Introduction and Scripture Reading

Judges 16, as we come to the last section in this particular section, beginning in chapter 3 at verse 7, continuing to chapter 16, verse 31, the largest section of the book, the various deliverers, the various saviors that God raised up, to deliver his people from the various oppressors that they had to deal with. And then, of course, we come to the last section tonight concerning Samson in Judges 16. Remember chapters 14 and 15, Samson was in Timnah. Here in chapter 16, he's in Gaza, which is the chief city of the Philistines.

So I'll just pick up reading in Judges 16 at verse 1. Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into her. 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. and Samson lay low till midnight.

Then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gate posts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. Afterward, it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 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 1,100 pieces of silver. So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.

And Samson said to her, if they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bow strings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson.

But he broke the bow strings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches a fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now please tell me what you may be bound with.

So he said to her, if they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. Therefore, Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread.

Delilah said to Samson, until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with. And he said to her, if you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom. So she wove it tightly with the baton of the loom and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson.

But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the baton and the web from the loom. Then she said to him, How can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies. And it came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death that

The Secret Revealed

he told her all his heart and said to her, no razor has ever come upon my head. For I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man. When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.

So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him and his strength left him. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson.

So he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters and he became a grinder in the prison.

However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, and to rejoice. And they said, our god has delivered into our hands Samson, our enemy. When the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead.

So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, call for Samson, that he may perform for us. So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, Let me feel the pillars which support the temple so that I can lean on them." Now the temple was full of men and women.

All the lords of the Philistines were there, about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. And Samson called to the Lord, saying, O Lord God, remember me, I pray. Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines from my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.

And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. And his brothers and all his father's household came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtael in the tomb of his father Manoah.

He had judged Israel 20 years. Amen.

Introduction

Well, in many respects, we have lost a good friend, as we read here in Judges chapter 16. As we've seen throughout this section, beginning in chapter 13 with the birth of Samson, and then 14 and 15 with him in Timnath, He is a larger-than-life character. He's a man of God. He was raised up by God.

As the book of Hebrews tells us, he walked by faith. He was a righteous man. Certainly, he wasn't a perfect man, as we've had cause to reflect in our study of Samson. But he certainly wasn't as imperfect as many would have us believe.

And as we consider that tonight in Judges 16, we will certainly see his sin, and we see tragedy. I mean, the fact that he gives his secret up to this woman Delilah, we see that the Spirit, or the Lord, departs from him. This is a tragic end that this brother has, but even in the midst of this, God uses it for good to bring to destruction even more Philistines. As it says in the text, he was able to bring more down in his death than even in his life.

So we'll look at chapter 16 under three considerations this evening. First, the removal of the city's gates in verses 1 to 3, the departure of the Lord in verses 4 to 21, and then the destruction of the enemies of the Lord in verses 22 to 31.

Removal of the City Gates

So let's look first at the removal of the city gates in chapter 16 verses 1 to 3.

The Lexical Argument

Verse 1 says, Now Samson went to Gaza, and saw a harlot there, and went into her. Now, it's pretty well assumed that that means he had sexual congress with her, or that he had relations with her. And this is added emphasis, or many look at this, again, to show that Samson was really just a brute, really just a man full of brawn with little brain, just going about, governed by his passions, sort of doing whatever he wanted just to fulfill his lusts and his desires. I think that that's an inaccurate reading here of Judges 16 verses 1 to 3.

There was a great essay that I recently read. It's written by a man by the name of Gordon Hugenberger, and it's called Samson and the Harlot at Gaza, Judges 16, 1 to 3. And he argues compellingly that Samson did not have relations with this particular woman, and we'll look at some of that evidence in just a moment. But even if it is the case that Samson did this, again, it does not discredit him from being a deliverer of the Lord, as we have seen throughout these various judges in the book of Judges, They're not perfect men.

When we look at Hebrews chapter 11 and we see those men in that hall of faith, remember it is by faith that these men walked. It wasn't by their works, it wasn't by their perfection, it wasn't by what they accomplished, but rather it was by faith in the living God. And then just another interesting idea or an interesting concept that you need to take in and consider at some other time probably, is that prostitution in Old Covenant Israel was a sin and it was frowned upon by the people of God. But it wasn't a crime.

You can search the Old Testament scriptures and you will never find that prostitution is a criminal offense. There's a wonderful illustration of that principle. Now in saying that, I don't mean to tell you go out and visit a prostitute or go out and become a prostitute. Simply saying that in the old covenant Israel, it was not a criminal offense.

