Judges 16:15-21 Samson's Spiritual Decline August 27, 2023

Judges 16 Verses 15 to 21 Samson’s Spiritual Decline August 27, 2023

Class Presentation Notes AAAA

Background Scriptures:

Judges 14 to 16 (not printed to save paper)

2 Corinthians 6:14 (NASB) 14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NASB) 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 10:11-12 (NASB) 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

Main Idea: Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

Study Aim: To understand that when we play around with sin, we will not lose our salvation, but we will lose our spiritual effectiveness and spiritual power.

Create Interest:

· The great flaw of Samson was illicit sex and womanizing, the giving in to unbridled lust and passion. It was his carnal, fleshly desires that aroused the sinful affair with Delilah. Delilah and Samson lived close to one another, for Samson’s hometown Zorah bordered the valley of Sorek where Delilah lived (v. 4).

· It is not stated that Delilah was a Philistine, but she probably was in light of her dealings with the Philistine leaders. The point to see is Samson’s intense love and passion for Delilah. It was this that drove him back to her time and time again, that made him ignore the clear commandment of God against illicit sex. Unbridled lust and passion twisted his mind to ignore God’s holy commandment and to justify his sinful misbehavior.[1]

· Samson had enjoyed the thrill of victory by escaping the Philistines and carrying away the city gates up the hill before Hebron miles away. Now he was about to experience for the first time the agony of defeat. We are about to enter one of the most famous stories of the Bible. A story with a blend of sex, love, violence, deception, and tragedy.

· The tragedy we find is not unique because Christians today are losing their spiritual strength for the same reasons that we find in this chapter[2]

Lesson in Historical Context:

· Samson (Sămʹ son) personal name meaning “of the sun.” Last of the major judges over Israel about 1100 b.c. (Judg. 13:1–16:31). The son of Manoah of the tribe of Dan, Samson was a legendary hero who frequently did battle against the Philistines, who at that time “were ruling over Israel” (14:4 HCSB).

· Before his conception, Samson was dedicated by his parents to be a lifelong Nazirite (13:3–7), a person especially devoted or consecrated. Part of the vow included letting the hair grow and abstaining from wine and strong drink. Samson’s legendary strength did not come from his long hair. Rather, it came through the “Spirit of the Lord” who would take control of him to enable him to perform amazing feats of physical strength (14:6, 19; 15:14; cp. 16:28–29).

o Although a Nazirite, Samson did not live a devoted life. More frequently, he was careless in his vow.

o He secretly disobeyed the prohibition of approaching a dead body (14:8–9) and had immoral relations with a Gaza harlot (16:1) and with Delilah (16:4–20).

· Samson is portrayed as a headstrong young man with little or no self-control. None of his exploits show him as a religious enthusiast.

· In fact, every major crisis in his life resulting in clashes against the Philistines was brought on by his relationships with Philistine women.

· Samson’s going to a prostitute is once again indicative of his lack of regard for God’s law. Moreover, he went to Gaza, a Philistine city, which required his traveling through the length of Philistia. This certainly speaks to intent. This is not a slip-up, a case of falling into sin. This is a deliberate rebellious act on Samson’s part.

· The feat in 16:3 is impressive, a truly miraculous exploit. City gates were not light objects.

o `Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron. [3]

§ For cities like Gaza, they were typically two stories high, and their heavy posts were set in firm sockets. To haul this gate for some considerable distance to the hill opposite Hebron multiplies the magnitude of the act.

· But the feat is completely self-serving. Not that Samson should not have acted to save himself, but it is precisely this: Samson onlyacted to save himself. He has not delivered oneIsraelite from the hands of the oppressors, the Philistines. The feat is unnecessary—at least carrying the gate any distance. Simply breaking down the gate would have been sufficient.

· Samson’s fascination with Delilah finally brought his downfall. The lords of the Philistines offered her 1,100 pieces of silver from each of them to find out the source of Samson’s strength.

o In her first three attempts, Samson gave her false answers. However, he did not seem to equate the Philistines binding him each time with betrayal by Delilah. Finally, she coaxed the truth from him, and Samson was captured.

