Welcome to this episode of Sunday Brunch. The Sunday Brunch blog posts are warm and inviting, encouraging discussion about the Bible.  

This blog post was sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you like stories about faith and Christianity then you must read Loving Luke by Cecelia Dowdy. Loving Luke is about a reunion between Luke and Kim, two childhood sweethearts. It’s a Christmas novel full of love, regrets, and second chances. There’s also a bakery and plenty of delicious desserts wrapped within this amazing story. Can Luke and Kim find the courage to overcome their hang-ups and learn to love again? Loving Luke has been an Amazon bestselling novel with several 5-star reviews! Purchase today and tell your friends by sharing this blog post! The purchase link for Loving Luke is at the end.

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Judges Chapter 16

Do you remember learning about Samson in Sunday School? What do you remember about him?

Let’s read and discuss Samson’s life as told in the Old Testament. We’ll continue with Chapter 16. When I share Chapter 16, I will read each verse, sharing my thoughts in between the verses, just as I’ve done in earlier chapters. If you are reading this, my thoughts are bolded in brackets.

Samson and Delilah

Chapter 16

One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.” [It appears that the people of Gaza were angry at Samson, probably for reasons outlined in Chapter 15. The Gazans plot to kill him. Some quick research on Google indicates that the people of Gaza were part of the Philistine nation. There were 5 Philistine cities: Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron and Gath]

3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he 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. [I noticed in this instance that the scripture does NOT mention that the spirit of the Lord came upon him when he used his strength. I guess we can assume that the spirit of the Lord came upon him – just as the spirit had behaved in previous verses.]

4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. [I wonder about Samson falling in love with Delilah. How long did he know her before he knew he was in love? It would be great if we could see more details about Samson’s courtship with Delilah. Knowing more details might give us more perspective about what happens next.] 5 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.”

6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.” [I honestly do not understand why Samson was not suspicious of Delilah? He lied to her, and when the Philistines tried to subdue him, his lie to her was exposed. Wouldn’t an ordinary man, even a man in love, realize that this woman could not be trusted? Samson was a physically strong judge – the spirit of the Lord was granted to him. In spite of his physical strength, the Lord did not seem to grant him wisdom.]

11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads. [Again, this is puzzling. Why wasn’t Samson suspicious? Shouldn’t he have thought it was odd that twice in a row, he’s revealed a lie to Delilah, and then, upon waking, finds himself bound with the offensive material? Also, Samson must’ve been a VERY HARD sleeper. He didn’t even wake up when he was tied with the bowstrings and the new ropes!]

13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”

He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and tightened it with the pin. [Again, this is so strange. Samson slept through this? He didn’t feel anything tugging on his head? I wonder if Delilah drugged him and he was unaware of it? Perhaps she slipped some kind of sleeping concoction into his wine?]

Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it. [This reminds me of Samson’s wife in Chapter 14. His wife begged him to tell her the answer to his riddle.]

17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “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.” [I suppose Samson losing his strength is symbolic of his breaking his vow to God. I believe we discussed having a covenant, or vow, with God in an earlier podcast. Samson wasn’t supposed to shave his head. Although his head was shaved against his will, I’m assuming God still considered this a broken vow. Life in Old Testament times was too hard and too unjust. Can you imagine being held accountable for something that was done against your will? Granted, Samson’s plight might not have happened if he’d had some wisdom and logic. Samson’s plight is just one example of the reasoning behind the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As humans we are flawed, even those of us who have a deep faith in God still have countless faults that we are unable to overcome. We just need to have deep faith and try to live the best lives that we can.]

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, [As already mentioned, I believe she drugged him. The verse states “after putting him to sleep”. This sounds like what a mother does to her child, rock him to sleep or something similar to that. I believe she probably sweet talked him, had sex with him, and then drugged him before moving forward.]

[Another thought – I find it puzzling that the Philistine rulers gave Delilah the silver! How do they know that Samson was telling the truth this time! It seems as if the rulers should’ve given Delilah the silver after Samson had been captured?]  she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. [I’m puzzled about Samson gleaning strength through his hair. I feel that the power of God is what gives Samson strength, not his hair. Again, I’m reminded of superheroes. Remember Superman? His strength is robbed when he’s exposed to Kryptonite, just as Samson’s strength diminishes when his head is shaved. To have a vow with God to never cut your hair – a vow that was made before Samson was even born – and then to have great strength to do whatever he wanted to do, physically, through his hair, and through God’s power, sounds almost unreal. It sounds like a fairy tale.] 

21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. [I wonder why the Philistines gouged out his eyes? Was it simply pure malice and hatred which caused such an act of brutality?]

The Death of Samson

23 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.”

24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,

“Our god has delivered our enemy

    into our hands,

the one who laid waste our land

    and multiplied our slain.”

25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 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.” 29 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, 30 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. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived. [All I can say is wow, Samson got his revenge. I believe that the Philistines are not very intelligent. They knew that Samson’s strength was linked to his hair. It’s possible that they were so elated about his capture that they forgot about his hair growing back. If they’d paid attention, they would’ve shaved his head – preventing his final act of revenge. However, this happened according to God’s will, so, I suppose God simply did not want the Philistines to remember the source of Samson’s strength.]

31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years. [This is the first I’ve read about Samson’s brothers. I don’t recall them being mentioned before. I wonder what kind of relationship he had with his brothers growing up and afterwards? Did his brothers envy Samson’s strength? Were they jealous because, possibly, Samson was their parents’ favorite child? The verse also mentions his father’s whole family. I wonder what other relatives Samson had? Sisters? His mother was barren before he was born, so, not sure if she had other children after Samson had been born?]

So, do you remember learning about Samson in Sunday School? What do you remember about him?

This blog post was sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you like stories about faith and Christianity then you must read Loving Luke by Cecelia Dowdy. Loving Luke is about a reunion between Luke and Kim, two childhood sweethearts. It’s a Christmas novel full of love, regrets, and second chances. There’s also a bakery and plenty of delicious desserts wrapped within this amazing story. Can Luke and Kim find the courage to overcome their hang-ups and learn to love again? Loving Luke has been an Amazon bestselling novel with several 5-star reviews! Purchase today and tell your friends by sharing this blog post! The purchase link for Loving Luke is at the end.

Subscribe to this blog by leaving a reply and selecting “Notify me of new posts by email.”

LOVING LUKE