Remember that instance when those two prostitutes came to test Solomon's wisdom. I mean, here's two prostitutes standing before the king of Israel. He doesn't order them to be thrown into prison, and he certainly doesn't order them to be executed. So prostitution was not a criminal offense.

That's not the point of our study tonight. I'm only simply suggesting that you consider that in the larger context of biblical revelation. But there are three or four lines of arguments that Hugenberger pursues to show that Samson did not have relations with this particular woman. The reason why I bring this study to you, I bring this evidence to you, is to try and shatter this illusion that Samson is just a man who's full of brawn and has little brain, or just a man who's governed by his passions.

Again, the very chapter we are in shows us that he had a lapse in judgment. He tells a woman that he is a Nazirite, that indicates to us that he understood his position before God. He knew what the Nazirite vow was, and he knew that his strength was directly connected to that. Why he caves in and tells her that, we will never know.

I mean, there's a lot of mystery in this particular chapter that I certainly can't explain. You know, that instance where he says if he's bound with bow strings, those bow strings would have been made by the tendons of animals. And it was fresh bow strings. Remember that the Nazirite vow included no contact with dead things.

For him to say, bind me with these bow strings, is another lapse or another evidence that he was not living faithfully and consistently with that Nazirite vow. But here in verses 1 to 3, if he really didn't go into this harlot and have sexual relations with her, we shouldn't operate on the assumption that he did. So let's look at these lines of evidence. The first is what's called the lexical argument, the argument from the words that are employed.

Notice, Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into her. Now, that is language that can be used for sexual intercourse or sexual relations. But it doesn't demand it. That language is also used in a whole host of contexts where sexual intercourse is not in the setting whatsoever.

There are various times in the book of Genesis, various times within this book of Judges itself, that just simply indicates that somebody went to someone else. That's the bare meaning of the particular idea here. So it can involve sexual intercourse, but it doesn't necessarily require it. So just because it says, and went into her, we ought not to immediately conclude that that means that he had relations.

There are several instances just in Judges where the language is used with reference to, He came to her, where the woman is the object of that particular preposition. There's a few times in chapter 13, the angel of the Lord came into her, or came to her. We would never argue, or never suppose that there was any sexual congress there. Even the section in chapter 15 at verse 1, where he says, let me go into my wife, into her room, doesn't necessarily require that there's intercourse involved.

Now certainly, it could be speaking of that. It's only one of the English translations that actually translated in the sense of him having relations with his wife in that particular way. So the language in and of itself does not demand that we conclude that there was sexual intercourse.

Parallel with Joshua 2

Secondly, and this is where I think Hugenberger really nails it, is the parallel with Joshua chapter 2. In Joshua chapter 2, you remember the situation, they're going to conquer the promised land. Joshua dispatches spies and he sends them into the city to do a reconnaissance mission. Those spies come to Rahab the harlot's house.

And there are so many parallels between what Samson is doing in verses 1 to 3 in chapter 16 in Gaza as to what these spies are doing in Joshua chapter 2 when they go to spy out Jericho. Samson is more than likely doing the exact same thing. He is the deliverer of Israel. He's going to kill Philistines.

He has a mission, he has a task, he has a particular calling and an activity. Instead of seeing him bouncing from place to place to place, just looking to gratify the lusts of his flesh, it is better to see a man who three times in the space of the narrative that we've been studying says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. and that the Spirit of the Lord is using this man to crush Philistine oppression. So when we get to this particular instance and we see the city named Gaza, Gaza was one of the chief cities of the Philistines. What better place to go kill Philistines than to Gaza?

Just consider the parallels with Joshua 2 and Judges 16. Both narratives are introduced with the sequence of went and saw. The woman to whom they come is identified as a woman or a prostitute. The expression came to and went into is used to describe what the spies and Samson did with reference to the woman.

I doubt that any of us have ever thought that the spies in Joshua 2 had relations with Rahab the harlot. That's just not the way that we read that particular narrative. But for some reason, when we get to Judges 16, we just see this big brute looking for anything he can do to gratify his flesh. If you look at Samson up to this point, he has been a man of principle in terms of his flesh.

He legitimately married this woman from Timna. Well, you say, she was a Philistine and he shouldn't have married her. Okay, I'll grant that. But even so, we see that this was of the Lord according to 14.4.

Remember that his parents cautioned him. Isn't there a nice Jewish girl? Isn't there somebody within the covenant community that you can marry? Why would you want to marry this Philistine from Timna?

