The Other Wrong Woman
Notes
Transcript
Hook
Hook
I can resist everything but temptation. -Oscar Wilde
In this passage we see Samson continuing down the path toward complete failure. Lets take a look.
Book
Book
Episode #1 (1-3)
Samson goes to a lady of ill repute in Gaza. By the way Gaza is still not a great place to go. Still disputed land.
Doesn’t it seem that Samson spends more time with the enemy of God than with the people of God?
Here Samson does another feat of strength. However what is missing here is the declaration of God being with him. This seems to show that he has superhuman strength, seemingly under his own power.
This passage serves 2 purposes:
To establish that Samson has a problem with women and lust.
To establish that Samson thinks he is in control of his strength.
Episode #2
Delilah, is a woman who we know little about. However she seems to care more for her people than Samson.
Delilah uses her feminine wiles to try to convince Samson
Samson seems to play a game with her. Lying to her about the secret of his strength. You would think he would begin to question her reasoning. Like why would she want to know how to bind me… and yet, he doesn’t care.
Either he is stupid.
Overconfident.
or Blinded.
Trick one. New Bowstrings
Men in inner chambers. Delilah sure does have these Philistine men in her inner chambers a lot in this story.
Delilah pleads on the grounds of his truthfulness, “mocked me and told me lies.” Every time but the last.
Doesn’t Work
Trick two. New Ropes.
Doesn’t Work
Trick three. Woven Hair.
Notice here this is closer to the real answer. Or is it? He has repeatedly broken all the parts of the Nazarite Vow. What makes his hair so special?
“How can you say you love me?” Dangerous words from a dangerous lover.
Trick four. Cut hair.
She nags him day after day and wears him down until he was “Vexed to Death.”
He sure does fall asleep an awful lot. I think he may have had a problem.
She calls for a man to shave his head.
Then comes the saddest statement in the whole book. “But he did not know that the Lord had left him.”
They bound him and gouged out his eyes and he ground the mill in the prison of Gaza.
Then comes the glimmer of hope.
At the end of this episode you see the hair on his head start to grow back. This is not just the body doing what the body does, this is a symbol of hope. This is Samson realizing his failure. This is Samson renewing his vow. God is still faithful!
Look
Look
Be Self Aware
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations like Samson where we must have been
Stupid, overconfident, or blinded to land in those situations.
Like a dog that returns to his vomit
is a fool who repeats his folly.
This is a gross verse, but it paints the picture of what it looks like to God when we make the same mistakes over and over.
Be Smart: Avoid Temptation
On the TV show "Hee Haw," Doc Campbell is confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places. The doc replies, "Well then, stay out of them places!"
Satan knows our weaknesses, and likes to use them to catch us.
Samson’s was lust and pride. What is yours? Greed? Envy? Lust? Pride? Drunkenness?
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
No Provision! Do not let it have its way!
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Be Memorizing
The thing that makes men and rivers crooked is following the line of least resistance.
Put something in place to help against temptation
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Be Accountable
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.
-Thomas Paine
We must hold one another accountable. Samson has no one to keep him honest. He is a case study in how not to handle temptation.
Took
Took
So, as we go this week Remember to Be
Self Aware
Smart
Accountable
Resist Temptation! Don’t be like Samson.