn’t work.
Just like Samson’s Philistine wife of Timnah did, Delilah questioned Samson’s love for her in verse 15. “How can you say, ‘I love you,” when you won’t confide in me?” Samson kept his secret from Delilah, but Delilah didn’t give up. 3.3 million dollars was at stake for her. Verse 16 says “With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.”
Samson had overcome any number of Philistines or wild beasts, but he couldn’t overcome Delilah’s nagging. He could have broken off the relationship with Delilah, but instead he allowed himself be broken by her.
He said to her in Verse 17, “No razor has ever been used on my head… because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as week as any other man.”
Now if you remember, Samson broke thus far two of his Nazirite rules. He broke one rule, not to touch anything or anyone dead. And, he broke the second rule, not to consume any wine even grapes. He didn’t break the third rule, not to cut his hair.
God was ever patient with Samson. Even though Samson broke two of his vows, God didn’t take away the strength from Samson. So, as long as Samson was to honor this last vow, God was going to work with him patiently. But, Samson jeopardized this.
She called in the rulers of the Philistines one more time ensuring them Samson had finally spilled the truth. She got him to sleep on her lap. Then, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair.
Just like the first three times, she woke Samson up from his sleep as though she was alarming him from harm, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
Now, here is truly a sad moment. Verse 20 tells us that when Samson woke from his sleep, he thought to himself, “I’ll go as before and shake myself free...” but he did not know that the LORD had left him.”
Samson, a man of high calling, a man of destiny to be a deliverer for Israel from the Philistines, did not know when the LORD had left him. He got up to face the Philistines just like other times feeling confident in his strength to overcome them. But, he couldn’t overcome them. The Lord was not with him. And, God’s strength was not available to him any more. God took his hand of protection off from Samson. Finally, his sinful way of life caught up with him.
The result was tragic. Verse 21 described what happened to powerless Samson. The Philistines quickly seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. There, binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison.
Samson lived his life careless; he went after whatever pleased his eyes regardless of what God’s will was for him. Samson used his feet to travel far in order to please his desire inflamed by his sight. He was now blinded. His feet that led him to the wrong paths were now shackled by a heavy metal. To Gaza, a place where he took out the city gate with mighty force, he now returned not as a deliverer for Israel, but as a prisoner. There, he was hooked on to the grinding stone like a donkey, going around and around grinding with no purpose and future.
The story doesn’t end here. Verse 22 says, “But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.” This gives us the readers a clue that the story of Samson was not finished yet.
From verse 23-30, we learn what happened to Samson after being blinded, shackled, and forced into a meaningless labor. Verse 23 tells us that the Philistines assembled to honor their god Dagon. Dagon was a god of grain. They gloried in having captured Samson, “Our god had delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.” They praise their god Dagon, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.” Samson, once thought to have defeated Dagon when he torched the harvest fields, was brought into their temple for their entertainment.
Having gotten used to living now without sight but hearing, he figured out that he was about in the middle of the temple. He asked the servant who held his hand to put him where he could touch the main supporting pillars so he could rest. There, he prayed to the LORD in verse 28, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me, O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Samson referred God as Sovereign LORD. This title affirms God as having the universal authority. To this God who has the universal authority, Samson prayed; he asked him to remember him and to give him the last strength to have his revenge on the Philistines. Even at this moment, Samson was still out for himself. He asked God to remember him and to give him strength in order to revenge for his two eyes instead of desiring to glorify God or to deliver Israel. In spite of Samson’s self-absorbed prayer, God granted him the power to break apart two of the supporting pillars. The result was in his single act, he killed all the rulers and three thousand Philistines gathered to honor their pagan god Dagon.
With this single act granted to Samson by God, God asserted that there is no other God besides him.
2. Does the path you are on lead you to worship God or abandon God for substitutes?
Now, I will spend the rest of our time together to see how the story of Samson from chapter 16 applies to us.
Proverbs 5:21 says, “For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths.” It is critical to evaluate the paths we are on.
When God examines all your paths, where do your paths lead you to? There are paths that lead us to closer intimacy to God. Then, there are paths that lead us away from God. Are you on the path that leads to God or away from God?
Proverbs 5:8 says, “Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your strength to others and your years to one who is cruel.” This verse is talking about the need for a young man to keep his life pure from sexual immorality. How can he make sure his walk is pure? He does it by not directing his foot steps towards a path that would lead him to a house of adulteress.
For Samson, he lost the battle way before he got to Gaza where the prostitutes abound. He lost the spiritual battle when he left his home town of Zorah to take the path led to Gaza. He lost his battle when he left his home and took the path that led him to the Valley of Sorek where Delilah lived.
Proverbs 7 also captures this picture of young man going to the wrong direction. 7:6-9 says, “At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.” And, verse 22-23 comments about the fate of this young man who lacked judgment. “All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.”
And, verse 27 says, “Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.”
This Proverb 7 opens with an admonishment with a fatherly advice for his child. Proverbs 7:1-5 reads, “My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call understanding your kinsman; they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.”
Here is another similar passage. Psalm 119:9 asks this question. “How can a young man keep his way pure? And, it answers, “By living according to your word.”
In our time, men or women, young or old, single or married, laypeople or ministers, we are all vulnerable to sexual temptations. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Samson took the wrong path and he paid with his eyes, with shackles on his ankles, and with meaningless labor.
3. Will this person help me to worship God or distract me from worshiping God?
Another thing we can learn from Samson’s life is this. How do you avoid getting married to a spouse who would betray you without thinking twice? Well, the key is you look for a person of noble character. Proverbs 12:4 says, “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.” Although this is about a wife of noble character, it applies to men as well.
Now, how do you know someone possesses noble character? You see someone’s character when you see how they conduct their relationship with others, foremost with God and with people.
You look at the paths they are on. Are they on the paths that lead them to worship God or fall away from God? If you see a person consistently taking the path to worship God, you know that person honors God and his Word. A person who takes the path to worship God opens self to character transformation. Another word, a person who walks closely with Jesus becomes like Jesus. There is no one of greater noble character than Jesus. You want someone who is becoming more like Jesus everyday in their character. People like this walk the paths that lead them to worship God.
Well, if finding a person of noble character is contingent upon someone taking the path that leads them to worship God, doesn’t it make sense for you to take the path to worship God as well?
When the Lord brings you into a season to look for a future mate, you ask two questions.
First, Am I becoming a man or a woman of noble character? Am I choosing the path that leads me to worship God?
Second, is this person a man or a woman of noble character? Does this person have the history of choosing the right path to walk?
May God help you become a man and a woman of noble character who consistently take the paths to worship God!
May God help you never marry someone who would betray you like Delilah, but leads you to a person of noble character!
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim
