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Episode 492: In this episode, we explore the complex relationship between Samson and Delilah. We discuss how Samson's arrogance and womanizing tendencies ultimately lead to his downfall. Despite his incredible strength, Samson's weakness for women and his self-centered nature proves to be his undoing. We also analyze the progression of sin in Samson's life, highlighting how his gradual descent into temptation and deception ultimately separates him from the power of the Holy Spirit.
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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, welcome to the Bible Guys. I'm Chris. This is Jeff and who. We are together together, but in this place, not together doing this. Yes we're near, Yes we're near. We're close, and so we are about to tackle one of the most famous couples in all of history, Samson and Delilah. Yeah, Samson and Delilah is not the same as Jeff and Chris. No, that's correct, very very different, very different. We're more like Batman and Robbins, which we're more like. We're being clear when I said we're together, we're more like sam and Frodo, right, right, that's right. That's right. So before we jump into that, however, Desiree has a which she is titling a passage question. I'm assuming she's meaning the passage that we're about to talk about. Really, she says, today we're talking about the story of Samson and Delilah. So let's ask a fun related question. If Samson's strength could be activated only by a specific, completely random song, what song would you pick and why that's hilarious. Yes, I didn't. I didn't even read that until just now. I had neither. Okay, do you want to give it a shot? I had one. Best tough guy song. Okay, what's yours? Okay, ready, see if you can guess the next line? Ready, Romeo and Juliet, I don't know, Samson and Delilah. Oh, there you go. There that's the idea. Yeah, well, so that's how his strength is activated? Is that song? That's what she sang, That's what she's saying. So we have to pick a song. I was gonna say something like Iya the Tiger or something cool. Yeah, yeah done, yeah, don don yeah, all of a sudden, all of a sudden he snaps the ropes. Or or the beginning of Crazy Train might be good. There you go. Yeah, Back in Black would be a good one. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. The beginning of Welcome to the Jungle, Yeah, Welcome to the Jungle. Yeah. Yeah, you know when we get to the ending part, you know, the ending where he's you know, in the in the in the day Gun's temple. Yeah, I can't imagine, you know, you know, the tiger in that situation. Yep, but uh yeah, I don't know. I can't think of any other good themes. I don't even know the song that I sang Roomy You and Juliet. You don't know the songs. I don't know it. I mean, I'm like vaguely aware that those lyrics exist, but I don't know. I think it's the one where goes and then we kis sou fire there you go late at night. I don't know me, I don't know. Yeah, that's that's the one. Yeah, yeah, it's I think it's called fire, I think, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, that's what listen. So well, that was an interesting segment. It was very different, wasn't that very I got a hand it to her for being different. Yes, She's like, hey, if Sampson's strength can be activated by a song. What kind of song? Yeah? Have you ever thought about that, like having a theme song when you walk around and just when you walk into a room. I saw Emperor's New Groove when when Kronk was trying to get rid of the Llama and he was running through the city, and he was and then and then all of a sudden, Dana Carvey says, or it wasn't Dana Carvey who played David Spade, and he played the voice of Emperor's new group, you know, Emperor Crusco. And he goes who sings their own theme music? He says, his own theme music? And I actually thought to myself, if I have my own theme music, what. Would it be? Yeah, what would it be? I honestly I like that at the bone. I know it's so there you go, It's so typical. That's such a good one though. I mean, that is cool. They played it when I was walking up to receive my award in college. That's what they played, like that song. Yes, so you won an award in college? So what is this story? How is this never come up on this podcast? One that you won an award? And two they paid bad to the bone when you're oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. So okay, so you didn't win an award at college. That was the shock to me. Yes, you want it while you were in college. Hilarious, while you were in college. You were shocked that I had a collegiate. Well, no, just that I didn't know about it. I thought you would have bragged about that by now, So you know that is not award. No, now you're putting words in my mind. Well, because you know, were college I went to like, how could that college honor you? So no, no, I was, I was in college. It was a job award job. It was a job I was. I was number one in the company in the whole nation in that particular month, and I was there with eight hundred of the top people across the country, and. Uh, and it was. It was excellent. So they were you know, they'd say, the whole crowd would say number seven, and they'd say number seven is you know, Jill Miller number six, and they counted down and then finally they would say they would say he'd say number one as in, and then the whole crowd would say. Nobody does it better. Nobody does it better than Chris Sarba. So I stand up, all the lights go out, A spotlight goes on me, and they go back to the ball and I walk up as I'm walking up to receive my award, and then they drew an eight or a thousand dollars award. At the end of the night, there was only one, and I was the guy who made the most money in the place, and everybody at one entry, and I won the thousand dollars. Everybody was like boom because I had made the most money that day. Wow. But then they drop the lights again and play bad to the