Delilah — The Woman Who Ruined a Holy Man

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 (Judg. 16:19).

   There were many good women in the ancestry of Christ, but when the Holy Spirit singled out four of them to be included in His genealogy, whom did He choose? Sarah, Rachel, and the godly women? No. He chose Tamar, notorious for shameful fornication; Rahab, given to the abomination of harlotry; Ruth, a despised Moabitess who was forbidden access to the congregation; and Bathsheba, with whom David sinned. Herein we have illustrations of how the Lord saves through faith, delivers from natural punishment, and secures our salvation. We wish to emphasize this same redemptive process in singling out women of the Bible for study.

   In this instance, we choose Delilah, The Woman Who Ruined a Holy Man. Let us look, first, at the man who was ruined, namely, Samson; second, at the woman who ruined him, namely, Delilah; and third, at the ruin which engulfed them both.

I. SAMSON, THE MAN WHO WAS RUINED

   We have called Samson the man who was ruined. His life impresses us as one gigantic ruin. That it once was beautiful and effective for God there can be no doubt for the Book of Hebrews enrolls him as one of the heroes of the faith of whom

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the world was not worthy. In him God had built a structure that was magnificent, but Samson himself brought it to ruin through the influence of a woman.

   That Samson merits the title of a holy man is evident  from the statement about his life. As with Isaac, Samuel, and John the Baptist, a supernatural element is connected with him in his birth. The angel of the Lord appeared unto the aged wife of Manoah with the promise, "Thou shalt conceive and bear a son" (Judg. 13). Later the annunciation was made to Manoah. The child was to be a supernatural gift of God to these righteous parents. The angel even went into detail as to the prenatal influences that would be brought to bear upon the son. The mother was to drink no wine nor strong drink and was to be exceedingly careful concerning unclean things mentioned in the Jewish Law.

   It is significant that when God wants a man, He usually begins to prepare that man through his parents. If our own day is to produce leaders who are able to preserve our American heritage, it will be necessary for God to begin with the mothers and find some who will be separated unto His will before ever the children are born.

   Manoah performed a sacrifice unto the angel and we read that the angel "did wondrously." He ascended into the sky in the presence of Manoah and his wife, and Manoah said, "We have seen the Lord." Undoubtedly this was none other than He whose name is called "Wonderful." In due time the child was born and they named him "Samson," or "Sunny," because of the light hair, ruddy complexion, and bright disposition of the boy. He was a joy to the hearts of his father and mother, who had longed for such a possession.

   The angel had said, "The child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb." To take the vow of a Nazarite meant to separate oneself unto the Lord. The sign of this was that the individual partook of no wine or strong drink whatsoever; that he let his hair grow in seven locks, which were braided back of his head; and that he observed the laws concerning the defilement of the body. Note that when one was to be

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sanctified and separated unto the Lord he was to touch no liquor. The great generals of history, such as Caesar, Charlemagne, Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick the Great, Cromwell, and Napoleon, with the single exception of Alexander the Great, were men given to temperance. They knew that liquor and a clear head do not go together. If a man would be holy unto the Lord he must abstain from all use of liquor. Not only was the Nazarite, Samson, to abstain, but also his parents were commanded to abstain. The only adequate principle toward liquor is a total abstinence. John the Baptist was also a Nazarite, and the clearer picture in the common mind might help to clarify the indistinct picture of Samson. It was the custom of men such as Paul to take upon them a Nazarite vow for a particular length of time, but the Baptist and Samson were Nazarites from birth. The vow was a symbol of the consecration of an individual unto the Lord.

   During Samson's youth, he was possessed of mighty strength and physical power. If the craven, degenerated, almost despicable Israelites of Samson's day had only seen what it would have meant to have been visited by the Spirit of the Lord and what God could have done with a nation so consecrated unto Him, they would not have been vassals of the Philistines and the Canaanites. Samson's strength was simply an evidence of a supernatural power given to him by God. Hence, during his youth, he made intermittent forays into the Philistines' country, playing huge jokes upon them and usually delivering himself by his cleverness and his great strength.

   As a young man, it was evident that Samson was established to be a judge in Israel. He was a great deliverer, and he judged the nation for twenty years. Our knowledge of the conditions of the people are drawn from the Book of Judges, where it says. "Every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judg. 21:25). There, sodomy among the Benjamites caused the rest of the Israelites to wipe out the entire tribe with the exception of six hundred people. There, as craven slaves of the Philistines for nearly fifty years, the Israelites went down to the country of the Philistines to sharpen

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their instruments of agriculture. No swords were allowed in that nation. There the priests committed adultery with the women of the land. In the midst of these sons of Belial, Samson attempted to judge the nation on the basis of God's law. However, the promise made unto Manoah was that Samson should begin to deliver Israel. There is an implication here that he would not complete the deliverance, and he certainly did not. Under the Spirit of God, Samson constituted the only bulwark against the Philistines, who at that period had reached the height of their material prosperity and military strength. The degeneration of his own countrymen was shown when a thousand of them bound him on one occasion and turned him over to the Philistines instead of assisting him to deliver the country from the dominion of the Philistines. During those twenty years as judge of Israel, Samson was striving to do what was right. He was a symbol of self-control and of consecration. Though the sons of Belial waited for his halting, he alone walked with God in a position of power and holiness.

