Samson – God’s Mighty Crooked Stick, Pt. 2

3. CARNALITY

In Samson’s storied life, perhaps what He is known for most of all is his affair with a Philistine woman 🚺 by the name of Delilah, about whom we know very little. Hollywood has ridden that horse 🐎 to death.

The truth be known, Samson was a carnal man 🚹. More specifically, Samson was a SKIRT CHASER, a WOMANIZER, and it was much bigger than just Delilah.

How was that? Samson had a strong preference for PHILISTINE WOMEN. Of all things, the women of the very people who were Israel’s great enemy, and of whom Samson shed the blood of countless thousands. He is having sex with their women, while he is killing their men by the thousands.

Certainly this will one day become a movie series on HBO or NETFLIX.

What a tragic contradiction! And obviously, the contradiction was two sided. The Philistine women also had a strong preference for Samson, the wild and vicious blood spiller of their own countrymen. It’s the kind of stuff that you cannot make up. You talk about foreign intrigue!

It was a POWERFUL MUTUAL ATTRACTION that transcended HOT INTERNATIONAL HOSTILITIES. Both Samson the Israeli Judge and the Philistine women were traitors to their peoples. Lust is a blinding force that that knows no boundaries or nationalities.

It was all inflamed by the fact that Samson was a real stud. Mr. Universe. Superman! Atlas! No doubt that Samson’s body had great power over the Philistine female soul. Not an uncommon reality, the material having dominance over the immaterial. The mind is set on fire by the fire that 🔥 burns below.

The Apostle Paul knew that spiritual dynamic in a very personal way, so he cries out in Romans 7:24,

“Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?”

What he is saying is this:

“IT IS THE DESIRES OF MY BODY THAT ENTICE AND DOMINATE MY SOUL.”

What Paul is fighting against is that which enslaved Samson’s soul – RANK CARNALITY – RAMPAGING FLESH. Flesh lusting after the lure of exotic foreign flesh.

Surely you heard 👂Paul’s words:

“THE BODY OF DEATH”

❤❤Heart rending to say that it would be the death of Samson! SAMSON carried around his prison with him to his death – THE BODY OF DEATH.
***
And so the sexual escapades of Samson were common occurences. One day, not unlike any other day, SAMSON made his way across the BORDER to visit a PROSTITUTE – A PHILISTINE PROSTITUTE of course.

The town was Gaza, not far from where he grew up as a Jewish boy 👦. It is all recorded in Judges 16. Well then somebody saw 👀 him go in there, and the report travelled faster than the speed of sound that He was in the prostitutes house.

Samson lived a CATCH ME IF YOU CAN LIFE, and got out of there before the Philistines surrounded that house of ill repute.Now you see 👀 him, now you don’t.

But then Samson did something that illustrated his adeptness of always ONE UPPING THE PHILISTINES. We read in Judges 16:3ff:
-With brute strength 💪 he got a hold on the doors of Gaza’s gates.
-Along with the two poles that held the gate doors in place.
-Those city doors weighed about 700 pounds each. To move them was a Herculean feat.
-Samson put the doors on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of a hill which faced Hebron.
-That gate and those doors were not only the key 🔑 to the city of Gaza, they were SYMBOLIC OF Philistine SECURITY.
-Samson mocked them by doing this entire thing most purposefully. He was not only smart but in his own way devious. The tragedy is that in the end, He outsmarted himself.

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HOW COULD HE!?

One would most reasonably inquire into all of this and ask, “How is it possible for Judge Samson spiritually and morally, and yes nationally and patriotically, to not feel GREAT PAIN IN HIS CONSCIENCE IN EACH FLIGHT ACROSS THE BORDER TO A PHILISTINE BROTHEL?”

I mean, how could he not be bugged to death by His immoral and treasonable acts? I think those are right on questions, and deserving of answers.

We have to confront this, which Samson never did. It is this:

“NOTHING DEADENS THE CONSCIENCE LIKE LUST.”

Hear it now:

“EVEN AS WINE DULLS THE MIND, SO TOO LUST DULLS THE CONSCIENCE.”

That is why read in the Bible words like those in Hosea 4:11,

“WHOREDOM (LUST) AND WINE TAKE AWAY THE HEART.”

We read in Judges 16:21 that when the Philistines finally got him, they GOUGED OUT SAMSON’S EYES.

So taking this altogether, we must understand the following:

“LUST BLINDED THE EYES OF HIS CONSCIENCE LONG BEFORE THE PHILISTINES BLINDED THE EYES OF HIS HEAD.”

***

It is not arguable that President Donald Trump earlier in his life was also a WOMANIZER and a SKIRT CHASER. He had a great deal in common with Samson on the female front.

Moreover, neither is it arguable that Donald paid large amounts of hush money 💰 to women with whom he had affairs. All of this is public knowledge. Verifiable and provable!