· When Delilah began to probe for the secret of his strength, Samson should have been aware of his danger and, like Joseph (Gen. 39:12; 2 Tim. 2:22), fled as fast as possible. But passion had gripped him, sin had anesthetized him, and he was unable to act rationally. Anybody could have told him that Delilah was making a fool out of him, but Samson would have believed no one.

· It’s unlikely that the Philistines who hid in her chamber revealed themselves each time Samson escaped his bonds, because then he would have known that Delilah had set a trap for him. Her cry “The Philistines are upon you!” was the signal for the spies to be alert; but when they saw that Samson was free, they remained in hiding. Each of Samson’s lies involved Delilah using some kind of bonds on him, but the Philistines should have known that he could not be bound (Jdg. 15:13).

· Delilah had to keep working on Samson or she would have lost the money and perhaps her life. After all, look at what the Philistines did to Samson’s first wife! If Samson had stopped visiting Delilah, he would have kept his hair and his power, but he kept going back, and each time she implored him to reveal his secret. Samson didn’t know his own heart.

o He thought he possessed enough moral strength to say no to the temptress, but he was wrong.[4]

Thought to Soak on before moving on

· At this point, a word is in order concerning the myth of Samson’s size. Samson is most commonly pictured as a hulk, a mammoth of incredible size and strength. While there is obviously in the biblical text a satirical characterization of the Philistines as ignorant, culturally challenged morons, they cannot be so stupid as to not recognize the obvious.

o If Samson were a Goliath-type behemoth, then obviously the secret to his strength would be in the size of his muscles! So, the Philistines would be foolish to keep trying to overcome him (cf. the experience at Lehi).

o The Philistine rulers would be even dumber to pay such a price for the obvious, and Delilah would be the mother of all dummies if Samson were a man of giant size.

· But Samson must have been a relatively ordinary-looking man in size and weight. His strength is not even in his long, seven-braided hair. Therefore, his strength is not in the obvious; it is in Yahweh, who is working through his special, Yahweh-called, Nazirite status.

o Was he a little guy who did extraordinary things?

§ Maybe so, but I am more inclined to assume that his “natural” abilities and God’s supernatural compulsion worked together. Either way, surrendering the symbol of his commitment to God meant losing God’s involvement with him.[5]

· Four attempts to subdue Samson are noted in Scripture in which Delilah unleashed a verbal attack on Samson in order to subdue him and receive her payment.[6]

o We begin our focus on the fourth attempt by Delilah.

Bible Study:

Judges 16:15-16 (NASB) 15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is." 16 It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death.

· The fourth attempt. 16:15–16The narrative slows to a snail’s pace as the climax of the drama approaches. After three failed attempts at discovering the secrets of Samson’s strength, Delilah adopts the blackmailing tactic of his Timnite wife in 14:16–17. She asserts that his love for her cannot be genuine if he is not fully committed to her and then adds a double accusation of deception. In all these statements intimacy is the key. There is no love if there is no sharing of the innermost secrets of the heart. This had been the issue regarding the riddle of the wedding, and this is the issue regarding the riddle of Samson’s strength. Although the narrator omits any reference to Delilah’s weeping, like her Timnite predecessor Delilah nags and torments Samson “to death.” The reference to death is ominous.[7]

· We are not told whether Samson was aware of the danger he was in, but when a man’s hormones rule his life his brain becomes disengaged. Leon Wood comments that ‘one cannot help but wonder at the unbelievable credulity and stupidity of Samson in not recognizing the true intent of the woman.’ Delilah did not give up, nagging him ‘until his soul was annoyed to death” (v. 16).[8]

· This notice calls to mind a previous episode in which another foreign woman badgered Samson until he finally told her another secret—even the same verb (hesiqa) is used—and thus signals that a similar incident is about to occur.

o It is clear that in this case the impact would be much worse for Samson, because the narrator comments that “he was tired to death” (lit. his life was shortened to die). The reference to death recalls Samson’s mother’s prophetic words about Samson’s Nazirite vow (13:7). “mother’s womb” (niv: birth) again recalls his mother’s prophetic word about his death.[9]

Judges 16:17-18 (NASB) 17 So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, "A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any otherman." 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.

