AS A THREAD OF TOW

The verses under consideration today describe the way in which Delilah sought to discover the source of Samson’s strength and thus to render him powerless before the lords of the Philistines. Samson was so blinded by his fleshly lust that instead of fleeing from the house like Joseph did, he chose to remain at the scene of temptation. Delilah was a persistent woman and, despite being mocked by Samson on several occasions, she kept up the pres­sure, turning on her mock tears, and eventually Samson was foolish enough to tell her all the truth.

The first time that Delilah tried to elicit the information regarding the source of his strength, he told her to bind him with seven green withs that were never dried and that he would be as another man. Delilah carried out the instructions, and we read that when she cried, ‘The Philistines be upon thee, Samson, he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire’, Judg. 16. 9. This tells us just how easy it was for Samson to thwart the Philistine’s efforts to bind him.

There are lessons for us in this situation. First, we fraternize with the enemy at our spiritual peril. Perhaps, during previous excursions into dangerous territory, we have found it easy, as Samson did, to thwart their subtle efforts to entrap us, because the Lord in His grace and mercy delivered us. But let’s be warned that if, like Samson, we continue to frequent scenes of temptation, presuming on the Lord’s protection, we will dis­cover that this is a false premise upon which to operate. Samson found it so easy to overcome three out of four times, but the fourth time, after the sign of his Nazariteship had been removed, he found, to his surprise, that he was now on his own. We read with sadness ‘He wist not that the Lord was departed from him’, v. 20. Yes, and if we persist in haunting scenes of temptation presuming on the grace of God to deliver us yet again, the time will come when the Lord in His governmental ways with us may leave us to bear the temporal consequences of our sin, self-assurance and presumption. We hear again the warning given by the apostle, ‘Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall’, 1 Cor. 10. 12.