Ep. 66 – Samson (Part 3)

Last we left our story, Samson had just scored a major victory for the Israelites against the Philistines. Samson had been born to the Nazirite vow…he had been set aside by God to fight off the Philistines. And through this Nazirite vow (which included never cutting his hair), as Samson grew up, God gave him super-human strength. But then things got off track, because Samson made friends with the Philistines. He even married a Philistine wife. Samson might have been the strongest man on earth, but as it turns out, he had a huge weakness for pretty Philistine girls. But the marriage feast with the Philistine girl did not go very well, and the Philistines cheated Samson on a bet. And this started a whole series of unfortunate events. To cover his bet, Samson went off and killed 30 Philistine men for their clothes, which made his father-in-law marry off his wife to someone else, which made Samson set all the Philistine fields on fire, which made the Philistines kill his wife and father-in-law, which made Samson attack the Philistine “hip and thigh”, which made Philistine army assemble and invade Israel, which resulted in Samson defeating the Philistine army…killing a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of a donkey. After this amazing victory, would Samson learn that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to be making friends with the Philistines? Would Samson learn that maybe he should stay away from pretty Philistine girls? Would Samson do what he’d been born to do…to lead the Israelites to fight off their oppressors? Well, let’s find out.

After winning this great victory over the Philistine army, the Bible then goes on to say that Samson “judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.” (Judges 15:20) So for twenty years it seems that Samson did indeed fulfill his purpose…to “begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (13:5) For 20 years, Samson led Israel and kept the Philistines at bay…and even managed to stay away from pretty Philistine girls. Now Samson never managed to defeat the Philistines because they were going to be thorn in the side of Israel for quite a long time. Samson was just one man after all, and he couldn’t be everywhere all he time. So, what this meant was that for the 20 years the Philistines still ruled over Israel, but the Philistines were terrified of Samson and he was always a wild card keeping the power and the oppression of the Philistines in check. So by and large, it seems that Samson and the Philistines had something of an unspoken understanding. The Philistines would keep their worst behaviour in check, and Samson would stay on the Israelite side of the border. And this little arrangement seemed to work for quite a while…for the 20 years that Samson judged over Israel.

But this happy balance didn’t last forever. Towards the end of the 20 years, probably when Samson was in his forties, Samson’s weakness for pretty Philistine girls got the better of him. And the Bible says that Samson, “went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.” (16:1) Even though it was super dangerous, Samson snuck into the city of Gaza…which if you kidzos will remember…Gaza was one of the 5 major Philistine cities (a city that still exists even today). And he snuck into the city to see a pretty Philistine girl and to stay the night. Samson probably did his best to avoid being noticed, but of course it would have been hard to miss a huge muscular Israelite guy with super-long hair walking around the Gaza…and before long all the people knew that Samson was there. This was an unacceptable breach in the unspoken understanding between Samson and the Philistines. And even though the Philistines knew that they probably couldn’t beat Samson in a fight, they had to at least try to give Samson the message that he was not welcome. And the Bible says that the people of the city, “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."” (16:2) The Philistines closed and locked the city gate so that no one could get in or out, and then waited until morning to kill Samson…or least try to.

Of course, things didn’t quite go the way that the Philistines wanted them to. Because around midnight, Samson suddenly woke up. And looking around, he quickly noticed that the city gate was locked…and he realized what was going on…they were trying to trap him in the city. But, Samson had been in much worse situations before. And without hesitating even for a moment, Samson walked straight up to the huge city gate that was built right into the city wall (and would have been at least 15-feet tall), got his hands under the huge doors, and lifted the entire gate, posts and all, right up out of the ground and out of the wall. And if that wasn’t crazy enough, Samson didn’t just throw the gate off to the side of the road once he was free. No no, he put the huge city gate onto his shoulders and carried it all the way to a hill just outside of Hebron…which was like halfway across Israel! Wow!

After this incident in Gaza, Samson decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea to go waltzing into Philistine cities anymore. But while he could avoid Philistine cities, he just couldn’t help himself with the Philistine girls. And after some time, the Bible says that Samson, “loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.” (16:4) Samson had fallen for yet another pretty Philistine girl. This time, it was woman named Delilah who lived in the Valley of Sorek…which thankfully was far away from any big Philistine city…and was actually just south of his hometown. And as far as we can tell, Samson was head over heels for this woman.

But unfortunately, the whole strolling into Gaza thing had really put the Philistines on edge. Samson had shown the Philistines that he could just wander into any of their cities at any time and basically do whatever he wanted…and this was a something that the Philistines just couldn’t stand. They were, after all, one of the most powerful nations in the world. Who knew where Samson was going to wander next! And the Philistines decided that they just had to do something about this crazy strong Israelite. Now they knew that they couldn’t attack Samson directly…that was just a recipe for more dead Philistines…but Samson must have some kind of weakness. And where was this crazy strength coming from? Samson was a big guy for sure…but he wasn’t that big. So, what was it…the water he was drinking…some kind of a magic potion…something else? So, the Philistines had Samson followed…and they watched him very closely. And that’s when they saw him with Delilah…they had found Samson’s weakness…pretty Philistine girls. Of course, they would have preferred to know the secret of his strength and how to kill him, but at least it was a start. And who knows, maybe they could use this pretty Philistine girl to find it out for them.

So, the Philistine lords approached Delilah, and said, “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 eleven hundred pieces of silver.” (16:5) The Bible doesn’t tell us much about Delilah…it doesn’t sound like Delilah and Samson were married or anything…but still, tricking a man into giving away his deepest secret so that he could be tortured, imprisoned, and maybe even killed…well that’s definitely a horrible thing to do. And maybe at first Delilah didn’t want to do it. But 1100 pieces of silver from each of the Philistine lords…that was a lot of money! There were at least 5 Philistines lords, one for each of the 5 major cities…which would mean at least 5500 pieces of silver. And in today’s money, that would be worth about $2.5 million dollars. That was a lot of money, and Delilah just couldn’t resist it. So she decided that she was going to do what the Philistine lords wanted…and get the secret out of Samson.

