Jg. 16: Delilah, the Plain White Tease

Judges 16:22 "But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved."

After a while, Samson got the itch, if you know what I mean. The itch we all know and love. The itch that can only be scratched while temporarily in the arms of a sweaty Middle-Eastern hooker. So he went into Gaza to find one, but just kind of hung out instead til about midnight. Then, he did what comes natural, he tore up the city gates and carried them up the hill to Hebron. Vulgar display of power? This sounds like something a teenager does to express his angst, some kind of big showy display for no reason, but you can tell he is...emotional. What does this mean? Is this a window into Samson's state of mind? Is he depressed? How much more can he take?

Anyway, later on, he falls in love with this woman named Delilah. And right away, she was urged by her country men to lure him into telling the secret of his awesome strength already, because Man! The Philistines have tried everything! What do you gotta do? So Delilah, under the influence of receive 1100 silver shekels from each of the Philistine rulers asks Samson why he is so strong, and what it takes to subdue him. Each time, he lies to her, and each time, she does what he says, and each time, the Philistine men are there trying whatever it was she told them he told her. Each time it fails miserably.

Does Samson catch on? I guess not. Did he not see the connection between what he told Delilah, and what the Philistines tried on him? Is Samson the first dumb jock?

Anyway, Delilah pesters him until he can take no more (women, am I right?), and he tells her about the Nazirite thing. That works. They shaved him, and he became weak, because a razor had touched his head. The power of God was compelled to leave him. Weak as a little girl, the blinded Samson was imprisoned to grind grain. That stinks. But my favorite verse here is verse 22, where it talks about his hair growing again. It doesn't say what that means...you know what it means. His strength will grow back with it.

And in a way this speaks to how God returns to those who repent and turn back to him, as God's strength returned to Samson to pull one final lethal prank on the Philistines, ironically as they were celebrating their own god's superiority in that they had captured Samson. Interesting that the "power" of other gods is only evident...well...perceived in the absence of the power of God. Samson prayed to God for the strength to take revenge on the Philistines...who God was already mad at, and he took down the pillars in the temple, crushing the pagan revelers and Philistine rulers. Awesome.