I can only hope and pray that President Trump has confessed his sins, and asked the Lord for forgiveness. I pray that He by God’s grace has closed that chapter in his life, and gained ascendancy over it. I fear that it could bring him down.

If not ended, it will lead to Donald’s crash, even as it lead to the fatal crash of Judge Samson. It brought him down!

The Bible tells us in Galatians 5:17,

“THE FLESH LUSTETH AGAINST THE SPIRIT, AND THE SPIRIT LUSTETH AGAINST THE FLESH.”

This we know:

“WHEN THE FLESH GOES UP, THE SPIRITUAL GOES DOWN, AND WHEN THE SPIRITUAL GOES UP THE FLESH GOES DOWN.”

Which one do you and I want to gain the upper hand?

***

But why? After all, he was God’s Magistrate. A crooked stick in the hand of God! Why would this mighty warrior do such things that He did?

The fact is that all men have their deep insecurities, no matter how brave and courageous they are.

Here are the facts:

“SAMSON FOUND HIS SECURITY IN PHILISTINE VAGINAS, AND NOT IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.”

Again:

“SAMSON FELT FAR MORE SECURE ON A PROSTITUTE’S LAP, THAN HE DID ON HIS KNEES BEFORE GOD.”

This has been Satan’s warm and soothing deception in the lives of many.

Joseph resisted the warm and inviting arms of the temptress in far more needy circumstances. If anyone needed warmth and solace, He did. But he ran from the solace of sex for the honor of his God. Samson did not!

Samson surrendered his strength, his reason, and his Divine trust to the charms and comforts of a delicious 😋 whore.

The results were devastating:

“HE BECAME WEAKNESS THAT WAS FAR WEAKER THAN HE HAD EVER BEEN STRONG.”

And:

“HE BECAME A GREATER DISGRACE TO HIS COUNTRY THAN HE HAD EVER BEEN HER DEFENSE.”

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SAMSON – HIS OWN EXECUTIONER

What happens now to God’s Mighty Crooked Stick is the most BITTER-SWEET taste of the entire story. I have that strange taste in my mouth every time I read the story. It lingers.

You can and should read it all to the end in Judges 16.

Get ready to weep, and yet through your tears 😢 rejoice in the most victorious moment in Samson’s spellbinding saga of the unwavering FAITHFULNESS of GOD to the very end.

His favorite Philistine woman 🚺 by far was a gal named DELILAH. She must have been several cuts above the others. It went far beyond trysts! Samson fell in love 💘 with the woman and told her so. Lust turned into love, or so he thought.

The painful truth was that it was not mutual. Delilah was in league with Philistine lords who knew of the sexual encounters between Delilah and their worst enemy at the top of their MOST WANTED LIST.

MONEY 💰TALKS LOUDER! The Philistine lords made a deal with this high price prostitute. If she could smooth and sex out of him the secret of his unbelievable strength 💪, they each would pay her 1100 shekels of silver. Not bad for a nights work. The lords were desperate and Delilah knew it. She agreed and went to work on Samson as only she could. And oh 😎 could she!

Oh come now, she was a high priced pro, and if she did have feelings for Samson, they paled in the light of the SWEET SILVER DEAL! True he was several cuts above everyone of her Philistine Johns, but you can’t pass up a deal like this..

In the velvet arms of her warm embrace, 3 times she tried to draw out of him the MYSTERY OF HIS MIGHT. Of course, there was being employed all the exciting tricks of her trade.

And 3 times, SAMSON flat out LIED TO HER. The 3 lies were:
1. If you bind me with green undried bowstrings, my strength will be gone. She did, and he broke them like they were sowing threads.
2. If you bind me with new ropes, I will lose my strength, and I will be reduced to just an ordinary man. She did, and he snapped them apart as if they were not even there.
3. It you braid 7 locks of my hair, my strength will leave me. Of course, all she did was give him a new hairstyle, but He was just as powerful as always.

Delilah went into the actress mode of a deeply wounded lover. She told him that he had assured her of his love for her, and yet he mocked her and made fun of her three times by lying to her.

She skillfully played Samson like a violin. She stroked his heart ❤ strings with her sex bow, and he became puddy in her hands. He spilled the beans, and told her that his strength was in his UNCUT HAIR. He in that moment became his own executioner. He signed his own death warrant.

She told the lords that the MYSTERY was solved. She first collected the bounty, then made arrangements for the MOST INFAMOUS HAIRCUT IN HISTORY.

Whether it was after intense sex, who knows, but she manipulated Samson into falling asleep 😴 on her lap. Then her prearranged haircutter  came in, and mighty Samson became MT. BALDY. The Philistines pounced on him, gouged out His eyes, and threw him into a hard labor prison.

See him now:

“MIGHTY SAMSON IS NOW NOT ONLY TOTALLY HAIRLESS AND STRENGTHLESS, HE IS TOTALLY SIGHTLESS AND HELPLESS.”