Well, the text tells us this was of God so that he could bring friction between the Philistines and Israel. And so then Samson goes back. He's not a man who bears a grudge. She sells him out.

She tells his secret because they blackmail her. They say, if you don't tell us his secret, we will burn you and your father's house to the ground. So she dimes him out, they understand his riddle, he then has to pay the bet or has to pay the wage that they wagered. So he goes, he kills him 30 Philistines and Ashkelon and he brings those clothes back.

Next scene, we see him with a goat under his arm going to his wife's house to make peace with her. He's not a man who bears a grudge. What does the father do? He betrays him.

He says, I've given her to your best man. Go take my other daughter. And then they come, the Philistines come and burn down this man and his daughter. So Samson thus far hasn't done anything wrong.

When we get to Delilah, it says he loved her, even if he married her. That's not ungodly, because his first wife is dead. We don't know all of the ins and outs about Delilah. We're not even convinced that she's a Philistine.

The name Delilah is very Semitic. She could have been an Israelite, and within the context and the confines of a legitimate marriage. So we ought not to assume that this man is governed by his passions. So notice, as well, the expression came to, went into, is used to describe both what the spies and Samson did with reference to the woman.

The report of the presence of the spies and Samson is given in the same words. When it's found out that these persons have come into this particular city, the same thing is said concerning them. The spies and Samson are in the city during the night. In both instances, mention is made of the city gate, which plays a prominent role in the futile attempt to keep the spies and Samson out of the cities.

The spies and Samson both lie down in the home of the harlot that they find themselves in. And the spies and Samson both leave for the hill country when they depart. Those are eight conceptual parallels that we find if we put Joshua 2 right next to Judges 16. What should we interpret this as?

That it's the same sort of a mission, that Samson is a principled man of God who's now come to Gaza, a place that is peopled with the enemy, so that he can bring destruction to bear upon these wretches. Hugenberger sums it up this way, Samson's intention for coming to the harlot at Gaza was deliberately the same as the intention of Joshua's spies for coming to Rahab the harlot at Jericho. To take an appropriate step that would enable the divinely approved work of dispossession to begin. This is the way God is working through those spies in Jericho and through Samson here at Gaza.

Samson's Strategy at Midnight

Consider as well, thirdly, the assumption of the Philistines and the strategy of Samson. Look back at the text in verse 2. 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.

What do they assume? They assume that a man who's going to gratify his flesh with a harlot is going to spend the night there. They assume that he is going after this woman in the manner of men who visit prostitutes. That he's not there just for a 15, 20, 30 minute show.

He is there for all night. That's what they assume. That's what they expect. And their strategy and their idea is to wait till he's finished his business with this harlot, and in the morning, we'll kill him.

Now, Samson understands that assumption. Note what Samson does according to verse 3. Samson lay low. I love the way the New King James renders that.

And Samson lay low till midnight. They're expecting him to come out of the harlot's house in the morning. He comes out at midnight. They are not looking for this.

They are not expecting this whatsoever. His strategy was to penetrate them while they are at their weakest and to take their city gates for a specific reason, which we'll see in just a moment.

Pre-Critical Commentators

And then the fourth line of evidence that Hugenberger adds or gives us is pre-critical commentators. Precritical just means prior to the Enlightenment, the way that men used to interpret the Bible. And the Geneva Bible says this, with reference to verse 2, not just that she's a harlot, or it's the harlot's house, but a vittler. And a vittler is somebody that serves food or serves drink. sort of a restaurant, what's that word, restaurateur?

Somebody that owns a place where they serve food. So they identify her as a vittler. And then on verse three, the Geneva Bible says, that is, he lodged with her. She's got a house, he rents a room for the night.

They do not assume in the Geneva Bible that he had relations with her. Now Josephus records this whole situation as well. He's not a fan of Samson. I mean, not doesn't hate Samson, but he's critical of Samson along the way.

As Josephus is writing, he points out Samson's foibles. He points out Samson's misgivings. But when it comes to this situation, here's how Josephus records it. After this fight, the jawbone of the ass, Samson held the Philistines in contempt.

He came to Gaza and took up lodgings in a certain inn. So in the mind of Josephus, Samson was not this brute looking to satisfy his lust with this harlot in Gaza. I'm sure that if that was the case, Josephus would be more than happy to point that out. But we've assumed this, and perhaps unnecessarily.

