This subject has been on my heart for a while and I finally felt a release to finish it this past week. We often think of the spirit of Delilah in the context of sexual sin alone but it’s so much more than that.

Judges 16 New International Version (NIV)

Samson and Delilah

16 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”

3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”

6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”

11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.” He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric

14 and[b] tightened it with the pin.

Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

 17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.[c] And his strength left him.

20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Death of Samson

23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”

24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,

“Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands,

the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.”

25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led[d] Israel twenty years.

The spirit of Delilah represents the devil’s destructive distraction to keep us from destiny. It’s subtle in that it plays with our emotions or heart to get us to divulge our God given talents or God given plans which allows the enemy to come in and sabotage by stealing our vision.

Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our  heart for out of it flows the issues of life. Heart matters can be tricky especially when we fall in love. If you look at the verses preceding Proverbs 4:23, you’ll see that it’s basically a father giving wise instruction to his son.

20My son, pay attention to what I say;

turn your ear to my words.

21Do not let them out of your sight,

keep them within your heart;

22for they are life to those who find them

and health to one’s whole body.

23Above all else, guard your heart,

for everything you do flows from it.

I’ve often wondered why it specifically says my son, not my daughter too. Most may feel that they didn’t value women and that’s why but I believe it’s because most women are smarter than men when it comes to matters of the heart and sometimes we women use that to our advantage in getting men to do what we want especially if there’s sex involved. But like I said at the beginning of this blog, the spirit of Delilah is so much bigger than sexual sin alone. It’s the key here but not the full gamete.

Part of Samson’s problem is that he hadn’t crucified his passions. The story starts by telling us Samson was with a prostitute so we know he had an appetite for sex. We could say that sex and beautiful women were his weaknesses. The devil will always use your weakness to pull you down that’s why we have to crucify our fleshly passions because Delilah can only penetrate where your passions haven’t been crucified. Galatians 5:22-25 tells us this. Pay close attention to verse 23 and 24.

Galatians 5:22-25New International Version (NIV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Self control and discipline is key and something we seem to lack these days. We live in a society where any and everybody can basically do what they want without repercussion, especially when it comes to morality. Samson lacked self discipline. He was more in tune with his flesh than his spirit.

Another problem of Samson’s was that he joined himself with someone he was unequally yoked with. If you remember, there was specific instruction to the Israelites not to intermarry with the hedonistic nations. The reason being these nations didn’t believe in God.  If Samson had been in a relationship with someone that shared his faith and who matched him spiritually, she would’ve thought about the consequence before selling him out to the philistines.

Proverbs 31New International Version (NIV)

Sayings of King Lemuel

31 The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.

Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character

^10 [b]A wife of noble character who can find?
    She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
    and lacks nothing of value.
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.
¹³ She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family
    and portions for her female servants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
    her arms are strong for her tasks.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
    and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
    and extends her hands to the needy.
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed;
    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
    where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
    and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Proverbs 31 starts by giving instructional wisdom to the king and then delves into what he should look for in a queen. Verse 12 says she does him good not harm all the days of her life. When you are a woman who fears the Lord, you do good to your husband, not harm because you think about the spiritual and physical consequences. This brings me to my final point about Samson. He allowed what his flesh felt to cloud his discernment and judgement. How many times did Delilah try to use what he told her his secret was to destroy him and it didn’t work? If he was in tune with his spirit and not focused on what Delilah was giving him physically, he would’ve realized what was really going on and probably would’ve been able to escape completely from the plan of the Philistines.

Now towards the end God gave Samson a huge victory because God is a loving God and will restore us even when we mess up but I wonder how much greater Samson would’ve been if he had crucified his passions, listened to wisdom, used discernment, been in a relationship with someone who matched him spiritually and had a heart for God. The outcome would’ve certainly been different.

Notice that Samson’s eyes were the 1st thing the philistines took representing his physical vision but it also symbolizes spiritual vision.  At the end, Samson prayed to die with the philistines. why? Because he had no vision. If he had vision, he would’ve realized that God didn’t just restore him to die. How much greater would his testimony have been if he’d destroyed the philistines and walked away from all of that rubble unharmed?

Recognize that what the devil is after more than anything is our vision. If the devil can take your spiritual vision, he’s got you because you no longer have a hope for a future. Realize the tricks of the devil designed to distract you, steal your vision and ultimately destroy you.