· The two sayings, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ and ‘A continual dripping wears away the stone’, may both be appropriate to this story. Annoyed to death (16; our colloquial ‘bored to death’ is not an inaccurate rendering of the Hebrew) with her insistency, Samson at length capitulated and she knew that he had spoken the truth.

· The Nazirite vow is delineated in Numbers 6:1–21and contains three stipulations:

o The Nazirite was to abstain from all products of the vine.

o His hair was to be left uncut during the period of his vow.

o He was not to defile himself by contact with a dead body.

§ Any breach of these stipulations nullified the period of consecration that had been covered and a fresh start had to be made. It is clear from the Samson stories that he concerned himself only with the regulation concerning his hair.

§ He is often found in contact with the dead, and that not merely accidentally (cf. 14:8, 9); and his presence at the carousal of 14:10, 17 hardly suggests abstinence from strong drink. The regulations of Numbers 6 also indicate that the Nazirite vow was personally undertaken and was for a limited period only, to be followed by well-defined rites.

§ Samson’s vow was not voluntary and it was for the whole of his life (7), so his Nazirite state must be set in a special category, perhaps paralleled by Samuel who, in a Qumran text (4Q Sam.a; cf. 1 Sam. 1:22), is described as ‘a Nazirite forever all the days of his life’.[10]

Thoughts to Soak On:

· The Nazirite vow was at last revealed. Mention has already been made that, of the three main provisions of such a vow, Samson had observed but one (see note on 13:5). He had often been in contact with the dead; he can hardly have kept himself from strong drink; but his hair still remained unshorn. In defense of Samson at this point, it may be that in the confused political situation and the generally low moral and spiritual tone of the age, some of the provisions of the Nazirite vow had been forgotten whilst this popular feature of the uncut hair was retained.

o The hair itself was not the source of Samson’s unique strength. This lay in his separation to the Lord, of which the unshorn locks were the symbol.

o However, there remains the problem that this separation appears as a merely ceremonial concept, with little, if any, moral significance[11]

· Vs. 18: We have here the fatal consequences of Samson’s folly in betraying his own strength; he soon paid dearly for it. A whore is a deep ditch; he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. In that pit Samson sank.

· Observe, 1. What care Delilah took to make sure of the money for herself. She now perceived, by the manner of his speaking, that he had told her all his heart, and the lords of the Philistines that hired her to do this base thing are sent for; but they must be sure to bring the money in their hands.

o The wages of unrighteousness are accordingly produced, unknown to Samson. It would have grieved one’s heart to have seen one of the bravest men then in the world sold and bought, as a sheep for the slaughter; how does this instance sully all the glory of man, and forbid the strong man ever to boast of his strength!

· Observe, 2. What course she took to deliver him up to them according to the bargain. Many in the world would, for the hundredth part of what was here given Delilah, sell those that they pretend the greatest respect for. Trust not in a friend then, put no confidence in a guide.[12]

Judges 16:19-20 (NASB) 19 She made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him. 20 She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

· To see the Nazarite who had slain the young lion (14:6), slain Philistines (14:19; 15:15), and carried away the gates of Gaza (16:3), asleep upon the knees of a godless woman to whom he had divulged the secret of his strength was a scene of abject weakness that could only degenerate still further. She seized the moment and “called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head” (v. 19). She was not simply content for the man to cut off his locks, but she insisted that he was shaved so that every appearance of his Nazariteship was removed.

· As a Philistine, she would have had no appreciation of the fact that his strength was not really in his long hair, as such, but in his devotion and separation to the Lord, of which the long hair was a sign.

o It was not Delilah therefore that had deprived him of his strength but he brought himself to that position by breaking his vow.

· From that point onwards, “she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him” (v. 19). It is unlikely that the word “afflict” is meant to convey the meaning that she physically abused him in any way, because, after all, he was still asleep on her lap at the time.

o It is the same word as used in v. 5 and probably means that she was in a position to demean and subdue him now that he had been deprived of his strength.

o On the three previous occasions when she had said, “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson”, he had broken his bonds but this time it was different. The moment he awoke, he must have realized that all was not well, but he still went through the motions as normal: “I will go out as at other times before and shake myself” (v. 20).

o The word “shake” has the thought of “the rustling of the mane that accompanies a lion’s roar”. It conjures up a picture of fearsome strength and power.