I think the evidence is compelling, to say the least, that what we find in verses 1 to 3 is not Samson gratifying his lusts, but Samson the military strategist seeking to destroy more Philistines. And that is precisely what we find. Verse 2 indicates the opposition to Samson. The people here, they surround the place, they lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city.

His reputation preceded him. They understood that this man was a threat. When the lords of the Philistines come and they make this deal with Delilah, do you realize how much money they pay her? They give her a lot of dough.

They blackmail the woman in Tinna. If you don't give us what we want, we will burn your house to the ground. With Delilah, they take a more positive approach. They bribe her.

And they don't just bribe her with 50 shekels. They bribe her with 5,500 shekels. When you look at shekel transactions in the Old Testament, certainly money, as it does today, fluctuates in terms of value. What you and I could have bought gold at 20 years ago is not what you could buy gold at today.

So there is that fluctuation. But when you see 50 shekels for a transaction here, or 50 shekels for a transaction here, or the life of a human being valued at 30 shekels in the Book of Exodus, and then you consider 5,500 shekels. What does that mean? They're afraid of Samson.

Samson is a formidable character. They want to neutralize this threat. They want to destroy him. They want to decimate him.

They want to end his career as a Philistine killer. They do not like the thought of this particular man. So they were quiet all night, saying, in the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him. Now notice verse 3.

Samson lay low till midnight. Then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gate posts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. Now, a city's gates was its defense. And if this was a formidable city, Gaza would have been as one of the chief cities of the Philistine.

We ought not to see in our mind's eye Samson pulling a little chain link fence out and just hoisting it over his shoulders and walking down the road. It's about a 40-mile jaunt to where he took these gates of the cities, these doors of the gates. These were big. Again, what the author is telling us is that Samson is a big, strong man.

The spirit of the Lord is on him. He's empowered. Here's a man that rips apart a lion with his bare hands. Here's a man that takes the jawbone of a donkey and kills 1,000 Philistines in close quarter combat.

Doesn't have a sword to keep some distance between him and Philistines. He's got the jawbone of an ass where he has to get right up close to these Philistines, and he gets splattered with their blood. By the end of this 1,000 Philistine victory that Samson incurs, he's dying of thirst. That's why he cries out to the Lord.

Shall I die of thirst and end up in the hands of these uncircumcised Philistines? So God gives him water. This man is powerful. And so what he does here, he takes hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gate posts, pulls them up, bar and all.

The way the man is describing this as he writes, he wants you to understand what Samson is doing is not an ordinary feat. He is a man with an extraordinary amount of strength, vigor, power, and might, and he is one that the Philistines are certainly afraid of. Why does he do this? Again, Hugenberger says, in keeping with the general symbolism of Genesis 22, 17 and 26, 40.

Let me just read those passages. So I think these are good illustrations of what's going on in terms of Samson's actions here. In Genesis 22, 17, it is the promise to Abraham after Abraham offers up or or obeys God in terms of offering up Isaac. The Lord God stops him by his angel, of course, but then the Lord God reaffirms or confirms his covenant with him.

And in verse 17, blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. Samson literally fulfills this, doesn't he? As he's walking to the hill that faces Hebron, there is a living emblem of Genesis 22.17. You see this in Genesis 26.40 as well.

Genesis chapter 20, I'm sorry, not 26.40. There is no 2640, I thought I double checked that. Somewhere there's another reference that has this sort of a thing where the enemies possess the gates. Anyways, Hugenberger says, in keeping with the general symbolism of Genesis 22.17, the removal of the gates to the summit of a hill in the direction of Hebron was an unmistakable demonstration of the subjugation of Gaza before Samson and his lord.

You see, this wasn't Samson who went into the house of a harlot to spend his night fulfilling his lust. He went there with a specific strategy and a specific mission. It would be the occasion wherein he would take these gates and, with a living emblem, demonstrate the subjection of this city to both Samson and his lord. He goes on to say, it was perhaps also a sign of the consequent vulnerability of the inhabitants of the chief city of Philistia to the inhabitants of the chief city of Judah.

You see, when he takes that gate and he's facing Hebron, who would see this? Judah. Judah is the tribe that evidences cowardice in 15. Perhaps this is Samson's attempt to rally the troops to get behind him so that they may together conquer this city.

