DANGEROUS GAMES OF THE HEART! (Judges 16:4-14)

Doesn’t it come so sudden! … Judges 16:4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Previously, he been declaring his undying love to the woman he had married from Timnath (… that he hadn’t completely!), and now he has ‘fallen head over heels’ for another one! … Didn’t he make life awful complicated for himself! He was looking for love in all the wrong places.

Before we see where he is now, let’s remind ourselves where he has been.

At the very beginning, 13:25 the spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol, - he was doing the Lord’s work as the judge of Israel. He started off fine, but he became waylaid when he happened to go outside the localities of Zorah and Eshtaol and he made his way into the town of Timnath, - not too far, only about five miles down the road from his hometown of Zorah.

After experiencing the trauma of a sham marriage, his frustration took him to Ashkelon, - about twenty-three miles from Timnath, - where he slew thirty of their men. He then returned the twenty-three miles or so to Timnath to consummate his marriage with his wife … only to find she had been given to someone else. He reeked his revenge by catching three hundred foxes, tying them in pairs tail-to-tail, fixing a torch to each pair and letting them loose in the grain fields of the Philistines.

In retaliation, the Philistines burned his wife and father-in-law … to which Samson responded by killing more of them. He then went off to the top of a rock called Etam, - about eighteen miles south-east of Timnath, in rugged countryside. From Etam, he was taken by three thousand men of Judah to the Philistines camped at Lehi, about ten miles away. There he succeeded in killing one thousand of them with the jawbone of a donkey.

From Lehi he travelled to Gaza … about forty miles along difficult sometimes terrain. In Gaza he was distracted by the Philistine prostitute. In our last study we left him having ripped the gate posts of the city out of their sockets, along with the posts and bar … and we left him somewhere out towards the city of Hebron, - with these things on his shoulders … after having walked about another forty miles or so.

2 So, it is not as if he was not able to do something substantial, it just happens that what he did was done for all the wrong reasons. After all his travelling, we find him again ‘dangling over the edge’ of another precarious relationship. He is in love again! … Let’s see what is happening now …

SAMSON’S INFATUATION … v.4 he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.  He is truly taken with Delilah. Notice again, though, the direction he has taken … he has once again gone down … this time into the valley.  He is not as far from home, - from Zorah, - but he nevertheless has gone down again.  The Valley of Sorek lay on the border of Judah and the Philistine country, - it is a dangerous thing to linger at the enemy’s border. Your defences are not the same. You are not far enough back from them to get a clear picture of what is going on … and he is about to get caught again … but this time it is going to end up more devastating than before.  Look at what Judges 15:20 says about him, And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. It is a verse that covers a significant length of time.  There must be some reason we read in 13:24 that the Lord blessed him. It must have been during this period of relative peace and calm, prosperity and freedom. … Samson did have his good times … and it seems these twenty years was when he truly knew the Lord’s blessing.  He would first have come on the scene when he was about twenty or so. Now, twenty years later, he’s ‘hitting’ middle age and he is starting to become restless again. He returns to wondering if there was more to life.  Samson had a hankering for the world again … and we find him down in the valley laying himself wide open to the enemies of his people and the enemies of God.  Really, during those twenty years (15:20) he hadn’t changed, - he simply had covered his old nature up . … The devil got the better of him when he was down in Gaza and the old serpent took him into the prostitute’s brothel, - this ‘man of God’. … You can always be sure the devil will lead you places you never ought to go!  What do we know about Delilah’s background … this latest woman he ‘fell in love’ with?  Some scholars think her name means “devotee, or darling”. They would go on to suggest she possibly was a temple prostitute. 3  Now, that is not altogether impossible but she is not referred to as such … as the woman in Gaza was.  Nevertheless, Delilah was prepared to sell herself for the opportunity of learning the secret of Samson’s strength. That would put her on a level not too different from a prostitute.  She is not actually referred to as a Philistine. Some other scholars reckon her name might have come from the Hebrew word dalal, which means “to weaken, to impoverish” … and she certainly managed to do that to Samson!  She may have been a Philistine, she may not … and it doesn’t really matter … but Samson became infatuated with her.  This was just a couple of miles outside his home town, - this was all very convenient and very familiar territory for him.  In some ways, he might have found an added attraction, - something to smile about in his own wry type of humour, - if she had been a Philistine with a Hebrew name. He could have seen her as being ‘half and half’ … and such a peculiarity would have amused him.  The word in the Hebrew that describes his love for her is the word ’ahab. It can mean having a ‘human love for another, having an appetite for them’. Samson certainly had an ‘appetite’ for this woman!  The first woman he went for, - from Timnath, - he liked because of her good looks, 14:2 I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.  The second woman, - the prostitute in Gaza, - was pure lust.  Delilah, though, … she was different, … he loved her (16:4).  There is actually neither mention nor insinuation that she was, - or became, - his wife … It seems Samson has gotten himself mixed up again in another un-God-glorifying relationship.  Satan was opening the door for another failure … and Samson runs right through it!  You see, some people innocently put Samson and Delilah together and come up with husband and wife … but the Bible doesn’t say that … and, anyway, he would have brought her home if she was his wife … rather than moving in with her. …  He was living with her … and it would not have bothered him because we saw earlier in Gaza he was no stranger to sexual promiscuity.  Isn’t it sad when God’s people fall foul of the enemy’s attractions!  Previously in Gaza, - in another woman’s bed, - the enemy nearly captured him … Here again, he does not seem to have learned! 4  He loved this woman, - whatever the true meaning of his love for her actually was … but there is no mention, or even the slightest hint, she loved him.  He was out ‘for a good time’, but once again he got caught! … He simply drifted into becoming besotted, smitten, intoxicated, driven by the wrong emotions that had inflamed his passions.  This was another disaster about to happen! Samson’s infatuation, v.4 he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

