Samson Looks Toward Delilah's Village at Duskby Shazz90
16:4Judges 16:4
And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Afterward Samson formed an intimate, loving attachment to Delilah, a Philistine woman, continuing his ties with the enemies of Israel, and such association with idolaters corrupted him and darkened his life. The woman lived in the valley of Sorek, near his birthplace, a district known for its vineyards. That setting added temptation for him, because he had already used wine and thereby weakened his hold on temperance, purity, and God.
Delilah's name means consuming or wasting, elsewhere given as the consumer, fitting the way this relationship wasted time that should have been devoted to Israel's welfare and brought about his ruin. His love for her came after earlier wrongdoing as part of a course of temptation he brought on himself. Though physically strong, he was weak in self-control, let passion blind reason and conscience and rule instead of relying on God.
His infatuation degraded him and left him vulnerable to Delilah's plot to discover the secret source of his strength. The Philistines bribed her for that purpose, and she was enlisted in Satan's service to entrap and destroy souls. By yielding he betrayed the God-given strength that was the defense of Israel into Philistine hands. That fall broke his sacred lifelong Nazarite vow and turned him from God, one instance of the power that has cast down many wounded and slain many strong men.
By giving to Delilah the love and service that belonged to God he committed idolatry, sacrificing honor, conscience, reputation, strength, usefulness, and other valuable interests to sinful passion. Yielding to such temptation led toward shame, disaster, death, and destruction. Delilah became a snare who drew him farther from God, diminished his strength, and deceived and destroyed him, as lustful attachment enslaved him to another's charms and blinded him to Satan's power to deceive and destroy. The verse therefore warns against allowing a wife or loved one to take God's place and against unchecked desire and confidence without watchfulness that leaves a person captive to sin, contrasting the lust of the flesh and a woman's power with the love of Christ, as illustrated by Cornell's attachment to Mrs. Harris compared to Samson's enslavement to Delilah.
Afterward Samson formed an intimate, loving attachment to Delilah, a Philistine woman, continuing his ties with the enemies of Israel, and such association with idolaters corrupted him and darkened his life. The woman lived in the valley of Sorek, near his birthplace, a district known for its vineyards. That setting added temptation for him, because he had already used wine and thereby weakened his hold on temperance, purity, and God.
Delilah's name means consuming or wasting, elsewhere given as the consumer, fitting the way this relationship wasted time that should have been devoted to Israel's welfare and brought about his ruin. His love for her came after earlier wrongdoing as part of a course of temptation he brought on himself. Though physically strong, he was weak in self-control, let passion blind reason and conscience and rule instead of relying on God.
His infatuation degraded him and left him vulnerable to Delilah's plot to discover the secret source of his strength. The Philistines bribed her for that purpose, and she was enlisted in Satan's service to entrap and destroy souls. By yielding he betrayed the God-given strength that was the defense of Israel into Philistine hands. That fall broke his sacred lifelong Nazarite vow and turned him from God, one instance of the power that has cast down many wounded and slain many strong men.
By giving to Delilah the love and service that belonged to God he committed idolatry, sacrificing honor, conscience, reputation, strength, usefulness, and other valuable interests to sinful passion. Yielding to such temptation led toward shame, disaster, death, and destruction. Delilah became a snare who drew him farther from God, diminished his strength, and deceived and destroyed him, as lustful attachment enslaved him to another's charms and blinded him to Satan's power to deceive and destroy. The verse therefore warns against allowing a wife or loved one to take God's place and against unchecked desire and confidence without watchfulness that leaves a person captive to sin, contrasting the lust of the flesh and a woman's power with the love of Christ, as illustrated by Cornell's attachment to Mrs. Harris compared to Samson's enslavement to Delilah.