This is not willy-nilly. There is strategy involved, and Samson is carrying out the will of God for the people of God in this instance. He says, it was perhaps also a sign of the consequent vulnerability of the inhabitants of the chief city of Philistia to the inhabitants of the chief city of Judah, which tribe was responsible to dispossess Gaza if only they would accept the leadership of Samson. See, perhaps Samson, standing there with these gates, thought that Judah would say, look, the city's vulnerable.

If Samson's standing there holding their gates, that means we can walk right into the city and start killing Philistines right behind our leader Samson. Now, of course, they don't do that. So I think there is compelling evidence to suggest that not only did Samson not go into this harlot as has been taught us, but he actually went for the purpose of beginning to end these Philistines in this chief city of Gaza.

Departure of the Lord

Now let's move on to the Delilah incident, the departure of the Lord, verses 4 to 21.

Delilah's Betrayal

Note the background in verses 4 and 5. Afterward, it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Out of the four women that are in Samson's life, she's the only one that's named. We've got his mom, who's nameless.

We've got the woman that he was married to in Timna. We have this harlot in Gaza. And now we have Delilah. So he loves this particular woman.

As I mentioned, we're not sure whether she was Philistine or Israelite. Davis says whether she was a Philistine or Israelite does not matter. It didn't even matter to Delilah. All that mattered was Philistine money.

This just shows you, you don't know what you're getting when you fall in love, young men, or older men. You don't know what you're getting when you put a ring on her finger. He loved her. That's what the text says.

He loved this woman. And she betrays him. Look at the life of Samson. Again, some of the commentators make him sound like he's this monster.

He acts alone. He does his own thing. He's guided by his own lust. There's nobody that will help him.

They betray him or they, in cowardice, deliver him over to his enemies. Everybody he cleaves to turns around and sticks a knife in his back. I don't know how else he could possibly operate. Why he succumbs to her pressure, the text does indicate.

She pressured him. She was on him. He did love her. He had affection for her.

Maybe he thought that his secret would be at home in her bosom. That's not the case. Notice in verse 5, 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 1,100 pieces of silver." Again, this is a lot of money. 5,500 shekels of silver. You see, they understood they could not beat him in open warfare.

They understood that they could not defeat this man in battle. They understood that with the jawbone of a donkey was able to take out a thousand of their comrades. And so they turned to bribery. They go to his weakness.

This man could uproot gates from a city and carry them 40 miles to Hebron. This man could kill Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. This man could kill a lion, but he couldn't resist a woman. He couldn't resist this particular woman.

And so what the Philistines do is they ply her with dough, lots of dough. They say, entice him, find out where his strength lies, give us that position of advantage so that we can get rid of him. And then that begins the betrayal, verses 6 to 20a.

Three Failed Attempts

There's three attempts that fail and one attempt that's successful. verses six to nine. So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you may be bound to afflict you. And Samson said to her, if they bind me with seven fresh bow strings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. So the Lords of the Philistines brought up, brought up to her seven fresh bow strings, not yet dried.

She bound him with them. Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. but he broke the bow strings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire, so the secret of his strength was not known." At this point, you say, Samson, get away, right? Run.

She's obviously not going to hold your secret. I mean, as soon as you tell her, Philistines crowd the room. Doesn't that seem suspicious to you, Samson? Again, we don't know all the ins and outs.

There's probably a lot going on that we are not privy to. But what the author wants us to get is her betrayal. Verse 10, then Delilah said to Samson, look, you have mocked me and told me lies. How she could say this with a straight face.

How she could say this without exploding. How she could turn this around on him. Davis surmises it sort of went like this. You know, Samson, we ladies like a sensitive man.

We ladies like a man who's relatable. We ladies like a man who pours out his heart to us. She's plying him. She's pleading with him.

She's manipulating him. Again, a man who can pick up city gates and kill a thousand Philistines and a lion cannot resist the manipulation of a woman. Verse 11, so he said to her, if they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. Therefore, Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson.

And men were lying in wait, staying in the room, but he broke them off his arms like a thread. Now, the third attempt, 13 to 14, is tough. From what I understand, the Hebrew text is in a bit of disrepair even. But what is actually going on there, I don't know.

I can't visualize it. I can't understand it. It has something to do with her loom and his hair. She binds the loom, or she puts his hair into the loom.

Whatever the situation is, it is, again, a failed attempt. Verses 13 and 14. Now notice, verse 15, the last time. How can you say I love you when your heart is not with me?

You can hear it, can't you? This is phenomenal storytelling. Phenomenal. I mean, one of the commentators said, when it comes to verse 22, the author goes from a good writer to a Pulitzer Prize genius.

