SAMSON AND DELILAH If the Spirit of God has been with Samson for a long time, and granted him strength, Once Samson fell into love with Delilah, and laid his head on her knees, he lost the glory of his vow, was denied of his insight, and came to be a laughing stock of the enemy. 1- Samson in the house of a harlot 1 - 3 2- Samson’s love for Delilah 4 - 5 3- Samson mocks Delilah and tells her lies 6 - 15 4- Samson reveals the secret of his strength to Delilah 16 - 17 5- Samson’s fall 18 - 22 6- Samson dies 23 – 31 1- SAMSON IN THE HOUSE OF A HARLOT: “Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. When the Gazites were told, ‘Samson has come here’ they surrounded the place and lay in wait for https://coptic-treasures.com/ him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, ‘In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him’. And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron” (1 – 3) Having been able to kill a thousand men by a jawbone of a donkey, Samson thought of going t o Gaza, one of the greatest centers of the Philistines; to see a harlot there, with the assumption that, with the Spirit of the Lord, he could get in and out of it unharmed. . In that he did wrong, although, according to St. Augustine: [This action, with all its significances, represents a living portrait of the salvation work of the Lord, when He entered into Hades after His resurrection from the dead, to destroy its gates, and to grant His believers the power of His resurrection. According to St. Augustine, Samson would be wrong if going to the house of the harlot was for an ulterior reason, ; but it would be otherwise if his going there was as a prophet, bearing in his person a symbol of the Lord Christ.. He confirms that the Holy Book did not say that Samson had any relationship with the harlot, other than, just to spend the night in her house. His enemies laid in wait for him all night, at the city gates, to kill him in the morning, like the Roman guards did at the tomb of the Lord resurrected from the dead. But Samson, at midnight, took hold of the gate of the city, and the two gateposts, pulled them up and put on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill. If the harlot refers to the Synagogue who condemned the Lord to death; the Lord, is risen secretly after midnight, pulled up the city gates, namely the gates of the pit, the gates of death, and then ascended up to the top of the mountain; namely up to heaven. https://coptic-treasures.com/ If St. Augustine saw a symbolic aspect in this episode, yet, according to many of the church fathers, Samson did wrong by going to the house of a harlot to spend the night, whatever his motives were. According to St. Ambrose: [Samson, who had overcome the lion, could not overcome his evil desire. …….. He who tore the of his enemies, could not tear the ropes of his lust………. He who burned the shocks and the standing grain of his enemies, was burnt by the fire of the forbidden lust kindled by a single woman]. Even St. Augustine does not completely justify his behavior, saying: [When Samson realized virtues and miracles, he was representing the Lord Christ, the Head of the church; and when he was acting with wisdom, he was a portrait of those who walk in the church with righteousness. But, once he was overcome by lust, and walked slothfully, he represented the sinners in the church]. 2- HIS LOVE FOR DELILAH: “Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ‘Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver’” (4 – 5) If the Spirit of the Lord dwelt upon Samson in more than one occasion, and he carried out the role of successful leadership; Yet, once he fell in the love of Delilah, he completely collapsed. According to St. John Chrysistom,: [Many men, https://coptic-treasures.com/ like Samson perished in marriage, but not because of marriage itself, but because of their corrupt will]. And according to father Aphrahat: [The enemy fought against Samson through a woman, who robbed his vow]. “Delilah” is a Hebrew word meaning (a spoiled or a beloved woman); a name, according to many scholars, she carried when she grew up and became loved by men, and lived as a harlot. Having been a money-lover, when the five lords of the Philistines, princes of the five main cities: (Gath, Eshdod, Gaza, Eshkelon, and Ekron) came up to her, and promised, everyone of them will give her eleven hundred pieces of silver, if she delivered Samson to them, she consented. According to St. Ambrose: [Delilah’s love of money deceived Samson, the bravest of men, he who tore off a lion by his bare hands]. Delilah was raised in the Valley of Sorek, namely (in the Valley of select vine), known nowadays as ‘the Valley of Darar (of harm), which starts 13 miles west of Jerusalem, and extends to the Mediterranean Sea. There is, as well, another valley in the north called ‘The ruins of Sorek’. 3- SAMSON MOCKS DELILAH AND TOLD HER LIES:’ “So Delilah said to Samson, ‘Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you’”.( 6, 10; and 13). Like the lords of the Philistines, Delilah assumed that Samson carries his exalted strength, as a result of magic work, and once he loses it, he would lose his strength, comes to be as any other man. And could be overcome. That is why Delilah kept nagging him with her question to know his secret. On another https://coptic-treasures.com/ aspect, the Philistines were lying in wait in the house, waiting for Delilah to expose his secret to confront him after removing his supernatural strength.. Being aware, for sure, from the beginning, the goal of her question, Samson, also kept deceiving her. He should have left from house altogether, but his great love for her, namely, being enslaved to his lust toward her, made him slothfully sure that he could keep his secrets, and have his desire from her at the same time. Yet he could not resist long, soon fell into the snares of evil, and collapsed. “And Samson said to her, ‘If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man’ So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’. But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.. Then Delilah said to Samson, ‘Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with’ So he said to her, ‘If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man’. Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with https://coptic-treasures.com/ them, and said to him, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. Delilah said to Samson, ‘Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with’. And he said to her, ‘If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom’— So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom” (7 – 15). Once he started to mention his hair, he came to be very close to revealing his secret. 1- SAMSON REVEALS THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH TO DELILAH; “ Then she said to him, ‘How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.’ And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her, https://coptic-treasures.com/ ‘No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man’ (16 – 17) “His soul was so vexed to death”, having bowed down before the evil desires of his body, instead of being wide open with the divine love, to receive God and His creation inside herself. Now he could no more keep his spiritual secret , and revealed everything in his heart. About such a behavior, some of the fathers of the church, like St. Gregory the Nezianzen, speaking of St. Athanasius the apostolic, as a pillar of the church, likened the oppression of the wicked against the church to what they did against Samson; when they saved his hair, the secret of his strength; and said: So did the wicked when they persecuted St. Athanasius , the strong shepherd who supports his people; for once they manage to shave the hair of the church, namely to take her glory off, they would utter evil against her. And commenting on this, St. Augustine says: [Let us, beloved brethren, :beware, as much as we can, lest we would spiritually suffer what Samson physically did. Let us understand the mind as being a symbol of the man (Samson), and the body, as a symbol of the woman (Delilah). If man brings himself into subjection to his body, and plunges in pleasures, he will suffer from his body as Samson did from the woman (Delilah). Therefore, beloved brethren, it is befitting of us, by the help of God, to strive to realize the saying of the apostle: “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9: 27). Let us then, by the help of God, beware of the enemy, who by his razor, shaved the head of mankind, when Adam and Eve were deceived by his tricks. Our Head is Christ. If we surrender to a woman, namely to the evil desires of the body; we will be denied of the spiritual https://coptic-treasures.com/ grace; and will be like one whose hair of his vow is shaved. ……There is a razor that cuts with a good purpose, and another that cuts with a harmful purpose; There is:the razor of healing, the grantor of beauty -- our Lord Christ, who cuts out of our hearts the harmful evil thoughts, shaves the transgressions from the soul; grants the mind beauty, liberates us from the dead hair of the miserable bondage, and makes our life holy and pure, when our hair of vow grow anew ………This first razor we should seek, while the second one we should reject and avoid.. The first honored razor is Christ; and the second deadly one is the devil. …… According to the apostle, Christ s our Head; and the hair are either virtues or iniquities. That is why when the prophet spoke about his sins, he said: “Those who hate me without a cause, are more than the hair of my head” (Psalm 69: 4). For the virtues and the iniquities are symbolized by the hair; and when we shave by Christ, we are liberated from all iniquities; while if we do by the devil, we are denied of all the virtues]. And he also says: [When man surrenders to an evil desire, or gets preoccupied with of evil pleasure, his body would do to him what Delilah did to Samson]. Again, according to St. Augustine: [What does it mean that Samson carried strength in his hair?........ Notice, brethren; he did not carry it in his hands, in his feet, in his chest, nor in his head, but in his What is hair? The apostle answers: “Hair is a covering” 1 Corinthians 11 15). Christ carried strength in the cover when He or took refuge under the shadow of the old law ……..What does it mean that Samson’s secret became the object of betrayal by Delilah, when his head was shaved? ……… The law was despised, and Christ was crucified. If they did not despise the law (shaving the head), they would not have crucified Christ; for they knew that it was not their right to kill Him, when they said to the Roman Governor: “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death” (John 18: 31)]. 5- SAMSON’S FALL: https://coptic-treasures.com/ “When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, ‘Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart’.. So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson’!. So he awoke from his sleep, and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!’ But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him”. (18 – 20) Having surrendered to Delilah, and revealed to her his whole secret, “she lulled him to sleep on her knees”. ………This time the book did not say: “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him”, but he said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free” (20). ……… Once man delivers himself to the evil desires of his body that humiliate him, he loses God’s care for him, he goes out, shakes himself free, trusting in his own strength. So, the love of evil desires melds with the ‘ego’; and instead of setting forth by the Spirit of God to strive, he limits himself in the ‘ego’ on the knees of his evil desires. The mighty one has fallen, not on the knees of Delilah, but on those of his temporal evil desires; for the sake of which he opened the door of debate with Delilah, as his early parents Adam and Eve did with he serpent; and did not prevail………….. He should have closed the door of debate like what the https://coptic-treasures.com/ righteous Joseph did with the wife of Potiphar, when he openly and frankly said: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39: 9), then fled without further debate, and ultimately prevailed by the power of God. “ Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison” (21) “He did not know that the Lord had departed from him” (20). Once he lost the company of God, he lost the secret of his strength, fell down into humiliation, lost his vision, led to where he did not wish to go, bound with bronze fetters, become a grinder in the prison, like an animal, and become a laughing stock in the sight of the wicked, who used to fear him and be terrified of his name. Commenting on that, St. Augustine says: [Indeed, our enemy the devil strongly mocks the sinners, when they come to lose the grace of Jesus. as it