THE PHILISTINES’ INFILTRATION ... v.5 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:  Samson is at great fault here. As we have noticed, he is again down in the valley … the Valley of Sorek. Nobody carried him there, and told him to stay. It was his decision.  In the Jewish Midrash, - a rabbinical commentary on the Old Testament, - the sorek is an empty, fruitless tree. The rabbis used this to show us Samson is soon to find out the absolute humiliation of picking from a forbidden fruit whose name is Delilah.  Some commentators would also tell us ‘Sorek’ means ‘choice vines’, - ‘the Valley of Choice Vines”. Yes, we can see that too … for Samson thought he had a ‘choice vine’ in Delilah … but Delilah was in the enemy’s employment. …  He had been ‘playing’ with the two women … and now this woman is about to ‘play’ with him.  And notice the direction the enemy came from, - v.5 the lords of the Philistines came up unto her. … He was already down in the valley of Sorek, and along comes more of the enemy that was from a place even further down! What chance had Samson among a crowd like this!!  He would hardly have noticed the Philistines, - he would have been entranced with Delilah, - he ‘only had eyes for her’. … He was blind even before they gouged his eyes out later in Gaza!  He was in the middle of these Philistines, and with people who belonged to the tribes of Israel who had accepted the yoke of the enemy … but he could not see the danger he was in!  Entice him, they said. Use whatever means it takes! Flaunt yourself. Give him anything he wants … just find out the secret of his strength! … Cast out your bait and reel him in. Lure him with whatever it takes! 5  At that point, they did not want to kill him. They wanted to neutralise his power, capture him, torture him, and to use him as an object of sport before they would kill him. They wanted to make fun of him!  They had their plans worked out as to what they were going to do … and Samson was in the place where he was making their task easier!  The Philistines knew that if they could capture and humiliate the mighty champion of the people of Israel, estimation of their power and ability to rule would rise among all the surrounding nations.  They saw Delilah as ‘the way in’. They did not know what made Samson so strong. They probably thought he had a charm or some magical spell he used, - … they were idol worshippers … and that was the way their minds worked.  They would have had no understanding of the true source of Samson’s strength … so they offered Delilah eleven hundred pieces of silver each for being able to hand Samson over to them.  The Philistines’ infiltration … they infiltrated the place where Samson ought not to have been, and they set about on the plan with another woman he ought not to have been with.  Samson’s infatuation, the Philistines’ infiltration …

