15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.
19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
Judges 16:15–21
Observations:
Samson was called to be a judge over the people of Israel. In Judges 13:5 God tells Samson’s parents that he is to be a Nazarite. A Nazarite was “a man or woman who has taken the Nazirite vow, which is distinguished by abstinence from certain actions… abstaining from anything related to grapes and/or alcohol, refraining from cutting one’s hair, avoiding dead people (even family members).”*
Samson was dedicated to God and called to live a righteous life—distinct from the common person. Yet, Samson corrupted his righteous life with women from the Philistines.
Delilah, mentioned above, tricks Samson into telling her the secret of his strength and cuts his hair—the clear command of God broken.
Sin will always corrupt the righteousness in our lives.
Interpretation:
Contrary to other teachings in the Bible where God claims never to leave us (Deut 31:8 or Matt 28:19-20) Samson appears to have God (and/or his power) leave him after he sins and allows Delilah to cut his hair.
Here is where we must do some interpretive work…
Even though the Bible says God “leaves” Samson (this also occurs elsewhere ie) Saul) does that actually mean that God is not with Samson. The answer is no. We know that God is omnipresent—meaning God is everywhere. God does not leave us because he is always present everywhere.
What does it mean then in Judges 16:20, “But he did not know that the Lord had left him”?
It means that the Lord’s anointing and power had left him due to Samson’s deliberate surrendering of God’s Spirit and blessing. When Samson chose to sin and live according to his own way, he willingly chose to abandon the power of God in his life—although he did not know it.
Samson thought that God’s power would continue in him regardless of the abandonment of righteousness in his life.
God did not leave Samson, as we see later in the story, Samson calls out to God who is still there and hears his request. Yet, God’s power and anointing left him as Samson chose to relinquish God’s power in pursuit of his own.
Life Application:
Sin will always corrupt the righteousness in our lives. As Jesus reveals, we must always seek to live in a radical and uncommon way—a way that turns the normal human desire completely on its head.
This way of living is nearly impossible. It is impossible outside the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is Samson’s failure. Samson relied on his own power, rather than the power of the Holy Spirit.
We must allow the Holy Spirit to expose sin in our lives which removes the obstacles from our path toward God.
Holy God, open my eyes to see the sin in and around me.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Holy Spirit, fill me with power to live with righteousness and love.
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*J. Chase Franklin, “Nazirite,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).