”And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death,“
Judges 16:16 NKJV
“Earlier Samson gave into the nagging of his Philistine wife (Judges 14:15-18). Now he yielded to the nagging of Delilah. She certainly sinned by using such terrible manipulation, but Samson also sinned by yielding to that manipulation.” (Guzik)
“Her previous complaint was that Samson’s love for her was empty was a hollow protest. Delilah had no love for him, and she expected Samson to destroy himself and his service for God to “prove” his love for her.” (Guzik)
”that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “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.”“
Judges 16:17 NKJV
“When Samson did this, it was a very sad scene. He had to know what was to come. He faced the choice between faithfulness to his God and continuing an ungodly relationship.” (Guzik)
”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.“
Judges 16:18 NKJV
”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.“
Judges 16:19 NKJV
“As long as he is consecrated he is strong; break that, he is weak as water. Now there are a thousand razors with which the devil can shave off the locks of a consecrated man without his knowing it. Samson is sound asleep; so clever is the barber that he even lulls him to sleep as his fingers move across the pate, the fool’s pate, which he is making bare. The devil is cleverer far than even the skillful-barber; he can shave the believer’s locks while he scarcely knows it.” (Spurgeon)
“Not that his hair made him strong, but that his hair was the symbol of his consecration, and was the pledge of God’s favor to him. While his hair was untouched he was a consecrated man; as soon as that was cut away, he was no longer perfectly consecrated, and then his strength departed from him.” (Spurgeon)
“In the opinion of some persons Samson looked much improved when his matted hair was gone. He was more presentable; more fit for good society. And so in the case of churches, the notion is that they are all the better for getting rid of their peculiarities.” (Spurgeon)
We recently watched the movie The Jesus Revolution about pastor Chuck Smith opening his home and church to the hippies. His congregation got upset because of their peculiarities and wanted to get rid of them and threatened to leave. Some got upset because they were afraid that their dirty feet would stain the new carpet, so Chuck started washing their feet before the service.
Have you ever gotten upset with someone’s peculiarities?
Blessings
No comments:
Post a Comment