DELILAH’S INQUISITION  From the question Delilah asked Samson we can very easily see subtlety was not her strong point! Surely, with the experience Samson has already had, ‘alarm bells’ should have been ringing.  Delilah said to him, v.6 Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. … “Tell me how, - if anyone wanted to know, - … how they could take away your strength, tie you up, and do you grievous bodily harm?”  Ought not Samson to have been even slightly suspicious?! What a question to ask!  Obviously Delilah did not love Samson. She had no hesitation in taking the payment from the men to do their work. Her first loyalty was to herself … and the eleven hundred pieces of silver each of the lords of the Philistines promised her!  She went in to him and she pretended she loved him as much as he loved her. She played the game!  I could imagine him lying there … looking into her eyes. She would have had a lovely smile on her face and tone in her voice. He would have been captivated. … 6  Then, in soft seductive tones, - still looking into his eyes, she would say, Samson, v.6 Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. … She was so polite. “Samson, I would just like to know.”  Well, we already know Samson enjoyed playing games. … He ‘took on’ the young lion, and he teased the Philistines with the riddles … and he started playing games with Delilah too.  It’s a bad idea to play games with the enemy. You don’t play with the enemy, you fight them! They don’t play by the same rules we do, v.7 Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs [cords] that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.  Hoping to get her money, she told the Philistines and they went and brought her seven green withs [cords] that were never dried. She tied him up, and he went to sleep! … He had nothing to worry about.  The Philistines were hiding in the room with Delilah, and she called out Samson, Samson, the Philistines be upon thee (v.9) … and he wakened and broke the cords as if they were merely threads.  Delilah wasn’t pleased, v.10 thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.  It was alright for her to do what she wanted to do … the enemy thinks completely differently to us! That is why we should not have anything to do with them. Samson should not have been there!  He ‘played’ with her again, he told her, v.11 If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.  She did as she did before. She found the ropes and tied him up. She called out to him again, and once more these Philistine lords were in wait abiding in the chamber (v.12) … and once again Samson snapped the ropes.  Now look what she said to him, - you have mocked me twice and you have told me lies twice (vv. 10,13). She was trying to take the strength from him … but she was the one who was being wronged?!!  Look at what he next tells her, v.13 If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web [loom]. … He is coming close to telling her his secret. He is mentioning his hair now. The more you play with the enemy, the more dangerous the game becomes and the more you are likely to play into his hands, and that is what is happening here. It was a dangerous game.  You see, the secret was in the hair. He was feeling confident. He reckoned he had it all under control. He thought he was invincible … 7  Now, he’s letting her touch his hair. She does not know the secret yet, but he is letting her get closer and closer and closer.  So, he lets her put his long hair into the loom … what is happening?  He is playing with the enemy and he doesn’t even know it!  How often have you and I played with the enemy … only to lose!  We thought we could cope. We thought we could play around with something we shouldn’t even have been near. And we remember how we became more and more ‘sucked in’ … and we have the ‘scars’ to show it.

CONCLUSION  “Come into the parlour, said the spider to the fly, It’s the nicest little parlour that ever you didst spy”.  King David wrote a psalm about the transgression of the wicked, 36:2 he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. 3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. There is no truth in them.  Delilah accused Samson of mocking her and telling her lies … while all the time she had the Philistines in the bedroom ready to pounce on Samson!  Samson was only a couple of miles from home … and yet he was in the most dangerous of all the places he had been. You don’t need to stray far to put your testimony and your witness for the Lord in jeopardy.  You can ruin your testimony at home, in the workplace, or in the most familiar of surroundings … and you can be sure, there will always be someone to witness your failures.  Now, it is almost inevitable that you make mistakes … but there is no need to intentionally take yourself into situations where you make them all the more easy for the devil to catch you out.  In another era, Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem when the enemy sent him the invitation to meet with them in the valley of Ono. He knew what they were up to! … Neh. 6:2 they thought to do me mischief.  His message to them was simple and plain, - he said “Oh, no!” to the valley of Ono, v.3 I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?  As with Delilah’s persistence with Samson, they sent Nehemiah four more messages … and each time his answer was the same. … We dare not play with the enemy. It’s too dangerous!  It started off with Samson’s infatuation, … and it gave the opportunity to the Philistines’ infiltration, and so it opened the door wide for Delilah’s inquisition. 8  The psalmist knew all about the enemy’s plans, he declared, 143:9 Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.  … Well wrote the hymn writer, … O safe to the Rock that is higher than I, my soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly; so sinful, so weary, thine, thine, would I be; thou blest Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in thee.

In the calm of the noontide, in sorrow's lone hour, in times when temptation casts over me its power; in the tempests of life, on its wide, heaving sea, thou blest Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in thee.

How oft in the conflict, when pressed by the foe, I have fled to my refuge and breathed out my woe; how often, when trials like sea billows roll, have I hidden in thee, O thou Rock of my soul!

Hiding in thee, hiding in thee, thou blest Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in thee.

 Sin and the devil are not good playmates for the people of God.  I trust in our study this evening we would see what is happening in this Biblical account before us, and we would beware of those many and subtle dangers as we watch Samson play with the enemy.  May God teach us from His Word, and may He find us heeding its warnings … to His glory. Amen.