By: Bro. Jeremiah Emakpor (Deacon)
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Who killed Samson? Delilah, the philistines or both of them? You are correct if you say both of them because they were both involved in the death of Samson; While Delilah betrayed Samson to her people (Judges 16:4-20), the Philistines frustrated him into praying for his death (Judges 16:23-30).
“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 this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.” Judges 16:18.
30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Judges 16:30.
Spiritually, none of the options above is correct. Even if there were 10,000 philistine soldiers, they would not have been able to defeat or kill Samson. Why? Samson’s strength was not of this world; it was divine.
“And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house.” Judges 14:19.
“And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.” Judges 15:14.
As long as none can defeat God, no matter how strong or many they were. Samson was raised a terror to the Philistines (Judges 13:5) For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Judges 13:5.
He killed a lion with his bare hands (Judges 14:5-6), lifted the gate of a city on his shoulders and walked over 46 miles with it (Judges 16:1-3); he killed 1,000 Philistine soldiers with a jaw bone (Judges 15:15). What if he had a spear or sword?
So, who killed Samson? The answer is Samson. Yes, Samson killed himself! A man is his greatest enemy. What an enemy cannot do to a man, he would do to himself. Samson killed Samson, he delivered himself to the lap of Delilah and used his own mouth to tell the secret of his power. A similar mistake he had made earlier (Judges 14:15-18). His life promised so much but delivered so little. Prov. 19:3 states “The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.”
Nobody can ruin your life except you do with your own hands. Although you can blame it on God or parents or government, you are the architect of your life; you are your greatest enemy.
In similar situation, Goliath the champion and King Saul could not hurt David but adultery destroyed his family.
The gentile nations could not hurt Moses but anger killed him. King Saul could not be killed by the Philistines but disobedience did. When King Jeroboam stretched his hand against the prophet, his hand dried up; he couldn’t hurt him but his own disobedience turned him to a prey for a lion (1 Kings 13:1-5, 6-24).
If you don’t kill that anger, pride, jealousy, greed, lust, wickedness, evil, disobedience, it won’t just kill you in the future, it might have been killing you already spiritually. So, kill that seed before it kills you. It might rob you of eternal life.
If you fall, don’t look far away, look inwards because what is killing you is inside you. What you yield yourself to will either kill or save you.
Millions are killing themselves with their own mouth by what they eat and drink. Millions die of sexually transmitted diseases every year. Would you blame a witch for that? If you continue yielding yourself to fornication, that is what will kill you spiritually and sometimes physically as well.
Indeed, your greatest enemy is not outside there, it is in you. That is why no matter how many people die of cancer and diabetes people won’t stop smoking and drinking because a man signs his own death warrant.
Quit that habit now! Your greatest enemy isn’t a man or spirit or Satan but you. Yes YOU!
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