bone. So you've had bad to the bone twice walking up on stay. Yes, so I just find almost a thousand people and I thought, I thought to myself, felt so good. That's my thing is here you are thirty years later, going I want to relive that experience. Yes, if I had a theme song, yes, it has to be okay, Well now we know. So if you ever see Chris and just pull up on iTunes bad to the bone when you walk up to him, and it'll make him feel like the man he's always wanted to be like he's always wanted. Is that right? Yes, the man that I am, jes the man I. Am well good, well talking about tough guys. It's a Segway physician segue, but totally bad to the bone people. Yes, Samson now is a judge. Everything that we've read up to this point, it was not while he was actually the official judge of Israel verse twenty of the chapter we read yesterday. He judges Israel for twenty years. And then we moved to chapter sixteen and this is kind of we're sprinting to the end now. Yeah. And in the first three versuses sort of stand alone before we get into Samson and Delilah. There's like an incident where Samson carries aways the gates of Gaza. Yeah, and he seems to have a woman problem a little bit, doesn't. He A little bit? Yeah? So in the previous stories we've read this, But then now it says one day Samson went to the Philistine town of Gaza and spent the night with a prostitute. Word soon spread that Samson was there. So the men of Gaza gathered together and waited all night at the town gates, and they kept quiet during the night, saying to themselves, when the light of morning comes, will kill him. But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the town, including the two posts, lifted them up, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them all the way to the top of the hill across from hebron Right. What a what a random series of events. There, crazy yep. And then in verse four it says sometime later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be overpowered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver. So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely. Samson replied, if I were tied up with seven new bow strings that have not yet been dried, I'd become as weak as anyone else. So the Philistine rulers brought Delilah seven new bow strings, and she tied Samson up with them. She'd hidden some men in one of the inner rooms of her house, and she cried out, Samson, the Philistines have come to capture you. But Samson snapped the bow strings as a piece of string snaps when it's burned by a fire, so the secret of his strength was not discovered. Afterward, Delilah said to him, you've been making fun of me and telling me lies. Now please tell me how you can be tied up securely. Samson replied, if I were tied up with brand new ropes that had never been used, I would become as weak as anyone else. So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them, and the men were hiding in the inner room as before, and again Delilah cried out, Samson, the Philistines have come to capture you. But Samson snapped the ropes from his arms as if they were a thread. Then Delilah said, you've been making fun of me and telling me lies. Now tell me how you can be tied up securely. Samson replied, if you were to weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric of your loom and tighten it with the loom shuddle, I would become as weak as anyone else. So, while he slept, Delilah wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric, and then she tightened it with the loom shuttle. Again, she cried out, Samson, the Philistines have come to capture you. But Samson woke up, pulled back the loom shuttle, and yanked his hair away from the loom in the fabric. Then Delilah pouted, how can you tell me I love you when you don't share your secrets with me. You've made fun of me three times now, and you still haven't told me what makes you so strong. She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it. Finally, Samson shared a secret with her. My hair has never been cut, he confessed, for I was dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me and I would become as weak as anyone else. Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth, so she sent for the Philistine rulers. Come back one more time, she said, for he has finally told me his secret. Rules returned with the money in their hands, and Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with her, his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair, and this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him. Then she cried out, Samson, the Philistines have come to capture you. When he woke up, he thought, I will do as before and shake myself free, But he didn't realize the Lord had left him. So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes, and they took to him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison. But before long his hair began to grow back. Is that where we end? That? Is it? Yeah? Because the next week is uh no. She pushed us all the way through to the end of the chapter. Uh no, no, we can. Let's saving it for tomorrow. Yeah, okay, so uh yeah, because there's plenty to talk about here. Sure, right, So it doesn't say that Delilah was a Philistine? Does it? At the very beginning? It says she lived in the valley of Sorek. So are we to assume because she lived in the Valley of Sorek that because you know that was Philistine territory, right right? So you know it was right near the coast near Canaan, you know. Yeah, it says here in the Life Application and Study Bible. I was looking for it. But it doesn't say that Delilah was actually a Philistine. I'm assuming she was, But it does say this, This is insightful. The Philistines were ruled by five rulers, not just one. Each ruler ruled from a different city. Ashdod Ashkalon, Akron, Gath or Gaza. Each of these cities were important a center of trade and commerce. Given Delilah's character, is little wonder that she betrayed Samson when these rich and powerful men