14 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.”
3 Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”
And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”
As you can see, Samson was a man, born by a miracle - under the same oath as Jesus the Christ, poised to save Israel from the Philistine rule. As you may know, 'Philistine' means (Self - Wallowing)...the greatest enemy Israel ever dealt with, was an enemy of Self...they were under their bondage for 40 years in the Book of Judges, the longest of all bondages.
Samson was sent to save them, instead, he found himself indulging in his flesh, every opportunity he had! We read on that he entangled himself with the very people he was born to destroy! This unholy alliance with the enemy, became his own undoing...Samson's life in many ways symbolized the demise of the Church world today!! Everyone wants to hold hands and join under some false agreement, when in reality - there is no harmony between light and darkness!
So how did Samson, (The Church) fall? Quite simply, he fell for the lies entangled in his own lusts! We know the Philistine women were his downfall as he surrendered the secret of his strength, (Later found in Judges 16); Listen, the hair on his head was the physical equivalent to the Holy Spirit found in the house of God...as the hair was merely an exterior symbol, so is speaking in tongues an exterior symbol of what's really going on inside the soul and spirit of a born - again Christian.
If your flesh can 'Shave' this off of you - you will shake yourself free, not realizing that the Spirit of the Lord has departed from you! Well, it's hard to notice that the Spirit has departed when you don't even recognize He was there in the first place. This is so true on more than one level...Church Level, and Individual Level to speak of. I believe that Samson's life serves as a warning! His battle with self - indulgence became his own undoing, and the same is true with us.
The good news is: HE DID FINALLY DELIVER ISRAEL!! But it cost him his life! He uttered the most powerful words in his ministry > Judges 16: 30, '...let me die with the Philistines...'
The moment we die to SELF, we've won!! He destroyed more Philistines in his death, than in his living among them! It's hard to kill who you were in bed with the night before! We as believers must learn to die to self, and allow the power of God to bring deliverance, not only to ourselves, but to God's people.
