18. Staying on Higher Ground: Samson – Yield Not to Temptation

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Hymns: RHC 414 Is Your All On the Altar? 387 I Need Thee Every Hour 401 Yield Not to Temptation

Judges 16

1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. 2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. 3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. 4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. 6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou ightiest be bound to afflict thee. 7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. 10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou ightiest be bound. 11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread. 13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou ightiest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. 14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. 15 And she said unto him, 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 lieth. 16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; 17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. 19 And 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. 20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. 21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. 22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. 23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. 25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. 26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. 28 And Samson called unto 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. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. 31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

Yield Not to Temptation

OUTLINE

  • Enticed (v1-6) 
  • Betrayed (v7-21)
  • Death (v22-31)

INTRODUCTION

James gave these words of warning and exhortation not to yield to temptation for yielding is sin – James 1:12-16 (KJV) Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. 

The Greek word rendered “temptation” mean both “testing” and “temptation”. James dealt with testings and trials in the believer’s life in verses 2-12. How he focuses on temptation.

Temptation is the enticement to sin. Its lure, its attraction, its seduction, its draw, its pull, its invitation, its bait, its decoy, its snare, its trap is to be understood for the protection of God’s people. Its undesirable desire, its “irresistible” urge, the itch, the impulse, the inclination is to be studied carefully as a siren sound, as a warning to its dire consequences. As a piece of advice, godly council, lest we veer off course and suffer for it, paying a high price, shipwrecking our lives.

Gary Brady said in his book “Heavenly Wisdom”, “Sin speaks so affably, so convivially, so genially…how agreeable and attractive it sounds…there is great deal of apparent friendliness on the broad road to destruction. What camaraderie!”[1]

The nature or the temper of the fallen man in us has to be understood for our eternal benefit so that we can wage a good warfare for our protection.

Our character Samson was sorely tempted when he met a harlot in Gaza. It was a key seaport near his hometown of Zorah. 

  • Enticed (v1-6) 

1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. 2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. 3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. 4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 

Samson first took a Philistine girl to wife, transgression the commandment of God. Now, he went further to defile himself with a harlot.

Samson fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah. When this became known, the lords of the Philistines offered her great reward if she would lure Samson into revealing the secret of his great strength.

The Apostle Paul tells us that the spiritual life is a warfare. Warfare between the flesh and the spirit. The flesh speaks of the fallen corrupt tendency towards sin.

Galatians 5:16-17 (KJV) 16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Galatians 5:19-21 (KJV) 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

He tells them that if they would mortify or put to death the flesh, then it will bring forth the spirit’s fruit in their life.

Galatians 5:22-25 (KJV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Proverbs 5 is Solomon’s warning to give us an illustration of the battle between the flesh and the spirit in verses 1-6 and the counsel in verses 7-14 in the setting of a marriage, the disruption of the marriage union between the husband and the wife by the snare of a third party that seeks to disrupt that union.

Proverbs 5:1-14 (KJV) My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

When we study diligently the word of God, personalizing the lessons with much prayer, it will build in us a spirit of self-control, a restraining spirit, and a resolute spirit to do what is right in the sight of God (keeping the Sabbath). It internalizes for us the reason for doing what we do so that it becomes a part of our way of life, a godly habit and a godly heritage we pass to our children. It also internalizes for us the consequences of what we should not do giving to us that godly instinct to respond correctly each time when we are faced with a choice, that we may choose the fear of God (Proverbs 1:29). 

This “if” is a big “if”, if our hearts are not quiet and hushed before Him to listen to His still small voice. The voices of this world, its care and demands are often so overwhelming. Coming to the annual church camp is one good choice we can all made to be quiet before Him. It is my prayer that we will shut out all distractions and focus our hearts on the deep meditation and study of His Word. Therefore we must begin on the right footing, with a heart prepared, ready and still before Him, to receive His teaching. 

 3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

The way of seduction, the way of temptation is very pleasant, inviting and broad. But on closer examination, it is a trap! A trap that will ruin a happy marriage.

Recall the story of Joseph in Genesis 39. He was also a good-looking guy. And because of this, Joseph’s master’s wife notices him and begins to proposition him, without much in the way of subtlety either. “Come to bed with me!” she says to him.

But Joseph consistently refuses her. He says, Hey look, my master has such trust in me, he doesn’t concern himself with anything in the house; he’s put everything he owns in my care. I’m the top guy here. He’s kept nothing of his from me, except for you, because you’re his wife. So, with all that in mind, how could I possibly do such a terrible thing, and sin against God.

