{"id":27669,"date":"2023-08-23T22:00:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-15_1-20-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T23:03:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T06:03:21","slug":"judges-16_1-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-16_1-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Samson\u2019s Strength In His Hair?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judges 16:1-17 \u00a0<\/strong>Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 16:1-17.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 16:1-3 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The 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.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0 It\u2019s a sad situation when a person as obviously talented as Samson has no heart for God or God\u2019s purposes, is so calloused to the immorality of his actions and thinks he can get away with anything just by his own strength and intimidation.\u00a0 Such a leader will not last. They never do.\u00a0 Samson picking up and destroying Gaza\u2019s city gates was not so much impressive as it was reflective of Samson\u2019s own moral self-destruction and the lack of boundaries in Samson\u2019s own life.\u00a0 As Proverbs 25:28 says, \u201cLike a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judges 16:4-17 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The 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 of silver.”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So 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.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Delilah then said to Samson, “Until now, 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
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and 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.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then 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.”
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 4-17:\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen this before in Samson\u2019s life.\u00a0 Samson has a secret to keep, but the woman he is with keeps pressing him to reveal the secret and he eventually caves in (see Judges 14:16-17).\u00a0 Once again Samson\u2019s penchant for playing games and his continuously falling for women of questionable character meant he was always playing with fire.<\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s a question: was Samson\u2019s strength really in his hair?\u00a0 If the answer is yes, aren\u2019t we now really into the realm of legend and fairy tales?\u00a0 How is it that Samson could violate every other duty of a Nazirite and not lose his God-given strength, and yet by cutting off all his hair he can lose all that strength?\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I think: Samson\u2019s strength was never actually in his hair, but Samson believed it was.\u00a0 Rather than crediting God with his incredible strength, Samson lived with the superstition that his strength was in his hair.\u00a0 Rather than worshiping God, Samson vainly worshiped his own appearance, whether he knew it or not.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Who you partner with in life is so important.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Your choice of partner can launch you even more powerfully into your God-given destiny or derail you from that destiny.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t mistake where your strength really comes from.<\/strong>\u00a0 Your strength does not come merely from your own abilities, personality, appearance, smarts, wealth, or experience.\u00a0 Your strength ultimately comes from God.\u00a0 Worship God as the source of your strength, not anything else.<\/p>\n

Thank You Father for the sobering lessons we can learn from Samson\u2019s life.\u00a0 I admit that I am weak just like Samson was weak, and I need You Father to be my strength.\u00a0 Please help me not to make the same mistakes that Samson made, trusting in my own appearance rather than in You, or thinking that I can get away with anything because of my position or perceived power.\u00a0 Let You and Your wisdom be the protective wall around me, that I would live for Your glory.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 16:1-17.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 16:1-3 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0The 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.”
\n3\u00a0\u00a0But 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.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0 It\u2019s a sad situation when a person as obviously talented as Samson has no heart for God or God\u2019s purposes, is so calloused to the immorality of his actions and thinks he can get away with anything just by his own strength and intimidation.\u00a0 Such a leader will not last. They never do.\u00a0 Samson picking up and destroying Gaza\u2019s city gates was not so much impressive as it was reflective of Samson\u2019s own moral self-destruction and the lack of boundaries in Samson\u2019s own life.\u00a0 As Proverbs 25:28 says, \u201cLike a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27672,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27669\/revisions\/27672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}