After her meeting with the Philistines, the next time she saw Samson, Delilah went up to him and just asked, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.” (16:6) Now if you’re Samson, this is kinda fishy, right kidzos? I mean, how to you just bring something like this up in a casual conversation. Ya know…boy it’s a beautiful morning eh? Oh and hey, random question, what’s your deepest darkest secret…ya know…the one thing that could get you tortured, imprisoned, and probably even killed? Kinda awkward right? And this wasn’t the first time that a pretty Philistine girl had asked Samson to reveal a secret. Remember his first wife pestered him for the answer to that riddle? Yah…and that didn’t turn out very well…and Samson wasn’t going to make that mistake again. But Samson really did love Delilah and didn’t want to upset her either. So, he told her…something…just so that she wouldn’t feel bad. And Samson replied, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” (16:7) Samson told her that if they tied him up with seven fresh bowstrings (meaning the long thin string that you use to shoot arrows from a bow) that he would lose his superhuman strength and become just like anybody else. Of course, that was a big lie. Samson well knew that the secret of his strength was his Nazirite vow…and in particular that he his hair stayed uncut. But he wasn’t going to tell that to Delilah. And Samson probably figured that once Delilah thought she knew his secret that that would be the end of it.

But what did Delilah do? Well exactly what she’s said she was going to do. Right away she went and told the “secret” to the Philistine lords. But the Philistine lords, who had no idea if Samson was telling the truth (or Delilah either for that matter), wanted her to prove that, yes, indeed, she had found the secret to Samson’s strength. So, the Philistine lords gave Delilah 7 fresh bowstrings and told her to use them to tie up Samson…that way they would know for sure. Now we have no idea how Delilah managed this…but somehow she got Samson into her room, where some Philistine men were hiding, and got Samson to let her tie him up with the seven fresh bowstrings. Then, when he was all tied up, Delilah yelled, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” (16:9) Now, the Bible doesn’t quite say this, but this is probably when the men who’d been hiding in Delilah’s room sprang out of their hiding spots. And what do you kidzos think Samson did? Yah…as soon as realized that he was in real danger, he broke the bowstrings as if they were nothing, and (most likely) killed all the Philistines in the room. And this is of course when Delilah realized that Samson had lied to her.

Now for Samson’s part, after the danger had been taken care of and he had a moment to think, this is of course when Samson realized that this woman was obviously trying to get him killed, and right away walked out of Delilah’s room and out of her life, never to see her again, right? Well, no. Have you kidzos ever heard the saying, “Love is blind?” Well, this seems to have been Samson in spades. Samson was so head over heels for Delilah that it seems that he never even suspected that she betrayed him to the Philistines…even though it was super obvious. Delilah even somehow managed to convince Samson that he was the horrible person between of them because he lied to her. And Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.” (16:10) And Samson, still not wanting to share his secret with her, but also still not wanting Delilah to feel bad, again told her something to just to get her off his back.

This little drama didn’t happen just the one time…but 3 times! The second time, Samson told Delilah that his strength would leave him if he was tied up with new ropes that had never been used before. And so, Delilah again lured Samson into her room where the Philistines were hiding and tied him up…this time with the new ropes. And surprise surprise, just exactly when he was tied up with the supposed strength sucking ropes, the Philistines attacked him again. Predictably, as soon as Samson realized he was in danger, the ropes went flying off and Samson killed his attackers. The third time, Samson told Delilah that if they wove his hair into the web of a loom…then he would lose his strength. (By the way kidzos, a loom is a big contraption they used to use to make clothing…it was kinda this big thing with lots of fabric strings pulled tightly going up and down…which the Bible calls a web…and you would use it to slowly and painstakingly weave a piece of clothing together.) The loom was big, clunky, and loud…and Samson probably thought that no one would be crazy enough to try to tangle up his hair in one of those things…at least not without him noticing. But, somehow Delilah again got Samson back into her room (the very place where he had been attacked twice now), and while he was sleeping, you guessed it…she brought in a ginormous loom and, somehow, without waking him up, she wove Samson’s long hair into the loom (boy…Samson must have been a deep sleeper!). This is, of course, exactly when the Philistines attacked him. But when Samson woke up, and realized he was in danger, he yanked all of the fabric strings out of the loom and killed the Philistines…again.

Even though Samson now had a mountain of unexplainable coincidences screaming at him that Delilah was indeed trying to get him killed, Samson just couldn’t see it. And seeing just how blind Samson was to what she was doing, Delilah decided to really go for it. And she said to Samson, “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.” (16:15) Day in and day out Delilah asked and asked and asked. Every quiet moment, every conversation, every possible instance that she could bring it up, she did. Delilah didn’t let Samson have a moment of peace and the Bible says that “his soul was vexed to death.” (16:16) Eventually, Samson just couldn’t take it anymore, and he broke down and, unbelievably, told Delilah the real secret to his strength, saying, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite 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.” (16:17)

Well, the secret was out…Samson’s super long hair had been the key to his strength all along. And somehow, Delilah could tell that Samson really had told her the truth this time. This time, she really did know the secret to Samson’s strength…this time, she really did have Samson’s life in palm of her hands. What would Delilah do? Would she go ahead and tell the Philistine lords? Would she really turn over this man, who loved her to death, over to his enemies? Well, I’m sure you kidzos can guess the answer to that one…but we will find out all about it…next time.