The Seduction of Sin

Judges 16:4-21

Judges 16:4 "After this it came about that he [Samson] loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah."

-Samson over and over again pursued not the godly Jewish women, but he had a weakness for the "bad girls" (the Palestinian women). We see here that he was walking in the valley of Sorek, which was a Palestinian settlement, so he knew he would encounter things he should have stayed away from.

-Although he knew that God commanded His people to steer clear of cohorting with "pagans", here we see Samson willingly PUTTING himself in a situation where he would be able to watch and meet Palestinian women (thus disobeying God's command).

-It's interesting to note that Delilah is a name derived from the Hebrew word "dalal" which literally means to bring low, to be emptied. As we will see, Delilah certainly DID cause Samson to be "brought low" and she emptied him.

-There's a big lesson to be learned here...if you know you have a weakness for something that God forbids, don't even put yourself in a situation where you can fall....don't even go there. The best way to resist temptation is to flee from it...to steer clear of those situations, places, environments, and people who will cause us to fall into temptation. If you have a propensity toward alcoholism, stay away from bars or parties where people are drinking. If you have a tendency to fall into sexual sin, stay clear of movies, TV shows, and internet sites which have scenes that would incite that lust within you; stay clear of even those who talk about sex and joke about it. If you have a habit of using bad language, stop filling your senses with things where people are using that kind of language. Bottom line, if you know your weakness, don't place yourself in a place where you can fall. If you play with fire, you're going to get burned.

-Samson was called to be a Nazirite, which meant that he was dedicated to and belonged to the Lord. But Samson was more devoted to fulfilling his own pleasures than he was in serving and trying to please the Lord. He seems to think that the rules that apply to all others don't apply to him.

Judges 16:5-6 "The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, "Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."
6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you."

-Delilah doesn't hide her intentions, she got right to the point in telling Samson that she wanted him to be subdued so she could destroy him. But Samson probably didn't take her seriously and considered this some sort of sexual playing around.

-We read this and think, "Come on Samson, don't be an idiot. Get out of there!" But how often we do the same thing. We see moral danger coming our way...we know we're going to fall and be destroyed by it, but we do it anyway because there's something within us that always seems to want to dance with danger.

-Take note, the devil does not want to bless you or bring you anything good. He uses temptation to destroy us and tear us down. It is our destruction he ultimately wants to see, no matter how enticing he makes giving into temptation seem or how magnanimous he makes himself out to be.

Judges 16:7-9 "Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man."
8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
9 Now she had men lying in wait in an inner room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the cords as a string of tow snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was not discovered."

-Looking deeper into this verse, we see that Samson had to have been asleep when she bound the cords to him because she called out to him after she was done. If he had been awake the whole time, she would not have had to call out his name.

-It's no secret how he ended up asleep in her presence either. She gave him what he wanted, and in his exhaustion afterwards he fell to sleep. So we see here that Samson was allowing himself to be ensnared by her through his sexual sins. He knew God's commands and he knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he insisted on doing it anyway.

Judges 16:10-14 "Then Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me how you may be bound."
11 He said to her, "If they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man."
12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" For the men were lying in wait in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes from his arms like a thread.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me how you may be bound." And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my hair with the web and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man."
14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into the web. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.

-In verse 14, the web was undoubtedly the cloth which Delilah was weaving in a loom. The pin was the object with which the braided locks were fastened to the web. She probably wove his hair into the cloth. No doubt he would have been in a pretty deep sleep in order to do this. Possibly he was even intoxicated, which was a direct violation of his Nazirite vow since those who took this vow were forbidden from drinking any wine or anything alcoholic. This just comes to show that one sin will ALWAYS lead to another...sometimes in a completely unrelated area of your life.

-Notice also the the more he fudges about the "secret" to his strength, the closer and closer he gets to telling the truth of it. We see him willingly walking down his own path of destruction as he continues to refuse to leave Delilah and the Palestinian regions and, thus, flee from the causes of his sin.

-If there was any doubt in his mind that Delilah was not serious, there certainly is none now. She has proven over and over again that she is being used by the other Palestinians to destroy him. He's been attacked now everytime she actually does to him what he says would bring him down. But he continues to play with fire and dance with danger. Possibly it was his pride? Maybe he had put so much faith in his strength that he had now forgotten, or even was not taking God seriously enough when the Lord had told him not to cut his hair or else the power the Lord gave him would leave. This just comes to show that pride is truly the root of all sin.

Judges 16:15-17 "Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is."
16 It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death.
17 So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, "A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man."

-So now Samson is annoyed. You would think by now that in being annoyed, he would be sick of playing these games with her and would decide to now do the right thing and just leave. But he didn't. He not only did not leave, but he gave in and told her his secret. He revealed to her what he knew would bring about his destruction.

-Samson had become so steeped in his own sins that he had become numb to their dangers. This is true even for us today. We can get so used to living in sin, that we slowly start to view it as not so wrong anymore, and if we continue, we eventually become so numb to the Spirit's voice in our conscience telling us to turn away and repent, that we have completely shut Him out. This, my friends, is dangerous, even deadly.

-When we give into temptation, it becomes easier to give into it again and again and again and... until eventually we are so far down that road that we can no longer control ourselves...the sin completely takes over.

Judges 16:18-21 "When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.
19 She made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him.
20 She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison."

-Samson had gone so far from the Lord in his sin, that he wasn't even aware when the Lord left him. He had fallen so far away from God and His presence, that he had lost all sense and direction in his spiritual life...and didn't even recognize when God had turned away.

-There comes a point where God will stop pursuing you and calling out to you, and you will be left to your sin. If you do not know the Lord, your fate is then sealed. You are spiraling down the path of destruction to hell and you have hardened your heart toward God and there is no turning back.

-Samson had come to expect the grace of God to help him no matter what he did in his life or no matter how often or how much he insisted on living in sin. But Samson woke up to realize that God's grace had left him. You see, we do not deserve God's grace. The whole concept of grace is giving what is undeserved. If we continue to expect His grace, take advantage of it, and continue living in sin without repentance, God's grace will leave us and we will be left to the destruction of the sin we have allowed to infiltrate our lives and hearts.

-All Samson had to do was get up and get out of there, but he didn't...he insisted on doing what he wanted to do and ignoring what God desired for him, and the Lord removed His presence from Samson as a result.

-Samson's life story is really the story of a backslider. Read and learn from his example: you are NOT going to get away with sin. The consequences WILL find you out and you cannot hide it from the Lord or expect that the Lord is always going to be gracious to you. There comes a time when we can push Him away so far that He will leave us to the destruction we've brought upon ourselves. Don't let yourself get to that point. See your sin and the dangers of living in it for what it is, repent and turn back!

-The ONLY way to defeat sin is to give it up to Christ. Rely on Him, surrender your life to Him. Lay hold of the grace of God, leave Sorek, flee from Delilah's house, and escape your own destruction.