I mean, every step of the way, the narrative keeps us engaged. 22, we know the significance. This little incidental remark that the hair of his head began to grow again. Ah, there's hope, right? There's hope in the living and true God.

We know what the issue is with this hair. We know it's not magic. We know it's not magic hair. We know that that is emblematic of the strength and the power and the glory and the majesty of God.

We know that from what we've read up to this point. They go back to verse 15, then she said to him, how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times. How does she get away with this?

How do women get away with some of the things they get away with? Men, unfortunately, are weak when it comes to these sorts of things. Sometimes our wives could get away with murder over us because we're just so enamored with their love or beauty or whatever. This is probably what's happening.

You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great, great strength lies. And it came to pass when she pastored him daily. You see, this isn't like this. There's a prolonged period here.

For him to carry these gates to Hebron would have been a few days, right? This isn't all of a sudden, all at once. One event, one event, one event, one event. It's happening over the space of a few days.

And so she's pastoring him daily with her words. And she pressed him. It's the same phrase used when the woman at Timna, when his wife pressed him to tell the riddle. Please tell me, Samson, so I can tell it to them, so that they can take from you the 30 garments that you have wagered with them.

He couldn't resist this. Notice what the text then goes on to say. So that his soul was vexed to death. Now ladies, if you are learning from this on how to nag a man in five easy ways, please get rid of that.

But that's what's happening. He's being nagged. He's being worn down. He's being beaten down and he's allowing it to take place the entire time.

She indicts him concerning his love, verse 15. She persists in pestering him, verse 16. She pressures him unto death. Locke says, Samson may be able to uproot the gates of a major city and carry them 40 miles uphill, but he cannot withstand the wiles of a woman.

What does he do in verse 17? He told her all his heart and said to her, no razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man." Don't you just ache here? You're like, no, don't do that, Sam said.

Please. And what does he say? My strength shall depart. What does the text say?

The Lord departed from him. Samson doesn't get it yet. He's playing games with his Nazirite vow. This indicates that he knows or recognizes the source of his strength.

He acknowledges the fact that there is this Nazirite vow. Again, he's not a man that's ignorant. He is not a man that is foolish, he is a man that knows his place under God, but he has compromised and he has given her this bit of information that will lead to his demise, but ultimately, as we see behind the scenes, it will lead to their demise, because what Samson does is kill more Philistines in his death than in his life. And then notice, verse 18, when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, She sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.

She knew this time it was the real deal. She says, come. It's done. Bring my money.

And that's what happens. So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Doesn't indicate that in the other time. She knew he had told her his heart, and now they bring the money.

Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him and his strength left him." One of the commentators says, yes, the Philistines gouge out his eyes. They make him to be a grinder. They put him, they reduce him to the level of a slave or a woman, not anything mean to a woman, but a grinder was a menial task that you did not see some big strong man doing.

They torment, they punish, they torture, but even worse than that is the woman whom he loved is now tormenting him and his strength left him. Verse 20, she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. So he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. He doesn't realize that his strength had left.

He doesn't realize the tragedy of what has taken place. He doesn't realize that this time it isn't going to be like every other time. Perhaps he has taken for granted that the Lord is always with him. Perhaps he has taken for granted the way that Israel takes for granted, that the Lord will always be with me, no matter what I do, no matter how I function, no matter what I engage in.

And yet at this particular instance, at the end of verse 20, it says, but he did not know, that the Lord had departed from me." There is quite a contrast between what we see in 14.6, 14.19, and 15.14 when the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon him. Now he tells his secret. He betrays himself ultimately to this woman who hands him over to the Philistines. And what we read at the end of verse 20 is, he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

Davis says, why tell Israel this story? Why did Israel need to hear this? Remember, these things are written for the people of God. Why would Israel need to understand what's happening in the Samson narrative?

He says, because Samson was intended as a mirror for Israel. In Samson, Israel was to see herself. Samson is a paradigm of Israel, one raised up out of nothing, richly gifted, who panders around with other loves, and yet, apparently always expects to have Yahweh. And now notice what happens at verse 21.

Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza. Apparently this was common. This was the way you dealt with your enemy. You put out his eyes and you put him into slave labor.

They bound him with bronze fetters and he became a grinder in the prison. So that is precisely what happens to Samson This is evidence, this is manifestation that God has left this man. So we see the removal of the gates, the departure of the Lord.

Destruction of the Enemies

Now let's look at the destruction of the enemies of the Lord. Verses 22 and following. It's already mentioned the return of the Lord, verse 22. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.