paid her a personal visit. So when they each promised her eleven hundred pieces of silver, we're talking about fifty five hundred pieces of silver, right, which is a fortune. Yeah. I don't even know how much that would be. Well, I mean twenty eight pounds is eleven hundred shekels? I mean, are we to assume that this is the same amount of money that you know, Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver? Is this the same, you. Know, except this is eleven hundred. Yeah, that's quite difference, right, that's quite a big difference. They had to be in different weights, because that's crazy. Let me look it up while you're doing this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So we're assuming that I've always believed that Delilah was a Philistine, but I really can't find any it's likely. I mean, she lives in the Philistine Yeah. Yeah. A person's greatest accomplishment will be helping others accomplish great things. Likewise a person's greatest failure, maybe preventing others from achieving greatness. Delilah played a mirror role in Samson's life, but her effect was devastating, for she influenced him to betray his calling from God. So Alilah is uh, you know, a person who valued money more than relationships betrayed people who trusted her. You know, she was definitely persistent, you know. Uh, she tormented him and nagged him all day long. I mean, that's that's that's something here we can learn from. Just that one he wanted to die, yes, or nagging made him want to die. So I just looked it up. With today's prices of silver, it would have been roughly fifty fifty one thousand dollars. That's what they offered her. Oh yeah, oh that's not as much as I would have thought. But still, if somebody offered you fifty grand today and you were. To portray you, well, you discover what your strength was. A man of more. It wouldn't take fifty grand. You do for fun. Oh, I'm going to see you take this guy down. But here's here's the most confusing thing about this entire passage, and that is why did Samson continue to toy with her? And I think the reason is is because of his character. He was arrogant. Oh but he absolutely thought that he was invincible. Yeah, right, But to have a moment of weakness and actually break down and tell her his secret meant that he really thought that Either either he really thought that she was trustworthy or he was just so stricken with love that he just couldn't help himself. Yeah, or lust, Yeah, or lust. It did say he fell in love with her. Yeah, so he Yeah, but his version of love is could be Okay, I see that pretty girl getter for me. I want to marry her. That get her for me? I demand it, right. That's and then he gets mad and he leaves for an extended period of time. He's gone for quite a while. When he comes back, her father's married her off to somebody else and. Then says, I'm going in to see my wife right right. So just incredibly self centered. I'm not sure that this is love, like the kind of love that makes a marriage last, right right, selfless love. I think this is self centered stuff. But yeah, he's he's not a good guy. He clearly has a woman problem. You know, he's with a hooker in Gaza. Just so, oh, that's what it says, right, she's a prostitute. Yeah. So, so he's with a prostitute in Gaza just before the story of Delilah and right after the story of you know, them burning up his wife. So now all of these things, this is over spread over a long, long period of time. It's not just all you know, bang bang bang back to back to back. But still this seems to be his pattern, is that women are his weakness. His fiance got him to spill the beans on his little story the same exact way Delilah did. Yeah, and he would have learned yeah, yeah, right, so he had he has this real weakness of giving. But when you read the story of Samson and Delilah, it almost seems like, well, if you tie me up with the bow strings and she ties him up, that doesn't work. And then immediately she ties him up with ropes and that doesn't work, and then she weaves his hair into a loom and that doesn't work. But that's not how it would have been days right, days in between. And the way that you know that is she tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it. Right, So these are days or weeks in between, and he's just toying with her. He's just fooling around with her. He's just playing with her. And but there's a progression, right, Well, if you use bow strings, well that's silly. Then well, if you use ropes, that's that's silly. But then he gets really close when he goes, well if you tie up my hair and a loom, right, and all of a sudden, now you're thinking, ooh, you know he started off far away. I mean, ropes can't do anything. He's already busted ropes in front of people time after time after time. Every time they tie him up, it doesn't work. So he's playing around at the beginning with something that has nothing to do with his strength that he's already demonstrated. But all he's doing is hinting, well, if you use a different kind of rope, I've used strings, Oh, if you use you know, ropes that have never been used before, whatever, And he's playing with stuff that's not even close. And then but this is how sin works. As you get closer and closer and closer to the devastating thing. So it's not fun anymore. Right, it's not the intrigue, the fun. It's not quite as dangerous as it felt before. And so now he's hinting at his hair, and that is he's one step away from total failure. Right. I think we do that a lot, that we get more and more and more dangerous. The longer we flirt with a sin, the more dangerous we get. With That's exactly how sin works. It's a snowball down the hill, just slowly growing. And people actually talk about that. And you and I have had a history of people coming into our offices over the years, separately and you know, telling us stories of exactly that. You know, it started out as conversation, then it turned into harmless flirting, and then it was a casual drink and all of a