Judges 16:18: “And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, come up at this once for he has shown me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her and brought money in their hand.”

 

I remember as a child, Samson was one of my superheroes, right up there with Jet Jackson, The Lone Ranger, and of course Superman.  Yet, even at that early age I detected a flaw in all my super-heroes, they were all such doofuses.  I mean they would walk right into such obvious traps that even I, as a little seven year old, knew that these were ambushes set up by the bad guys.  Yet they felt they were so invulnerable they would march right in, head high, get punched right in the jaw and would be out for the count. Old Samson was right there on top of the list.  I mean, you would think that after pretending to tell Delilah the secret of his strength three times and each time he tells her she blabs it to the Philistines who come marching in to arrest him, he would begin to wake up.  You think after three times of betrayal it would finally dawn on him that this old gal is trying to scam him.  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, well shame on old Samson.

 

Come on, let’s face it, Samson was no dumb jock who just fell off the turnip truck.  Three times he told Delilah the secret to his strength, and each time he told her the truth. The bow strings that she tied him with up were in the Hebrew yatarim.  We would call this today cat gut something off a dead animal.  Such material was used in those days to make the strings for their bows. Of course, as a Nazarite, Samson could not touch a dead animal, so bingo, he should have lost his strength right then and there, but he didn’t.  That is quite interesting that he did not lose his strength and I am sure Samson was intrigued by this as well. So why not spill his guts (pun intended) to win a one night stand with a knock out like Delilah.  So when she puts on the betrayed innocent girl next door act again he decides to drop another card and tells her to tie him up with avar kadeshim which many translations call new ropes.  Actually avar refers to an entangling type vine and kadeshim means fresh or alive. This Hebrew word is typically used to describe a grape vine.  As a Nazarite Samson could not drink or even touch wine. Once again he discovered he did not lose his strength.  This was a new revelation for him. I am sure he was thinking about all those years of growing up in fundamentalism with all his no drinking, no smoking and going out with girls that do when all along he could have been partying on.

 

Well old Delilah was not impressed and her employers were getting pretty impatient with her, so she really put on the nag.  This third time she was to interweave the seven locks of his hair. Within the Nazarite vow the seven locks represented a divine act and a commitment to a divine call.  To interweave the seven locks would symbolically be breaking his Nazarite vow.  Yet, still he did not lose his strength.

 

The fourth time was when he blew it.  Contrary to what  you learned in Sunday School, it was not the cutting off of his seven locks that caused him to lose his strength; he already blew that hair part with the interweaving of his locks. It had to be something else.  Something that we in the Western world seem to pay little attention to, yet we do recognize it. It is called speaking or singing from the heart. This evening my study partner played a You Tube video of an eight year old Norwegian girl, Angelia Jordan, singing a popular song for a talent contest.  Only when she sang it the TV camera scanned the audience showing some near tears and some actually in tears.  You could see the judge was visibly moved.  This young girl may not even have understood the English word she was singing but you tell she was reaching down deep within her soul and singing from the very depths of her heart. Worship leaders take note. You cannot scold or shame your congregation into worshipping God, you must lead them in worship singing as this young girl sang, reaching down deep within her heart and bringing it out.  Somehow speaking your heart has a contagious effect causing others to search out their hearts.

 

We all have seen the Super Christian, you know the ones who have all the right words, appears happy, spiritual, spouting out praisealleuiahs faster than a sailor spews out profanities. You know it is all phony; it is all an act just to manipulate you into voting for him as the spiritual top dog in the church. He is vying for some key position on the worship team or on the platform but to win your vote he has to appear so holy that the Vatican could hire him to  model for a holy card.  But it is the ones who speaks or sing their hearts that you know are the genuine article. It is the preacher who lives every sermon he preaches that wins the respect of his congregation and not the one preaching the newest fads and spiritual catch words like turn to your neighbor and say, “be blessed.”  I mean if it worked for the TV preachers it should work for the fifty people congregation of the Eighth Baptist Church in Cornersville. If it brought revival down South it will surely bring revival here.

 

Three times Sampson shared his secrets with Delilah, three times she called the Philistines, and three times they came and had to run for their lives without giving Delilah a drachma.  Yet, this fourth time they came, not only trusting that Delilah had the secret but also so convinced that she had the secret, that they brought her money.  Now why would they suddenly believe her after being fooled three times?

 

The answer is in the words: He has shown me all his heart.  It was something that was very different this time, it was not Sampson’s hair brained sounding story of being a Nazarite.  Delilah probably knew about as much of a Nazarite as we do.  But it was something else.  Note in verse 19 that Sampson did not lose his strength when Delilah cut off his seven locks, he lost it when she afflicted him.  The word afflict comes from the root word ’anah which has a wide range of meanings.  But in its Semitic origins it has the idea of someone exercising control over someone else. Within the Canaanite language the root form of this word has a sexual connotation. Yeah, that was some affliction. Might I be so afflicted.  This word is in a Piel form so Delilah was not only exercising control over Sampson physically, but emotionally as well.  The other times when she tried to afflict or anah him, it didn’t work, he was holding back, he still had his strength.  There was something he was not sharing, which was his heart.  But this time he lost his strength.  The reason is, is because he gave her his heart, she had him not only physically, emotionally, but now she had him spiritually.  What belonged only to God as a Nazarite, Sampson took from God and gave it to Delilah.  The bottom line is that Sampson said to God: “I love her more than I love you.”   It broke God’s heart and like a broken hearted lover, and the gentleman that God is, he removed Himself from Sampson and the rest is history.

 

I have studied the Classical Hebrew for over forty years and I have always pondered what the word heart or lev in Hebrew really means.  I cannot give it words, because, like Delilah, you have to see it or ra’ah it.  Ra’ah is not only seeing with physical eyes, but with spiritual eyes as well.   Poets may write hundreds of verses to describe it, but you only know it if you see it.

 

We come to church on Sunday, tell God how we love Him, how wonderful He is, how we long to be with Him, and then walk outside the church and express the same love for the latest professional ball team, our job, hobby or bank account.  But somewhere we have to make a choice as to who gets our heart.  Somewhere we are going to speak our heart, give our hearts to just one of these (G)god(s) in our lives.  Are we going to speak our hearts and give our hearts to God Jehovah, or to a Delilah?

Hope you enjoy the video :)

Subscribe to our free Daily Hebrew Word Study for in-depth commentary using Biblical Hebrew!

* indicates required