§ Sadly, Samson’s breaking of his vow had left him powerless, and he no longer possessed the potential to deliver Israel. Nevertheless, like many of the Lord’s people since, he continued to give the outward impression that he could still do all the things he had done previously.

§ He had sunk so low that he failed to discern that “the Lord was departed from him” (v. 20). He had no appreciation of the seriousness of his actions in breaking all three aspects of his Nazarite vow and therefore he had no sense of how the Lord felt about it.

· Separation unto the Lord was a serious business and yet he had treated it as a matter of sport in Timnath and now in the valley of Sorek.

o Although it gave the Lord no pleasure to do so, He had reached the point with Samson where His Spirit could no longer come “mightily upon him” as in the past.[13]

Judges 16:21 (NASB) 21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

· The treatment Samson received was not unique to him. Ancient Akkadian texts suggest that it was a common practice for conquered warriors to be blinded and shackled so that they could not escape.

· gouged out his eyes. The most cowardly and the most cruel of ancient customs, and sorry we are to add, the most common. There are not many instances in scripture history (2 Kings 25:7; Num. 16:14), but it was very common in Eastern countries, especially when an enemy or rival was to be deprived of all power to do harm. Herodotus says, the Scythians put out the eyes of all their slaves. In many countries rivals to the throne had their eyes put out. In Persia, it is not uncommon for the king to punish a rebellions district by exacting so many pounds of eyes, and the executioners go and scoop out the eyes of those they met till they have the weight required. Sometimes the eyes were pulled or cut out; sometimes a red-hot iron was drawn before them. At other times the pupils were pierced, or destroyed, or they were taken out whole with the point of a dagger and carried to the king in a basin. In some cases, when unskillful hands are employed, the mutilation is so great that the victim dies [Burden]. Here, the phrase put out means bored out.[14]

· Then they were forced to grind grain in the prison. This was particularly humiliating for warriors, since grinding was normally the responsibility of women and slaves. Thus, Samson had traded:

o the Lord’s power for his own pleasure,

o a life of significance for a moment of satisfaction, and

o the Lord for Delilah.

§ His bargain, however, brought him only degradation and, finally, death (Rom. 6:23).[15]

· Poor Samson! We cannot say much about him by way of an example to believers. He is a beacon to us all, for he shows us that no strength of body can suffice to deliver from weakness of mind.

o Samson is also a prodigy. He is more a wonder as a believer than he is even as a man.

§ It is marvelous that a man could smite thousands of Philistines with no better weapon than the jawbone of a newly-killed ass, but it is more marvelous still that Samson should be a saint, ranked among those illustrious ones saved by faith, though such a sinner. Paul has put him among the worthies in the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews.

§ I look upon Samson’s case as a great wonder, put in Scripture for the encouragement of great sinners.

📷 If such a man as Samson, nevertheless, prevails by faith to enter the kingdom of heaven, so shall you and I.

Ø Though our characters may have been disfigured by many vices, and previously we may have committed a multitude of sins, if we can trust Christ to save us He will purge us with hyssop, and we shall be clean; and in our death we shall fall asleep in the arms of sovereign mercy to wake up in the likeness of Christ.[16]

Thoughts in closing:

· We give our sympathy to Samson, because in the midst of his days he has fallen overcome by treachery, because the cruelty of enemies has afflicted him. Yet, looking at the truth of things, the real cause of pity is deeper than any of these and different.

· A man who is still in living touch with God can suffer the saddest deprivations and retain a cheerful heart, unbroken courage and hope.

o Suppose that Samson, surprised by his enemies while he was about some worthy task, had been seized, deprived of his sight, bound with fetters of iron and consigned to prison. Should we then have had to pity him as we must when he was taken, a traitor to himself, the dupe of a deceiver, with the badge of his vow and the sense of his fidelity gone?

o We feel with Jeremiah in his affliction.

o We feel with John the Baptist confined in the prison into which Herod had cast him,

o With Paul in the Philippian dungeon and

o With Peter lying bound with chains in the castle of Jerusalem.