   Samson's power was dependent entirely upon his obedience and his separation. The Lord had chosen Samson for a purpose. He had made a covenant with him before his birth, the sign of which was the Nazarite vow. The parents of Samson were righteous and godly people and not only rehearsed to him the conditions that were revealed to them before his birth but they explained to him the meaning of Nazarite vow and the need of Israel for a great deliverer in their day. Their hopes for this child were high, and they taught him to know the Lord and to observe his part of the conditions imposed by God's covenant.

   At least the Spirit of God was upon him and enabled him to do great exploits. Samson was an example of the text, "they that know their God shall be strong and do exploits" (Dan. 11:32). On one occasion he rent a lion as he would a kid. He alone composed an army able to defeat a thousand Philistines. He could lift up the gates of a city and carry them bodily up to the top of a hill and deposit them in scorn of the enemy. Samson was a man of riddles, one who jested with the enemy and

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who presumed on his own strength. Samson had to learn that it is "not by might nor by power" but by the Spirit of the Lord. (Zech. 4:6).

   Though there were many and wonderful things in the life of Samson, none of them are recorded for us, not even a single case that he judged in Israel; yet the story of his temptation and his weakness and his fall are presented to us in vivid language in order that they may be a warning to us. The point of Samson's weakness was women. Like Solomon, he loved many strange women, and they became a snare unto him (I Kings 11:1).

   First, there was the case of the daughter of Timnath. On one of his expeditions into the country of the Philistines he saw a beautiful face and was lured by it. Quite often love leaps the boundaries of race, creed, and country, leading men into strange unions. Much to the consternation of his parents, on his return he asked that they get that woman for him. His parents remonstrated, saying, "Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?" (Judg. 14:3). But Samson could only answer, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well." Sadness and sorrow descended upon his parents because they saw that this was the beginning of trouble for their wonderful son. The story is a sad experience. It involved days of weeping for Samson's wife, days of disappointment for him, and ultimately death for the entire family of the unfortunate girl who was involved in this episode (Judg. 14:5-15:6).

   The next woman with whom Samson was involved was another Philistine in the capital of their country, Gaza. She was a common sinner of the city, and Samson became enamored with her. We can make no excuse for a man of God being guilty of an action like this, and the Scripture makes no excuse for him either. Samson had again succumbed to his own weakness. It is true that in the midst of the night his conscience warned him and he rose up in time to save his life, delivering himself by a mighty exploit of strength, but his downward path had begun. One cannot take fire into his bosom and not be

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burned. God had mercy upon Samson at this time, but it was of no avail (Judg. 16:1-3).

   The third woman with whom Samson became involved was Delilah, another daughter of the Philistines, who had her home in the beautiful Valley of Sorek. In those days, Palestine's hills were covered with trees, and her valleys had streams of water, and thousands of people inhabited the land. Timnath and Sorek and Gaza were all near together in the south country of the Philistines. Here, beside a quiet river, Delilah had a garden and a home where she entertained her callers. Broken homes are due to women such as this. Our cities in America are full of them. It is because of them that divorces occur in one out of every four marriages. One wonders what a man expects to have when he exchanges a wife and a home for a woman such as this. A careful look at Samson ought to be a strong warning to any who are beset by such a sin. Samson's fall had begun with lust. First, the lust of the eyes, and then the lust of the flesh. Then he proceeded to lying, and finally to abandoning his Nazarite vow and his contract with God. Samson had ample warning against taking up with another Philistine woman after his experiences with the daughter of Timnath and with the woman of Gaza; and the fact that he went on is not only a reproach upon a judge of Israel but is a sad commentary upon the weakness of the man. Thus we behold him as one placed in a high position, elevated to the pinnacle of glory for those times, and yet destined to a most disgraceful fall because he sinned against the Spirit God.

II. DELILAH, THE WOMAN WHO RUINED HIM

   Anyone passing along the Valley of Sorek toward Eshtaol would have seen this beautiful little home with its vineyard and olive trees supported by the money of illicit love. It was inhabited by a famous but beautiful woman named Delilah. Probably this was not her true name but one assumed for her profession. Some think that Samson was married to this woman, but the Scripture gives no implication of this. She was merely the woman of Samson's choice in the hour of his weakness.

