When the Gazites were told,
"Samson has come here!" they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him
all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, "In
the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him." (Judges 16:2)
They weren’t looking to arrest or restrain him. This
was not “Due Process”, but destruction. They knew he was in the house with
the harlot and decided, “We’ll just wait him out. In the morning we’ll take
him.”
How many soldiers do you think were waiting? The last
time the Philistines tangled with this guy, he picked up a piece of a donkey
skull and killed a thousand of them with it (Judges 15:15). Do you think
that they sent one or two soldiers? Gaza was a massive city and could have
supplied multiple thousands of “Samson haters” for this task. They are
stalking him while he is snoring. This is a pattern in Samson’s life.
While he is sleeping, his enemy is waiting to kill him.
According to Judges 16:3, he arose to leave at
midnight, which means he knew they had been waiting for him. You don’t get
up at midnight and walk home. It’s a great deal harder to walk forty miles
in the dark than it is in the daylight.
…he arose at midnight, took
hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts,
pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried
them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
(Judges 16:3 with emphasis)
Interesting. That hill is no less than ten miles away.
So, here is the scenario: Samson saunters over and tries the city gate.
It’s locked, so what does he do? Rip the gate open? No, he doesn’t rip the
gate open, he rips the gate out, posts, bar, and all.
When driving in the woods you will often come across a
padlocked steel gate blocking your road. (A very familiar sight to those
living in the Pacific Northwest) Some without respect for private property
get out what is called a “whip chain”, clip it to the lock and snap it off
the gate. Others pull out their bolt cutters and cut the padlock off. What
no one does is grab it, lift the concrete, the bar and the lock out of the
ground and “toodle” on up the road ten miles where they toss it aside.
This is the kind of power Samson wielded. This was
perhaps a 500+ pound gate. Why did he carry it ten miles? Why didn’t he just
throw it to the side, and keep on walking? He was making a point! He was
telling them, “You can’t stop me. You want your gate? You’re going to have
to send a team of mules and horses to drag it back. I’m going to help you
remember that Samson was here. Don’t mess with Samson!”
Now, I cannot help but relate this spiritually to the
church, for it was our Lord Jesus who said:
I will build My church, and
the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
(Matthew 16:18)
In the name of Jesus Christ, when the enemy comes
against us, I want you to know we have spiritual power equal or greater to
that which Samson only had physically. We can walk up to those gates and we
can rip them out of the ground. Amen!
STORY #3—DELILAH
Delilah; a woman desperately trying to kill a man who
has the worst case of blind love ever recorded.
Judges 16:4 says …he loved a woman in the Valley of
Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Loved? What was love to Samson? He had
lusted after a woman in Timnah. He had done the same in Gaza. But had he
ever loved before? Well, the Bible says it was “love” this time, the “Head
over Heels” kind, and guess who is waiting and watching? The enemy.
This whole time, his enemy has been plotting against
him. They aren’t just sitting back letting him damage them. No, we will
find that they are following Samson around, looking for his weakness and
plotting against him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t think that your
enemy is just sitting around watching, saying, “Oh well, someday they will
get tired.” No. He is pacing…anxious…and angry. He is not apathetic!
…the LORD said to Satan, "From
where do you come?" So Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and
fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it." (Job 1:7)
And the Lord said, "Simon,
Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
(Luke 22:31)
If Jesus said that to you, would it make you a bit
nervous? This is probably why it was that same Peter who wrote…
Be sober, be vigilant; because
your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the
same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
(1 Peter 5:8-9 with emphasis)
Back to Delilah…Was she a Philistine? The Valley of
Sorek started in Israel and continued down the coastline until it was well
into the land of the Philistines. So, she might have been a Philistine, she
might not have been a Philistine. We don’t know. We do know that she has a
name, “Delilah”, which translated means “Languishing” or “One who makes
weak”. This, she lived up to.
And the lords of the
Philistines came up to her and said to her, "Entice him, and find out where
his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may
bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred
pieces of silver." (Judges 16:5)
Now if you read Judges 14 in its entirety this should
sound familiar. The word “entice” is the exact word used in Judges 14:15,
when the Philistines were trying to solve Samson’s wedding riddle. The word
means, “to manipulate”. Manipulate him, and find out where his great
strength lies. The payoff would’ve been rather large. There were five
lords of the Philistines (Joshua 13:3, Judges 3:3) and each one was donating
1,100 pieces of silver, which would equate to roughly 600 pounds of silver
or $100,000 U.S. dollars!
The enemies of Samson come to Delilah and strike a
deal. “We know the man has a weakness with women, a chink in his armor. We
can’t get to him, but you can! We’ll pay you.”
This request reveals that Samson was not an enormous
physical specimen. He wasn’t a big Atlas type of man, because they can’t
grasp how he is able to do such great feats of strength. In other words you
wouldn’t see Samson walking down the road in his “T top” flexing his “Pecs”.
He looked like an average “Joe”. In fact, the Philistines were so sure his
strength was magical that they try every ridiculous method that Delilah
gives them.
So Delilah said to Samson,
"Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be
bound to afflict you." (Judges 16:6)
Was that an echo? She nearly repeats what the lords
said to her. She’s not going to miss 600 pounds of silver on a
technicality. “Listen man, five guys said they want to inflict you. How can
we do that?” With everything against Delilah, we must at least admit that
she is honest and bold. Yet somehow, Samson is blind to her danger and
gives a mocking response.
“If they bind me
with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak,
and be like any other man."…(Judges 16:7 with emphasis)
Notice he doesn’t even consider that she might do it.
Why? Well, because he “loves” her! Somehow, he misses the fact that she is
dangerous. He should have said, “None of your business, woman.” But he
didn’t. Instead he lies to her. So now our deliverer is not only immoral,
selfish, and lustful, but also a liar.
So the lords of the
Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and
she bound him with them. (Judges 16:8 with emphasis)
Do you see what is happening here? She’s binding the
strings, but the lords are “pulling them”. It was their plan, it was their
strings, and it was their Delilah.
