Our word seduction comes from the Latin ‘sudecere’, which literally means ‘take aside’, this word has a negative connotation, that is, it implies that someone is being marginalized, moving away from something good and correct for something vile and inferior. In other words, it means not only being on the sidelines, but also “being lost. “
We can’t think much of someone who was seduced without Samson coming to mind. Was he the big one? To appreciate how tragic Samson’s person was and how terrible his seduction was, we must begin by thinking about what was so far away.
- Samson was called to be a special instrument of God.
- At a time when all of God’s people were seduced by Philistine culture.
- In the days of the judges.
- The nation of Israel was oppressed by its evil and cruel neighbors on several occasions.
- But in each case.
- “Did the children of Israel cry out to the Lord?”(Jz 3.
- 9.
- 15; 4.
- 3; 6.
- 6-7; 10.
- 10).
- When we reached the time when the Philistines had the advantage over Israel.
- We read nothing to say that the people were shouting to God.
- RCSproul said: “Unlike other invaders.
- The Philistines were civilized and not terribly oppressive; therefore.
- Israel relaxed under the Philistines and did not invoke the Lord?.
This was the environment in which God called Samson. The people of Israel had established the thee in a peaceful existence with the Philistines; and Samson would be God’s instrument for awakening his people and calling them to abandon their passion for Philistine culture. To achieve this goal, God gave orders to Samson’s parents, telling them that their son would be Nazarite. Samson’s hair should not be cut (Thu 13. 5); you should not drink wine or eat unclean things (Thu 13:7).
Because Samson was endowed with superhuman strength, he was for a long time a powerful and effective instrument in God’s hands. As we read the account of his life, we find this refrain: “The Spirit of the Lord has possessed it so much?(Jz 14. 6. 19; 15. 14). It shows us where Samson’s strength really was. His hair was a symbol of his physical strength and consecration to God, but the source of his strength was the Spirit of God. James B. Jordan said: “There was no magical connection between Samson’s strength and hair, but there was a spiritual connection in the fact that God gives strength to those who dedicate the thee to him; and, in the case of Samson, was his consecrated head a sign of his separation from God?
After being used by God for many years, in a powerful and admirable way, we would expect Samson to prove invincible. He had imagined God using Him to achieve great victories and seemed as strong in faith as in his physical strength. What I expected to hear was that Samson would play with the loss of strength God had given him and used.
Then Delilah appeared in the scene of the story. Many think it was a philistine; others imagine that she was an apostate Israelite. The Bible doesn’t say that. One thing is certain: it was a philistine of heart; and he was so identified with the Philistines that he could count on a member of that people.
Delilah must have been very beautiful, and the Philistine princes knew that Samson had a weakness for beautiful women, so they noted it in his case; she should, in exchange for a good sum of money, discover the source of Samson’s strength, while the Philistine princes would hide in a room; in due course, they would go out and take control of Samson. When will God’s children know that there are always enemies hiding nearby, waiting for an opportunity for weakness, for them to enter the scene?and cause destruction?
Three times Delilah asked Samson to reveal to him the source of his strength; three times Samson gave him a false answer; three times the Philistines came to dominate him, but were defeated by him; however, nothing is mentioned in these meetings. of the Spirit coming mightily upon Samson. When he came out of Samson’s mad flirtation with sin, the Lord had already turned away from him.
Finally, Delilah harassed Samson beyond his ability to bear; revealed to him the true source of his strength. When he fell asleep, she cut off his long braids, and the Philistines arrived and took him prisoner.
Does this story seem fanciful enough to believe it?
Why, after what Delilah wanted to guess, did Samson continue until she saw him talking about the source of his strength?In this, we realize once again the fragility of human nature. This is not only true for Samson; it’s also true for all of us. We’re in love with things we know will destroy us. Tell me how many times you have been burned by sin and returned to it; and I’ll tell you why Samson stayed to talk to Delilah.
Samson paid a terrible price for his madness. The Philistines left their eyes and turned it into a windmill in prison. Was this the Philistines’ way of showing that their god, Daton, the god of grain, had won victory over the God of Israel?God falls into sin, the unbeliever world is always willing to rejoice in the wickedness of that son of God and attribute his sin to a deficiency inherent in Christianity.
The victory of the Philistine was short-lasting. As Samson followed the grain, his hair grew and, with them, repented. When the Philistines took Samson to one of his drunken parties, Samson again had strength to the point where he could demolish the columns of the building, killing himself and the Philistines.
How did Samson get involved in this shame?How did he lose his strength?Yes, aren’t you in obedience to God? Are you trying to figure out how far you could get close to the fire and not burn?Yes, all these things and many others have contributed, but the final answer is that he himself became so in love with Philistine culture, that he incorporated and expressed through Delilah that he was blind to other things.
I don’t know what epitaph the Samson family wrote about his grave, after pulling his body out among the ruins of the Philistine temple, but I do know that they could have written, “I SEE BY CULTURE THAT, BY GOD, WAS CALLED TO ‘MAN OF INFLUENCE’.
Samson is a very suitable figure in the contemporary church, as he has been called to influence our culture, for Christ, we have been called to be the salt that softens the moral degeneration of the kingdom of men and the light that shows the way to the kingdom of God.
However, the culture we are trying to influence is not passive
He has his own doctrine, his own program, and his own preachers, proving aggressive and resolutely committed to resisting our message and preaching his message.
Many of us do well, for a while, to be faithful to God, against the agenda of this world, but Dalila’s continued and seductive assistance begins to undermine our defenses, and before we know what happened, we think and talk in a similar way. civilized Philistines, defending attitudes contrary to the Word of God.
The power of Christianity lies in the Word of God, and when we let ourselves be seductively turned away from it, we are, like Samson, powerless and humiliated in the face of a dismissive world. Samson remains a constant reminder that even the strongest will fall. If it is prostituted following a pagan culture, that prostitution always leads to helplessness, blindness, and death, isn’t this the explanation of blindness that prevents the Church from discerning the true from the false?Doesn’t that explain the church’s death from rejoicing in the reality of spiritual things?
The figure of Samson is as pitiful as it might be, but there is also great comfort in this story. In the end, the Philistines defeated Samson, not because they were stronger, but because he showed infidelity. Christians sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that their greatest enemy is the wicked culture that harasses them. Undoubtedly, bad culture is an enemy, but only in a secondary sense. Our greatest enemy is ourselves. If we are oppressed today, it is not because modern beliefs and ways of life are stronger than us, but because we have been unfaithful to God, that it makes us strong.
How deeply we must keep this truth in our hearts!Our vocation is to be faithful to God! But what about the son of God who has already demonstrated his infidelity?And the Christian who was seduced by the wicked dogmas of an ungodly culture?Praise be to God, there is another comfort to receive from Samson’s life!! The son of God may be seduced by the pagan culture that surrounds him, but in the end he will return to the Lord and be renewed, and just as Samson has been confirmed, this son of God will be. We will be far from the culture that despises the things of God and shine like the stars of the firmament, forever. And the whole universe will know that we did well to walk with God.