It really wasn’t his shaved head that drained him of his strength! The real reason is stated in Judges 16:20,

“HE KNEW NOT THAT THE LORD WAS DEPARTED FROM HIM.”

That is why he lost his power, for his real EMPOWERER had departed.

Hear it:

“SAMSON HAD LOST HIS BEST FRIEND (GOD), AS HE LAID ON THE LAP OF HIS WORST ENEMY (DELILAH).”

He had broken his Nazarite vow to God, and traded in the GOD OF ISRAEL FOR DAGON THE GOD OF THE PHILISTINES.

In short:

“HE OPENED HIS HEART TO DELILAH, AND SHE STUCK A DAGGER IN THAT HEART.”

***
About Samson’s eyes, they are gone. The Philistines literally and viciously gouged his eyeballs out of his head. He was not just sightless, He was eyeless.

This was strangely enough prophetic of his eminent execution. Oh yes, they would kill him once they had enough of making fun of him as a circus clown.

But the fact is this:

“LOSS OF SIGHT FOR THE PRISONER IS THE FORERUNNER OF DEATH, AS THEY DRAW A CLOTH OVER HIS EYES BEFORE THEY PUT HIM TO DEATH.”

They didn’t have to put a cloth over Samson’s head. He was already prepped for the executioner.

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NOT LET DOWN – BROUGHT DOWN

God’s Mighty Crooked Stick is now just a solitary broken stick. Or so it would appear!

Oh so critical to understand:

“WHILE GOD WILL NEVER LET HIS OWN DOWN, HE WILL IF HE SEES FIT BRING THEM DOWN.”

To carry it one step further:

“WHERE DANGER CANNOT WARN, THEN EMINENT DESTRUCTION MUST CONVINCE.”

On the one hand, there is the truth of Ecclesiastes 3:26,

“He who LOVES DANGER WILL PERISH BY IT.”

I believe that Samson loved the whole thing, the erotic thrill, the dangers, the intrigue. That is why the dangers could not warn him. He liked the dangers! Destruction’s fearsome face had to be shown.

Yes, God will go that far. He will allow a life to be taken to save that life.

Fact is:

“ETERNAL MERCY CAN BE VERY CONSISTENT WITH TEMPORAL SEVERITIES.”

And:

“THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS CAN BE VERY CONSISTENT WITH THE HARSH CORRECTION OF THE SINNER.”

But why doesn’t God just do a miracle and get Samson out of there?
After all, He is more than able. But I have learned that God is not bound to do miracles every time we want one. There are times that miracles would be at cross purposes with God.

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THE LONG AWAITED CRY TO GOD

The Philistines are celebrating 😄 the capture of their MOST WANTED. They are in the Temple of their god Dagon, praising him for this most illustrious prisoner. Thousands upon thousands of Philistines going bunkers over this hated prisoner from Israel. Double satisfaction!

They were parading this now shell of his former self. He was their TROPHY. He was their SHOW PIECE. He was their PRIZE! One wonders if Delilah was there cheering with the rest.

Oh no doubt as they were leading this helpless man around, they were mocking him, jeering him, cursing him, spitting on him! To them, they were now the champions of the world.

***
How absolutely humiliating, degrading, demeaning! One can hardly imagine the hideousness of this shameful spectacle.

And then Samson says to his attendant, “I am weary, could you lead me to the pillars so that I can lean against them.” The attendant was kind enough and dumb enough to do so.

Then goes up the prayer to Heaven that God has been waiting for but never heard until now. There he stands, in the midst of all of this pandemonium and chaos. Judges 16:18,

“O LORD GOD, REMEMBER ME, I PRAY THEE, STRENGTHEN ME.”

There was more, but that will do just fine. All the hair is gone. He’s bald. No foxes or torches available. No jackass jawbone available. No strength to speak of. No eyesight whatsoever. Just God! That is the way life was always meant to be lived.

Remember me! Almost sounds like the thief on the cross.

Hear it:

“IF HE WOULD HAVE LIVED IN THAT SECRET PLACE OF PRAYER, HE WOULD NOT HAVE TOLD DELILAH HIS SECRET.”

“Help me just just this once to avenge the Philistines for my eyes,” He prayed.

There he is, with his arms around the pillars, they start to moan, and then coming down and the entire temple with them. There were 3000 people on the upper level, and the amount of Philistines killed in the temple was more than all the others whose lives he took during his 20 year magistrate.

David was one of God’s most crooked sticks. Jonah was another crooked stick that God did not throw away. God never let go of the stick! Peter was about the most crooked stick Jesus could find. He stuck with His stick. Samson was about as crooked as they come. His stick went every which way. Yet God worked mighty acts through that stick.

I have a cane made out of hickory by an Amish man. It is in fact a crooked hickory stick turned into a cane. It serves me well. I’ve named it SAMSON – MY SAMSON STICK!NOT

AMEN!