True History - Veritas Card #39 - Samson and Delilah

Samson and Delilah - Judges 13-16

   There was a time period when the Philistines were Israel's enemy. The Philistine people were into idolatry and could have led Israel into sinful practices. One thing that God told His people, was that they were not to intermarry. That means they were to marry people who were Israelites, not people from the other groups of people. We see that when Solomon did this, he was led astray as he had to cater to his wives idols, and ended up turning away from God himself. So God gave warnings to Israel for their own protection.
   About 1080 B.C., Israel had turned against God once again, and God allowed the Philistines to rule them for forty years.
   At this time, there was a man named Manoah, and his wife was unable to conceive children. But an angel came to her and told her that she would have a son, and this son was to be a Nazarite. Two things about a Nazarite were; they would not cut their hair, and they would not drink strong drink. A Nazarite was not the same as a Nazarene, which is a person who lived in a town called Nazareth.
   Manoah's wife gave birth to a little boy and his name was 'Samson'. Samson grew up to be a man and he was very strong. He would experience incredible strength when the Holy Spirit would come upon him. One time, he destroyed some Philistines by burning down their fields. He also took the jawbone of a donkey and killed a thousand Philistines. Another thing that he did was to take the gate of the city off! He was definitely a strong man!
   Samson, like all of us, had times when he would fall into sinful traps. He had a weakness for women. One of the women he fell in love with was named 'Delilah', who was a Philistine, and he wanted so bad to marry her. His wish was granted. But it did not turn out well for him. She tricked him into telling his secret of his strength by not cutting his hair. When he was asleep, she cut his hair! Then she called for the Philistines and they captured him and poked out his eyes.
   Even though Samson was deceived, God still was at work. The Philistines were gathered together and Samson, even though he was now blinded because of his not having his eyes anymore, had a great victory over the Philistines again. They brought him into their gathering to make fun of him. They were also mocking the True and Living God. God gave Samson his strength back again. Samson found his way to the pillars in the room and pushed on them until they were completely down. Then the whole building fell down on top of everyone, including Samson, and killed many Philistines. God used Samson to kill many of the Philistines that day, even though Samson lost his own life. God worked in Samson's life even when Samson was not faithful. But Samson had a very difficult end to his life. That's why God's rules are good for us, even though we might not see it now. We need to listen to what God says and do what He tells us. We might not understand or we might think that we know best, but God has a much bigger picture of our lives, and we need to be faithful to Him. It is always for our best.