sudden, now my. Entire life is ruined right right, and and and it's. Because you get closer, and you're closer and closer, and and yeah, that's the way the sin works. And you know, it reminds me of what is it the Book of Psalms when it says, uh, you know, you're you're walking in the way of sinners, and then you sit in the seaton scornful somewhat and and all of a sudden, you know, you're you're walking by then you're standing. All that, that's what of this. You're walking, then you're standing, then you're sitting, then you're sitting. And so it's a progression of what it means to get closer and closer to sin. So yeah, and then what is it? Is it James that talks about the progression of sin too? Right? That that you you desire a thing and then you begin to do the thing right and it eventually leads to death. There's that you think about it, you start wanting it, and you start wanting it, then you start trying to find ways to get it, you get it, and eventually it wipes you out. Yeah. So this this is his story, I mean, over and over and over again. And so the lesson should have been this, Samson should just run run away, right, so instead of toying around with a woman who he number one, he shouldn't be with because you know, his people should not be with Philistines to begin with. And then and then realizing that all she's really trying to do is you know, uh, you know, find out his secret and also having you know, been burned in the past in the same way by his fiance, you know, being betrayed by trusting a woman. You would think that all of those things, would you know, somehow indicate that he should. Run, But he doesn't. And the reason why he doesn't run, I believe, is because he thinks I'm strong enough for anything. I can handle anything. I'm in control. And if you think about it, that's exactly the reason why people who have, like, for instance, an addiction, they don't go to you know, they don't walk into celebrate recovery or or AA because like, I don't have a problem. I mean, I'm in control. I could stop it anytime, And people around them are like. I don't really think that if you could have, you would have. Right if you could, if you would have. But it's it's the idea that we can handle it. We we can handle, you know, the situation that we're in. But you know, anybody who would have advised Samson would have said run away. It's always about him, even when he gets victory. God gives me this ability to defeed a thousand Philistines with a job bone of a donkey, and he goes with the job one of a donkey I've piled them in heaps. He didn't do it. It was the power of God on him that did it. It literally says the power of the spirit of God came on him. But he takes the credit for it. He takes the credit for the spring of water that springs up to water him. He takes credit for everything. He says, you know, I only gave to them what they did to me. It's always about him, and that will always ruin your life. So you begin to believe that you deserve a thing. You'd begin to believe that life is an inconvenience to you unless you have what you want. You begin to believe that you have the ability to hold back the bad and only just seize the good. You have the right to enjoy all the good of life that you think you deserve. And it's just when you step away from making God the center. You're always on this same path that that Samson was on here, and ultimately he does. He slips up, He tells her, which is so stupid. And then I think one of the saddest verses in the whole Bible is she cries out in verse twenty, Samson, the Philistines have come to capture and he woke up and he thought, I will do as before and shake myself free. But he didn't realize the Lord had left him, right, didn't That's one of the saddest verses in the Bible. Didn't even realize that God's strength was not with him. Yeah. Yeah, So it's a pretty bad day when you know you're you're so callous and you're separated from the power of the Holy Spirit that you have no clue. Yeah, right, And so what they do. They gouged out his eyes, which I think is really amazing. He goes into the Philistine tear, sees a beautiful woman, says, I want to marry her. He's hanging out with prostitutes. He's hanging out. With Delilah, who likely was well anything he sees. He wants anything he sees. He wants the honey and the carcass. And so they gouge out his eyes, and you know, he's lost his power. He doesn't have his strength anymore. He's weak. And there's a really great note in the Life Application Study Bible. Let me read this for those of you that are single, says Sampson was deceived because he wanted the believe Delilah's lies. Although he could strangle a lion, he could not smother his burning lust and see Delilah for who she really was. How can you keep your desire for love and sexual pleasure from deceiving you. He must decide, first of all, what kind of person you will love before passion takes over. Determine whether a person's character and faith in God are as desirable as their physical appearance. That's important. Secondly, it says, because most of the time you spend with your spouse will not involve sex, your companion's personality, temperament, and commitment to solve problems and honor God must be as gratifying is the kisses, and then be patient. Thirdly, time and observation often reveal what has beneath the pleasant appearance and attractive touch. How many people we've seen that have these whirlwind run into a relationship and you know, it's just hot and heavy, that's what it is. They get married right away and then find out they don't have anything in common right right That ruins their lives. This is Samson Man. Samson doesn't take any time because Samson hasn't focused on his own character. He doesn't care about the character the women's with right and it ultimately ruins his life. Wow. Yeah, that's the character that people around us matter. There's a lot of sermons in there. Yeah. So we will wrap up Samson's story tomorrow and hopefully we'll see then on the Bubba Guys.