Samson's great weakness was beautiful women. Samson fell in love with a beautiful Philistine woman named Delilah. Night after night he visited her residence to spend hours with her. He thought that he was hopelessly in love with her because of her great beauty and charm.
Delilah had been promised a great sum of money from the Philistines if she could discover the secret of his increduible strength. Every day Delilah teased and begged Samson to tell her the secret of his tremendous strength. To get her to stop begging him on several different occasions he told her false things that would destroy his strength. He told her, "If you tie me with seven bowstrings I will lose my power."
While Samson was sleeping she tied him with seven bowstrings and shouted, "Samson! Wake up! The Philistines are upon you!"
Samson awoke, shook himself free of the bowstrings and fought the Philistines. He overcame them with his great strength.
Delilah cried and begged again, "Samson, you do not love me. If you loved me you would tell me the secret of your strength."
Again Samson told her another lie, "If you bind me with seven brand new ropes I shall lose my strength."
Delilah bound him with seven new ropes and shouted, "Samson, wake up! The Philistines are upon you."
Samson awoke and shook himself. The ropes fell off and he fought off the Philistines. He beat them all.
This time Delilah cried for days, saying, "You don't love me. You won't tell me your secret."
text from:
www.friendshipbaptistchurch.com/cmay.html
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Samson then told her that if she wove the seven locks of his hair with a loom he would lose his strength. This time, in mentioning his hair, Samson was getting too close to telling the secret that God did not want him to tell.
Delilah wove his seven locks of hair with a loom. She shook him and shouted again, "Samson awake! The Philistines are upon you!"
As we can guess, Samson shook off the loom and fought against the Philistines, beating them again.
After all of these times that Delilah had committed wrongs against him we should think that Samson would guess that Delilah was not his true friend. Nevertheless Samson kept coming to her home. Delilah was exasperated with Samson. He had lied and lied to her. She wanted that money that the Philistines had promised her. She cried and cried, begged and pleaded for him to tell her his secret. Finally Samson caved in just to have peace. "If you cut off all of my hair I shall be as weak as any other man."
When Samson slept with his head in Delilah's lap she beckoned the men to shave off his hair. Once again she shook him and shouted, Samson! Wake up! The Philistines are upon you.!"
Samson shook himself to fight the Philistines, but his hair was gone. His strength was gone. The Philistine soldiers jumped upon Samson and beat him badly. Samson was overcome. Delilah, in the name of love, had betrayed him completely.
The Philistines took him prisoner, burned out his eyes with a hot poker and chained him to the huge stone wheel pulled along a trough to grind grain into flour, around and around, all day long, every day. Samson was destined to spend the rest of his days doing the job that an ox would do, grinding at the mill.