Doug Van Pelt

A Fallen Hero

Judges 16 tells a famous yet sad story. It is of a great and strong man who had a glaring weakness -- women. (Such a loser! Who would fall for a woman? hehe)

I've often looked at Delilah, Samson's squeeze, as a canniving traitor -- a background character that kept lying to Samson. But when I look at the bribe she was offered, (now) it's easy to see why she deceived Samson. She was approached by the rulers of the Philistines (not sure how many, but probably several), who each offered her eleven hundred shekels of silver. That's a lot of money! Let's say there were six rulers... That's 6,600 shekels of silver! Wow. It's hard to admire the "bad guy" in a story, but this Delilah was certainly shrewd (and a good actress).

Samson, while falling for the lies of this woman, wasn't so dumb himself. When asked about the secret of his strength, he kept coming up with creative answers that must've kept the Philistine leaders busy. I can see them looking for fresh thongs that have never been dried with which to tie him. How they must've been shocked when Samson broke them "as easy as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame."

I never could figure out why, in the face of Delilah's whining, "You have made a fool out of me...tell me how you can be tied..." Why didn't Samson ever say, "Why should I tell you the secret? You keep trying to bind me. What's your problem?"

His end result was pain and misery, though he did exact revenge on the Philistines, slaughtering more in his death than all he killed in his life.