happened when Samson lost his hair. He make them lose their vision, put them in prison, turn them into animals that go round and round grinding grain]. And he says: [Our Lord advised us through the prophet: “Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding” (Psalm 32: 9), lest we would fail to bring our neck into subjection under the yoke of Christ, and make it like a donkey, fit to go around in a grinder ……… Man was truly honored, before he fell into iniquity; like when Samson has forsaken the wisdom and grace, and was punished by blindness and working as a grinder in prison. ……. Man, therefore, will be qualified to practice the work of animals, if he denies himself the light of understanding. …………..Whoever subjects himself to the evil desires of his body, through the lulling of the wicked women, will end up like animals, like a donkey or a mule, bound to a grinder. The soul that falls into evil desires, the eyes of her mind would be blinded through the corruption of life; and evil thought would go around in her mind, as though grinding in the grinder of evil desires, without vision, and led by others. Whoever walks in the way of the sinners, will be bound by the bronze fetters of his evil https://coptic-treasures.com/ desires, and will be in a prison full of the darkness of his sins………..His heart through holding fast to evil, will be as hard as the grinding stone, and will grind the grain of the enemy through the bone marrow of his life, to feed the enemy; while his own soul will be hungry and in need to be fed]. 2- DEATH OF SAMSON: “ Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy! When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said ‘Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, The destroyer of our land, And the one who multiplied our dead’” 23 – 24) They thought that it was their god ‘Dagon’ who delivered Samson their enemy into their hands, and did not perceive that Samson’s fall was a fruit of God’s departure from him, because of the corruption of his life by his relationship with Delilah. Anyway, Samson had to be chastised, to return to the Lord his God by his whole heart, when he tastes the fruit of his evil; And the pagan Philistines had to be chastised, as well, on their evil. For if God delivered Samson into their hands to mock him as they wish, that was to be only for some time, to return with a greater strength, to be counted as one of the men of faith. https://coptic-treasures.com/ “ So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, ‘Call for Samson, that he may perform for us’. So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars” (25) Who can imagine how the blind Samson, the conqueror of thousands, felt while grinding like animals in prison, and while performing to entertain his enemies, all because of a temporary lust and evil pleasure?. How he felt toward Delilah who delivered her body to him for some time, to deliver him ultimately to the depths of bondage and humiliation? .”However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven” (22) Feeling inside his heart that the Lord returned to him; “Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, ‘Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them’ Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed” (26 – 27). https://coptic-treasures.com/ Perceiving amid his affliction that God is the secret of his strength; he did not, any more trust in himself, and say: “I will go out as before, and shake myself free” (20); but humbly cried out, saying: “O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” He took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Then said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life” And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years” (28 - 31). Commenting on the final events in Samson’s life, St. Augustine says: [The prison and the grinding stone, are the work of this world; The blindness of Samson refers to those who were blinded by their denial, did not know Christ, nor experienced His authority and His ascension to heaven. It also refers to what befell the Jews, when they took hold of Christ and brought Him forth to death; and it so happened that He killed His killers. ………… Samson’s enemies https://coptic-treasures.com/ brought him to perform as a clown before them…………….. Notice here the portrait of the cross. Stretching out his hands like the two boards of the cross; Samson overcame his enemies; for his sufferings became perdition to his persecutors; hence the book says: “The dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life” (30)]. St. Augustine also says: [This fact proclaims the secret of the passions of Christ; through which the house of the devil has fallen, and the kingdom of death was destroyed. Indeed, the temple that gathered together the Lords of the Philistines, symbolizes the kingdom of the devil (in it their god dagon was worshipped); and was said to be supported upon two pillars; which, undoubtedly are “greed” and “evil pleasures”. For all wickedness emerge from these two evils; as it is written: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6: 10); and, the evil pleasures trouble the body (Proverb 11: 8). ………. Samson refers to the Lord Christ, whereas the vicious Delilah refers to the Synagogue. Samson was trapped by Delilah, and the Lord Christ was persecuted and crucified by the Synagogue on the Golgotha. …….. Samson being blinded, refers to the wicked Christians who believed in Christ, only for some time, but did not persist on their faith and good deeds ……..Samson was put down in prison, and the Lord Christ descended to Hades; …………When Samson stretched his hands to take hold of the two pillars; the temple of the Philistines fell on the lords and all the people; and when the Lord Christ stretched His hands on the two horizontal boards of the cross, the house of the devil, namely his kingdom was cast down together with its angels]. According to St. Erinaos: [The lad who held Samson by hand, refers to John the Baptist who showed the people the way to the faith in Christ; ………….While the temple where the Philistines gathered together, refers to the world, dwelt by a diversity of pagan nations that deny faith, and offer sacrifices to the idols; ………; And the two pillars refer to the two testaments of the Holy Book. ……….Samson leaning on the two pillars refers to the people learning the secret of the Lord Christ (who destroys the idol-worship)]..
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