SAMSON’S GREAT STRENGTH IS EXPOSED
09-22-19
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God is Thought. The
brightness of our revelations depends upon the correctness of our
doctrines,
our building blocks (our
thoughts).
THE WOMAN THAT JILTED SAMSON
(Judg 14:1-4) And Samson
[Heb: sunlight] went
down to Timnath, and
saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the
Philistines [Heb: rolling, migratory /// to
roll (in dust): (wallow) self]. And he came up, and told his
father and his mother, and said, I have
seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now
therefore get
her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto
him, Is there never a woman
among the
daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people,
that thou goest to
take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And
Samson said unto his
father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
But his father and his
mother knew not that it was
of the LORD, that he [God] sought
an occasion against the Philistines: for at that
time
the Philistines had dominion [Heb:
rule] over Israel.
THE PROSTITUTE
(Judg
16:1-3)
Then went Samson [Heb:
sunlight] to Gaza,
and saw
there an harlot [prostitute], and went in unto her. And it was told the Gazites, saying,
Samson is come hither. And they compassed [Heb: surrounded]
him in, and
laid wait for
him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet
all the night,
saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.
And Samson
lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and
took the doors of
the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went
away with them, bar
and all, and put them upon
his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that
is before Hebron.
DELILAH
(Judg
16:4,5)
And it came to pass afterward, that he
loved a woman in the
valley of Sorek, whose name was
Delilah. [1] And the lords of the Philistines came up
unto her, and said unto her, Entice him [(in a sinister way) delude: deceive, flatter], and see wherein his great strength lieth,
and
by what means we
may prevail [Heb:
overcome] against him,
that we may bind him to afflict him [make him suffer]:
and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver [x 5 lords = 5,500 pieces].
1.
Delilah = Heb: languishing /// to slacken or be
feeble; fig. be oppressed: bring low, dry up, be emptied, be not equal,
fail,
be impoverished, be made thin.
a.
languish: Dict. = 1. to lose vigor
or vitality; fail in health; become
weak; droop. 2. to live under stressing conditions; continue in a state
of
suffering. 3. to become slack or dull; lose intensity.
(Judg 16:6-9) And Delilah said to
Samson, Tell me, I
pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou
mightest be
bound to afflict thee. And Samson said unto her, If they bind
me with seven
green withs that were never dried [“seven
fresh gutstrings,
still moist” Amplif. Bible], then shall I be weak,
and be as another man. Then the lords of the
Philistines brought up to
her seven green withs
[“bowstrings” Amplif.] which
had
not been dried, and she bound him with
them. Now there were
men lying
in wait, abiding with her in the chamber.
And she said unto him, The
Philistines be upon thee,
Samson. And he brake the withs [“bowstrings”
Amplif.], as a thread of tow [twine] is
broken when it toucheth
the fire. So his strength was not known.
(Judg 16:10-12) And Delilah said unto
Samson, Behold, thou
hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I
pray thee, wherewith
thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If
they bind me fast with
new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as
another man.
Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound
him therewith, and
said unto him, The Philistines be
upon thee, Samson. And there were
liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he
brake them from off
his arms like a thread.
(Judg
16:13,14)
And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou
hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith
thou mightest be
bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the
seven locks of my head
with the web. And she fastened it
with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he
awaked out of his sleep, and
went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.
(Judg
16:15-17)
And she said unto him, How canst thou say,
I love thee, when thine heart is
not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told
me wherein
thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed
him daily with her words, and urged him, so
that his soul was vexed [Heb:
grieved, troubled] unto
death; That he told her all his heart,
and said unto her, There
hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have
been a Nazarite
[Heb: separate, consecrated (as a prince)] [1] unto
God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength
will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
1.
Commentary: Nazarite
vows: 1. Dedicated to serving God.
2. No razor shall come upon his head. 3. Drink no wine nor strong
drink. 4.
Neither eat any unclean thing. 5. Touch no dead body.
(Judg
16:18-20)
And when Delilah saw that he had told her all
his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the
Philistines,
saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then
the lords
of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in
their hand.
And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she
called for a man, and she
caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head;
and she began to
afflict him, and his strength went from him.
And she said, The
Philistines be upon thee,
Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go
out as at other
times before, and shake myself. And he wist [Heb: understood]
not
that the LORD was departed from him.
(Judg
16:21,22)
But the Philistines took him, and
put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him
with fetters
of brass; and he did grind [grain] in the prison house. Howbeit the hair
of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
(Judg
16:23-25)
Then the lords of the Philistines gathered
them [selves] together for to offer a great
sacrifice unto Dagon [the
fish
god] their god, and to
rejoice:
for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into
our hand.
And when the people saw him, they praised their god:
for they said, Our
god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the
destroyer of our
country, which slew many of us. And it
came to pass, when their
hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson,
that he may make
us sport [Heb: be had in
derision,
laughed at, mocked, (laughed to scorn)].
And they called for Samson out of the prison house;
and he made them
sport: and they set him between the pillars.
(Judg
16:26,27)
And [supposedly
now harmless] Samson said unto
the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I
may feel the pillars
whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.
Now the house
was full of men and women; and all the
lords of the Philistines were
there; and there were upon
the roof about
three thousand men and women
[3,000], that beheld [watched] while
Samson made sport.
(Judg
16:28-30)
And Samson called unto the LORD, and
said, O Lord GOD, remember me,
I pray thee, and strengthen me, I
pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once
avenged of the
Philistines for my two eyes
[(Old Testament judgment)]. And
Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon
which the house stood,
and on which it was borne up, of the one with his
right hand, and of the
other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the
Philistines.
And he bowed himself with all his
might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon
all the people that were
therein. So the dead which he
slew at his death were more than they
which he slew in his life.
1.
Commentary: Samson’s
strength was his inner resolve to serve God; hence, the
power of his prayers.
a.
(Hosea
12:2-4) The
LORD hath
also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob
according to his ways; according to his doings will he
recompense him. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with
God: Yea, he had power
over the
angel [Gen 32:24], and prevailed: he
wept, and made supplication unto him:
he found him in Bethel, and
there he spake with
us;
b.
(Eph
6:18) Praying always with all prayer
and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance
and supplication for all saints;
(Judg
16:31)
Then his brethren and all the house of his father came
down, and took
him, and brought him up, and
buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his
father. And
he judged Israel twenty years.
Amen