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The woman a man chooses reveals what he is. Delilah was physically beautiful but wanton. She misused her feminine appeal to an unusually disgraceful extent, but every woman who feigns love and indulges vanity and coquetry in order to obtain selfish ends is essentially like Delilah. Feminine charm is the gift of God. A woman has received it from her Creator. The appeal of love is that within the power of a woman, and God will certainly hold woman responsible for trifling with and misusing the fairest and best gift.

   Delilah was brilliant and entertaining. Few men are infatuated over a long period of time only with beauty. One can hardly think that the fifty-year-old Julius Caesar would have become enamored and held over a long period of time by the twenty-one-year-old Cleopatra had she not been of a brilliant and entertaining nature as well as beautiful. Samson was irresistibly drawn to Delilah and returned to visit her often because she dazzled him with her wit and her brilliance. Delilah was unbelieving and hence was representative of heathen women. Heathenism knew nothing of the home life that Christianity has created. Woman was either a slave or she was a plaything of man. She was never considered his equal and never entered into the public life of a man. For their banquets and their public affairs, the heathen of antiquity depended upon a class of women such as Delilah. That Samson should have known better is very evident, but so should thousands of other men and women who even marry outside of their own religion. You simply cannot mix Christianity and unbelief, but it is impossible to tell young people this. They invariably come back in tears and heartache and disappointment because of the misunderstanding and the sorrows that arise therefrom. The Scripture says, "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What concord hath Christ with Belial?" (II Cor. 6:14, 15). It is no better to marry outside of the Christian faith today than it was to marry an unbeliever in the days of Samson. The person Samson chose was anything but a helpmate for a holy man of God.

   From the narrative we may quickly sketch the character

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of Delilah. First, she was selfish. It is clear from her dealings with the Philistines that she was covetous of money and wealth. She was ambitious, and she used Samson only to gain materially. Being proud of her ability as a lovemaker, she glorified in the fact that she was able to conquer the affections of the great Israelitish judge.

   Second, she was false to the core. One might argue that she acted in behalf of her own country in order to deliver it from a great enemy and was only like unto Jael, who delivered the Israelites from Sisera, but the difference is that Jael never sold her husband or her lover for a price. Among women, Delilah takes her place as Judas does among men as a great traitor who sold a friend for a bribe.

   Third, Delilah used her love for ulterior purposes. From the love Samson carried for her she could have responded and been true, but she only feigned love. In Delilah we have a woman with no principle, who was evil in every way we approach her character.

   The influence of Delilah over Samson became stronger with every contact between the two. Samson's fall and ruin began in his first visit. The Scripture says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death" (Prov. 14:12). Samson beheld these same practices on every hand round about him, yet he succumbed and became enslaved by this witch. He exchanged the glories of being judge of Israel and a servant of God, a Nazarite, for being the temporarily satisfied companion of a wanton woman. The influence of Delilah was entirely evil. It is true that a woman may lead a man either to heaven or to hell.

   Delilah became the instrument of the Philistine lords. They, too, knew the weakness of Samson's nature, and so they offered her eleven hundred pieces of silver if she would deliver him into their hands. Delilah consented, and the result was a struggle of wit and love. One day Delilah said, "Tell me where your great strength lieth, Samson, and why is it that no one can bind you in order to overcome you at any time? You have done such wonderful things. What is the secret of it all?"

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   This should have revealed to Samson the desire of Delilah but, being so infatuated, he could not see through her craft. Jokingly, he replied that if they would bind him with seven green withes that were never dried, then he should be weak as any other man. While Samson slept, she so bound him and informed the Philistines to wait outside her chamber. Then she cried, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson," and he rose up and broke the bonds as if they were a thread touched by the fire. He had mocked her, and inwardly she was very impatient and angry, but subtly she only reproached him for his lack of love, finally protesting that if he really loved her he ought not to keep any secrets from his dear Delilah.

   After her third failure, she said, "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 lies." It must have seemed to him that his sin became less sinful in that he had given himself to a woman who in spite of her illicit practices had such an ideally beautiful conception of love. She pressed him day by day, and his soul was vexed unto death until he told her all his heart, namely, that the source of his strength was his Nazarite vow, that if his hair were shaved from him he would be as weak as any other man. This time Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, so she summoned the Philistines and had them ready for the final assault. Samson should have been warned as to the nature of a Philistine woman by the seven day's weeping of the daughter of Timnath, which won from him his former secret of the riddle, but instead he allowed himself to be deceived and by a self-revelation of the secret of his power he broke his compact with God. She had attained her purpose.