§ But we do not commiserate with each other; we admire and exult. Here are men who endure for the right.

§ And how pathetic the touch: “He did not know that the Lord had departed from him” (v. 20).

§ For a little time, he failed to realize the spiritual disaster he had brought on himself.[17]

· No doubt we soak on this concept…. this could happen to anyone who fails to allow God to lead him/her in their daily lives.

· If, like the rest of Scripture, the account of the twelfth judge’s downfall is God speaking to the reader, we have to ask what he was saying through it to its original readers. They were certainly meant to see themselves in it. The question would have been, where?

o Often in their history they must have been relieved to note that their ancestors in the days of Samson had been in very different circumstances from their own. They felt free therefore to wag their heads with sad disapproval over other people’s follies.

o But if Samson represented Israel, and if the corporate sins of the nation were focused in this individual, it was much harder to avoid the implications.

§ Israel’s dubious relations with a seductive neighboring community were rephrased as one man’s dubious relations with the seductive girl down the road, and in becoming personal the lesson became universal, and unavoidable.[18]

If Time Allows: Consider the following and discuss or soak on if alone.

· The more God blessed Samson, giving him strength to fight his foes, the more Samson grew confident of his own invulnerability; and the more he engaged in irresponsible behavior. In other words, Samson’s heart used God’s blessings as a reason to forget God.

· We now can begin to see how sin and grace function on two completely opposed bases.

o In grace, God takes even our weaknesses and failures and uses them for us,

o In sin, we take even His gifts and strengths and use them against Him. Our sinful hearts will find ways to use even God’s blessing to ruin our lives.

o Paul speaks of this in Romans 1 when in effect he says that the worst thing God can do to us is to give us our desires—success! The most successful people in the world tend to be the people that are the farthest from God. (not always true but more common than not)

§ Why? Just as Samson falsely inferred from God’s blessing: I can’t be defeated, so I can live as I like, so successful people falsely infer from God’s blessing: I got this because I was smart and savvy. I am self-sufficient![19]

Grace and peace to all who read and share this work

[1]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Judges, Ruth, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2001), 179. [2]Rod Mattoon, Treasures from Judges, Treasures from Scripture Series (Springfield, IL: Rod Mattoon, 2001), 267. [3] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Jdg 16:3. [4]Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Available, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1994), 122. [5]John Goldingay, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth for Everyone: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, Old Testament for Everyone (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press; Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2011), 141. [6]K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges, Ruth, ed. Terry Muck, Revised Edition., The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 400. [7]Daniel Isaac Block, Judges, Ruth, vol. 6, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 458–459. [8]Simon J Robinson, Opening up Judges, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2006), 93. [9]Cheryl A. Brown, “Judges,” in Joshua, Judges, Ruth, ed. W. Ward Gasque, Robert L. Hubbard Jr., and Robert K. Johnston, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012), 257. [10]Arthur E. Cundall and Leon Morris, Judges and Ruth: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1968), 151–152. [11]Arthur E. Cundall and Leon Morris, Judges and Ruth: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1968), 170–171. [12]Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume(Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 362. [13]S. Grant, C. T. Lacey, and J. M. Flaniga, Joshua, Judges and Ruth, ed. W. S. Stevely and D. E. West, What the Bible Teaches (John Ritchie, 2009), 426–427. [14]J. P. Millar, Judges, The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary (New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1892), 508. [15]W. A. Criswell et al., eds., Believer’s Study Bible, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), Jdg 16:21. [16]Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator: Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, vol. 2, The Biblical Illustrator (New York; Chicago; Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.), 224. [17]Gregory A. Lint, ed., Joshua–Ruth, The Complete Biblical Library: Study Bible (World Library Press, 1996), Jdg 16:4–21. [18]Michael Wilcock, The Message of Judges: Grace Abounding, ed. J. A. Motyer and Derek Tidball, The Bible Speaks Today (England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 147–148. [19]Timothy Keller, Judges for You, God’s Word for You (Purcellville, VA: The Good Book Company, 2013), 152.