There was a prostitute in Gaza that Samson went down to see.
When the people living there heard Samson was in the city; they surrounded the place and hoped to ambush Samson when he left going out through the city gates. The men who wanted to capture him were thinking Samson would stay all night and leave in the early morning. They went to sleep by the gates, planning on killing him at dawn.
Samson left earlier than they thought he would. He went out at midnight to leave through the city gates. They were locked, but Samson was ready to go. He tore the posts loose, lifted the gates to his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the hill near Hebron.
This was an amazing show of strength. The distance we are speaking of here was about 40 miles, up-hill all the way.
Historians say the gates were probably 10 feet by 10 feet and 18 to 36 inches thick. They would have been made of bronze and iron and probably weighed as much as 5,000 pounds or more. It would have taken Samson about 20 hours to reach the place where he left them.
Over time Samson had become very self-centered and thought only of his own desires; however, God still honored the vow and let his strength remain. Samson never repented of his lack of concern for God’s ways.
One day he fell in love with a woman named Delilah. The Philistines bribed her to lure him into telling her the secret of his great strength.
They offered her a lot of silver, so she begged Samson to tell her his secret.
Three times he lied to her.
The first time he told her that he would become weak if anyone tied him up with seven bow strings that had not been dried. Delilah tried this; but when she called to him and told him the Philistines were after him; he quickly broke the bow strings.
The second time Samson told Delilah that his strength could be subdued if anyone tied him up with new ropes. Again, when Delilah yelled to him that the Philistines were coming for him; Samson quickly broke the ropes.
The next time Samson got a little more creative. He told Delilah if she wove the braids of his hair into the fabric of the loom and tightened them with the pin; he would lose his strength.
So, Delilah did this and then called out to him that the Philistines were upon him. Of course, Samson pulled loose from the pin and the fabric, all of his strength totally intact.
He could tell that Delilah was getting frustrated with him, so Samson finally broke down and told her of his Nazarite vow and the fact that if a razor shaved his head his strength would leave him.
She lulled him to sleep and called the Philistines in to shave the seven locks off of his hair, then she woke Samson by saying the Philistines were upon him. Samson woke, thinking he would go out as before; but he did not realize the Lord had left him.
The Philistines seized him, gouging out his eyes. Then they took him down to Gaza, shackled him and made him to grind grain in the prison.
They held a huge festival before their pagan god and said that their god had allowed them to catch and bind Samson, their enemy who had ruined their crops and slain their people.
Time passed and Samson’s hair began to grow again.
The Philistines often mocked Samson and used him for entertainment. One day while they were gathered to see Samson, Samson asked the guard to put him where he could lean against the pillars that supported their temple. About three thousand people were there watching Samson.
Samson began to pray. He said “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
As he prayed Samson put his left hand on one pillar and his right hand on another pillar. These were the central pillars holding up the temple. Then he said “Let me die with the Philistines.”
Samson pushed against the pillars and the temple came slamming down, killing all of the people and Samson. It was well known that Samson killed more Philistines in his death than he had killed when he was alive.
His family went down to claim his body. They buried him in the Tomb of Manoah his father.
We will look deeper into this story about Samson’s death in next week’s lesson.