III. THE RUIN THAT FINALLY ENGULFED SAMSON

   Delilah caused Samson to sleep across her lap, and she called for a Philistine to come and shave off his hair. How the man must have trembled as he performed his task delicately and gently so as not to awake the giant! Once finished, she cried, "Samson, the Philistines be upon thee." He awoke out

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of his sleep and said as at other times, "I will go out and shake myself," and he knew not that the Lord had departed from him (Judg. 16:20). This is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. It depicts the state of a man who has known God and who has lost Him. It is the tragic state of being shelved in God's service. Concerning this, Paul said, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (I Cor. 9:27). What he meant was that God should shelve him in his effective service. It is tragic, once having known the Spirit of the Lord, to have grieved Him away. Paul wrote, "Grieve not the Spirit of God whereby we are sealed against the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). Any besetting sin, any disobedience, any wickedness or evil in the life of the believer may cause him to grieve the Spirit of the Lord and thus to lose the victory.

   Samson had been the great strong man, the unconquerable one, the overcomer, but once he had grieved the Spirit of the Lord away, he lost his victory. Without the Spirit of the Lord, the source of his strength, his power, his victory, and his exploits was gone. It was not Samson's hair that was the source of his strength; it was the fact that the hair was the symbol of the covenant between him and God; and when he broke the covenent by sin, God removed the Spirit of victory and power. It is all too common to see some spiritual giant of God, who has for ten, twenty, or forty years preached the Gospel of Christ with tremendous power and victory, ultimately stripped of the source of his power. On numerous occasions we have listened to men who have boasted of their past deeds but who today are doing absolutely nothing for their Lord. This is a tragic situation.

   Samson went out and shook himself and thought he would defend himself from the Philistines, but he found that his strength had gone and they were able to afflict him and conquer him. Delilah had done what a battalion of Philistine soldiers had failed to do. How she must have glorified in the power of her attraction and in the fame she received there from! Samson's was a rude awakening. He did not know that

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the Spirit of God had departed from him. What an awakening comes to a person, a child of God, who through sin has lost the blessing of the Lord and as a result finds that he can no longer overcome the innumerable difficulties that beset him round about. The Philistines expressed their hatred and spite on him in gouging out his eyes, in binding him, and in afflicting him. They had discerned his weakness, and they had defeated him by it. Be sure that Satan knows exactly where your besetting sin lies and where your weakest point is, and he will strike you there again and again through temptation until you either defeat him once and for all or he brings you low.

   The next scene in Samson's life is in the prison in Gaza. This prison is in the bottom of the house of Dagon, a god of the Philistines. There, in deep humiliation, Samson labors as a slave along with the other slaves, grinding at the mill. He is bound in fetters of brass and has only enough liberty to perform his task. Visitors pass by and laugh, jeer, and call out upon him asking, "Where is your strength now?" Where is the God of Israel? Why do you not do some exploit now?" Samson's only reply is to grind more fiercely. There is a legend that Milton has incorporated in his great poem called, "Samson Agonistes," in which Delilah is supposed to have come to visit Samson in his prison-house in order to implore his forgiveness for her base deed. He cries out:

Out! Out! hyena, these are thy wonted arts,

And arts of every woman false like thee;

To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.

Then as repentant, to submit, beseech,

And reconcilement move with feign'd remorse.

   Then Delilah urges her weakness, saying: "Nor shouldst thou have trusted that to woman's frailty." Then she adds, "Ere I to thee, thou to thyself was cruel." To which Samson replies, "How cunningly the sorceress displays her own transgressions to upbraid me mine!"

   Delilah's statement was true. Before any woman can betray him or be cruel to him, man must betray and be cruel to himself. Yet Samson now made a final renunciation of her and

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turned his heart back to God. We know this because it says, "The hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven." The entire implication is that Samson in the prison house remembered the heights from which he fell, remembered his fellowship with God, and remembered that the source of his power and strength was in the Lord, and so turned unto Him.

   The story ends with a bright spot in the life of Samson. He had grievously sinned, and that sin laid him low. His besetting sin had found him out, and he was defeated by it. As he was in the depths, during a great assembly of the Philistines, he was brought out to make sport, and before them he dances, broke beams, and demonstrated what strength he had, until weary. He asked the lad who led him to take him to the pillars of the house that he might rest. In that vast chamber there were some three thousand Philistines mocking him and praising their god for delivering him into their hands. Then Samson called upon 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." Here he recognized that God was the source of his strength and of his blessing, and he turned unto Him. Samson had lost the presence of God, but he was not himself lost. His punishment was temporal, but the eternal guilt of his sin was remitted. A final gift of strength was given to him in answer to his prayer. He bowed himself, pulled on the pillars, and died in the mighty crash that followed. Here stands a man in whose life sin abounded, but grace did much more abound. By one act of repentance, he returned unto the Lord and was forgiven. So may you.

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