That's encouraging, isn't it? Ian Paisley preached a sermon on this passage, and he called it, A Haircut in the Devil's Barber Chair. A haircut in the devil's barber chair. And I think that's a good illustration of what's going on.

But as he refers to this text, however, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.

The Return of Samson's Strength

It's almost like there's revival. We think Samson's done. His eyes are gouged out. He's become a slave.

He's pushing this grinder. And note the way that the Philistines deal with Samson. What did Samson burn when he was in Timna in chapter 15? Their grain.

What's Samson grinding? Their grain. Who's Dagon? He's an agrarian god, specifically over grain.

Samson, in the Philistine mine, is now serving Dagon. They have totally demoralized this man. They have stripped him of all his dignity. They have stripped him of any self-respect that he had.

And yet the narrator wants us to realize that God is not finished with him yet. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. Davis says, not that there was any magic in Samson's hair. His strength came only from God.

However, his hair was the sign of that strength and we must not sever the sign from the reality which it signifies. So now they've conquered him, they have vanquished their foe, it's time for a bit of rejoicing. There's a shift from the prison now to the palace, and in verse 23, the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, and to rejoice, and they said, our god has delivered into our hands Samson, our enemy. Isn't that interesting?

Samson, our enemy. Not Israel, because Israel didn't go battle against them. Israel, specifically the tribe of Judah, was quite content to be subject to them. There was one man in all of Israel that tried to destroy Philistines, and he's now the one who's had his eyes put out, and he's grinding their grain.

Verse 24, when the people saw him, so not only the lords of the Philistines praised Dagon, but when the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead. Now, we know that this victory was not because of the presence of Dagon. We know that, don't we? We realize that Dagon is a non-god.

Dagon is an idol. The victory came because of the absence of Yahweh, not because of the presence of Dagon. And what the text is indicating at this point is that this is so offensive, and this is so wretched, and this is so wicked. And what happens is that the enemies of the Lord have caused or have given blasphemy to the God of heaven and earth.

We can't let it end there. There has to be vindication for the honor of God most high. And that's what the remainder of the chapter takes up. It shows us to encourage us, as it would have Israel, of all, that Dagon was an idol, that Dagon's followers were idolaters, and that judgment rightly belonged to them.

And so everybody's gathered together. David spent some time telling us how stupid the Philistines are too. They're not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. Everything they do betrays any sort of wisdom whatsoever that people would have.

Verse 25, it happened when their hearts were merry, that they said, call for Samson, that he may perform for us. So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them, and they stationed him between the pillars. Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them." Isn't that pathetic? Here a man that kills a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey has to tell a lad, point me in the place where I can feel these pillars.

There's a lad leading this deliverer of Israel. Now the temple was full of men and women. You see how the author is doing this? You see what's going on?

They are praising Dagon from whom all blessings flow. But the God of heaven and earth is bringing them together to know the judgment that flows upon the enemies of the Lord. The temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed.

Now notice, after the sacrifice, we see the vindication of God's honor.

Samson's Prayer and Final Victory

Verse 28 is heartbreaking. I mean, what a prayer. What a prayer. Samson calls to Yahweh, saying, O Lord God, remember me, I pray.

Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may, with one blow, take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes. Someone says, well, he should be praying for the vindication of the glory of God instead of his eyes. Samson is uniquely connected to and tied up intimately with the glory of God. For Samson to be vindicated means that Yahweh is vindicated.

That's how we're supposed to understand this plea and this prayer. And the fact that God the Lord answers the prayer tells us that He approves, that the Lord is good with how this man prays. Verse 29, the response, Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Again, look at these Philistines.

They had known that his hair was the issue. I'm sure if the author was able to tell that his hair began to grow again, certain of these Philistines had to be able to tell that the hair of his head started to grow again. When he starts reaching for these pillars, and I can't suppose that now he looks like a 90-pound weakling, he was always a big man, He was always a strong man. Pushing a grinder would certainly be a good constant workout.

I doubt he lost any of his muscle mass. I wonder if there was a Philistine in the crowd saying, wait a minute, why is he going for those pillars? What is he doing? What's going on?

God answers his prayer. Verse 30, then Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and on all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

Now some would say that this was a suicide. It was an act of war. Samson, as a public man, as a military leader, went to do battle against the Philistines. Gill explains it beautifully in his commentary, and in his Treatment of the Law of God, Francis Turretin, Volume 2, page 14, indicates that this was not a suicide, but it was a noble, valiant act of a servant of God to bring the judgment of God upon the enemies of God.

