We meet the most famous hairdresser in the bible in Judges chapter 16. Samson has basically been terrorizing the neighborhood, coming up with riddles, upsetting the Philistines and tearing whole town gates apart.
Throw in a tryst with a town prostitute and we have all the makings of a boys' gone wild adventure!
But we know, that Samson was in fact sealed by the Lord as a Nazarite. In my normal quick version of theology, Nazarene was basically set apart for the Lord. They vowed all their life to never cut their hair or touch alcohol.
We know nothing about Delilah previously to her being introduced in verse 4 of chapter 16 as Samson's new love interest. The only other thing we find out about her at this stage is that she is from the Valley of Sorek. This is a region between Philistine and Israelite territory.
As Samson had quite the past with the Philistines, I can imagine that he knew this region well.
Often time frames are left out of biblical narrative so we are left to ponder timelines. I am under the impression that our lovers had been together for quite a while, and knew each other well as I stated before, Samson loved her.
The other reason I lean to this is because the famous storyline comes about because the Philistine rulers knew who to go to and how to get to what they needed.
How long did they wait to approach Delilah?
Why did they believe that she would do what they asked?
Had she the reputation for this kind of behaviour?
Was Samson completely naive?
Throughout the next few sections of chapter 16, we see the not-so-sweet Delilah who liked the colour of silver begin her ritual of interrogation of Samson.
Samson, who had the reputation of upsetting the Philistines seems to be quite happy to go along with the game. He seems to play along, each time proving Delilah with what seems like crazier and crazier answers to her persistent question about how he gets his strength.
I love my version of the moment Delilah's pressure paid off! In verse 15 of Judges 16, it says "The Delilah said to him, ' How can you say you I love you when you don't even trust me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me. You haven't told me the secret of your great strength.' She kept bothering Samson about his secret day after day until he felt he was going to die!"
Poor Samson! Talk about a nagging woman!
Unfortunately, Samson didn't have it in him to walk away and we see him finally relent and tell Delilah everything.
His whole countenance must have changed as we are told Delilah could see that he was finally sincere.
Instead of sharing the love he had for her, Delilah seemed only to care about her financial future and she quickly sends word to her scheming friends, all the while sharpening her scissors. In fact she actually asked someone else to do it! Was this just a step too far? Or was Delilah too busy counting her silver?
Samson seemed to always be at peace in her presence as his habit was to fall asleep while his house was being filled with Philistines! He must have been a very deep sleeper!
He had no idea at the time just what his manipulative girlfriend had done and he believed he still had all his strength. Nope! What we read is in fact the harsh reality of Samson's capture at the hands of the Philistines, who cruelly also felt the need to tear out his eyes.
What can we learn from one of the "baddie" women of the bible?
Its tricky isnt it? We tend to lean into the women who are part of the biblical narrative in a positive way don't we?
I suppose for me, it's about a couple of things. I don't want to be the type of woman who would do anything for gain - financial or otherwise. She clearly didn't love Samson enough for the love to be enough. The lure of riches was too much. What might that look like in our day and age? Social media status? Popularity? A platform even in the church?
Delilah schemed and lied to get what she wanted. She nagged him day in day out! Ladies - don't do this!
Don't make your man feel like his life is so awful that he would literally compromise his own standards to please you.
Secondly, even though Delilah did all of this, and Samson had to pay a very serious price, God still had a plan and it was still outworked.
God can use the evil wicked schemes of man (and woman) as part of the overall purpose.
In summary, we can use the story of these 2 lovers as a great example of how not to live out our relationships. Don't be so desperate for the things of the world that you are prepared to compromise it all. Don't be disloyal to your partner. In other words, don't complain about them to your friends. If you have issues, I hope your relationship is strong enough to work it out together. And lastly, don't let the shiny things of the world distract you from the wonderful relationship you can have with Jesus. Remember our great reward is in heaven!
xxx
Toni
(FWFL)
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