Samson
Samson is the 15th judge of Israel. He is born with supernatural might and strength. The secret to this strength? Beautiful hair that is never cut since the day he is born.
God tells his mother—
“The boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.”
—Judges 13:7
Being a Narizite basically means, “You’re different. You’re not like everyone else. Don’t act like you are.”
“Do not allow this world to mold you in it’s own image.”
—Romans 2:2
Now the Israelites are always fighting with the Philistines, and Samson is so strong, he keeps beating up the entire Philistine army by himself. One time, they screwed him over so—
“So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.”
—Judges 15:4-5
Then, 3,000 Philistines gang up on him. He takes a bone he finds on the ground and kills 1,000 of their men.
“Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.”
—Judges 15:15
Then, they try to put him in jail—
“[Samson] got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.”
—Judges 16:3
Samson is a freak. He’s just…a freak!
He doesn’t fit in and he very much accepts himself for being different. They make fun of him but he’s pretty dang confident.
Delilah
He ends up meeting this super hot Philistine chick, Delilah. He marries her.
Remember he’s the most hated guy, the Philistines hate him. So the rulers of the Philistines go to Delilah and say—
“The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, ‘See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.'”
—Judges 16:5
She’s like, “Okkurr! Yup.”
The Philistine military commanders are like, “Really? This is going to ruin your husband’s image—“
Delilah is like, “Where do I sign? If you don’t have no pen I use my lipstick—“
And she signs it! She’s so excited, she forgets to put her name down and signs it, Gimee the money!
The Philistines ask her, “But will you be heartbroken when your husband dies?”
She answers, “I’ll be rich.”
They respond, “Heartbroken and rich?”
She says, “Well… a person can’t have two masters. I can’t multi-task. Who can be heartbroken when they need to go shopping with all that insurance money?”
Delilah pre-orders designer camel skin bags in every color, a cedar wood chariot from the forests of En Gedi. She pre-orders gowns and cuddly pet sheep.
Her creditors are like, “Are you sure you can pay for this?”
She’s like, “Oh I’ll be IN THE MONEY, soon.”
Her focus isn’t on her mission, which is to turn her husband in to the hands of his enemy.Her focus is celebrating her win, early. Cuz in her world where beauty buys you everythang— you always put the horse before the cart. You always spend your money before you have it. And the last thing you do is trust a man to take care of you.
Meanwhile, you can sell him to the Philistines and make more money than all his muscles can earn in a lifetime.
She is like the first sports agent in ancient history. She don’t care if he plays offensive lineman for the Israelites or for their bitter rival, the Philistines. As long as she gets PAID.
Delilah didn’t have goals before she met Samson, but marriage changes you. She gets a taste of his fame, his glory, his respect— and she starts to grow parasites in her ecosystem of love. She starts to covet Samson’s gift from God.
She didn’t marry him for the money at first. She married him for love. But often times in relationships, you lead with love and you follow with lust.
How does love turn into lust?
How does love turn into lust? How do you start out perfect and end up poisonous?
As soon as one partner in the relationship is elevated to the status of a god— they are no longer human. They are imagined as infallible, infinitely rich, infinitely beautiful, infinitely young, infinitely talented or powerful….
You can no longer relate to them, because they’re not human to you.
That’s when…
Desire turns into jealousy. Love turns into lust.
“Do not be unequally yoked…”
—2 Corinthians 6:14
The bible says you must be equally yoked because love is balanced. When it’s not balanced— it’s not love, it turns into lust!
A little lust keeps you on your toes. A lot of lust blinds you.
When you’re in lust, you no longer see what’s in front of your eyes. You cannot see reality. You just see your fantasy.
That’’s the beautiful thing about lust and why it’s addicting because it makes you see your fantasy.
Delilah tricks Samson
Delilah tricks Samson into telling her his secret. He says—
“No razor has ever been used on my head because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
—Judges 16:17
When he goes to sleep, she has someone shave his head.
He wakes up, the Philistines capture him, gouge out his eyes, so he’s blind—
“Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, ‘Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.'”
—Judges 16:23
—and then they have a circus freak show where he’s the star. They have him in an arena with 3,000 spectators.
Samson prays to God for one last surge of strength—
“Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ‘Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.’ Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it.”
—Judges 16:28-30
Boom. He’s dead. Everyone’s dead.