So do not look foul at this man in his actions. And Gil then goes on to say, what a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who brings more benefit through his death than he does even through his life. So this is what happens in this instance.

Samson's Legacy

And then the last section in verse 31, the disposition of God's servant. His brothers and all his father's household came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshter in the tomb of his father Manoah. This is good. This indicates that they finally realized what he was.

They realized what he had done. They realized that he was, in fact, the man whom God had appointed. He had judged Israel 20 years. His legacy is recorded for us in Hebrews 11 at verse 32, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah.

Samson had his issues. Samson had his sins. Samson had his weaknesses. Samson is an interesting character that jumps out to us on the pages of scripture, but Samson was a servant of God Most High who walked by faith and did what the Lord had commanded him to do in his life and in his death.

And Davis quotes it. I'm going to read a quote, a lengthy quote from Davis, because he asks the question at the end of his treatment, we'll end here, why Samson? Why Samson? Why Jephthah?

Why Gideon? Why Beric? Why Othnia? Why Shamgar?

Why Ehud? Why these men? He says, why would Yahweh use a character like Samson as his servant? Here is a fellow who shatters all our molds, conventions, and expectations about what a servant of God is to be.

Davis says, he doesn't look like your typical evangelical. He doesn't. He came into church all ripped and, you know, hair. He said, wait a minute, dude.

I don't know if you belong here. Davis gives this illustration, and I think that it illustrates beautifully the point. He says, during the war between the states, this was the Civil War, the story spread that General Grant had been drunk at the Battle of Shiloh. Not a good story, right?

You don't want to know that one of your top military leaders was drunk during a key battle. About 11 o'clock one night, President Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, received his friend, A.K. McClure. McClure was on a mission.

As spokesman for a number of Republicans, he pressed his argument for almost two hours on how popular opinion was against Grant, and therefore Grant should be dismissed so that Lincoln himself could retain the country's confidence. You get it, right? grants an embarrassment. He was drunk during the Battle of Shiloh. If you keep him around, Abe, he's going to discredit you.

Says that Lincoln rarely interrupted. Then, as McClure himself reported it, quote, this is the actual man who spoke with Lincoln, Lincoln remained silent for what seemed a very long time. He then gathered himself up in his chair and said, in a tone of earnestness that I shall never forget, I can't spare this man. He fights.

He fights. You may not like the way Samson goes about his business. You may think him a bit colorful and a bit unorthodox, but he fights. He does what God says.

He may look seedy, this is Davis commenting on Grant. He may have trouble with booze. Popular opinion may stand against him, but he fights. We cannot explain Yahweh's choices, though we might vindicate his choice of Samson by a variation of Lincoln's argument.

Say what you will about Samson, at least he knew who the enemy was. At least he knew Philistines were for fighting. At least he didn't roll over and play dead in the warmth of the status quo as the mighty men of Judah did. Perhaps we will eventually get over our surprise at the kind of servants that Yahweh delights to use.

That's why Samson is a hero, because God raised him up and sent him on a particular mission, and he did it. Praise God for Samson. The next time I hear somebody diss on Samson, I don't want to hear it. He's a hero.

Name your children Samson. Sing hymns of praise to God for the Samsons of the world that do the bidding of God. So when we get to Hebrews 11.32 and we see that great hall of faith and these judges there, it is for good cause. They were men, they had their issues, they had their challenges, they had their sins, they had their blemishes, but they consistently did what God called them to do.

Thus ends the largest section in the book of Judges, the book of Deliverers. God willing, we'll take up the latter chapters in the next few weeks. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank you for your word and thank you for its clarity and for the magnificence of your holiness and of your glory and of your amazing grace that you take men like Samson, like Jephthah, that you take men like Gideon and Barak and and Ehud and the others, and you use them, God, displays your glory and your excellence and your gracious character. We thank you, Father, for your word. We thank you for the beauty of it. We thank you for all that it teaches us concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, and we praise you for him. that great deliverer who was without sin, who in his life and death and resurrection saved his people from their sins.

We give you praise and glory, and we ask that you would go with us now. We pray that you'd watch over us in the remainder of this week, and we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 22:17
• Exodus 21:32
• Judges 3:7; 13; 14:4; 14:6; 14:19; 15:1; 15:14; 16:1-31
• Joshua 2
• Hebrews 11; 11:32