The story of Samson and Delilah is one of the most intriguing in Scripture. Samson’s weakness for women is displayed in his first marriage, and then his rendezvous with a lady of the night in Gaza. But when he met Delilah his weakness became a physical weakness.
Samson’s enemies, the Philistines, had spent years trying to subdue the man with superhuman strength, but he continually got the better of them, as he routinely wreaked havoc on their entire city. In Delilah Samson saw a beautiful woman, but the Philistines saw a golden opportunity. They promised to make her rich if she could find a way to enslave their bitter rival. And she tried. She asked him the secret of his strength. At first that may have appeared to be small talk, but even a bonehead like Samson should have realized that something was off.
The first time she asked, Samson told her that one only needed to bind his hands with seven fresh bowstrings, and then he would be like any average Joe. He drifted off to sleep, only to be awakened by her cry that the Philistines had come in to capture him. He snapped the strings like they were twigs. He lied because he did not trust her, and now his suspicions were confirmed. Delilah tried again, and Samson lied again. He told her to bind his hands with new ropes, and then the same thing happened. Then he told her to weave his hair into a loom, and then same thing happened.
Why in the world would he stay with her? She clearly was not on his side. She pressed him hard, begging him day after day, accusing him of not really loving her (as if she really loved him). When he couldn’t stand the nagging any more—the Bible says “his soul was vexed to death”—he finally relented and told her the truth: if his hair was cut, he would be like any ordinary person.
And with those words, he drifted off to sleep with his head in her lap, and his life in her hands. Judges 16:19 tells us, “She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.”
This time when she yelled that the Philistines had come for him, Samson awoke to learn what he already knew would happen. He was powerless. His enemies gouged out his eyes and led him away as their prisoner, and he would eventually die in an arena full of people mocking him.
I always wonder: how did Samson drift off to sleep with his head in Delilah’s lap? He should have kept his head and his hair as far from her as possible. When you go to sleep in Delilah’s lap, don’t be surprised to wake up with a haircut.
My fear is that too many Christians go to sleep in Delilah’s lap. We cozy up to the world. We enjoy what they enjoy. We do what they do. We talk how they talk. We should not be surprised when we make a mess of our lives. Instead of being cozy with the world, Jesus said to come out from them and be separate (II Corinthians 6:17).
If you go to sleep in Delilah’s lap, you’ll wake up with a haircut. We are in the world, but we need to stay as far away from the world as we possible can.
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