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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 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. 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. So let's look first at the removal 
of the city gates in chapter 16 verses 1 to 3. 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. 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. 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. 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. Now let's move on to the Delilah 
incident, the departure of the Lord, verses 4 to 21. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.