But in spite of his refusals, she persists. Day, after day, after day she continues to proposition him. But Joseph continues to refuse to go to bed with her, or even to be with her. One day though, he goes into the house to do his work, and the place is empty. None of the other servants are around. Potiphar’s wife is the only one there. She grabs him by his cloak and says (for the one-thousandth time), “Come to bed with me!” But he escapes out of his cloak, leaving it in her hand, and runs out of the house.

When she realizes Joseph left his cloak in her hand when he fled, she calls in her servants and says, Look! This Hebrew is making a joke of us! He came in here to have his way with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream, he left his cloak laying here beside me and ran.

She keeps his cloak next to her until Potiphar comes home, and she tells him her story: That Hebrew slave guy you brought us came into my room to force himself on me. But fortunately, I screamed, and as soon as I did he left his cloak beside me and ran. This is how your slave has treated me!

After Potiphar hears the story he’s outraged. He takes Joseph and has him locked up in the prison where the king’s prisoners are kept.

Potiphar’s wife was relentless in her efforts to seduce Joseph. But the question for you today is, who’s seducing you? Or more accurately, who or what is seducing you?

It’s important to see we can learn from Joseph’s example concerning relationships with the opposite sex. But there’s something even more important to learn here. I think the key words in this passage of scripture are Joseph’s words about God. (Gen. 39:9) What’s most important here is the issue of fidelity, but not Joseph’s fidelity to Potiphar, or Potiphar’s wife’s infidelity, but Joseph’s fidelity to his God.

Genesis 39:9 (KJV) 9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

For Samson, this was not so. He was a man who falls prey to the enticement of the flesh.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. 6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou ightiest be bound to afflict thee.

Delilah was made used by Samson or Israel’s enemy to know the secret of his strength so as to quell the light of Israel. By his great strength, the strength that God endows him, he was a protector to his people.

The tempter has his way of making in-routes to trap the children of God. Samson yielded to temptation to go for the harlot and he now faces an invisible enemy in Delilah, tasked to find out the secret of his strength so as to defeat Israel.

  • Betrayed (v7-21)

7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. 10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou ightiest be bound. 11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread. 13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou ightiest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. 14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. 15 And she said unto him, 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 lieth. 

On her first attempt, Samson said that if he were bound with seven fresh bowstrings, he would become weak. She thereupon tied him with … seven fresh bowstrings and suggested that the Philistines were about to pounce on him. But Samson broke the cords as if they were a strand of yarn.

On the second attempt, Delilah followed Samson’s suggestion by binding him with new ropes and warning him that the Philistines were closing in for the kill. But again Samson broke his bonds as if they were thread.

Still playing with fire, Samson told Delilah that he would be helpless if she wove the seven locks of his hair and then fastened them into the web of the loom. When she woke him up with the warning that the Philistines were about to seize him, he left with the batten and the web. [William MacDonald]

16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; 17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. 19 And 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. 20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. 21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

Finally, Samson broke down and revealed to Delilah the secret of his strength. His long hair, while not the source of his power, was the outward indication of his being a Nazirite—his separation to God. It was his relationship to God that made him strong, not his hair. But if his hair were cut off, he would be powerless. Delilah knew now that she had his secret. When he was asleep on her knees, she called in the Philistines. One of them shaved his head, and his strength left him.

C. H. Mackintosh observes:

The lap of Delilah proved too strong for the heart of Samson, and what a thousand Philistines could not do was done by the ensnaring influence of a single woman. [William MacDonald]

  • Death (22-31)

22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. 23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. 25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. 26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. 28 And Samson called unto 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. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. 31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

Sexual impurity was the main cause of Samson’s fall. The “lust of the eyes” overwhelmed him. Samson “saw” the Philistine girl and could not say “no” to what he saw. It is interesting to note that at the end of his life, God ordered the events such that his eyes were being gouged out as if to remind what Jesus said in Matthew 5:28 “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” The judgment was recorded in Judges 16:21 “But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.” 

Wiersbe observed well, “It is tragic that a servant of the Lord, raised in a godly home, was now the umiliated slave of the enemy. But even worse, the Philistines gave glory to their god Dagon for helping them capture their great enemy. Instead of bringing glory to the God of Israel, Samson gave the enemy opportunity to honour their false gods. Dagon was the god of grain, and certainly the Philistines remembered what Samson had done to their fields.”

CONCLUSION

May the Lord grant His people to understand the snare of carnal temptation and be protected from it. Amen.

[1] Gary Brady, Heavenly Wisdom, Evangelical Press, 2003, 43.