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| Delilah |
| Strengths Weaknesses &Mistakes LifeLessons |
| Delilah was a woman who lived in the valley of Sorek. Samson fell in love the first time he saw her. When the rulers of Palestine, five in all, found out that Samson was with her, they approached her saying, 'Find the source of Sason's strength so that we can subdue him and we'll pay you eleven hundred shekles of silver each.' Her only strength was that she was persistent when she had a goal to obtain. Even though it has been all women that we have spotlighted there are some very important issues to look at that involve Samson. He was born as a blessing to a couple who had previously not had any children, an angel came and told them that their son should never have his head shaved by a razor. He grew and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in him. Samson ruled over the Isrealites for twenty years. Samson married a Palestine woman who was later burned to death along with her family by Palestinians after a chain of events that led to Samson killing 1,000 Palestinians with the jawbone of a donkey. He then proclaimed his own victory forgetting that his strength was a wondreful gift from God. It is here where Samson meets and falls in love with Delilah. She accepts the bribe for the Palestine rulers and she persistently askes him the source of his strength. He avoids telling her the truth for a time, but her incessant nagging won over and he revealed the source of his strength. Then Delilah invited the Palestinian rulers in to shave his head while he slept in her lap, she then woke him and he was taken to prison. It was done, her betrayal complete, Samson's fate was sealed, and she had caused his down fall. There are many strong and painful lessons to be learned in this situation, we will examine the most prominent. God had given him an amazing gift, his strength, and he had used it for his own revenge against the Palestines. He had used his gifts for his own reasons. ' There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.' {1Corinthians 12:4,5,7} He had let his strength go to his head and became an uncontrolable and hotheaded. ' A wise man fears the Lord and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.' {Proverbs 14:16} He had let his blind love for this woman blur his vision to what was really going on. ' Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes,for the proststute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys on your very life.' {Pro-verbs 6:25} Delilah used his lust/love for her to decieve Samson. 'Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, or use your lips to deceive. {Proverbs 24:28} The ransome for Samson was all that she was interested in, she didn't care that this man proclaimed love for her, only that she would get paid when the job was over. ' A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live. {Proverbs 15:27} 'Then He (Jesus) said to them,"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."' {Luke 12:15} |
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